Encore: Ncl replacing canceled production show with game show

[UKstages]

i haven't forgotten.

 

it makes reading much more pleasurable. 

 

except when other people quote the folks who've been ignored. then there's no escape.

 

oh, and some threads are comical... five or six of the folks i have on ignore talking repeatedly to themselves. occasionally, i'll look. and it always reconfirms my prior decision.

[graphicguy]

Thought about this entertainment shift on NCL for a while.  

 

I'm sure their analytics are detailed.  And, their (very elaborate and costly) stages and stage set ups have to provide decent ROI.  So, just saying it's a "cost cutting" move may not be the whole picture.

 

I know people who have their TVs on 16 waking hours of their 24 hours/day...and turn the TV on in their bedroom when they try to go to sleep.

 

They're ingrained with whatever news channel they watch and the typical daytime TV fare....which is a lot of game shows.

 

Perhaps NCL is just tapping into that.  It's a draw and a comfort to many!

[UKstages]

9 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Thought about this entertainment shift on NCL for a while.  

 

i misread the fifth word here and, i have to say, i prefer to think that this sentence contained a typo.

[RocketMan275]

7 hours ago, vacation44 said:

Please let us know who exactly is the "contemporary cruiser".   

The 'contemporary cruiser' is anyone who likes something you don't

[cruiseny4life]

Well, this cruiser (I dunno if I'm contemporary or not) really enjoyed Price is Right on Pr1ma. I did not enjoy Donna Summer. There, I didn't bury the lede. 

 

As we were preparing for the cruise, I wondered if I would like Price is Right. I didn't even make reservations as I was sure I wouldn't go. Onboard, my husband and I decided to go. We got our tickets that were included in the fare. We didn't have to pay anything additional. As an included entertainment option, we enjoyed it. It was produced well, the host was very Hunger Games like, but entertaining. Not sure what that says about me.....

 

Anyway, we would absolutely go back to Price is Right. If we can just be audience members, even better. I don't want to get up there and embarrass myself! 

 

As for Donna...well, as @david_sobe would say, I'm a very rude person that wasn't taught manners. I walked out...after about 45 minutes. It just wasn't for me. I had no clue what Donna Summer was about (I mean, I figured it was about a female singer from the past), but otherwise I hadn't a clue. It was boring. The songs were...well, not entertaining. 

 

On Pr1ma, at least, notch one for the game show and none for the Broadway show. My husband and I went in as doubters, but certainly see the value in game show entertainment now. 

[UKstages]

Just now, cruiseny4life said:

There, I didn't bury the lede.

 

first things first... thanks for spelling "lede" correctly! few do.

 

i felt the same way about "price" and "donna" that you did. but the reason we felt that way is because "price" is really well done - for what it is - and "donna" is not. it really is as simple as that. it has nothing to do with a preference for game shows or a distaste fro broadway shows... or vice versa.

[dhanakorn]

So I guess the bottom line is it’s doesn’t matter if it’s just a gameshow or a high profile broadway production, if it’s done well then it’s entertaining to the audiences. 
 

I watched the highly acclaimed SIX a couple times but didn’t like it. I’m not sure how the younger demographics feel about the broadway shows nowadays. 

[graphicguy]

I stayed for the entire performance of SIX.  But, only because I was in the back and could quickly get drinks.

 

Jersey Boys, on the other hand, fantastic!  As was Choir of Man…and Million Dollar Quartet.  

 

Just goes to show, what one person loves, another despises!

 

Already have reservations for Donna.  Not a disco person.  But, she was one of the biggest stars of disco (along with the BeeGees) so I’m familiar with her work, even though I’m not a disco fan!

Edited January 18 by graphicguy

[cruiseny4life]

17 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

first things first... thanks for spelling "lede" correctly! few do.

 

i felt the same way about "price" and "donna" that you did. but the reason we felt that way is because "price" is really well done - for what it is - and "donna" is not. it really is as simple as that. it has nothing to do with a preference for game shows or a distaste fro broadway shows... or vice versa.

Haha you're welcome! I know my postings on here make me appear to be ignorant about the English language, but I assure you that is primarily a Cruise Critic thing. I just don't always (or ever) proofread. Spelling though! Way back in 5th grade I made it to the regional spelling bee. Oh, if only kids knew the accolades end when they grow up.

 

Anyway, you may be right. The only thing I remember from Donna is the sound that seemed omnipresent. It's the first 8 or so seconds of this video: 

 

 

Just over and over and over and over and...you get the point. So yes, production not so great. 

 

Now, give me Million Dollar Quartet or Footloose on NCL. Those were well produced, engaging, and fun! Even with a technical timeout in the middle of Footloose. 

[laudergayle]

Personally, I’m easily entertained since I can’t sing, dance, or do acrobatics. I’m not funny, but know how to laugh.  Therefore, provide me with nightly options, every night, that include a variety of quality performers.  Don’t make me wait 2 hours for a SRO venue, and don’t make me pay extra to enjoy the show.  And. Most importantly..,don’t drop the entertainment options I thought we were getting right after you take the final payment.  
 

[mking8288]

3 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Haha ... only thing I remember from Donna is the sound that seemed omnipresent. It's the first 8 or so seconds of this video ... over and over and over and over and ...production not so great. 

Footloose on NCL ... were well produced, engaging, and fun!  Even with a technical timeout in the middle of Footloose. 

Well, onboard NCL, opinions on these major entertainment are personal, thus subjective and I agree, The Donna Live didn't quite fit of my expectations for that show ... as boomers, loved BeeGees music growing up with them as in Saturday Night Fever & OLJ and other singers from that era.  But, asked me what I can remember from "Donna" which was not even 2 months ago, mind came up empty - nothing memorable about it ... not even that "8 or so seconds" really, seriously.  Maybe and my memories isn't as sharp as it used to be in my younger days.  Footloose, Elements and the earlier big production shows were / are great and don't think DW would not want to see them again while on a cruise ... MDQ was okay but we saw it twice, or was it 3 times, enough & was hoping NCL will have a new and different show by now ... or, rotate these licensed shows among the ships with the fees & costs.  

 

I don't think we are going to bother booking Donna again this Spring ... or the Price is Right (and, if we get bored on a given night, maybe we'll do the virtual queue or just do the standby to get in & watch ... if not, no big loss)  Between the iPad & Fire Tablet ... we'll have options to be entertained.  

 

On a side note, I don't understand how NCL can list the paid, open-to-all & anyone for a fee Behind The Scene ship tour can be described as entertainment, it is NOT ... not in my ledger.  For ship P, it is offered again for $149 per person and for ship S, it is $89 per person, larger/newer ship vs. one of the oldest ship in the fleet ??  We'll stick to the free BTS ship tour. 

[laudergayle]

3 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Spelling though! Way back in 5th grade I made it to the regional spelling bee

Which was likely sponsored by a newspaper.  I miss the newspapers of the past!  Everything you needed to know that day (and not more)…right there in your hands in back and white!  The Editor’s bias…the Op-ed, the comics…and the ever-engaging classified ads.  Aaah, the days before the internet…where each of us are Editor and Critic.  

[Topdog52]

10 hours ago, laudergayle said:

Personally, I’m easily entertained since I can’t sing, dance, or do acrobatics. I’m not funny, but know how to laugh.  Therefore, provide me with nightly options, every night, that include a variety of quality performers.  Don’t make me wait 2 hours for a SRO venue, and don’t make me pay extra to enjoy the show.  And. Most importantly..,don’t drop the entertainment options I thought we were getting right after you take the final payment.  
 

NAILED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BirdTravels]

On 1/17/2024 at 9:58 PM, UKstages said:

 

who is this "contemporary cruiser" i keep hearing so much about?

 

and why does he or she have such bad taste?

 

The “contemporary cruiser” are the millennials that the cruise line is targeting to hook and sustain the business for the decades to come. Old farts like us will dump our money into the cruise lines until we are no longer physically able to cruise,,, regardless of the entertainment. 
 

Not bad taste, contemporary tastes. 
 

Those who believe that a pool is not for swimming, it is to stand in with a foo foo drink and be seen. 
 

Those who believe that because the cruise line offers Specialty dining, you should spend money on it every night because you don’t want to be seen in the MDR. 
 

These who believe spending money on the Vibe, just because it is a cool thing, but never really use it. 
 

Things have gone full circle. When we first started cruising, there was nothing better than paying to reserve a hard wooden deck chair, flash some cash to tip the pool attendant to set it up for you, and sit there in your finest dayware, then decide it was uncomfortable and continue your constitutional around the ship. 
 

It is all about attracting new customers. 
 

NCL has been the innovator in establishing the next generation cruise experience. But that is sacrilegious to the old time cruisers like us.
 

Change???? Bad!  

 

If you look over at Royal (where we are Diamond+ members and cruise on a couple of times a year), they are desperately playing catch up with the icon now launching. They have kinda figured out that all of the cost and effort to do a midnight balloon drop attracts very few. 
 

We are also top tier on Cunard and will sail there when we want an old time cruise experience. 
 

[graphicguy]

Diamond on Royal.  Last couple of cruises I took with them it seemed like chaos.  Weak and disjointed Aqua Theater shows.  270 shows were little more than rehearsals we could sit and watch.

 

The final straw was the Solarium Bistro being closed the entire week and the Windjammer Buffet actually being "sold out".  They even had a sign up not allowing anyone else in to the Windjammer.

 

Decided to put RCCL on hiatus for a few years.

 

Cunard....I dunno....I just can't bring myself to do the whole rigid specific dining times and dressing up routine.  Personally, I'm well past doing all of that on my cruises.

 

Have dabbled my toes into MSC waters.  It's been 50-50 whether I have a good experience or a bad experience, sometimes on the same cruise.

 

I like Celebrity.  Their fares have been way prohibitive.  And, I shop cruise fares a lot.  They've been consistently high.

 

Carnival......well....Carnival is Carnival.  I have to be in a certain mood to book them.  I haven't been in that mood for a little while.

 

NCL, while not perfect, has been hitting all the right buttons recently.

[david_sobe]

ICONS.  Is that a licensed contracted show from somewhere or is a NCL created show with their own performers.

Burn the Floor is also a NCL created show?  When the Breakaway class debuted is when the NCL created shows started creeping back.  I am not making a judgment against the shows but realize those shows are much less expensive than the contracted licensed shows they used to get.

[dexddd]

I also went to spelling bee in fourth or fifth grade.  Could not sleep all night.     First word to me was 'contemporary'.  I botched it even asking for use in a sentence 'what will the contemporary cruiser look like in 2024'.

 

I guess our two kids fall into millennial bracket.  Unless we are paying and they have time off, a cruise is not on top of list of things to do.  Their friends, neither.

 

At work, only three of us out of a few hundred cruise.  One old fart like me, one 40ish.  I get very few requests from anyone about cruises.  Once in awhile DW will have a co-worker ask.  Her sister just sailed BA and said never again.  To top it off, she got Corona a week after getting home.

 

I can't give any fair input though as lately we've been sailing off season on longer trips so it has been mostly old farts like us.  I will say it does seem like more non US folks though.

 

 

[dexddd]

Looks like from quick web search Jean Ann Ryan still doing shows.  How about trying them?

[UKstages]

7 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The “contemporary cruiser” are the millennials that the cruise line is targeting to hook and sustain the business for the decades to come. Old farts like us will dump our money into the cruise lines until we are no longer physically able to cruise,,, regardless of the entertainment.

 

thank you very much for your considered and thoughtful explanation of who you believe the contemporary cruiser is. i don't agree with much of it, especially being thrown into the mix with a bunch of "old farts like us." (or perhaps you were talking just about the birds; it's difficult to say.)

 

in any case, i would caution you not to make broad strokes generalizations about any market segment or demographic. most assumptions and generally accepted "facts" about generation x or hen z or millennials or any other age group have simply not proven out. all the "data" contradicts.  i point you to the work of jessica kriegel, in particular her book "unfairly labeled," which shatters the commonly accepted beliefs about generational dynamics.

 

in brief: it is wrong to assume that people born within a ten or twenty year period all share the same tastes and values. there are baby boomers with a sense of entitlement, just as there are millennials with a sense of entitlement... and on and on. baby boomers left their jobs after just a few years when they were the same age as millennials now... but somehow only millennials are branded as less loyal. some millennials like game shows and hot tubs and specialty dining on NCL ships and some do not. and the percentage of boomers who like those same things is probably pretty similar to the millennials. most of the "research" that "proves" the generational divide is bogus. by the way, some millennials are 23 years old and some are 41 years old... what do you suppose they truly have in common?

 

and, for the record, this is as it ever was... socrates was complaining about the younger generation 2000 years ago!

[vacation44]

9 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The “contemporary cruiser” are the millennials that the cruise line is targeting to hook and sustain the business for the decades to come. Old farts like us will dump our money into the cruise lines until we are no longer physically able to cruise,,, regardless of the entertainment. 
 

Not bad taste, contemporary tastes. 
 

Those who believe that a pool is not for swimming, it is to stand in with a foo foo drink and be seen. 
 

Those who believe that because the cruise line offers Specialty dining, you should spend money on it every night because you don’t want to be seen in the MDR. 
 

These who believe spending money on the Vibe, just because it is a cool thing, but never really use it. 

 

Respectfully disagree with your assessment of the contemporary cruiser.

[SomewhereGirl]

WTH did I just read?  Millennials (aka Contemporary Cruisers) would rather watch Wheel of Fortune than a show like Six, Rock of Ages, or things like that?  Because I'm sure they're sitting hope watching W of F on TV daily.

[PATRLR]

14 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

WTH did I just read?  Millennials (aka Contemporary Cruisers) would rather watch Wheel of Fortune than a show like Six, Rock of Ages, or things like that?  Because I'm sure they're sitting hope watching W of F on TV daily.

Right!  Great summation.

Some people on this board should stick to posting marketing pictures and leave the socio-economic analysis of various generations to the professionals.  IMO.

[graphicguy]

14 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

WTH did I just read?  Millennials (aka Contemporary Cruisers) would rather watch Wheel of Fortune than a show like Six, Rock of Ages, or things like that?  Because I'm sure they're sitting hope watching W of F on TV daily.

Lots of folks just do not like change.  And, if you give them the "comforts" of their daily routing (e.g. Wheel of Fortune), well....they're happy campers.  Just look at the responses have been talking about changing the typical buffet experience, or the changes on the Prima compared to NCL's other ships.   Heck, it's been nearly two decades since NCL has changed their formal dress requirements, and some are still bemoaning its demise.

 

People like "same 'ol" on their cruises.

 

Personally?  I like new and different.  I much prefer to sail new and different ships, with different layouts, different dining, different looks throughout the ship, different venues.

 

I get the hand wrnging over the entertainment changes.  But, I'm also cognizant that some like the entertainment options offered with some of these new shows.

[SoloAlaska]

Millenial cruiser here. The reason we go to specialty dinning is because it actually has flavor instead of the bland food the MDR. We are not the ones going to the game shows that is targeted towards a much older demographic. Pools are meant for enjoying which does not mean just one person swimming laps. Millennials are not the problem we are the next cruise generation. 

[RocketMan275]

15 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

WTH did I just read?  Millennials (aka Contemporary Cruisers) would rather watch Wheel of Fortune than a show like Six, Rock of Ages, or things like that?  Because I'm sure they're sitting hope watching W of F on TV daily.

I'm a boomer, not a millenial, and I would prefer watching a game show than Six, Rock of ages, or Syds.