It’s Q4-’25!
Are You Ready to Sail in Q1-’26?
The fourth quarter of ’25 begins today which means we here at Signature Cruise Experiences are in preparation mode. Since we don’t sail for these final months of the year (Q4-’25), we’re using that time to prepare for the five amazing experiences in Q1-’26! As for the Q1-’26 sailings, The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’26.1 (2.3.26-2.10.26) and The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’26.2 (2.10.26-2.17.26) are fully reserved. Each year, we see these sailings reach capacity earlier and earlier.
A third sailing, The Jazz Cruise ’26 (1.27.26-2.3.26), is more than 92% reserved and will run out of staterooms shortly as it has done for every sailing since 2001.
The remaining two Q1-’26 sailings are new programs, each establishing their identity and combining for more than 60 GRAMMY® Awards; they are powerhouses in terms of talent.
David Foster: The Hitman Cruise
1.15.26-1.20.26
7 Days of Music on a 5-Day Cruise
Christian McBride’s World at Sea
1.20.26-1.27.26
7 Days of Music for the price of a 5-Day Cruise
More information about these cruises below. Before we dive into the information offered in this edition of Jazz Notes, though The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’26.3 does not sail until Q3-’26, fewer than 100 staterooms remain for that sailing!
Michael Lazaroff
Executive Director
Signature Cruise Experiences
michael@scecruises.com
Interviews & Conversations at Sea: Our Version of Entertainment Tonight
One of the most distinctive aspects of the sailings of our jazz cruises is the proliferation of interview and conversation sessions, during which our guests get to learn about both the music and the lives of our artists. “It’s really something that separates our cruises from land-based concerts and festivals,” Michael Lazaroff explains. “It’s been there since the inaugural sailing of The Jazz Cruise in 2001. Dee Dee Bridgewater, a headliner on that cruise, was one of the first subjects.” Things have come full circle with Dee Dee being interviewed by Marcus Miller during the recent Journey of Jazz.
Michael says that initially the sessions seemed like good “filler” in the schedule, but the response from both the guests and the artists changed that perception quickly. “Looking back, we had such entertaining and in-depth talks with living legends like Red Holloway, Keter Betts and James Moody, as well as with emerging stars like John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton,” he says. “People loved it. Now we can’t imagine programming our schedules without those sessions.” Our guests also get to participate with questions from the audience, often posing queries both informed and personal.
For many years, the interviews were conducted by various jazz DJs or writers, but over time the programming team experimented with having artists handle the interviews, making it more of a 1:1 conversation. In recent years, artists such as Marcus, Christian McBride, John Clayton, Shelly Berg and the late Joey DeFrancesco have sat in the interviewer chair. “We find that in the same way that artists play better in front of their peers, they’re also more responsive when talking with their fellow musicians,” Michael explains. “And several of them have gone on to become radio hosts with SiriusXM and other platforms.” Indeed, Christian will be taping episodes of his show “The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian” during the upcoming McBride’s World at Sea.
Our comedian in residence Alonzo Bodden has also gotten into the act interviewing everyone from Boney James to Keb’ Mo’ to the late David Sanborn.
“The fun thing about hosting the group conversations is learning the relationships between musicians,” Alonzo says. “I remember doing a sax interview and Eric Darius was asked about influences of other guys like Richard Elliott or Gerald Albright. And he stood up and played exactly like each of them. Also, I enjoy finding out things about them one might not know. Candy Dulfer is incredibly funny, in two languages. Sanborn and I talked about recovery and creativity.”
After all these years, Alonzo recalls one special conversation he hosted. “The interview I’ll always love was the one with Wayman Tisdale,” he recalls. “Sadly, it can never be done again. It was fun talking basketball and jazz, two things I love and he excelled at. I’ll always remember asking him which one was better. He said he loved them both, but ‘there’s nothing like NBA money.’ That was hilarious and real.”
We have not limited our interviewers to just the performers, as SiriusXM radio hosts Mark Ruffin and Talaya have done an excellent job in that role. And SCE staffers like Michael, Mario Vines and I have thrown our hats into the interviewing ring, in my case as a host of the “Jazz on Film” sessions that feature film/TV footage of a jazz legend with commentary by one of our artists.
Since 2019, we’ve shared many of these sessions from the cruises in the form of a podcast called Jazz Cruises Conversations, enabling not only our guests who may have missed the sessions while at sea to listen and learn, but also jazz fans from all over the world to share in that experience. During the last six years, we’ve posted more than 100 interviews to the podcast, with subjects ranging from Benny Golson and Wynton Marsalis to Dave Grusin and Ramsey Lewis. There are plenty of real gems in those talks and the overall effect is a veritable jazz history lesson offered by those who made it.
Loaded up with recordings of sessions from the recent Journey of Jazz cruise, we’ll be posting episodes on a weekly basis every Tuesday. We started with a fun talk by Alonzo and Marcus in which the two longtime friends interviewed each other. You can give a listen to that one or any of the more than 100 previous episodes that are available on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts.
– Lee Mergner
Queueing Up for Journey of Jazz ’27
If you did not sail on Journey of Jazz ’25 (or your friends, colleagues, family) and wish to sail on Journey of Jazz ’27, you can establish your priority for a reservation by signing up for Exclusive Insider Access. Doing so puts you at the front of the line when the Rebooking Process ends and before Open Booking starts.
Signature Cruise Experiences Programs
’26 CRUISES
| David Foster: The Hitman Cruise 1.15.26 – 1.20.26 | Christian McBride’s World at Sea 1.20.26 – 1.27.26 |
| The Jazz Cruise 1.27.26 – 2.3.26 | The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’26.1 2.3.26 – 2.10.26 |
| The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’26.2 2.10.26 – 2.17.26 | Top Shelf Country Cruise ‘26 2.27.26 – 3.6.26 |
| The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’26.3 9.11.26 – 9.18.26 | Botti at Sea III 9.18.26 – 9.25.26 |
’27 CRUISES
| Journey of Jazz ’27 1.24.27 – 1.31.27 | The Smooth Jazz Cruise ‘27.1 1.31.27 – 2.7.27 |
| The Smooth Jazz Cruise ‘27.2 2.7.27 – 2.14.27 |
More Programs to be Announced Soon!
| TBD Cruise 1.14.27 – 1.17.27 | The Jazz Cruise ’27 1.17.27 – 1.24.27 |
| Top Shelf Country Cruise ’27 4.9.27 – 4.16.27 | Botti at Sea IV 10.6.27 – 10.13.27 |
| The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’27.3 10.13.27 – 10.20.27 |