As we’ve mentioned, Celebrity Cruises and Cirque have removed the roaming characters that populated “The Bar at the Edge of the Earth” on two of Celebrity’s ships, replacing them with “A Taste of Cirque du Soleil,” featuring three acrobatic acts in a 40-minute theater show presented once per cruise.
Now another cruise line has joined the “circus arts review” fray. On their ship “Jewel,” Norwegein Cruise Line has created “Cirque Bijoux,” a theater presentation featuring gymnasts, acrobats and bungee jumpers, given once per cruise.
Cruise lines are trying to “break out of the box” of flashy song review shows to appeal to more sophisticated cruisers. Norwegian has also added the Second City improv. comedy troupe aboard two of its shows.
On its Caribbean sailings of its Opera and Lirica, cruise line MSC has an unusual troupe known as the Pagliacci (Italian for ”clowns”) strolling around the ship playing games and giving impromptu skits. (sounds like what we originally thought Pez Erizo would do on the Celebrity ships. But anyway…)
But the most interesting idea we read in the Miami Herald article we found described a concept Holland America Line will roll out on several of its ships – a modified dinner-theater. To quote from the article: “Here’s the scenario: Once per cruise, the ship stages a single-seating Master Chef’s Dinner, with each course accompanied by musical performances. Musicians dressed as chefs sit on the bandstand, showgirl chefs, show-boy chefs and stewards in food-inspired costumes parade into the room to the music of a classical minuet and continue to perform through the dinner. The female lead wears a head-of-lettuce gown.”
That we’d love to see!
