It depends on what type of entertainment you want. I have been on more then 100 cruises all over the world. If you want shows,NCL. Comedians,,Princess.Many ships fly big name groups,big bands,ect,from Ship to Ship. I prefer Princess because they have 3 different shos to choose from,maybe Comedian, dance show, singer,,,something like that. Many ships only have one show like Disney,,and if you go on the same ship more then one time a year you see the same old show again. Many ship bring on local entertainment like in China, chineese acrobats. Hawaii, hula dancers. Every ship is different, but I perfer Princess,
Princess still has several different shows at night. It was hard to choose which to go to! Most nights we did the Princess Theater shows, but one night there was a ventriloquist in the lounge which was very good. What every show you want to see, make sure you get there about an hour before to get a good seat!
We thoroughly enjoyed the shows on Princess. The only one we saw that was mediocre & disappointing was the illusionist, was just mainly card tricks. There was a Motor City show, Beatle Mania show (fantastic!), a ventriloquist, the International Show (put on by talented crew members), Boogie Shoes, & a hypnotist. Good variety and very entertaining. Quality of the theater shows was great and how do they ever change costumes so fast??
As far as entertainment goes you will find a great variety on the Oasis of the Seas and her sister the Allure.
A Broadway show, the Aqua show, ice show the Headliner and several comedians.
Each night you will find multiple entertainment venues. And they have something for people of all ages.
TM
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CRUISES
Century 4/1998
Mercury 4/2000+4/2006+7/2007
Sensation 4/2002
Infinity 4/2003
Summit 4/2004+4/2005
Carnival Liberty New Year's Eve 2007
Liberty of the Seas 5/2008+11/2009
Solstice 4/2009
Oasis 4/2010
Allure 1/16/ 2011
Equinox 4/11/2011
While Ihave not been on a Seabourn cruise, my usual impression for that size of ship and the demographic is that the entertainment is pretty much geared to the senior living set - big band dance music, a salute to Rogers & Hammerstein, a classical pianist, etc.
The ships are small - 200 or 450 guests - and small ships rarely have in-depth entertainment, it just isn't that big a deal to the clientele.
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I am the editor, but I also speculate, ask questions and play devil's advocate. I reserve the right to change my mind.
A few months ago my wife and I went to lunch at a local restaurant .They advertised that they had live entertainment . It was a singer with a great voice .I went up to him after his performance and asked where I could see him .He replied that for the past few years he performed on HAL cruise ships but this was no longer the case as it was more cost effective to hire young unknowns .
Evidently Princess Wins. Why do you suppose we have to be to the venue 45 minutes early? Because the entertainers are good. Why do you suppose you have 3 choices each night? Because Princess lets you escape completely. Went on a 29 day cruise from SFO to SYD and had no repeats and lots of variety every night.
Took a 4 day cruise on Carnival out of Los Angeles. The 2 Production numbers were great and on a par with Princess. However, on Princess, one can get 2 or 3 great varied shows a night. There certainly were no strings. Piano player was getting many of the notes right. Guitar player was great for rednecks. At sea days we had a hard time finding anything better than my book.
I usually enjoy Cirque Du Soleil shows but not a big fan of most Las Vega type shows. I do like most comedians that I've seen. I think the one thing that I've always wanted to do was go on the small cruise ships where a popular band or bands play every night. I know one of the bands that I like do this every year. They also go to Jamaica to play every year and many of their fans join them on vacation.
Disney!!!!!!! Clean, family, entertainment, done very well. On the 5nt dream, there were 3 production shows done VERY well. "Believe" actually brought me to tears - my hubby too!". One night, we also had the lavenous Mike Super (love him!!!!!). I had previously seen him on Carnival Dream, and he was excellent then too.
Royal shows were very good. On FOTS, they had one excellent production show which I would compare to Disney.
On HAL, I found the production shows to be "lawrence welk" in nature. I wasn't impressed. They also had one very lame comedian/juggling act. We did not want to be rude and walk out, but it was tempting! What I did like about HAL was the selection of live music in the various lounges.
But I would give the overall to Carnival. In my opionion, Carnival has the best combination of production shows and comedians. I think they offered two seatings of the comedy show every night. I enjoy comedy so this was great.
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Disney Fantasy - 2013 [pending]
Disney Dream - 2012
Royal Freedom of the Seas - 2011
HAL Eurodam - 2011
Royal Grandeur of the Seas - 2010
Carnival Dream - 2010
Grand Princess - 2002
Royal Voyageur of the Seas - 2000
Royal Sovereign of the Seas - 1999
Carnival Ecstacy - 1991
Even though I only really have 1 cruise under my belt, I'm still going to say the NCL EPIC has the best entertainment! The jazz club and the Blue Man group alone were enough to keep my interest for a week!
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NCL Epic 2012
"A painter paints pictures on a canvas, but musicians paint their pictures on silence"
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Emerald Princess Shows
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