Ballroom Dancing in Quest

[bingham]

First time cruiser on Azamara Quest.on Oct 12/23. We love to dance in our cruises and are wondering if there is a place to dance . Any info will be appreciated . Thanks 

[uktog]

24 minutes ago, bingham said:

First time cruiser on Azamara Quest.on Oct 12/23. We love to dance in our cruises and are wondering if there is a place to dance . Any info will be appreciated . Thanks 

The Living Room on Deck 9 has a dance floor.  The band who plays up there will play sets that can be danced to before dinner.  They may also play sets after dinner.  Let the band know you want to do ballroom dancing the first or second night and they will oblige

[bingham]

Will do. Thanks.

[beatnix]

My husband and me are passionate dancers. There is a small floor in the Livingroom. As Uktog wrote the live  band performs usually 3 sets each evening. The first - before dinner - is the best for ballroom dancing. The last on is more disco dancing. 

Last year, I think on Journey, there was a very good motown band from Jamaica, great to listen to but really no music for dancing. 

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, bingham said:

First time cruiser on Azamara Quest.on Oct 12/23. We love to dance in our cruises and are wondering if there is a place to dance . Any info will be appreciated . Thanks 

It's not Cunard, for sure!

[bingham]

Cunard is the ship to be able to dance. Crystal used to have a good dance area but don’t know about the new refurbished one.

[excitedofharpenden]

I would say that over the past five or six years the focus for ballroom has most definitely moved away on Azamara and it's very much a "do it when and where you can" with no formal input from the ship. It all started when Azamara revamped their entertainment.

 

It's a shame. I remember the days when professional ballroom dancers formed part of the entertainment staff and gave group and private lessons to those who wanted it. Free group in the show lounge, paid private usually in Looking Glass which was dead during the day before it became Living Room. Hopefully you'll get a chance, but it's not a priority for Azamara. 

 

I love watching ballroom dancing. I never became very good at it, in spite of private lessons on the ship, but I had a go. If I was on your cruise I'd come and watch!

 

Phil 

[lisiamc]

13 hours ago, hamrag said:

It's not Cunard, for sure!

Not to disparage ballroom dancing, but I count that as a major blessing! 😁

[bingham]

18 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I would say that over the past five or six years the focus for ballroom has most definitely moved away on Azamara and it's very much a "do it when and where you can" with no formal input from the ship. It all started when Azamara revamped their entertainment.

 

It's a shame. I remember the days when professional ballroom dancers formed part of the entertainment staff and gave group and private lessons to those who wanted it. Free group in the show lounge, paid private usually in Looking Glass which was dead during the day before it became Living Room. Hopefully you'll get a chance, but it's not a priority for Azamara. 

 

I love watching ballroom dancing. I never became very good at it, in spite of private lessons on the ship, but I had a go. If I was on your cruise I'd come and watch!

 

Phil 

We love to dance but not on professional level.Don’t book just to watch us. You’ll be sorry. Lol

[brucedodge]

We abandoned Azamara a number of years ago when they transitioned from duos/trios who played nightly upstairs.  They went to a guitarist and they lost us.  Every couple of years (and it's been a while) I ask the Azamara cruisers if live music has returned.  My question is: when you say "band," are you talking about the ship's band, or an extra group of musicians?  If it's the ship's band, don't they take up a lot of space?

 

And do any of you remember when Azamara used to have a harpist on board? 😀

[Host Jazzbeau]

I remember the harpist.  I also remember when cokes cost a nickel.  That's not coming back either.  Azamara would be better with more musical groups around the ship, but we love Azamara as it is for many other reasons which are more important to us.  If you have found another line that equals Azamara on all the things you value, including having small musical groups, enjoy it.  Otherwise weigh this against all the other things and decide which line(s) should stay on your short list.  [Explora seems to have at least three different musical groups on board – I know this because people complain on their CC forum they are all scheduled at the same time, leaving other hours with no music.]

[uktog]

41 minutes ago, brucedodge said:

We abandoned Azamara a number of years ago when they transitioned from duos/trios who played nightly upstairs.  They went to a guitarist and they lost us.  Every couple of years (and it's been a while) I ask the Azamara cruisers if live music has returned.  My question is: when you say "band," are you talking about the ship's band, or an extra group of musicians?  If it's the ship's band, don't they take up a lot of space?

 

And do any of you remember when Azamara used to have a harpist on board? 😀

But there is a trio band (not the orchestra) in the Living Room on Deck 10 every night 

Edited November 6, 2023 by uktog

[lisiamc]

52 minutes ago, brucedodge said:

We abandoned Azamara a number of years ago when they transitioned from duos/trios who played nightly upstairs.  They went to a guitarist and they lost us.  Every couple of years (and it's been a while) I ask the Azamara cruisers if live music has returned.  My question is: when you say "band," are you talking about the ship's band, or an extra group of musicians?  If it's the ship's band, don't they take up a lot of space?

 

And do any of you remember when Azamara used to have a harpist on board? 😀

Sometimes we have seen a guitarist in addition to the house (dance) band generally playing in the Living Room, the Azamara orchestra playing for the shows with the singers and dancers, and the pianist in The Den. The selection of live music is pretty good for a small ship, IMO.

 

edited to add: I do remember the harpist, but I only remember them playing in the afternoons or early evenings at the Mosaic, or occasionally for a brunch, not often as an after dinner thing. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by lisiamc

[excitedofharpenden]

I never understood the fuss surrounding the harpist. Saw her and very nice, but insignificant to me. I've always found plenty of live music to listen to around the ship. 

 

Phil 

[hamrag]

2 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I never understood the fuss surrounding the harpist. Saw her and very nice, but insignificant to me. I've always found plenty of live music to listen to around the ship. 

 

Phil 

The thing about live music is that one persons pleasure point, may be another persons tipping point causing them to exit the venue! Such is life, but we certainly would never choose Az for its entertainment value!

 

All being well we cruise Quest from Lisbon in a short number of days, and will take any entertainment and music as it comes. On said Atlantic crossing repositioning cruise we may even enjoy some entertainment aspects more than we otherwise would on a port intensive cruise. We intensely hope there will be a White Night, which we do thoroughly enjoy.

 

 

[Melissaghoti]

On 9/25/2023 at 4:10 PM, excitedofharpenden said:

 

I love watching ballroom dancing. I never became very good at it, in spite of private lessons on the ship, but I had a go. If I was on your cruise I'd come and watch!

 

Phil 

No watching, Phil! I’d make you get up and dance!

[Grandma Cruising]

7 hours ago, hamrag said:

The thing about live music is that one persons pleasure point, may be another persons tipping point causing them to exit the venue! Such is life, but we certainly would never choose Az for its entertainment value!

 

All being well we cruise Quest from Lisbon in a short number of days, and will take any entertainment and music as it comes. On said Atlantic crossing repositioning cruise we may even enjoy some entertainment aspects more than we otherwise would on a port intensive cruise. We intensely hope there will be a White Night, which we do thoroughly enjoy.

 

 

We had a white night on both our Atlantic cruises

[excitedofharpenden]

12 hours ago, hamrag said:

 

 

All being well we cruise Quest from Lisbon in a short number of days, and will take any entertainment and music as it comes. On said Atlantic crossing repositioning cruise we may even enjoy some entertainment aspects more than we otherwise would on a port intensive cruise. We intensely hope there will be a White Night, which we do thoroughly enjoy.

 

 

I spoke to a friend who is on the ship now and will be doing the ta too and she tells me they are hoping to do White Night on the third or fourth sea day out of Funchal when it should be warmer. Weather and progress dependent of course with final decision down to Captain Johannes 🤞

 

Phil 

[nordski]

13 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I never understood the fuss surrounding the harpist. Saw her and very nice, but insignificant to me. I've always found plenty of live music to listen to around the ship. 

 

Phil 

I was always impressed with the presentation and performance skills of Mary the Harpist, but she was from Montreal and seemed to always include examples of Canadian works when we were nearby.
She was very personable and we miss her.

The other harpists tended not to share her rather magnetic personality and are not a huge loss in our view.

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I spoke to a friend who is on the ship now and will be doing the ta too and she tells me they are hoping to do White Night on the third or fourth sea day out of Funchal when it should be warmer. Weather and progress dependent of course with final decision down to Captain Johannes 🤞

 

Phil 

Many thanks Phil, that is really helpful and much appreciated. We've done a few TAs, in both directions, and generally after the canaries on the caribbean southerly route the weather has never failed us. 

Captain J is a fantastic man too, most mornings on our first Az back in Dec 2019 just pre-Covid. Usually he would appear at the nice coffee bar deck 4 or 5 and insist he take his place in the queue. No argument, that was the deal, when he could have had any number of staff serving his coffee on the bridge. His wife was on that trip, and she a fantastic person too.

 

Delighted to hear he's in charge again! 😊

[hamrag]

2 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I spoke to a friend who is on the ship now and will be doing the ta too and she tells me they are hoping to do White Night on the third or fourth sea day out of Funchal when it should be warmer.

 

I posted this on the rollcall, as this should be of interest to the others also.

Thanks again Phil.

[brucedodge]

Thanks to all for your clarifications.

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, hamrag said:

Many thanks Phil, that is really helpful and much appreciated. We've done a few TAs, in both directions, and generally after the canaries on the caribbean southerly route the weather has never failed us. 

Captain J is a fantastic man too, most mornings on our first Az back in Dec 2019 just pre-Covid. Usually he would appear at the nice coffee bar deck 4 or 5 and insist he take his place in the queue. No argument, that was the deal, when he could have had any number of staff serving his coffee on the bridge. His wife was on that trip, and she a fantastic person too.

 

Delighted to hear he's in charge again! 😊

Johannes is THE best!  Such a great character and always fun to sail with him. Wish I was going along.  Enjoy. 

 

Phil 

[Morrey]

I'm a ballroom dancer and would like to try Azamara with some friends.  Can anyone tell me what happens in the Cabaret Lounge, it looks like it has a nice dance floor?

[debcip]

On 11/7/2023 at 11:08 PM, hamrag said:

Many thanks Phil, that is really helpful and much appreciated. We've done a few TAs, in both directions, and generally after the canaries on the caribbean southerly route the weather has never failed us. 

Captain J is a fantastic man too, most mornings on our first Az back in Dec 2019 just pre-Covid. Usually he would appear at the nice coffee bar deck 4 or 5 and insist he take his place in the queue. No argument, that was the deal, when he could have had any number of staff serving his coffee on the bridge. His wife was on that trip, and she a fantastic person too.

 

Delighted to hear he's in charge again! 😊

We came to know him at the coffee bar as well, on our first Azamara cruise in 2017!  He is so lovely!