Club Reports: Dancing Palace, Panorama Bar, Fun Club, Club 7even, Viking Crown Lounge

Got to experience clubs on three cruise ships this past couple weeks. First ship was the Silja Festival (operated by Tallink) on a 2-night cruise from Stockholm to Riga, Latvia and back. Two clubs on board including the Dancing Palace.

The early club Dancing Palace featured a live show-band playing mostly 60's American (and apparently European) classic songs that we've not heard at home in decades. The dance floor got pretty full and the crowd was enjoying it. Americans on this ship were scarce to be sure as I'm pretty sure everyone was either Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian mixed with a few Swedes.

The band took turns between live dance sets by a dance troup, shown here doing a Lady Gaga number!

The ship's disco is called the Panorama Bar.

DJ Vlad (LV) was playing all Top 40 Dance and then went into a set of Classic Dance music from the 90's and early 00's.

Great lighting and smoke. The dance floor really ebbed and flowed and from song to song could go from full to nearly empty. Good time in here.

By the way, Riga is a great city and far exceeded my expectations.

The second cruise was a genuine party ship. The Viking Cinderella operated by Viking Line is a huge ship holding around 2,500 people that operates 1-night party cruises out of Stockholm to Mariehamn in the Aland Islands. Leaving at 6pm daily and returning before 4pm the following day, the late return allows (mainly) Swedes to party all night and then sleep before returning home. The ship was fully booked and I was told it was a payday weekend so was even more crazy. The stop in Aland which apparently outside the EU allows the ship to offer duty free and there is literally a supermarket on board filled to the rafters with alcohol and cigarettes still-expensive by our standards but dirt cheap for the Swedes. 

The early club on board is called the Fun Club and it has two side-by-side bands taking turns doing sets.

The club and dance floor was mobbed with partiers enjoying the songs sung by two hot blonde Swedish vocalists which ranged from 70's classic rock songs to current Lady Gaga. Quite interesting watching drunk Swedish guys hitting on their drunk female counterparts.

Very large venue with a jammed 3-floor format all under the shiny disco ball.

Let me tell you; this ship is all about getting drunk and hooking up! Americans on board are a novelty.

Then it was on to CLUB7EVEN, the ship's cave-like disco.

It too was jammed as DJ Peo Wahlin (S) pumped out current and recent Top 40 Dance along with House, Trance and Classic Dance. The DJ was really into the music he was playing!

The lighting was not as impressive as the Festival but the low ceiling and rather narrow configuration made for a complete white-out whenever the fog machine was pumping!

Have to highly recommend this ship for an incredible experience!

The Viking Crown Lounge is a staple on all Royal Caribbean ships including Vision of the Seas. However, on most RCI ships the lounge is just a lounge but on Vision-class ships it also serves as the ship's disco. This was a 4-night sailing to Tallinn, Estonia and St. Petersburg, Russia.

First visit found the dance floor rather deserted as I listened to an unexpected 45-minute set of Latin music.

DJ Patrick Jerry (DK) worked from a second floor perch overlooking the club.

However, the elevator opened up and out poured a huge group that went right onto the dance floor and he switched it over to Top 40 / Dance! For the next several hours the floor stayed full as he stayed with the popular music format.

They did a 70's night on the sailing's final night and none other than the Village People happened to be on board to perform some of their classic songs!

The 70's Night event began in the ship's atrium but then moved up to the Viking Crown Lounge where a large contingent of fans followed.

After surprise guest's Abba did a couple songs, the DJ stuck with 70's classics mixed with a few 80's for the next couple hours and the place stayed full. No Hip Hop on three ships in a row! Bon Voyage indeed!!