Review of Aventura Salsa and Bachata Dance Cruise - 2011
Being an avid salsa dancer, and a lover of travel, I've been wanting to do a salsa cruise for the longest time. I first became aware of the Aventura dance group, out of Ft. Lauderdale Florida about 2 years ago. By the time I found out about them, it was a little late to plan to go on the cruise for 2009. I was disappointed I couldn't make it then. I tried to go on the 2010 cruise, but wasn't able to get a good roommate (although they can set you up with one if you don't have one), and the timing just wasn't right..
About Aventura Dance Studio Ft. Lauderdale
They are a dance studio out of Ft. Lauderdale run by
Moshe Rosier and this was their (I think) 4th annual salsa - bachata cruise. It is the largest salsa / bachata dance cruise in the world, and attracted about 500 people. The Royal Caribbean Cruise ship
Liberty of the Seas holds 3,600 passengers on the boat. I believe there are about 1,300 staff as well. I believe one day, if they combine efforts with other salsa schools, they may be able to get the whole boat to themselves. They had people from all over the US attend the cruise, and even people from other countries (i.e. Canada, Switzerland, Poland, Mexico, etc).
In November 2010, I went on my first cruise,
Carnival Inspiration out of Tampa, and went to Cozumel. A great experience, although it wasn't a salsa cruise.
Finally, I found a good roommate for the 2011 Aventura Salsa / Bachata dance cruise, and booked voyage back in September. The agency that handled the booking was
Payless Travel Agency, I think they are out of Miami. They are the ones that handled it for Aventura Dance Group. They did a decent job, I guess. However, we found out that we were all supposed to get a complimentary bottle of wine, but that didn't happen for everybody. I believe the travel agency normally gives those type of gifts for a group this large. Anyways, one of the complaints I heard was that the agency was not that responsive and that next year Aventura Dance Studio will deal directly with the cruise line.
Salsa Congress at sea (on a cruise)
Basically, the salsa cruise is a
salsa congress at sea (i.e. on a cruise ship). Although, with a salsa congress, you can purchase a day-pass, a 2-day pass, 3-day pass, etc. With the salsa cruise, you purchase one pass for the whole time you are on the boat, or no pass at all. If you don't purchase the dance pass, then in essence, you are just going on a regular cruise. You will not have access to the performances, to the dance workshops, and the mini-excursion
Mexican beach - dance party (
view video) that took place at the famous
Half Senor Frogs in Cozumel.
The workshops that they scheduled were fantastic. And the good thing about it, is they had 3 going on at the same time, so it was like a salsa workshop buffet that you can pick and choose. They had a total of 44 workshops.
Schedule of Salsa Cruise Events, Performances
Albert Torres, the originator of the
L.A. Salsa congress was the emcee of all the performances. He was very entertaining, and pretty funny. Although, sometimes maybe he tried to force it, overall, he was a great emcee. He had a
"History of Salsa" workshop on the cruise, that was 1.5 hour presentation that I am sorry I missed. I'm sure it would have been very interesting and fascinating. They scheduled it right after the excursion in Cozumel at 6PM, which was tough for many people to attend. Not a good choice for the schedule. They did reschedule it at 4PM for Sunday, but still wasn't able to make that one.
The performances were fantastic as well. There were many good ones that stand-out, and some were done by first-time performers.
List of Salsa and Bachata Performers on dance cruise
One of my biggest complaints with the cruise is that the performances would start around 8PM and then end around 11PM. The
dining on a the Royal Caribbean was fantastic. Therefore, after you have a great meal, and sit down for a few hours to watch the salsa performances, I was having trouble keeping awake during certain portions as you go sit in the plush seats of the RC Sphynx and Ice skating Rink. I guess that might be my age catching up with me :-)
Then after the performances, the dancing would start. Usually at the
Sphynx Lounge, and then after that would close around 12:30 to 1AM, the dancing would continue poolside.
So my beef is that I wish the dancing started a little earlier. And to have more social dancing perhaps in the afternoon hours. Luckily, there was a Latin band that was playing on the ship, so some people went to
Boleros Lounge to dance to live Latin Music.
Overall it was a great experience, especially if you like to dance salsa music or bachata. They even played a little merengue, and had some cha-cha workshops, and even a type of music called
Pachanga, a latin-style dance that originated in Cuba in the late 50's, and now is popular in Columbia. It is like a Cha-Cha with a stronger downbeat. They also had workshops for salsa on one and salsa on two (salsa on 1) (salsa on 2).
I would definitely do it again next year, I hope they pick another destination besides Cozumel, just because I would want to see a new destination, although I would still go again if it was Cozumel.
If you were on the cruise, and want to say hello, just add me on
facebook!
Larry
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Photo credit: from the Royal Caribbean site
Save Big on Caribbean Cruises with Expedia!
, is a nice collection of art and poetry (much of her own poetry), and is a nice coffee table type book. 
