The Smooth Jazz Cruise - The Ultimate Musical Experience on the Open Seas



The Smooth Jazz Cruise is a high demand cruise. These cruises sell out a year in advance and they are not cheap. This cruise costs about three times the average cruise. However, it is more than worth it if you love music, especially this genre of music, and travel. The Smooth Jazz Cruise is the best of both worlds, top artists in the field and great ports to visit. This is a cruise we have now done twice and plan to go every two years. 

We consider this to be one of our top vacations. We have a chance to hear music we love all day and all night. There are concerts with artists by the pool, in the lounges, and nightly shows in large theaters. You can attend listening parties, informal teaching sessions, and see artists perform together that never tour together. The artists on this year's cruise included: Marcus Miller, Boney James, Brian Culbertson, Euge Grove, Peter White, Kirk Whalum, Gerald Albright, Norman Brown, Rick Braun, Candy Dulfer, Keiko Matsui, Eric Marienthal, Patches Stewart, Brian Simpson, Larry Braggs (lead singer of temptations currently), Honey LaRochelle, Rudy Currence, DW3, Ellis Hall, Chance Howard, Marquez Jordan, Collin Clauson, Randy Jacobs, Gerey Johnson, Arlington Jones, Lamar Jones, Nathaniel Kearney Jr., Peter Mongaya, Khari Parker, Nate Phillips, Ron Reinhardt, Frank "Third" Richardson, Jay Williams, and Ramon Yslas. Alonzo Bodden offered comic relief and he is so funny!

You will experience seven days of non-stop A+ level entertainment. There is so much to do that you have to be strategic in your selections and just accept the fact that you can not do it all. We can not pick a favorite artist or a favorite concert because all of the artists are geniuses in their field. We saw Boney James and Marcus Miller play together. It was amazing! We saw Euge Groove and Brian Culbertson in back to back shows. Gerald Albright, Kirk Whalum, and Peter White performed together. Keiko Matsui was amazing and Norman Brown is beyond extraordinary. It was nothing to see some of the artists slip on stage and play different instruments on various nights. If you like smooth jazz even a little bit, you will leave the cruise in love with the music and the artists. The entertainment alone is worth the price of the cruise but you also have the pleasure of the ports themselves. 

We had a great itinerary of ports for the cruise. We went to Belize, Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Coco Cay. We enjoyed the ruins, Altun Ha, in Belize. Altun Ha is actually a Mayan temple but most people call it Mayan ruins. It is a must see. We also toured the city of Belize. It seems that the great beaches are actually on the islands of Belize. We look forward to going back to visit the islands. Cozumel is an amazing location. You know that from our prior blog post. No need to expand further here about Cozumel. Costa Maya was a bit disappointing. It is really just the port city. The municipality of Mahahual is very small and there are no real tourist attractions there. We did go on a glass bottom boat tour with one of the artists, Kirk Whalum. That experience was great. We saw the coral reef, but much of it was destroyed by Hurricane Dean in 2007. It is still not what it was before the hurricane. We did see a number of sea turtles and that was a unique experience. Finally, swimming in the crystal clear waters of Coco Cay capped off an amazing trip. 

A few tips for the waterways, take snacks and drinks because the drink packages and minibar are not worth the money in our opinion. Also, come with patience for the embarking and disembarking processes.  Other than that, just come prepared to have more fun than you can imagine! If you have an opportunity to go on a smooth jazz cruise, Do IT!!! The website is www.thesmoothjazzcruise.com.

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