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B.B. Kings in Rotterdam


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Loved B.B. Kings on Westerdam a couple years ago. I am a huge jazz fan and it was my favorite spot. I have a courtesy hold on the Rotterdam in March. I thought I read where it was missing after drydock on a previous thread here. Holland America site still lists it as being active. What's the real deal?

 

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Thank you. Guess the folks who are in charge of updating HAL's website are behind on the current cost cutting trends.

 

 

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On our recent Voyage of the Vikings cruise we were told that HAL was essentially splitting their fleet into two groups (for entertainment purposes) with the larger ships (Vista Class and above) having diverse entertainment including BB King groups. The smaller half of the fleet will no longer have BB King Groups but will get ship band (think HAL Cats or Neptunes). Our experience with these ship bands is that they are good at playing "Roller Skating Rink" music or something that is supposed to be Big Band music (how do you do this with no woodwinds or brass). On the Maasdam, they are implementing a new "EXP" type cruise which means there will not even be any production shows (replaced by lectures or an occasional local cultural act). Only time will tell if this all works to HAL's advantage.

 

Hank

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On our recent Voyage of the Vikings cruise we were told that HAL was essentially splitting their fleet into two groups (for entertainment purposes) with the larger ships (Vista Class and above) having diverse entertainment including BB King groups. The smaller half of the fleet will no longer have BB King Groups but will get ship band (think HAL Cats or Neptunes). Our experience with these ship bands is that they are good at playing "Roller Skating Rink" music or something that is supposed to be Big Band music (how do you do this with no woodwinds or brass). On the Maasdam, they are implementing a new "EXP" type cruise which means there will not even be any production shows (replaced by lectures or an occasional local cultural act). Only time will tell if this all works to HAL's advantage.

 

Hank

 

Thank you for this information.

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We just returned from 14 days on the Rotterdam or should I say the SNOOZErdam. There was very little to do onboard and B.B. King was among the missing. HAL's website was deceptive and had I known beforehand, I would never have booked this cruise.

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On our recent Voyage of the Vikings cruise we were told that HAL was essentially splitting their fleet into two groups (for entertainment purposes) with the larger ships (Vista Class and above) having diverse entertainment including BB King groups. The smaller half of the fleet will no longer have BB King Groups but will get ship band (think HAL Cats or Neptunes). Our experience with these ship bands is that they are good at playing "Roller Skating Rink" music or something that is supposed to be Big Band music (how do you do this with no woodwinds or brass). On the Maasdam, they are implementing a new "EXP" type cruise which means there will not even be any production shows (replaced by lectures or an occasional local cultural act). Only time will tell if this all works to HAL's advantage.

 

Hank

I would be fine without the production shows. I prefer listening and dancing to small bands to watching a show. And I would be very happy with more lectures and cultural acts.

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On our recent Voyage of the Vikings cruise we were told that HAL was essentially splitting their fleet into two groups (for entertainment purposes) with the larger ships (Vista Class and above) having diverse entertainment including BB King groups. The smaller half of the fleet will no longer have BB King Groups but will get ship band (think HAL Cats or Neptunes). Our experience with these ship bands is that they are good at playing "Roller Skating Rink" music or something that is supposed to be Big Band music (how do you do this with no woodwinds or brass). On the Maasdam, they are implementing a new "EXP" type cruise which means there will not even be any production shows (replaced by lectures or an occasional local cultural act). Only time will tell if this all works to HAL's advantage.

 

Hank

 

I hope HAL will have a smaller ship in Florida. I'd have a slight preference for a ship without BBK. Any timeframe for this?

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I hope HAL will have a smaller ship in Florida. I'd have a slight preference for a ship without BBK. Any timeframe for this?

 

Rotterdam was the only S & R ship that had BB Kings, I believe. With it removed now from that ship, there are no BB Kings on any of the S & R ships or the Prinsendam,

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Thank you. We're booked for next Autumn on the Prinsendam, the one ship I've been anxious to try.

 

I hope you enjoy her as much as we do :). We are sailing on her again in May next year. We'll try to keep her in good shape for you.

 

I can DEFINITELY say there has never been BBKings on the P'dam.

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On the Rotterdam we thought the BB Kings locale in the Crow's Nest did not really work well. An awkward set-up, too long and narrow in front of the bandstand, too small an area for the type of (loud) music, although that band toned it down considerably.

 

Love the BB Kings, best music HAL has had in our long experience. Glad to hear that HAL is keeping them on the larger ships.

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On the Rotterdam we thought the BB Kings locale in the Crow's Nest did not really work well. An awkward set-up, too long and narrow in front of the bandstand, too small an area for the type of (loud) music, although that band toned it down considerably.

 

Love the BB Kings, best music HAL has had in our long experience. Glad to hear that HAL is keeping them on the larger ships.

 

We agree about the Rotterdam problem. DW and I spent many nights of our VOV cruise in the Crows Nest listening to the fine group, but I started to wear ear plugs to deaden some of the sound :). The biggest fan was the wife of CCL's Chief Executive Officer (Arnold Donald) who was seen dancing away (by herself) nearly every night. The young lady was traveling somewhat incognito on our cruise and kept a very low profile except when the BB King group started to rock the room :). The venue was just not the right design (and accoustics) for such a band. We preferred the venue on the Oosterdam and other Vista Class ships.

 

Hank

 

Hank

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I enjoyed BB King on the Rotterdam in October. The only problem was a very strong mold smell. I hope they corrected this during the drydock.

 

That mold problem was there when we first cruised on the Rotterdam (many years ago) and it was much worse during the first half of this year's Voyage of the Vikings Cruise (August). The crew kept cleaning the carpet which eventually reduced much of the smell. But there is obviously some kind of leak (there were many leaks on the Rotterdam) that feeds moisture under the carpet in the area near the portside entrance of the Crow's Nest. For whatever reason, HAL has not seen fit to solve the problem for several years and simply tried to cover up the odor.

 

Hank

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Interesting about the mold.. HAL must be able to do a very good job of cleaning up as we were up there for 30 days daily and never smelled anything, either entering or exiting or sitting in various areas on the port side, It didn't rain much, so maybe that was the reason.

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  • 2 weeks later...
No BB King on Rotterdam.

 

This is disappointing... :(

We like to dance and were hoping to be able to get some time in at BB King's on Rotterdam in April.

Any recent cruisers on Rotterdam notice if there is any dancing at the Ocean Bar in the evenings? We do ballroom/swing and some casual nightclub dancing.

Thanks!

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This is disappointing... :(

We like to dance and were hoping to be able to get some time in at BB King's on Rotterdam in April.

Any recent cruisers on Rotterdam notice if there is any dancing at the Ocean Bar in the evenings? We do ballroom/swing and some casual nightclub dancing.

Thanks!

It is a mistake to remove BB King's from Rotterdam. It will just prevent the younger demographic from sailing this ship in the future.

 

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