"Jump!" shouted the lead singer of #Groove6, the excellent band belting out '80s music in Ocean Plaza on Carnival Cruise Lines' Carnival Breeze. The packed crowd, spilling over into the corridor, enthusiastically obeyed, roaring out the lyrics, dancing, waving their arms and generally having the time of their lives.
Hour after hour, the show went on with more people drawn in. At 11 p.m. when the band finished, many gravitated toward the already bursting Liquid Lounge nightclub, where a crowd of all ages danced on, well into the early morning.
Line dancing by the pool, singing along with the piano and music and dancing of all kinds at night propelled Carnival Breeze on her Caribbean sailing. The grand finale? A concert by rock band Styx, part of the Carnival Live series.
Several of the people I spoke to were new to cruising and had come to hear Styx at $20. For $100, passengers received a VIP pass that included prime seats and time with the musicians. Others had planned on taking a cruise, and the Styx concert was the dealmaker for this particular one. Some hadn't even realized there was going to be a concert onboard.
I'm sure there were people among the Breeze's 4,000-plus passengers who never sang a song or danced a step, but the ones who did were enthusiastically calling, tweeting and posting pictures to share the fun, which carried over into meals and shore excursions.
If you have clients who love to sing and dance, or at least used to at one time, get them onboard the Carnival ships for the Carnival Live concerts and all the joy that leads up to them. If they are new to cruising, it will make believers of them.
