[JARI]

Lost society will come if they dont have gigs, call them. Turmion kätilöt like to come too, but now im inot sure because their other singer quits.

[DrinkMoxie]

What do Gojira, Xentrix, and Hypocrisy have in common?
Same reason given, pretty much word for word, on cancellation... Hmm

But, lineup is still amazing even without Gojira... I can be very happy even if 3 more bands I hate are announced...

...but I'm pretty sure Borknagar are available

[Godflesh]

So sad for Gojira, the brothers already lost their mother a year ago, so it's even more understandable if they want to stay close to family.
They were *the* band I wanted to see the most. I had tickets to see them for the first time a few months ago, but bailed when they were announced
And Nile was the second band I wanted to see the most...

But the worst part is that now WE WON'T KNOW WHICH OF THE LAST 3 BANDS WAS THE ONE SCHEDULED ORIGINALLY (it could be announced next or last), this is what really kills me

[alex_canada]

Sorry for their fans but happy for me. Not a gojira fan and this might open a few bucks for a band I like more!

[Danny24601]

Just today I was thinking "man there's a lot of bands on this boat I want to see, hopefully I have time to see them all...". Be careful what you wish for, cause that's one two set (Gojira) and a one set (Nile) gone for me. That said, I'm sure UMC and the skipper wouldn't do this if they had any other option though, and my heart goes out to Gojira and their families at this time.

[alex_canada]

Sidenote, I appreciate the communication. Better than when kamelots cancellation took 6 months to confirm.

[Ecliptica]

Not the same type of music, but Theocracy is available and in Atlanta.

And I would poop myself if they were announced.

But this cruise is probably not Christian enough for them, so meh.

[Memnoch]

Sucks that Nile was cancelled. One of the best live bands in the world. Gojira is ok, but nothing special.

As for replacements, Carcass would be a nice replacement for Gojira. Both have a lot of mainstream metal appeal. If the replacement for Nile is that plastic Viking band or, Satan forbid, thrash, I'm beyond angry. There's not many bands in death metal that would be suitable (big name, brutal...) to replace Nile, but Immolation would be perfect. Or if we want some ethnical death metal, Ade (George Kollias played drums for their Spartacus album) or Scarab (Egyptian death metal from, well, Egypt) would be fine.

Or get my number one death metal wish list band, Cut Up. There's still plenty of time for the Swedes to fill in their ESTA applications and hop on a SAS flight to Florida. Pile up those kronas and get them to play a Vomitory set.

[captaingabbeh]

Ouch. I wasn't gonna make it to Nile, but I was looking forward to Gojira a lot. Just tell me that Pain and Mors are still in (and hey, maybe Hypocrisy will be one of the replacement bands)

[cowboy71]

Not the same type of music, but Theocracy is available and in Atlanta.

And I would poop myself if they were announced.

But this cruise is probably not Christian enough for them, so meh.

That would be fantastic! Would love to see them live.

[Pellaz]

Was really looking forward to both bands.
Oh, well, it's still a solid lineup. It will be interesting to see if Andy has a quick backup plan already in place. Thinking of a certain quick replacement of Arcturus with Ihsahn, here.....

[Empire]

I think because of the visa problem it will be american bands.
Cannibal Corpse, Overkill.
And Number 60: Amon Amarth

[Tigerclaw_x]

I am actually HAPPY that Gojira and Nile is out. Quite Happy. Too many "we gargle with sulfuric acid" bands on board anyways. Now, figure this out: BLIND GUARDIAN have US visas, seen them twice already. So do Leaves Eyes, so does Sonata Arctica, So does Rage/Refuge, so does Rhapsody, so does PelleK. Any of them would be a welcome substitution into "we gargle with sulfuric acid" style.

[TPH]

...........not even going to address the stupidity of the acid thing.
Just have to say that Blind Guardian is a shitty live act. I saw them last year, save from the drummer who was the only one looking like he was playing live in a band, everyone else looked like they were sleepwalking and/or on autopilot. Absolutely no life, no energy, nothing. Was pretty gutted to have paid for this, I left after 5 songs.

[Memnoch]

Besides, if one wants to see bands like Blind Guardian or Sonata Arctica, there's always Disney cruises.

[AceHugger]

Oh, cock it.

They were both MUSTs for me, still, - there will no doubt be something awesome in their stead.

...hopefully...

[AceHugger]

...........not even going to address the stupidity of the acid thing.

Besides, if one wants to see bands like Blind Guardian or Sonata Arctica, there's always Disney cruises.

This.

[Downvod]

If the visa for one guy in Nile derailed them, I don't see them getting another foreign band this close. I think 2 American bands and then whomever we were already getting for #60.

The visa wasn't for the ship, it was for the tour that was to follow. No work visa is needed for the ship.

This. Wintersun was booked last minute in 2015, remember?

I know they were announced last minute... I'm not sure if I truly believe they were booked a day or two before sailing out of the blue.

I swear I've read on here before about bands not making it due to visa issues. Amon Amarth last year was one of the rumors.

[Tazz]

/cough/ Ross the Boss's 'Manowar - Discipline of Steel' tour doesn't start until 16th Feb in Mexico/cough/

[Memnoch]

The bands don't need a visa to play the cruise, because it's not in the U.S.

And Wintersun had been in talks with UMC well before they signed the deal, but the actual deal and whatever Andy offered them was made mere days before the cruise. A friend of mine flew to Florida on the same flight and the guys said they only got the confirmation the day (or two days) before.
We've all heard from many bands that 70k isn't worth it financially, but if they can include a tour before or after, it makes for a minimum wage vacation for some. Apparently Nile wasn't being paid enough to justify the costs of flying to Florida and taking five days off without a tour right after.

[sara]

Can we please, please replace these bands with heavy ones? It's already a pretty light line up in my opinion. I was psyched for Gojira and like Nile. Please do not replace these guys with weenie bands. I need neck crushing heavy.

[sara]

I am actually HAPPY that Gojira and Nile is out. Quite Happy. Too many "we gargle with sulfuric acid" bands on board anyways. Now, figure this out: BLIND GUARDIAN have US visas, seen them twice already. So do Leaves Eyes, so does Sonata Arctica, So does Rage/Refuge, so does Rhapsody, so does PelleK. Any of them would be a welcome substitution into "we gargle with sulfuric acid" style.

Then may I ask why you are even on a metal cruise? It should be expected that there are quite a few of bands that have these vocals. The vast majority of metal is not the pretty girls in corsets bands and such. And I like Leaves Eyes, but really. a metal cruise without harsh vocals would be bullshit.

[bodomdragon]

I'm sorry for the guys in Gojira and Nile, but musically I'm more than okay with that. I could say it is very fortunate that, with so many great bands onbroad, the two that cancel are among the few I don't care about

[Speedy]

The bands don't need a visa to play the cruise, because it's not in the U.S.

And Wintersun had been in talks with UMC well before they signed the deal, but the actual deal and whatever Andy offered them was made mere days before the cruise. A friend of mine flew to Florida on the same flight and the guys said they only got the confirmation the day (or two days) before.
We've all heard from many bands that 70k isn't worth it financially, but if they can include a tour before or after, it makes for a minimum wage vacation for some. Apparently Nile wasn't being paid enough to justify the costs of flying to Florida and taking five days off without a tour right after.

Are there any info on whether the US tour is cancelled or not? It sounds to me like they had the option to cancel either the cruise or the tour, and understandably chose the cruise as the tour pays much better (or indeed at all).

[Mark]

Please, for the love of God/Satan/Odin or whatever stuff you may or may not believe in - can we just stop that ridiculous "weenie" vs heavy bullshit?
The thing I love most about this cruise is that we get all those different styles of metal together on a single boat and while everybody has his own tastes everybody still seems to enjoy it a lot...

Personally I didn't care for either band but coming out and saying you're glad they are gone is just borderline stupid.
Also Andy should probably really try to get some proper heavy bands to replace them. I'd be really pissed if say Orden Ogan got canceled and replaced by a Death Metal Band.

[mjb7e]

Other suggestions: Alestorm, Nekrogoblikon, or Æther Realm. Their Super Smashed Turbo Tour in Fall 2016 was a blast.

[metalmaciejmetal]

Please, for the love of God/Satan/Odin or whatever stuff you may or may not believe in - can we just stop that ridiculous "weenie" vs heavy bullshit?
The thing I love most about this cruise is that we get all those different styles of metal together on a single boat and while everybody has his own tastes everybody still seems to enjoy it a lot...

Thank you! The way I see it, 70000 tons is a cross-section of the entire metal spectrum or as close as possible. Little bit of everything from the real deal black metal, old school, thrash, power, folk, death and even nu metal. Fucking fantastic.

Personally I don't like Gojira but I have tons of other bands I dig. It sucks they will not make it, there seems to be enough people that were excited to see them. I've met a couple of the Gojira guys about 10 years ago, super nice guys. I got to hang out in the tour bus with them and Behemoth. Don't care for the music of gojira but I like the band members.

[JARI]

[quote="Memnoch"]Besides, if one wants to see bands like Blind Guardian or Sonata Arctica, there's always Disney cruises

[Warphine]

Sucks about Gojira and Nile but I've seen them live a few times each so no big deal.

[captaingabbeh]

This. Wintersun was booked last minute in 2015, remember?

I know they were announced last minute... I'm not sure if I truly believe they were booked a day or two before sailing out of the blue.

I swear I've read on here before about bands not making it due to visa issues. Amon Amarth last year was one of the rumors.

According to the Wintersun guys, they were actually booked only about a week before sailing. The problem isn't the boat - the problem is if you're a band who wants to enter the US to tour soon after the boat, and your visas are still clearing, and immigration gets shirty about letting you in, because technically your visa's not ready yet...

[PacNW]

Bummer news. Honestly I have never managed to get into either Gojira or Nile. I had been planning to catch at least one Nile set though, because I hear they are awesome live.

I agree with others who think the replacement bands should be in a similar heavy vein. Swapping Nile for Sonata Arctica would feel like a slap in the face to death metal fans. Cannibal Corpse is rad live if Andy is able to secure them at the last minute like this.

I also agree with people saying Nile's cancellation is kinda BS. Professional bands should plan ahead to secure their visas in time to honor their show commitments. Yes the visa process should work faster and easier, or ideally you could not even require people to have paper permission slips to enter the country, but unfortunately the world is not perfect. Professionally, focus on the items that are 100% in your control.

[meshuggah]

What is GORGUTS doing? I'd be happy to trade them for NILE!

[Sgt. B]

FUCK! Didn't see this awful news last night. This just adds to the shitty week I am having.

Can we please, please replace these bands with heavy ones? It's already a pretty light line up in my opinion. I was psyched for Gojira and like Nile.

I agree with Sara, they were two bands I really wanted to see. This is my least favorite lineup off all the cruises that I have done. Losing 2 bands I wanted to see hurts.

Personally I didn't care for either band but coming out and saying you're glad they are gone is just borderline stupid.
Also Andy should probably really try to get some proper heavy bands to replace them. I'd be really pissed if say Orden Ogan got canceled and replaced by a Death Metal Band.

Thanks. I agree with you that the replacements should be in the same ballpark.

[Thrashmania]

Sorry for the family of Gojira. As far as my preference, I was probably not going to catch one of their sets anyway. I've seen Nile a bajillion times and am not heart broken about their cancellation, but would have seen one of their sets. Cool thing about this cruise (as previously mentioned) is the diversity of the genres. I've VERY particular in what Power Metal bands I like, and luckily I usually get 1 or 2 Power metal bands I wouldn't be able to see otherwise (ProgPower rarely has enough bands to my taste to justify the cost).

My bread and butter is generally the heavier stuff though, and this year is pretty light in that sense. Hoping at least Nile gets replaced with some good ole (non-melodic) death metal (Unless that melodic death metal is Hypocrisy, God Dethroned or Vital Remains). I don't really care who Gojira gets replaced with, my assumption is that it'll be a larger act--so that's nice. I'm on board with Cut Up doing a Vomitory set!

Still crossing all body parts for Hypocrisy!

[Danny24601]

Its an interesting question to what extent we want the replacements to be more similar to the bands canceled vs. better known. Presumably the skipper is going to do his best but with such short notice (even allowing for the fact they likely knew this was coming long before we did) there are going to be limits on what they can do. I'm sure they would have booked Amon Amarth or a similar crowd pleaser if they could, but given that Nile couldn't sort their visas with many months notice I'm sure you can imagine how limited their band options are now. In that case, is it more important to get bands that sound close to Gojira and Nile, even if most people are unfamiliar with them and might even call them crippers, or for them to get bands that are similar in size and make the lineup change feel like less of a downgrade commercially, even if those bands are completely different in sound? I'm not sure there is a right answer here, and perhaps UMC may even go with a mixed approach across the three remaining bands.

Consolation prize: more announcements to get excited about!

[captaingabbeh]

The more I think about it, the more my dream replacement list is Symphony X or Myrath to replace Gojira (though both are less heavy), and Hypocrisy to replace Nile.

[big perken]

Can we please, please replace these bands with heavy ones? It's already a pretty light line up in my opinion. I was psyched for Gojira and like Nile. Please do not replace these guys with weenie bands. I need neck crushing heavy.

Only logical to get atleast one death metal band. But last minute who knows whats available. Look to Canada and see if Cryptopsy or Gorguts are free one of them with overkill would be nice.

[sara]

Can we please, please replace these bands with heavy ones? It's already a pretty light line up in my opinion. I was psyched for Gojira and like Nile. Please do not replace these guys with weenie bands. I need neck crushing heavy.

Only logical to get atleast one death metal band. But last minute who knows whats available. Look to Canada and see if Cryptopsy or Gorguts are free one of them with overkill would be nice.

i understand completely, but there is no lack of good heavy bands, maybe it wont be one as big, but im really disappointed that so many are using this as an opportunity to beg for more corny stuff when we already have kamelot, amaranthe, xandria, etc etc

[alex_canada]

Amaranthe should play two extra sets, and then they should book van canto and twilight force lol

[metalmaciejmetal]

Amaranthe should play two extra sets, and then they should book van canto and twilight force lol

Van Canto is such an easy solution it would seem. They just need to bag some microphones, borrow a drum kit from any of the 59 other bands and off we go.