Club Reports: Blue Bar, Cafe Nation, Horizons Disco (Celestyal Journey)

Not to be confused with Orlando's famed 90's/00's dance club Blue Room, this is Blue Bar onboard cruise ship Celestyal Journey. By now you know that if we’re traveling we like to share entertainment choices in the various cities or ships we’re on. Blue Bar is located on Deck 7 aft.

Not sure if the venue's name was inspired by all the blue furniture or if it was the other way around.

 

It's a beautiful space but just not a lot of patrons last night.

Music trio Esencia (C) was playing mostly Latin tunes.

A surprising number of the ship's entertainment staff are from Cuba including the ship's entire animation team and theater actors.

Cafe Nation is the ship's coffee venue during the day. Located on Deck 7 midship, at night it becomes another entertainment venue.

Much larger attendance here and it would become even more crowded during our visit.

Duo Music Zone (RP) was on stage during our visit.

The large bar stayed busy.

The music ranged from 60's "Stand By Your Man" to 70's such as "We Should Be Dancing" and "September" to 80's such as "Don't You (Forget About Me)".

We typically don't see dancing in cruise ship lounges but the music was good enough to get these two up on the floor.

It was soon after 23:00 so time to head upstairs to Deck 12 forward and Horizons Disco.

Didn't know what to expect but we walked into this!

The ship's resident DJ Yannick (MS) was on duty.

The music the proverbial wedding reception party where so many need to be pleased. We heard EDM, we heard Reggaeton , we heard Russian, we heard Top 40, we heard Bachata, we heard Hip Hop.

Dance floor stayed full though.

Interestingly, DJ played "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) " which is a song we've heard on every European and Middle Eastern cruise we've ever taken but it never gets played on any U.S. cruises. It must be really popular song with Europeans which is primarily who is onboard this ship.

"Engine Engine Number 9, on the New York Transit Line".

The bar staff was having fun.

And a good time was had by all.

This Weekend In Techno Town

The final full weekend in February is already here!

THU   20FEB     CELINE     DJ Nitti (USA)

FRI     21FEB     PALM TREE CLUB     DJ Vandelux (CDN) (DJ Set)

FRI     21FEB     IRON COW     "Italo Disco Nite" ft. DJ Robby Orlando (USA)

SAT    22FEB     IRON COW     DJ Threejay (USA)

SAT    22FEB     WINTER GARDEN MUSIC FESTIVAL  ft. Spazmatics (USA) 

SUN   23FEB     ELIXIR BAR     DJ trio Mason Collective (GB)

Club Report: Ultimate Marina Yacht Party (Dubai)

By now you know that if we’re traveling we like to share entertainment choices in the various cities or ships we’re on. We're doing a 7-nt cruise on Celestyal Journey in the Persian Gulf departing from Doha, Qatar. The cruise includes two days in Dubai including one overnight. We used that opportunity take take the "Ultimate Marina Yacht Party" operated by Xclusive Yachts from this terminal located at Dubai Marina.

Although this pic was taken at the conclusion of the party cruise, this is the yacht we sailed on. Xclusive Yachts operates harbour cruises, dinner cruises and party cruises.

The yacht's Captain operates the cruise from this console located on the top deck.

The music last night was delivered by DJ Ryder (IND/UAE).

The music began with some light non-vocal House as we passed through the harbour near residential districts.

One price included the tour, DJ, light hors d'oeuvres and an all-you-can drink bar.

We passed the amazing Dubai skyline. Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates and by far the UAE's largest city.

Once we got away from the waterfront residential areas, the music got cranked-up and remained House and EDM nearly the entire evening!

NYC honeymooners were onboard!

Passengers included a mix of people from Germany, England, Hungary, Russia, Greece and the USA.

DJ had the club bouncing!

We were concerned the party cruise might not operate since it was a Monday night. But we need not have worried. This is Dubai.

As we went around, we even passed our cruise ship docked at Dubai Passenger Terminal A.

We passed by this island of high rises owned by EMAAR, a company owned mostly by ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the Emerati sovereign wealth fund.

Dubai seems to have two separate clusters of high rise development. We departed from the marina located near the southernmost cluster and the yacht turned around closer to this northern cluster. Although difficult to see in the above photo, that tall building in the middle is the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building with 163 floors.

On the return, we anchored for about an hour beside the ever-changing Ain Dubai aka the Dubai Eye.

UK girls!

The top deck dance floor stayed busy! We had about 20 partiers.

At this point the DJ switched it up with 90's American Hip Hop hits and Top 40 hits.

Even some Greek dance songs for the Greek crowd on board. Opa!

You can get more information about the "Ultimate Yacht Party" on websites such as Tripadvisor and GetYourGuide. Great DJ, great crew, great fun and great value. As you can see, a good time was had by all.

Club Reports: Sail-Away Party, Amphitheatro, Horizons Disco (Celestyal Journey)

This is the cruise ship Celestyal Journey from Athens-based Celestyal Cruises. By now you know that if we’re traveling we like to share entertainment choices in the various cities or ships we’re on. We're doing a 7-nt cruise in the Persian Gulf departing from Doha, Qatar.

And around 5PM on Saturday evening, we began our port departure as the Doha skyline looked on.

Of course there has to be a Sail-away Party, this one taking place at the Galazio Pool.

The ship's animation team was on-hand to begin the party.

The music delivered by DJ Yannick (MS).

Songs were mostly American & World Top 40 hits.

Like every cruise everywhere, "Cupid Shuffle" lol.

The ship is only about one-fourth full at this time. The second port is Dubai where it's also possible to embark from so it will become full then. Passengers get a 7nt cruise from either city.

The Arabian peninsula is known for its intense heat during summer. But this is winter so rain is not uncommon and it was a cloudy day in Doha as we sailed-out.

The DJ had been introduced earlier as the "Mauritian David Guetta".

We sailed past the stadium where the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals were held.

A good time was held by all.

We typically skip theater shows on ships but this one was not to be missed. Taking place in the ship's Amphitheatro, this one was called "I Have A Dream" and it was ABBA (S) themed.

We expected a quartet of Abba look-a-likes but the entire theater troupe participated.

They performed various skits as Abba hits such as "Dancing Queen", "SOS", "Money Money Money", "Winner Takes It All" and "Mama Mia" were sung live.

Because everybody loves ABBA and a good time was had by all.

Later at night we stopped by the ship's main music venue, Horizons Disco which is located on Deck 12 forward.

With the ship so empty we weren't really expecting anyone up here but we walked into this.

DJ Yannick was back on duty.

 The music was mostly EDM including Top 40 hits remixed to a faster EDM beat.

Songs such as "Everybody Dance Now", "I Like To Move It Move It", "I Will Survive" and "Feel The Beat" got the dance floor active.

The bar stayed busy.

The dance floor had disco lights but sadly, no shiny disco ball. And for those who track those kind of things, no Danley speakers.

After about five Latin songs in-a-row, the dance floor cleared and would not fill again, at least during our visit. We'll check it out again later in the week.