Friday Funny

Thirty seconds of fame!

PI Update: What's New On The Island?

On this rainy morning earlier in the week, let's cross this bridge one more time to beautiful Pleasure Island to see what's new.

OluKai has opened in the former Sanuk spot along Hill Street.

Curiously, the former Art of Shaving location next door remains vacant.

Despite the at-times heavy rain, Gideon's Bakehouse still had a long line!

Crazy! It stretched beyond Mannequins.

This Weekend In Techno Town

Well that was fast. February is out and March is in!

FRI     28FEB       CELINE     DJ duo Black V Neck (USA)

SAT    01MAR     IRON OAK POST (Melbourne)   SIREN: All Female DJ Lineup

SAT    01MAR     ELIXIR BAR     DJ Victor Calderone (USA)

SAT    01MAR     IRON COW     DJ Dave Seaman (GB)

SAT    01MAR     SESSIONS     DJ Kid Digital (RUS/USA) 

SAT    01MAR     ALFIE's HIFI     DJ Sleazy McQueen (USA)

SUN   02MAR     ELIXIR BAR     DJ duo LF System (GB) 

DS Update: No Signage At NBA Experience

As we mentioned in yesterday's article, a new interactive gameroom venue is coming to Disney Springs West Side in the spot briefly occupied by the NBA Experience flop.

But while we were out at Disney Springs yesterday, we noted that no new signage has been added outside the building indicating what's coming. Thought that was kind of odd.

DS Update: Game Room To Replace NBA Experience

The long-vacant NBA Experience building in Disney Springs West Side is going to be replaced with....get this....a fancy game room complex. To be namad LEVEL99. Details here. Of course NBA Experience was built in all-new construction in the spot that once housed game room DisneyQuest.

Club Report: White Dance Party (Celestyal Journey)

As this cruise is sadly coming to a conclusion, we returned to Horizons Disco onboard cruise ship Celestyal Journey for one last visit. 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 walked into this. On some cruise lines this is simply called the White Party, another cruise line will call it the White Night Party, on others, the White Hot Party and some people are known to call it the White People's Party. On Celestyal Cruises, it's called the White Dance Party.

This guy has been everywhere on this cruise. We had seen him doing a beach party earlier in the day and now he was back in the Disco. DJ Yannick (MS)

DJ opened with "Apple Bottom Jeans" followed by "Jump Around" followed by "Rhythm Of The Night".

"Play Hard" and "Party Rock" soon followed. The ship's animation team members remained on the dance floor for the entire party. We've typically seen them on other ships start parties but then disappear. Not here.

Dance floor stayed jammed.

The idea behind a White Party is to wear white. Not everyone got the memo.

Celestyal is a Greek/Cypriot cruise line so it was not surprising to hear some Greek dance.

More than half the passengers onboard this sailing are Russian so it was not surprising to hear some Russian dance.

The show's MC called DJ Yannick the Mauritius' David Guetta.

The music was so good even one of the waiters got on the dance floor!

Fun party and a good time was had by all.

Friday Funny

 

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.