As it’s the Virgin Holidays Cruises’ blog’s first birthday this week I thought it was time to start the celebrations with a song.

How about Elton John or Rod Stewart or maybe something a little bit more contemporary such as Take That, Robbie Williams or Lily Allen?

Is it right that you are more likely to be serenaded by former soap stars or face cabaret acts that should have stayed at the end of the pier as some non-cruisers may assume?

Cruise ship entertainment had sadly got a reputation for being pretty bland with a repeated cycle of West End/Las Vegas-style dance troupes.

That image is actually incorrect as the majority of cruise lines have got their acts together and present a pretty impressive array of entertainers either in their impressive main theatres or in the many other smaller venues on board.

But what we have yet to see are blockbusting big name acts take to the seas on a regular basis.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the likes of Claire Sweeney and Brian Conley, just that they don’t exactly represent the cutting edge of contemporary entertainment.

Yet both make regular cruise ship appearances and are extremely popular with audiences on board, as is Jane McDonald, who made her name a decade ago as a fledgling singer in fly on the wall documentary The Cruise, which was meant to have raised a positive profile of Celebrity Cruises but instead concentrated on the personalities of crew on board – good but mainly bad.

The public loved it though and the BBC docusoap attracted 14 million viewers, shooting McDonald into overnight stardom and a debut album that spent three weeks at number one in the charts.

Cruise passengers love the tried and tested singing and dancing routines, although part of that could all be about to change if the UK boss of a major cruise line is to be believed.

A shake up in cruise shows

MSC Cruises UK and Ireland chairman Peter Pate suggested that the modernisation of on board shows could eventually see stars such as Elton John perform on a cruise.

He was speaking at the long awaited cruise debate held at World Travel Market in London last week.

As part of a discussion on future trends in cruising, Mr Pate suggested that cruise ship entertainment was due a shake up to take it away from its somewhat hackneyed image.

He used the examples of James Taylor performing on Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 and TV illusionist Derren Brown appearing on a special P&O Cruises’ short voyage.

“Every line is upping its game with more named entertainment,” he said. “We will see more of that and it will become commonplace. The day is not far off when we will see Elton John on a cruise ship.”

As if to confirm his prediction, Royal Caribbean International has secured Barbadian-born singing sensation Rihanna to perform at the naming ceremony of new ship Oasis of the Seas in Miami next week.

More tribute acts

And it appears that if we don’t quite get the real thing, then close approximations of the singing superstars are filling the gap.

NCL’s new ship Norwegian Epic, entering into service next summer, will feature US tribute act Legends in Concert which appears in Las Vegas featuring performers in the style of Elvis, Elton John and Rod Stewart.

One of the most brilliant nights I have had on a cruise was a concert by a US Beatles tribute band called Rain on board Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas. They had the whole main auditorium audience on their feet singing along to the Fab Four’s greatest hits as if John, Paul, George and Ringo were actually on stage.

It really was great fun – and two of the four even bore a spooky resemblance to Lennon and McCartney, even on close inspection the following day as they dug into the best burgers at sea at the ship’s Johnny Rockets American diner.

I reckon selling cruises based on the entertainment provided is a great idea and one the lines should start adopting rather than not knowing who’s going to be appearing until you pick up the entertainments schedule on your first day on board.
Let’s get some big names on board then make the concert the reason for booking the cruise. After all, with all the extra the facilities available to eat, drink and be merry, to me it sounds like a winning combination.

Personally, I just can’t wait for Sir Elton and his red piano to rock the waves.

Phil Davies

Related posts:

• Saturday Night Cruise Fever Once upon a time, a certain fondness for the...
• Burns Night On A Cruise If you’ve never attended a Burns Night supper on...
• Ships that pass in the night Love doesn’t make the world go round, but it...
• Rocking the boat It looks like cruise lines are finally heeding my...

Posted in Entertainment