Standard,

I know from experience from where of you speak.

An experienced dancer should not choose a cruise just because it has dance hosts on board.

While many lines have a stated requirement of bronze in 5 dances minimum ability I found many lines lowered that standard considerably just to get someone. Even if at was a case of "You're a male and can stand up" the key to success as far as the cruise director was concerned was whether the person had strong social skills. I sent one person who only had 11 weeks of group lessons and they've taken him 5 times now but it's based on social skills. Considering 99.9% of the passengers have never taken a lesson it's understandable. Dance hosts are there to entertain everyone as much as possible.

Now, if you do want a better partner, the more exclusive the line the pickier they are about ability. I have sent lower than bronze to Radisson in an emergency and they were successful but generally only higher ability dancers go there. Crystal (because they are down to two ships at the moment) are extremely picky. They have more than 2 DHs and rotation is slow as many of the hosts stay for extended periods. I have one fellow back who just did 7 ten & fourteen day cruises in a row in the Mediterranean with them. The people I've sent on Crystal also tell me there is a dance host director who gives the hosts daily instruction. Right now Crystal is repositioning ships and several hosts are staying on for a half way around the world trip.

Sometimes there are interesting confrontations. We teach International here. I sent one bronze DH on Crystal. He and the dance director ended up at loggerheads as the director insisted he dance American Style which he'd never been exposed to.

OB

okay - if there won't be any dance hosts on a Royal Caribbean cruise, any creative ideas on how I might "find" the dancers. On one cruise, I simply went to listen to the band and tap my toe. I ended up dancing the entire cruise with a really wonderful, much older man whose wife just didn't like to dance...

This is wonderful... I am learning a lot.

It does absolutley make sense that above all the dance host should have good social skills, dosent it?

At our studio we had a student that an instructor was teaching for a host job(He had prior dancing exerience) What he wanted was bronze level, and every varation there was, so he could keep the passengers interested... He was such a charming fellow, I can see how he was successful. BTY, he signed on often, he loved it! I have had visions of that movie Overboard with Walter ??. and Jack Lemmon....

Bee, I think you are on the right track. Visit the lounges and you are bound to run into someone longing to dance.

Not to go on, but a few years back we went on a short cruise, invited our 20 yr old.... He came in one night in the early AM, said was dancing all night, I assumed the disco... The next morning at the pool a group of Sr women were calling him by name, saying hi to him... Turns out that they needed a dance partner, grabbed Danny and taught him a few foxtrot steps, he danced with them all night... He said they we cool!!! Never know what dance opportunity you will find!

Again, thanks guys for helping me to put together this information.. You are all the best!!

Lines I supply hosts to regularly are:

Celebrity, Radisson, Crystal and Delta River Queen.

Others I know that use them are MSC, Orient & Silversea.

Best to check with each line though as they don't use DH's on every cruise. e.g. I've supplied a lot to Celebrity in the Caribbean but they decided not to use hosts on Alaska last summer.

I've heard Carnival has started using hosts. As I'm doing a cruise on Carnival in March I went through their booker to see if I could get a couple of local people on to induce a few single ladies to go from here as well. The booker said they'd see if there was a need for that particular cruise but never got back to me.

Holland uses them.

OB

Here are some specific cruises I'm looking for dance hosts for in March.

When were you planning on going? If I know that I can look for some specific ones during that period.

Note: There is a need for hosts on these cruises but if the positions aren't filled there is no guarantee hosts will be on board.

OB




March 6-17
11-night cruise
Mexican Riviera
Roundtrip San Diego

Celebrity
Mercury

Mar 9-18
9-night cruise
W. Caribbean
Roundtrip Ft. Lauderdale

Celebrity Cruises
Century


March 9-20
11-night cruise
Panama Canal
Roundtrip Galveston

Celebrity
Galaxy

Mar 9-23
14-night cruise
South America
Rio De Janeiro to Barbados

Silversea
Silver Cloud

Mar 14-Apr 11
28-night cruise
S. America
Valparaiso to Montego Bay

Orient Lines
Marco Polo

March 17-27
10-night cruise
Mexican Riviera
Roundtrip San Diego

Celebrity
Mercury

Mar 19-Apr 2
14-night cruise
South America
Valparaiso to Ft. Lauderdal

Celebrity Cruises
Millennium

March 20 –April 1
12-night cruise
Panama Canal
Roundtrip Galveston

Celebrity
Galaxy

Mar 21-Apr 18
28-night cruise
Iberia
Lisbon to Barcelona

Silversea
Silver Wind

Mar 23-31
8-night cruise
E. Caribbean
San Juan to Ft. Lauderdale

Radisson
Navigator

March 26-April 9
14-night cruise
Hawaii
Roundtrip Los Angeles

Celebrity
Summit

March 26-April 7
12-night cruise
Eastern Caribbean
Roundtrip Cape Liberty

Celebrity
Constellation

March 27-April 7
11-night cruise
Mexican Riviera
Roundtrip San Diego

Celebrity
Mercury

OB

OB - Were you directing your comments to me re level of DHs on cruises? I cruised in the past because it was my favorite form of vacation, I didn't inquire in advance whether there would be dance hosts. Today, there are many adequate venues to find good dance hosts and/or ballroom groups booking with instructors and hosts, as I'm sure you know. I have been spending all my $ on competitions and no longer vacation. But your comments about just having a male body to usher a woman around the floor is basically true. Most of the women are merely untrained social dancers and therefore, satisfied. I think the cruise lines should have at least a handful of hosts since so many single women cruise, often alone.

sg,

I wasn't posting that for anyone specifically.

Mostly for general knowledge but I think "Bee" asked about finding cruises with hosts.

OB

Jerry,

What's the link to the names? I couldn't find the names.

People I've sent from here that might be on are:

Wayne H.
Billy E.
Jim H.

We also have someone else from here doing round the world repositioning which looks like March:

Bruno (Don't know his last name).

OB

Go to Crystal.com, select any cruise, click on ITINERARY, then click the ENTERTAINMENT AND PROGRAMS page. For the cruise I'm taking, the link=
http://www.crystalcruises.com/cruise_information.aspx?CID=6207

The DHs are Robert Abend, Augie Armano, Terry Hamilton, Ed Weidig

The dance instructors are Paul Zaidman & Cheryl Ann Smith.

I just assume (hope?) that when the cruise line actually gives you NAMES, that there will be enough resources given over to dancing that I will really enjoy it.

Jerry

Jerry,

Augie Armano might be Bruno from here. I'll ask Wayne H. who just came back.

OB