Silent disco & headline the band taking over?

[NMTraveller]

For the Princess karaoke they had a contest at the end in the main theater where they picked a winner.  Does Celebrity do the same?  The contest was rather entertaining and a full theater.  The karaoke not as much.

 

My brother-in-law won one of these contests on Carnival.  He has played in a band for many years.  The top singers can be rather good.

Edited August 4 by NMTraveller

[markeb]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

Do they have a "party band"?   What  do they play, where and when?  

 

I believe, live music runs in cycles..not the same for all ships.

 

The last few ships I've been on had a "party band". That actually seems to be the terminology they use to recruit bands. Same as a lot of the house bands in the past. I found a listing on one of the recruiting and placement sites for a "Party Band" (without the click here to apply link). 

 

Party Bands
4-piece party bands must include drums, bass, at least one chordal instrument, and at least two vocalists (although the more vocals, the merrier). 5 and 6-piece bands boast an additional lead vocalist. If your band can jump from Motown to country to ‘80’s rock to Beyonce without breaking a sweat...

 

That's kind of what most of them have done for music. Eagles to 80's power ballads. A couple of the bands attempted Adele. And one of them did some softer 90's rock. On S-Class they're usually in the Grand Foyer, and they cycle them through on short sets (45 minutes). Celebrity tends to chop up music acts so they never really get going.

 

I've also seen them poolside instead of the Caribbean themed band. Depends.

[rcrabb1513]

On 8/1/2024 at 9:30 PM, bandp407 said:

Headline the the band is basically karaoke. On Princess they have a dedicated lounge, on Celebrity not so. Celebrity uses the Sky Lounge in most cases. The Sky Lounge is a wonderful lounge for dancing and listening to the wonderful bands, but no longer the case. Silent Disco & Headline the Band have taken over! 

You should find a new cruise line that will make you happier.

[Tom and Ingrid]

Just off Silhouette, and the main band was Kuta Beat who played multiple times per day across multiple locations - mainly the Foyer and the Sky Lounge. Here are the activity sheets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 9 by Tom and Ingrid

[bandp407]

Thank you very much for posting these planners! Hope you had a wonderful cruise!

[hcat]

Live Music of all genres on ASCENT was outstanding..not sure who picks the talent...

[OysterD]

Headline the Band on Beyond last year was, I believe, just a once per cruise event that was held in The Club. We were actually shocked at how good some of our fellow passengers were! If you just walked in without knowing what was going on you'd think at least half the passengers who got up to sing were actually members of the band. 

[Travel-and-See]

the key issue for me is the "take over" - one of the reasons I like Virgin is the ship is designed so that events take place in certain sections of the ship and do not take over the entire ship (except for Scarlet Night - but even with that, different sections of the ship feature different styles of entertainment). 

 

I'm sure the Silent Disco is fun for those who enjoy it, but don't takeover the entire atrium of such a classy ship - it just comes off as tacky to me. Let the jazz band play - that's the right mood and people love them! 

[keesar]

2 hours ago, Travel-and-See said:

the key issue for me is the "take over" - one of the reasons I like Virgin is the ship is designed so that events take place in certain sections of the ship and do not take over the entire ship (except for Scarlet Night - but even with that, different sections of the ship feature different styles of entertainment). 

 

I'm sure the Silent Disco is fun for those who enjoy it, but don't takeover the entire atrium of such a classy ship - it just comes off as tacky to me. Let the jazz band play - that's the right mood and people love them! 

Typically, you see about a dozen couples dancing on the small dance floor in the Atrium.  That is about all that can fit in that small space.  There are many more being able to dance to the sounds of the Silent Disco.  I see it more as another cruise ship activity rather than "a takeover".  And people who are participating in the Silent Disco  also feel that is the right mood and love that activity.

[PTC DAWG]

8 hours ago, Travel-and-See said:

the key issue for me is the "take over" - one of the reasons I like Virgin is the ship is designed so that events take place in certain sections of the ship and do not take over the entire ship (except for Scarlet Night - but even with that, different sections of the ship feature different styles of entertainment). 

 

I'm sure the Silent Disco is fun for those who enjoy it, but don't takeover the entire atrium of such a classy ship - it just comes off as tacky to me. Let the jazz band play - that's the right mood and people love them! 

Jazz band comes out, I’m leaving..

[markeb]

8 hours ago, Travel-and-See said:

the key issue for me is the "take over" - one of the reasons I like Virgin is the ship is designed so that events take place in certain sections of the ship and do not take over the entire ship (except for Scarlet Night - but even with that, different sections of the ship feature different styles of entertainment). 

 

I'm sure the Silent Disco is fun for those who enjoy it, but don't takeover the entire atrium of such a classy ship - it just comes off as tacky to me. Let the jazz band play - that's the right mood and people love them! 

 

It's 45 minutes and it's one of the most heavily attended events of every cruise I've been on that does one. I've seen the jazz duos and string quartets in the Grand Foyer. Crickets...

[PTC DAWG]

27 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

It's 45 minutes and it's one of the most heavily attended events of every cruise I've been on that does one. I've seen the jazz duos and string quartets in the Grand Foyer. Crickets...

They know what most folks like…and it isn’t a jazz quartet that sounds like they are tuning up. 

[Travel-and-See]

2 hours ago, markeb said:

 

It's 45 minutes and it's one of the most heavily attended events of every cruise I've been on that does one. I've seen the jazz duos and string quartets in the Grand Foyer. Crickets...

The jazz trios I've seen on Celebrity have been quite good and always had good and appreciative crowds.  Didn't realize there was so much hate for Jazz! haha.  

 

I guess that is why Celebrity has the Jazz band some nights, and the Silent Disco on others... we all like different things 🙂

 

 

 

[sasset]

Celebrity has booked Ray Brown Jr. trio in the past but I haven't seen him booked in several years.

[Tom and Ingrid]

I think live music (strings, jazz, guitar) really shines in places like the Rendezvous or the Ensemble lounges.  We usually spend our CC happy hour drinking in those quiet places listening to the live music.

 

Silent Disco or Karaoke are much better suited for the Sky Lounge or, for SD (and ABBA night), the Grand Foyer.  I generally think X does a good job spreading the events out on the ship. I would like more live "rock" music - especially on the pool deck in the late evening. We had a fun cruise to the Aruba/Curacao that had a visiting rock band as one of the show, but they also did a show up on the pool deck which was as good or better than the show they did in the theater, since they were able to improvise much more and interact more with the crowd.  Usually, it's just a DJ or the main house band playing up there. 

 

Honestly, though, "butts in seats" is likely what X uses to adjust their entertainment. Silent Disco and ABBA sing-along, hands down, have 10x or 20x the participants of a jazz show (or any live music show).  If you're the activities director and you see three couples dancing around the foyer for a live music show one night, and 100 people loudly singing & dancing along to three different songs on SD night, I think you get the message.

[OysterD]

17 hours ago, Travel-and-See said:

 

I'm sure the Silent Disco is fun for those who enjoy it, but don't takeover the entire atrium of such a classy ship - it just comes off as tacky to me. Let the jazz band play - that's the right mood and people love them! 

I do have to disagree with that, the atrium especially on S class ships is perfect for the Silent Disco and also ABBA night. It's great to see (and be amongst) hundreds of people dancing, singing and enjoying themselves on 3 or 4 different levels (and going up and down in the glass elevators!). If it was just a jazz band there the place would be almost deserted with a handful of couples dancing on the lower deck. The jazz band and similarly the other bands they have play around the ships are better suited to the ensemble lounge or the sunset bar where that style of music is much more conducive to just sitting back in a comfy chair relaxing with a cocktail. 

 

Question for everyone though, is there any rhyme or reason to when the pool deck is used for a Silent Disco or other late evening live music event? On Reflection 2yrs ago the pool deck was used I think 3 evenings for events like that but last year on Beyond there was nothing up on the pool deck. Both cruises were in September in the Med, weather was the same (warm and perfect) on both cruises but for some reason on Beyond the pool deck wasn't used at night, which was a shame.

[Travel-and-See]

I think this goes back to the issue - what is the Celebrity brand? 

 

For me... sitting around the atrium and listening to jazz or big band play is the definition of the Celebrity experience. Others seem to think that shouldn't happen because nobody likes them? Even though others, like me, are always listening to them and they create a great vibe in the classy atrium! 

 

Silent Diso is fine in the club - again those who enjoy it have fun! But having it "takeover" the ship is not in line with my image of Celebrity...  if Celebrity doesn't want to be Celebrity... who do they want to be? 

[OysterD]

31 minutes ago, Travel-and-See said:

I think this goes back to the issue - what is the Celebrity brand? 

 

For me... sitting around the atrium and listening to jazz or big band play is the definition of the Celebrity experience. Others seem to think that shouldn't happen because nobody likes them? Even though others, like me, are always listening to them and they create a great vibe in the classy atrium! 

 

Silent Diso is fine in the club - again those who enjoy it have fun! But having it "takeover" the ship is not in line with my image of Celebrity...  if Celebrity doesn't want to be Celebrity... who do they want to be? 

 

I don't think a giant open space spanning multiple decks is the right place at 10 or 11pm for what is basically background music. 

 

I'm in my early 40s, the 'vibe' on Celebrity is perfect for me and friends I've travelled with. We want the opportunity to relax which X provides in many areas of their ships at all times of day, but at the same time we don't go to bed at 10pm and prefer the ships to have a bit of atmosphere and to be somewhat lively in the evenings. Walking through the atrium or sitting at the martini bar at 10pm with just some background jazz music playing from the floor below is far too sleepy for my liking. Its the type of vibe you'd expect on cunard or silversea etc. with images of 80yr olds falling asleep or sat in silence springing to mind. 

 

There are times and places for all types of music, and I think Celebrity has just the right mix. Plus the livelier they keep the atrium, the more drinks they'll sell at the martini and passport bars! 

 

Recently booked on Silhouette for this September, after spending many hours watching countless videos, reviews, ship tours and reading reviews on other cruise lines and ships just to see if maybe we should try something different. But no, I think Celebrity is just the right fit.

 

[Travel-and-See]

3 minutes ago, OysterD said:

I don't think a giant open space spanning multiple decks is the right place at 10 or 11pm for what is basically background music. 

Have you not experienced this? Like I'm describing something that happens... not something I dreamed up haha.