A Journey to the 90s, 80s, 70s, and beyond? My 2025 Music Adventures

[Honolulu Blue]

Hi everyone.  Thank you for coming to my new thread based on the 2025 musical adventures (mostly cruises) that I will have in 2025.  This will supplement the thread of my musical adventures for this year (2024) that I have here: 

 

 

To establish my background, in case you're not familiar with it, I took 2 music charter cruises in 2022 (Ultimate Disco Cruise and The 80s Cruise) and 2023 (same two).  So far in 2024 I have taken one (The 80s Cruise), but I will be embarking on one later this week (70s Rock and Romance Cruise) and another next month (McDonald LaBelle Cruise).  Details about those cruises are in the thread I linked above.  In addition, I took a couple of 80s themed cruises on Princess in 2021 and 2023 that had plenty of music from that decade, much of it from tribute bands - but really good ones, IMHO.

 

OK, now for 2025.  The first cruise I have scheduled sails at the end of January - The 90s Cruise.  Here's the lineup so far:

 

 

It's a short cruise (5 days) out of Tampa on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas that goes to Cozumel and Costa Maya.

 

Moving along, two weeks after I disembark from that cruise, I'll be shuffling along to Miami for the return of the Ultimate Disco Cruise.  It's another short, 5-day cruise that goes to Cozumel and Costa Maya on the Norwegian Pearl.  Here's that lineup:

 

 

And 6 days later, guess what?  It's time to change eras again - back to the 80s for the latest edition of The 80s Cruise.  This one goes from Miami to Nassau, San Juan, and Labadee (yes, we all have doubts about that latter stop - but a year is a long time). And here's that lineup:

 

 

Also under consideration is a repeat journey on Rock and Romance in 2025.  I won't detail the lineup for that one, since I'm so uncertain about going on that cruise.

 

There will be much more to say about these cruises and their lineups at a later time.  For now, I just wanted to establish this thread before I get too busy with other things.

 

Edited March 11 by Honolulu Blue

[Honolulu Blue]

I finally got a chance to look at the full planned itinerary for The 80s Cruuse. Here it is:

 

Day 1, embark Miami @ 4 pm

Day 2, Nassau, 7 am - 4 pm

Day 3, sea day

Day 4, San Juan, 10 am - 11:59 pm

Day 5, sea day

Day 6, Labadee, 8 am - 5 pm

Day 7, sea day

Day 8, return @ 6 am

 

Again, I have my doubts about whether we'll make it to Labadee, but let's go with what they have for now. It looks like our day in San Juan will be the day some of our artists transfer to and from the ship. And from there, there are severalnice islands tostop if they feel a need to replace Labadee for whatever reason. 

[Honolulu Blue]

Sixthman is trying something a little different with their recently sold out cruises Rock the Bells and Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea.  Instead of maintaining a waiting list, they're introducing First Available Cabins.  Allow me to try to explain what's going on...

 

Rather than booking a specific cabin (because there are no specific cabins available), you can book a cabin in a category (interior, ocean view, balcony).  There's no discount for this, but if they can't find a cabin before sailing, they'll refund your money, give you $1000 in Sixthman credit, and get priority booking for other Sixthman events.  

 

It sounds like they're trying to sell a guarantee cabin like regular cruise lines do on some of their regular sailings.  But usually the cruise lines will reward those who purchase a guarantee with a discounted price.  I guess Sixthman, at least on these sailings, are assuming we're too happy to get on a currently full ship to worry about little things like the cabin.  I'm somewhat finicky about cabin location, etc., so this option wouldn't make me happy, but I think this will get some takers.

[rigs32]

If you were on the waiting list and got the call that a cabin was available, you wouldn't have much (if any) choice in the matter regarding cabin location anyway.

 

They've had events with thousands of people on the waiting list, so it's just not workable for some of their events now.  I would sign up for First Available only if I just wanted to get on the boat and didn't care about what cabin I had.

[Honolulu Blue]

40 minutes ago, rigs32 said:

If you were on the waiting list and got the call that a cabin was available, you wouldn't have much (if any) choice in the matter regarding cabin location anyway.

 

They've had events with thousands of people on the waiting list, so it's just not workable for some of their events now.  I would sign up for First Available only if I just wanted to get on the boat and didn't care about what cabin I had.

 

Thanks for the perspective on the Sixthman cruise waiting lists.  And I agree with your conclusions about who the First Available program is most useful for.

[NinS]

So while @Honolulu Blue is starting their week on Rock and Romance there was some big '25 cruise news: The Soul Train Cruise has added a fall '25 sailing. This is what the email said:

So… we’re excited to share that we’re planning a second sailing of the 2025 Soul Train Cruise, to sail in the fall, NOVEMBER 9-16, 2025 out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL aboard Holland America Line’s Eurodam.

The decision to sail in November 2025 is contingent upon guest demand and we will judge that demand by asking for deposits from guests. We will assess the demand and confirm if we are sailing no later than June 14th, 2024. Should we decide not to sail, your deposit will be fully refunded within 30 days of our notice on June 14th.

 

No details about itinerary (which I don't care about) or artists (which is all I care about) was provided. I decided to leap at the chance to get a single inside cabin, and now I'm going to get cancel for any reason insurance. I'd be thrilled with a replication of the lineup for the Jan '25 cruise which I couldn't get an inside cabin for, but I don't think that will be the case.

[Honolulu Blue]

16 hours ago, NinS said:

So while @Honolulu Blue is starting their week on Rock and Romance there was some big '25 cruise news: The Soul Train Cruise has added a fall '25 sailing. This is what the email said:

So… we’re excited to share that we’re planning a second sailing of the 2025 Soul Train Cruise, to sail in the fall, NOVEMBER 9-16, 2025 out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL aboard Holland America Line’s Eurodam.

The decision to sail in November 2025 is contingent upon guest demand and we will judge that demand by asking for deposits from guests. We will assess the demand and confirm if we are sailing no later than June 14th, 2024. Should we decide not to sail, your deposit will be fully refunded within 30 days of our notice on June 14th.

 

No details about itinerary (which I don't care about) or artists (which is all I care about) was provided. I decided to leap at the chance to get a single inside cabin, and now I'm going to get cancel for any reason insurance. I'd be thrilled with a replication of the lineup for the Jan '25 cruise which I couldn't get an inside cabin for, but I don't think that will be the case.

Thanks for posting this. I just turned on the Net for the day and came here first.

 

It's interesting that they did this, of course. I'll give you credit for seeding the idea in my mind, though it had been obvious for several years that there was enough STC demand for at least one more cruise per year.

 

I really like the lineup SV have had for Soul Trains in the past, and I like the fact that it's away from the other music charters I have scheduled (which may or may not include the 2025 edition of this one). That said, I'm going to pass up this opportunity and make them make me regret this.

[Honolulu Blue]

A very quick look at how the music themed cruises I'm booked on for 2025 are doing booking-wise:

 

• The 90s Cruise - booking percentage unknown, but probably less than 80%.  Solo-dedicated studio cabins sold out, though not the special rate for singles.  Most suites sold out, most other classes have availability.
• Ultimate Disco Cruise - latest rumors show the UDC down to its last 100 cabins, which puts it at over 80% full.  Only balcony suites and interiors show as available.
• The 80s Cruise - they advertise over 80% full at their main site.  Interiors are almost all gone.  Ditto suites and OVs.  Balconies are available, though some categories are waitlisted.

[Honolulu Blue]

Southwest has opened up flight bookings through early March.  I used this window to book several of my flights to/from my 2025 cruise cities. This ate into my current stack of miles, though I'll make up much of it with spending over the next year. One leg I left open because I didn't like SWA's available flights, and one leg won't be available to be booked on Southwest until early August.

Edited Thursday at 10:40 PM by Honolulu Blue