Ah, 'cruise ship entertainment' - a phrase that conjures images of starry backcloths, sequined frocks, and the lite-ent values of the 1970s preserved in aspic. Even if you've never set foot on an oceangoing vessel, you know the drill. Perhaps those stereotypes held water back when Jane McDonald ruled the reality TV waves. But - lazy thinking ahoy! - do they still?

Not quite, it seems. These days, the high seas are host to the Olivier award-winning 9/11 musical Come from Away and hip theatre-maker Emma Rice's acclaimed Brief Encounter. And the onboard production values? They 'way surpass what you see in London theatres,' says Susannah Daley of Peel Entertainment, which provides shows for the Ambassador cruise line. 'These ships are now being built with theatre in mind, to a really high spec, to hold between 600 and 1,000 people. What can be produced in them is pretty phenomenal.'

Producer David Pugh, a West End veteran who has collaborated with Cunard cruises, concurs: 'These are probably the most technical theatres, in terms of lighting and sound, that you've ever seen outside of the best theatres in the world.' So, young people are loving it - and who can blame them? The only sequins left are probably in the captain's dress uniform.