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For many passengers, it's not enough to passively attend a cruise ship show. Celebrity Cruises sensed that and created a way for its passengers to engage and interact with the cruise entertainment experience.
Aboard Celebrity Edge, the line's newest ship, the feat is pulled off most effectively in its Eden venue, a three-deck space with a restaurant, lounge and theater space. Costumed performers, dubbed Edenists, will approach a cruiser to lure him or her into a dance or game, but there's no pressure to take part if a passengers doesn't want to. Aerialists are also part of the evening "performance."
The show is certainly new and different, and people who have a flair for the dramatic are likely to fall in love with the concept. If you go in with an open mind, you will see how Celebrity has elevated its entertainment programming in an unexpected but intriguing way.
But before there was Eden, some cruise ships already had a full complement of audience-participation games and events. What might have started out as just a simple game of trivia has escalated to full-blown game show-style events that are produced as if you're on a TV studio soundstage.
Consider Carnival's Hasbro, the Game Show. The free show, staged in the ship's theater, is offered across most vessels in the Carnival fleet. Families love it since everyone -- young or old -- can get involved.
Contestants are chosen from the audience to play onstage versions of popular Hasbro games, such as Operation, Simon, Connect Four and Yahtzee. But instead of the typical games you play at home, each of these has been updated for the theater with a special twist. Yahtzee, for example, incorporates huge bowling pins, while Connect Four is more like a basketball hoops competition. When Carnival's new Mardi Gras launches in mid-2020, it will offer similar entertainment in the form of a "Family Feud"-style game show, which will take place live on stage.
Aboard Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas, the interactive entertainment of choice is actually an escape room. The experience is called Escape the Rubicon, and it has an outer space theme and spaceship setting.
Like escape rooms on land, a team of people -- in this case four to 12 -- have to solve a series of puzzles in order to "escape" the scenario. If you board the S.P.S. Rubicon steam-powered starship and can't solve the puzzle, the ship will fly too close to the sun and expose everyone to danger. Teamwork is the name of the game, but when a question stumps the group, they can ask for hints and clues. The hourlong adventure carries a per-person charge of $8.99.
Cruising The World
