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Carnival Cruise Line’s cruise directors work with various department leaders to determine the entertainment schedules on the ships.
Planning can be difficult because some choices force others. For example, a parade passing through the center areas of the ship could disrupt music or trivia held at locations along the cruise path.
Or in some cases, a music performance is not planned during a party or other event because it would be challenging for passengers to reach the venue.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line is changing nearly 200 sailings
Additionally, when planning a schedule, cruise directors must consider filling the entire day. The time varies per cruise line.
Celebrity Cruises seems to wrap up most of the live music around midnight, if not earlier. Royal Caribbean has a Schooner Bar pianist and a pub guitarist who play until 1 or 2 a.m. depending on the night.
Usually the solo guitarist in the British pub starts at 8 or 9 p.m. and plays until late in the evening. The performer will take a 15-minute break most hours, but on many evenings the breaks for a dance party or musical performance on the Promenade will be longer.
Musicians are not magicians. They need to warm up and generally it’s easier for them to have a performance block without long breaks.
Contractually, they can only be scheduled for a certain number of hours, so the cruise director, who works with the music director, has to make some choices.
Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald recently responded to a question about his cruise line’s piano bars and a possible change to their hours.
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Carnival asked about the opening hours of the piano bar
Heald received questions from several passengers about changes to the hours of piano bars on Carnival ships.
“Please address the change in piano bar hours with all the power you have,” wrote Jennifer Smith Lipscomb. “We do NOT want to wait until 10 p.m
“Not only that, but most of the crowd leaves early, especially on days when we are in port early the next morning and the last evening. I also don’t want the really out of control drunks coming in after 1 o’clock . am We like controlled drunks.”
Debi Metcalfe seems even angrier about the change.
“What are The Beards thinking, or are they thinking?” she asked. “I have been informed of a time change in the piano bars. Please tell me this is not the case. The piano bars are an important part of my cruise experience, and if this is true, what a terrible idea.
“The Carnival Piano Bars will have a new schedule effective tomorrow, changing hours from 9:00 PM to 1:00 PM to 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM, which is incredibly inconvenient for guests.”
“The Beards” is Heald’s term for Carnival’s leadership. They generally do not determine the times for entertainment on the ship.
“The crowds at the (piano bars) tend to attract older people who aren’t exactly known for late partying,” Metcalfe added. “I go on cruises because of the piano bars and am often there when the last song is playing.
“However, I don’t make it until 2am at night before getting up early the next day for excursions, or possibly any night for that matter. I’m sure there are many others who feel the same way.”
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Carnival explains how the piano bar opening hours are determined
Heald made it clear that he did not believe this was a company-wide change.
“I don’t know where you’re hearing this. Thank you very much for letting me know, but I wasn’t told anything so I wouldn’t believe it’s correct at this point,” he wrote. “And it’s certainly not something we would do across the board. That means not on every ship.”
However, Heald did explain why some ships use later piano bar hours.
“When I worked as a cruise director, I used to open the piano from 10 to 2 because that late crowd had to go somewhere,” he added. “Anyway, I’ll check to see if this is correct. I’ll come back and let you know.”
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He also pointed out the challenge of having to serve thousands of people.
“There are many people who say many different things about what time is right for them and as always, you will never have the perfect time for everyone,” Heald wrote. “But let me speak to my colleagues today in Miami and see what their thoughts are, and then I’ll write something later today.”
Heald later posted an update.
“I’m getting a lot of questions and comments about the piano bar opening hours. I don’t know anything at this time so please don’t ask me as there is obviously a big time difference between here and Miami so I need to find out the opening hours and if they have been changed,” he said.
Heald is based in England.
Note from Dan: I tend to close the pub or Schooner Bar on Royal Caribbean ships (and often have a drink with the artist afterwards). I generally prefer a 1am ending, but an intense fear of missing out (FOMO) usually keeps me awake until the last song. Because the music ends earlier on Celebrity, I’m more likely to end my evening at the casino, which isn’t always a good idea.
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