Would You Pay For A Concert At Sea?

Carnival Cruise Lines have come up with an interesting new twist in onboard entertainment, announcing earlier today their Carnival LIVE Concert Series.

It promises an impressive line-up of rock and pop talent for a one-off concert aboard one of eight of their ships, with the likes of Jennifer Hudson (above, at the New York announcement today of the Concert Series), Daughtry, Chicago, Martina McBride, Olivia Newton-John and REO Speedwagon all appearing.

It is a lot of talent to set before a cruise ship audience and should definitely appeal to fans of the many 1970s and 80s bands being featured.

Each concert will take place in the ship's main theatre on one of 49 dates throughout 2014, at three ports of call, namely Cozumel, Mexico, Nassau, in the Bahamas, and Catalina Island, California. The headline artist will fly in for the show, then leave again the next day as the ship overnights in that port.

So far, so good, and very impressive and forward-thinking. But now comes the kicker - Carnival will sell tickets for each show, at $20-$40, with special 'VIP packages' at $100-$150, with front-row seats and the chance to meet with the evening's artist(s).

And it begs the question - would you pay extra for an evening's entertainment aboard ship?

OK, we already pay a supplement for speciality dining on nearly all ships these days (in the non-luxury segment). But is there room to start charging for the entertainment, too?

Carnival clearly think their audience will go for it and are presenting it as a big breakthrough in sea-going excitement. And, with only a limited amount of seats available for the one-off concerts, it's hard not to think they will have plenty of takers.

In addition to the Carnival LIVE Concert Series, Carnival is also enhancing its popular shipboard house bands. The bands will feature both male and female lead singers, a more choreographed, themed and diverse set list, and increased interaction with guests. Nine Carnival ships currently feature the new bands, with implementation across the full fleet over the course of this year.

Mark Tamis, senior vice president of guest operations for Carnival Cruise Lines, explained: “Onboard entertainment is an important part of the overall guest experience when cruising. With the Carnival LIVE Concert Series, our guests will enjoy an exclusive performance with one of their favourite artists for an extraordinary value. Combined with our enhanced house bands fleetwide, this is just another example of the many ways we are constantly looking to create even more fun and memorable moments for our guests."

The full range of concert special guests is as follows:

38 Special
Chicago
Daughtry
Foreigner
Gavin DeGraw
Jennifer Hudson
Jewel
Kansas
Lady Antebellum
LeAnn Rimes
Martina McBride
Olivia Newton-John
REO Speedwagon STYX
Trace Adkins


Is it the kind of line-up that would have you shelling out $40? We'd love to hear YOUR opinion. 

More info: www.carnival.com/CarnivalLive. 

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Disney's 'Wow!' Event

Almost 13 years ago, Disney startled the cruise world with their debut vessel the Disney Magic. They followed up a year later with Disney Wonder, and everyone sat back awaiting the next Big Thing from the fledgling Disney Cruise Line.

And waited. And waited.

It seems DCL was in no hurry to 'push the envelope' until they were absolutely sure the market was ready for some more Disney sea-going Imagineering. And this year, the market was right.

I have already detailed the preamble to the launch festivities of the new Disney Dream, and, on Wednesday, it was time to see the finished work for real. Along with a whole heaped helping of that Disney style and entertainment to go with it.

So, after a 7.45am start from the Grand Floridian Resort at Walt Disney World, off we all set in the Art Deco DCL buses for Port Canaveral and the naming ceremony.

Disney has its own (Art Deco) terminal at the port, and the quayside was all set up with a huge stadium-style seating area, complete with a stage more than 50 yards wide and backed by a huge video screen. The ship herself sat at anchor in the harbour, away from the terminal and with a small attendant barge, with a huge (think about 20ft tall) 'champagne' bottle sitting on top.

Now, we fully expected a Big Show. Disney are renowned for putting on a visual extravaganza for all their significant events.

What we got was an absolute eye-popping spectacle of the first degree, a 30-minute theatrical production of non-stop colour, movement, song, dance and special effects. A complete entertainment pageant with every bell and whistle Disney could muster.

While the senior Disney executives introduced the event, it was left to Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and the rest of the gang - along with a cast of hundreds of performers, dancers, singers, band members (including the US Navy's SouthEast Band) and giant, stilt-like characters - to make it a cavalcade of pure fun in the best traditions of Walt himself.

We watched, entranced, as this huge cast took us through a series of set-piece features designed to fill the big 'champagne bottle' with enough 'dreams' for the official launch. We had Captain Jack Sparrow and a pirate 'invasion,' a host of Disney Princesses, the 'Wildcats' of High School Musical and a marching band, culminating in the ship's godmother, actress and singer Jennifer Hudson (and a former Disney Cruise Line entertainer!) appearing on a riser behind the stage to join with Mickey and the Fairy Godmother (naturally) in performing the time-honoured ceremony.

With the vast stage filling up once more with everyone who had already taken part in the earlier scenes, a helicopter appeared to lift up the big 'champagne bottle' and carry it over to touch it to the ship's hull - at which point the fireworks show took over and we were truly bowled over by a daytime pyrotechnic finale.

With all that, it was time to return to the Terminal and sip a glass of celebratory champagne ourselves, prior to embarkation on the Disney Dream and the next part of the inaugural festivities - a two-day cruise on the ship itself.

More soon...!

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Countdown to Disney Dream - T-Minus 1 Day!

OK, we are fully checked in at our Disney resort (the superb Grand Floridian) and registered for the media preview cruise of the new Disney Dream tomorrow.

The check-in procedure at the resort’s convention centre (above) was extremely smooth and we were soon photographed and presented with our room keys and information packet. It bodes well for an exciting and well-organised few days.

We know Disney very well from almost 20 years of working in the Orlando area and writing about the amazing Walt Disney World resort for our various guidebooks (like the Brit Guide to Orlando and my wife’s The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World), so we have pretty high expectations of any event run by the House of Mouse.

Amazingly, among the welcome material for all the media was an individual iPod Touch, fully loaded with a special Disney Dream app to provide a self-guided tour of the ship along with a special ‘scavenger hunt’ for 15 distinctive signs throughout the vessel with a unique Mickey Mouse-shaped code ready to be scanned and unlocked!

The “Wow!” factor is already high, and we have yet to even glimpse the new ship!

But, before we can get to Port Canaveral tomorrow morning for the inuauguration and naming ceremony – to be performed by former Disney Cruise singer and now Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson – there is a party to attend.

And there's no such thing as an ordinary party with Disney. This evening's shindig will be a special-guests-only extravaganza at the Magic Kingdom, with the very first look at the new 'The Magic, The Memories And You' projection show on Cinderella's Castle, along with dinner and fireworks.

It all promises to be a superb overture to the Main Event tomorrow, and the excitement around the resort is palpable. This is no ordinary ship inauguration, folks!

Stay tuned for more soon......

Time Spent at Sea has moved and can now be found at World of Cruising. You can follow World of Cruising on Twitter and Facebook for the very latest in cruise news.

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