Sadly now NCL has the worst entertainment of all major lines

[New2cruise2022]

9 hours ago, Menocchio said:

I was on the Bliss last week. I really enjoyed Jersey Boys, that was top notch even if I could see the seams where they pared it down from the original production.

 

Icons was not my cup of tea at all. It's just a bunch of songs without any narrative or theme. The singers were talented enough, but the arrangement was poor and the choreography uninspired. Some of the best songs from the last century of American music, all without any of the edge or liveliness that made them immortal.

 

I went to two of the four Beatles shows (the had three representing different eras of the Beatles and one greatest hits show), Sargent Pepper's on the main stage and Let it Be in the Cavern club. I found that a lot of fun, even though I strongly suspect those guys weren't actually the real Beatles. Unlike Icons, they ably and faithfully kept what made that music great instead of merely relying on nostalgia. Some fun patter between numbers.

 

Comedians were fine. I've seen better, I've seen worse. I think one of them was reaching a little to make sure his 18+ show material was actually R rated, but he was fine.

 

I got very frustrated when the host gave the wrong answer to a trivia question. So I think I need to stay away from those shows. I can't trust them to be right or myself to let it go when they aren't. I had a blast with karaoke, even if strangely they didn't provide my best songs (where's the Lizzo?).

 

The house bands were pretty good, though I didn't stick around to really listen to any of them. I particularly liked the country band Big Iron that mostly played in the Q Smokehouse. 

 

So overall, a pretty decent showing on entertainment. But Jersey Boys was really the highlight, and I'm aware it's one of the few full Broadway experiences left on NCL. 

Was karaoke offered nightly or just here and there?

[Menocchio]

12 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

Was karaoke offered nightly or just here and there?

I believe it was nightly, in various formats and venues. I only went to a couple of them. 

[schmoopie17]

18 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

 I'm not willing to stand in line for an hour for Sid Normans. Somebody with better knees and feet might be able to do that comfortably.  

We were on the Escape last month and went to Syd's twice. Both times we sat in Tobacco Road and when we saw the line start to form, we got up and stood in line (for no more than 10 minutes before the line started to move.) Once the 30, or so, people in line got inside, there was no line and people just strolled in afterward.

[graphicguy]

32 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

We were on the Escape last month and went to Syd's twice. Both times we sat in Tobacco Road and when we saw the line start to form, we got up and stood in line (for no more than 10 minutes before the line started to move.) Once the 30, or so, people in line got inside, there was no line and people just strolled in afterward.

That's what I do.  I went to 3 of their shows.  One is a rock show covering songs from the '70s-'80s.  One was the RUMOURS show.  And the last one was PROM.  All were outstanding.

 

Have a few drinks.  The line starts forming.  I jump in about 10-15 minutes before the doors open.  Unless it's IMPERATIVE you sit in the front row (which I've also done), there really isn't a bad seat in the house.

 

You get there at showtime, and it's SRO, if you can get in at all.

 

Again, some of the best entertainment I've seen at sea....along with MDQ and COM.

 

In the Smokehouse, the country band is always really good, too.

 

Really looking forward to the PRINCE show they have planned.  I think I remember a behind the scenes Stage Director mentioning they had a couple more productions in the works, but was not allowed to mention them yet.  I recall her saying they were focusing on one popular performer's work (like Prince or Fleetwood Mac) and making an entire production out of it.

 

Looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

[Markanddonna]

On 10/17/2024 at 11:02 AM, wolft927 said:

I prefer back in the day when the ships had The Jean Anne Ryan Company on all their ships for productions shows.

Those were the golden ages for NCL.

[Markanddonna]

Just got on board the Gem and the headline is a comedian. I heard that he performs 4 out of the seven nights. Unheard of!

[New2cruise2022]

28 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

Just got on board the Gem and the headline is a comedian. I heard that he performs 4 out of the seven nights. Unheard of!

Hopefully he brings the funny. 

[graphicguy]

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/gem/whats-on-board/Entertainment:

[mek]

On 10/17/2024 at 12:39 AM, BirdTravels said:

People cancelling cruises because they don't like the show onboard??? Unlikely. 

 

We were just on RCCL's newest ship and all they had production shows. Like Elements. It was good, but not a broadway show. 

IMHO, nothing comes close to the entertainment options offered on Royal.  I love the Oasis and up class of ships.  Not saying I can't have a great time on other ships/lines,  but I really thought the entertainment was lacking on my recent Joy cruise, although I did miss the Beatles show, which I understand is very good.

[cincicruisers]

I like to have the choice of entertainment in the evening.  I won’t say I cruise solely for the entertainment offered but I want some type of show every night.

[BirdTravels]

41 minutes ago, mek said:

IMHO, nothing comes close to the entertainment options offered on Royal.  I love the Oasis and up class of ships.  Not saying I can't have a great time on other ships/lines,  but I really thought the entertainment was lacking on my recent Joy cruise, although I did miss the Beatles show, which I understand is very good.

I suppose you could consider icon ships “up” from oasis class ships. We were just on the brand new Utopia of the Seas (Oasis class) and thought their production show in the theater was “ok”. Old school cruising entertainment if you were expecting a Broadway show. Both the main theater and Aqua show had super-sized casts,,, which I don’t think that RCCL will continue. 6 (marginal) vocalists for a production show seemed a bit much. 


 

[ggTexasGal]

On 10/17/2024 at 8:47 AM, Gatordad1967 said:

last time we were on NCL, the entertainment was pretty good.  i never go to shows, but the isle of man or whatever it was called was excellent.  then they all got covid.

Were you referring to "Choir of Man"?

[UKstages]

 

On 10/17/2024 at 4:28 PM, DCGuy64 said:

Shows aren't what we cruise for, but we've actually seen some pretty good ones on NCL: Priscilla Queen of the Desert on one cruise and Six on the last one.

 

that is precisely the point expressed throughout this thread. both of the shows you enjoyed are no longer being performed on any NCL ship.

 

On 10/17/2024 at 11:07 AM, Menocchio said:

I found that a lot of fun, even though I strongly suspect those guys weren't actually the real Beatles.

 

only haven customers get the real beatles.

 

although rumor has it that, due to cutbacks, they will soon be replaced by the monkees. 

 

🎵🎶 🎸🎶 🎵🎶 🎸🎶 🎵🎶 🎸🎶 🎵🎶 🎸🎶

 

"hey, hey, we're the monkees... and harry asked us to sail NCL... but he's too busy counting nickels... to hear the gloomy death knell... we're just tryin' to be friendly, contemporary cruisers listen to us sing all day... but not on the fleet of NCL, because game shows we won't play!"

 

🎸🎶 🎵🎶 🎸🎶 🎵🎶 🎸🎶 🎵🎶 🎸🎶 🎵🎶

[complawyer]

ukstages... please, please, please keep your day job, and living on the beach.. if you dont like the entertainment offered, dont go. Since the longest show ( i believe) is only 90 minutes, i'm certain you can find something else on a HUGE cruise ship to occupy your time.  In  the alternative, if you in fact choose not to go,... problem solved!

 

If entertainment is not to your liking, or meet your standards or approval. will this really adversely affect your enjoyment of the cruise in general? Hopefully not!

[shof515]

I really miss rock of ages on the breakaway. Would love to see that show again

[snoozcroozr]

On 10/17/2024 at 2:57 PM, Travelling2Some said:

We live in New York City and agree with your opinion.  However, our taste in entertainment does not suddenly change when we board a ship.  It's not an "either/or" situation - we prefer Broadway style shows both on land and sea. 

We use to go to broadway shows more or less regularly, so we always enjoyed it, but the frequency have gone way down due to being busy with other aspects of our life.  Going on the cruise ship allows us to relive that experience again without planning way ahead and making a full day event out of it.  Its literally just blocking a couple of hours of our time and try to work dinner around it.

 

The last time we went to see a broadway show, which was a few years ago, there were 9 of us, so we can either book seats on the floor, all scattered around for $3k or 9 across on the upper mezzanine for $2k.  We settled for the nosebleeds and basically saw an action figure sized performers running around.  Many non-musical theater attuned members couldn't follow the dialogue (talking or singing) or didn't know what was going on, so that's a bust for them.  A couple of the same members were on a cruise with us, and we can easily get 10th row center on these broadway production shows by showing up 15min early.  Even though they still can't follow the dialogue, the up front seats gave all of us a completely different musical experience.  On some other shows, I would even go closer, if the expression of the performers is of importance.

 

 

[poohdreaming]

On 10/17/2024 at 10:48 AM, EllieinNJ said:

Don't be too surprised if they do.  They did it to us in February, 2023 on the Getaway.  When we got to the NYC pier they first told us that Bermuda was cancelled and that our only stop would be a stop in Nassau from 9pm to 2am because they had to stop somewhere foreign.

 

Agree. I was on this sailing too. NCL can still change things. It all depends on the weather during your sailing. Ours were canceled in Feb 23 due to the weather. Basically a cruise to no where as it was a short cruise. 9 pm to Nassau - cannot really do anything. Some cruisers did get off to just walk around the port to take a picture of the cruise ship. Some did went outside of the port to like the casino.

 

To each own - planning or canceling a cruise with entertainment or not. Same with the itineraries. If you plan a cruise because of places of ports, you might want to not consider NCL. If it just to relax and go with the flow, then it would be fine.

 

There are so so many cruise lines out there to compare and factor in. It all depends on where you want to cruise out of.

[D_And_K_gocruising]

17 minutes ago, poohdreaming said:

 

 

 

To each own - planning or canceling a cruise with entertainment or not. Same with the itineraries. If you plan a cruise because of places of ports, you might want to not consider aNy Cruise Line. If it just to relax and go with the flow, then it would be fine.

 

There are so so many cruise lines out there to compare and factor in. It all depends on where you want to cruise out of.

Fixed it for you..

Sure, at this point NCL seems to be having some strange itinerary changes, cannot argue with that, but if a port is a make or break for your whole vacation, or some entertainment will make or break your vacation, a cruise is probably not what you should be choosing.  

[graphicguy]

16 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

I suppose you could consider icon ships “up” from oasis class ships. We were just on the brand new Utopia of the Seas (Oasis class) and thought their production show in the theater was “ok”. Old school cruising entertainment if you were expecting a Broadway show. Both the main theater and Aqua show had super-sized casts,,, which I don’t think that RCCL will continue. 6 (marginal) vocalists for a production show seemed a bit much. 


 

I like Royal entertainment.  Is it better than NCL?  Can't make that claim.  Biggest issue with the water shows on Oasis Class, it's tough to get a decent seat unless you get there 2 hours early.  Lots of chair hogs, for certain.  

 

That said, I'm not a big diving fan.  I enjoyed watching their practices more than I did the actual shows.  Same for the shows in 270º.  The practices were fun to watch but unless you actually park your carcass (or your book that's never been opened) on the chair you want, it's tough to get a decent seat.  The last two Royal cruises I was on, 270º shows were cancelled because of equipment issues.

 

Didn't make any of the shows bad, just not to my liking.

 

I did like the skating shows, though.

Edited Saturday at 01:53 PM by graphicguy

[capecruzer]

Went on the SUN to Alaska the end of August and the entertainment was abysmal.  Couple of game shows at night.  Nothing to do on the sea or half days unless you enjoying drinking or gambling.  I was fine, can keep myself occupied at a martini bar and a slot machine but my daughter was bored to tears.

[ChiefMateJRK]

On 10/16/2024 at 7:01 PM, brad0576 said:

Personally I prefer quality musicians throughout the ship in the atrium and lounges than a broadway-style show…. 

Yes! Yes! And yes!  I’m on Bliss as I type.  We have five deep quality acts (and Jersey Boys which is fantastic). Siglo, Archie, Anfisa, Electric Eclectic duo and a great country group from New Zealand who did great Johnny Cash.  You can’t top this. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

32 minutes ago, capecruzer said:

Went on the SUN to Alaska the end of August and the entertainment was abysmal.  Couple of game shows at night.  Nothing to do on the sea or half days unless you enjoying drinking or gambling.  I was fine, can keep myself occupied at a martini bar and a slot machine but my daughter was bored to tears.

Tears?  Really?

[ChiefMateJRK]

22 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Yes! Yes! And yes!  I’m on Bliss as I type.  We have five deep quality acts (and Jersey Boys which is fantastic). Siglo, Archie, Anfisa, Electric Eclectic duo and a great country group from New Zealand who did great Johnny Cash.  You can’t top this. 

My bad. I left out Latin Fire duo. Literally, too many great entertainers to keep track of. 😎
 

ETA: and I am SO glad I will never have to endure Priscilla, Kinky or Six again.🤣

Edited Saturday at 07:27 PM by ChiefMateJRK