CruiseLady88

I just want to ask the same question,

We have been to Cunard’s QM2 twice. Love their dance floor and the music. But the ship’s staterooms need update. The public area is well maintained though. So, sometimes I do want to try new ships. But it is so unfortunate that HAL management changes their old traditional entertainment and does not accommodate the ballroom dancers any more. Otherwise, we and our group of dance friends would love HAL’s new ships.

1 hour ago, SilvertoGold said:

Noordam had something called Ballroom Blitz at 5 pm in the BB Kings with recorded music, I think.  Seems to have been a pax-lead freestyle dance and lessons hour.

In which case, HAL may need to consider bringing Ballroom Blitz in the Queen’s Lounge with recorded music. It doesn’t cost HAL anything.

We sailed on Koningsdam in 2016 and hoped that we could do the excursion during  the day time and dance after dinner or theater shows. The bands there were not knowledgeable on ballroom music tempo. If you like disco music, or just move your body on the dance floor, BB King Blue band is for you. But not for us. So, we had the most boring cruise in our experience and we swore that we would not go back to Koningsdam. We told our dance friends not to bother with this ship although the food offered in the MDR was not bad.

HAL has a new ship, Nieuw Statendam in 2018. I notice that HAL made some changes and anticipate some changes made. I talked to my DH and thought that we may try the new ship since I really like the dance floor on the Queen's Lounge.

After I read this CC review on Nieuw Statendam, I don't think we will try the new ship. It seems that HAL didn't change at all. I share his frustration.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=653027

Great review! Thanks!

just wonder if you saw anyone dancing ballroom? Waltz, Foxtrot, Rumba, Cha Cha. Not only disco type dance.

Is Uber available?

Edge is not for us and our dance friends. We love ballroom dancing. No ballroom and it means we won’t consider EDGE at all.

Any one dancing on the ship? Thanks,

Any one dancing on the dance floor in the Ocean Bar, or Queen's lounge?

Thanks!

Looks like lots of sea weed on the shore and sand. Also lots of rocks on the sand too.

Uber available? 

We sailed in May 2017. The weather was good although a bit colder. But we felt comfortable. Besides, the waterfall scene was better.

Our TA has 39 passengers on board for the same cruise (2 weeks ago, she brought 110 PAX onboard). I think they will stay in the Queen’s room dancing every night. One lady reported that there was a couple getting married in the Queen’s room around the high tea time.

Any one saw that?

On 12/16/2018 at 1:16 PM, Andy C said:

Nothing like walking into your Grand Suite and finding the pungent smell and sweet urine of the prior occupant in the toilet. Looking forward to meeting our room steward!

No extra tips then!

The front desk staff needs more training to deal with customers. Last time we were on Koningsdam, I saw how the front desk manager dealt with customers with very rude manner. 

On 11/2/2018 at 4:54 PM, Sea Belle said:

We found ballroom music in the Veendam Ocean Bar in May  2018, none on the Eurodam in Dec. 2017, occasionally on the Amsterdam in May 2017 and the Oosterdam in Mar. 2017.  The dance floors were busy every time it occurred.  I don’t understand the theory behind omitting that style of dancing when it is obviously enjoyed by so many and the dance floors are still in the Ocean Bars.  I’m surprised the Maasdam didn’t have it.

Dancers don’t drink. They drink water to keep hydrated. When they dance, they sweat. This means cruise ships are losing revenue on drink. But they neglect the fact that dancers bring in other passengers to the area since some passengers enjoy watching them dancing at the same time listening to the live band music.

On 10/20/2018 at 12:51 AM, Carnevale said:

That’s a surprise as our impression is that HAL has moved away from ballroom dancing altogether so dance hosts on any HAL ships really is not what we expected.  

 

We were on the Noordam earlier this month and were extremely disappointed that there was no ballroom dancing until we requested it and then we got a grand total of one set on part of the floor in the Ocean Bar (1 table was removed but 2 remained on the dance floor).  We asked for dance time on day 2 and finally had this little opportunity on the last night of our 6 night sailing.

 

We don’t understand the thinking behind this.  The floor is there and while we prefer live music we aren’t picky - canned is ok or a pianist who can play in strict tempo (the musician from the band we danced to was great but the regular pianist was hopeless).  It would not take much to support dancing in the Ocean Bar...really no cost to HAL that we can see and a way of providing a different activity that many enjoy.  

 

Given this recent experience we have decided that unless things change, this was our last HAL cruise....a hard decision as we are three star so get a few perks and as we are about to retire we hope to spend a good amount of time cruising now.  It just can’t be on HAL anymore except perhaps if we do a Grand Voyage on Amsterdam but that’s not going to be a regular thing.  And a disco after 11pm does not do it for us and BB Kings is far too loud to stay in that venue for any length of time (we value our hearing) and what they play is rarely suitable for ballroom (we tried).

 

So fellow dancers, if you value dancing as part of your daily cruise activities then I cannot recommendation HAL.

We have excluded HAL from our cruise shopping after we came back from our Koningsdam cruise. We love the dance floor in the Queen’s Lounge. But then we disliked having BB King band there every night. That was our most boring cruise and my husband said “no more HAl cruise”.

we have switched to Cunard ships. We can dance every night in the Queen’s room (pre-recorded music and live band music every night).

We recently heard from this forum that HAL has made some changes to the Queen’s Lounge. They have different bands to play in the same venue (trio band, Lincoln Stage, BB king blue). So, I will keep on monitoring and will decide if we should try the new ship. If the ship brings back some ballroom dancing programs back to the ship, I will inform my dance group. I notice that many ballroom dancers have excluded HAL from their cruise list already.

No music for ballroom dancing! Then, my dance group won’t book Edge. Cunard ships remain to be our first choice for ballroom dancing. Our group of 110 people (40% are ballroom dancers) just came back from Queen Mary 2. We danced every night to the pre-recorded and live orchestra band music.

Can you please take some photos when you see people dancing? Mostly on the piazza floor. Thanks. I want to know if the band is good for dancing.

Which taxi company you used to the terminal from your hotel? Do you need to pre-book?

1 hour ago, Btimmer said:

The Celebrity Edge parked nose to nose with us today.  Also in port was the Harmony of the Seas, Nieuw Amsterdam, and a Princess ship.  Also attached is a picture of our room configured as twin beds.

 

Disembarkation was smooth, and our Uber whisked us to the FLL airport.  Now we have 9 hours of flying home to Seattle via LAX.

Next time we may try using Uber to FLL from port. How much us the fare? Do you mind sharing this info? Thanks!

Is the ocean still rocky? Our friends on Crystal’s Symphony now returning to New Orleans from Costumel Mexico. She texted me that she and her husband has a very bad seasick since last night. They didn’t eat dinner last night and just ate cracker. 

I think that one will feel worst on a smaller ship when the ocean is rocky. This is why I don’t want to try smaller ship.

We disembarked on Dec. 8, 2018. We carried our luggage ourselves and got off the ship at 8:45 am. We finished custom and walked past the custom at 9:15 am. When we (4 of us) walked out the terminal, an array of taxis were waiting in the taxi area. There is a poster stating the flat fee for a station wagon taxi. To EWR, the flat fee is $90 + $20 toll fee. We arrived at EWR Terminal C level 3 for Air Canada at 10:00 am. But then we had to wait till 10:30 am for check-in. The staff didn’t let us check in earlier. She said check-in started 3 hours before departure time.

If you have more people, the flat rate for a bigger van will $120 + $20 toll.

PS. We used Uber XL to go to the cruise terminal in embarkation day. But on disembarkation day, there was no XL van available. Small car uberX price was $87 (toll included). So, we chose taxi instead.

21 hours ago, cougaraz said:

Thank you!  Excitement is building.  We are about 95% packed, electronics are charged and all the paperwork has been checked.  Just need to finish the last two days of work and then get moving.

Don’t forget your power adapter. In the washroom, my electric toothbrush and my husband’s shaver can’t plug in. We encountered this in our first Cunard cruise and forgot to bring the power adapter in the second QM2 cruise.

On 12/16/2018 at 9:31 PM, Btimmer said:

The tiny band on the BB King stage.  Good dancing music, and not too loud.

The little band - easy listeningdance floor

It is so nice to see people dancing. I am thinking of trying this new ship. Thanks for the photos.