Dancing With The Stars At Sea is one of the newest and most popular partnerships within the cruise industry and can only be found aboard one cruise line – Holland America Line.
A Successful & Star Studded Launch
Launched earlier this year aboard the ms Eurodam, the Dancing With The Stars At Sea program brings the best of the TV show to Holland America Line’s ships. Once aboard a Holland America Line ship, guests will have the opportunity to participate in multiple dance classes. Guests will be able to learn the show’s routines from the entertainment staff and on special sailings, the stars and professionals from the show. On the launch cruise in February, guests were able to participate in classes taught by Mark Ballas, Joey Fatone, Sabrina Bryan, and Lacey Schwimmer. Classes taught included the Jive, the Cha Cha, and the Samba. All of the classes aboard were packed and brought out the best dancing skills from the guests. Finally, on the final night of the launch cruise, the stars and professionals from the show took to the stage to offer the Eurodam guests a rousing and exciting production show featuring some of the most famous routines from the show. Needless to say, they brought the house down.
How The Program Works
Once aboard a Holland America Line ship, classes will be listed in the daily program, On Location. The dance classes are taught by the ship’s entertainment staff, who are trained by the Dancing With The Stars dancers. While learning the routines from the show in the classes, you will also be competing for a spot in the final production show of the sailing. If you are selected as the winner from your dance class, you will move on to compete against the other dancers from other classes in the final production show.
The final production show is set up exactly like the show is. From the sets resemblance to the dancing hall and even the judges’ score cards, this is the big moment for the guests. The show begins with an introduction on the big screen from Len Goodman and Bruno Toniolo. From there, the dancers, now paired with one of the ship’s dancers, take the stage in front of their fellow guests and begin the routines they learned earlier in the cruise. As the couples move about the stage, turning and gliding, the judges begin to make their marks. Finally, as the couple strikes their final pose, the crowd erupts into applause and the judges take the mic. Just as the judges on the show do, the ship’s judges, who are all members of the entertainment staff, share their comments and raise their paddles to submit their scores. Finally, once all of the couples have danced and received their scores, one dancer will stand out and be crowned the winner of their sailing.
The Finale & Into The Future
Now, for the big finale. On January 12, 2014, 15 dancers will take center stage on the Dancing With The Stars Finale cruise aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam. The 15 dancers competing are all guests who earned the highest score from their respective ship. For example: The winning guest who had the highest score out of all of the Zuiderdam’s winners will have the opportunity to compete in the finale aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam. The winner will not only have the chance to compete again fellow guests for the Mirrorball Trophy, but they will cruise on the finale cruise for free. While many details of the finale have not yet been released, odds are the show and the cruise will be a star studded and exciting time.
While the finale cruise is approaching soon, you can still take part in the Dancing With The Stars At Sea action. If you sail on Holland America Line before the finale cruise, you will still have the opportunity to be entered to compete in the finale show. Holland America Line is also still offering one more sailing that will feature stars and celebrities from the TV show. This sailing is the January 5, 2014 sailing of the Nieuw Amsterdam from Fort Lauderdale. Holland America Line has not yet announced which stars and celebrities will be participating.
Holland America Line’s partnership with Dancing With The Stars seems to be an instant hit and a crowd pleaser. Not only do guests enjoy dancing and competing with each other, but they also enjoy the time that can be spent learning from the show’s dancers. Now, Dancing With The Stars not only captures the dancing spirit of those on land, but now at sea as well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Holland America Line bring back this popular partnership for the 2014/15 cruise season.
For more information on Dancing With The Stars At Sea and to book for the finale sailing, please visit: http://www.hollandamerica.com/DWTS
