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Dancing in the Ocean Bar


JohnSC
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HAL had long been our favorite cruise line but following two consecutive disappointing cruise experiences we decided to give other cruise lines a try. The Ocean Bar had always been our favorite venue for late night entertainment and dancing and we have many happy memories of enjoyable evenings spent there. The newer ships have been totaly redesigned and though they still feature an Ocean Bar, I don't know if it still serves the same function on these vessels. . Can anyone who is familiar with the line's newer ships please provide me with an answer?

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From the Eurodam in December - Ocean Bar has a dance floor and a band that played several sets in the evening. There were people dancing.

 

 

 

Interesting we were on for three weeks and frequented the Ocean Bar and rarely saw a band let alone dancing. In fact there has been many complaints about HAL cutting back on "ballroom style" dancing. The hotspot was the Boardwalk area and dueling pianos, near the Casino.

 

 

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The Ocean Bar on Koningsdam is such a disappointment. I've read on here that on the smaller ships the Ocean Bar is still the traditional trio or quartet. Sailing Veendam next month and hoping that is true.

 

We will just make 4* on next month's cruise and now find HAL is changing so much (on the newer ships) that we don't enjoy it much. Sailing the smaller ships while we can!

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No dance music in the Ocean Bar on the Koningsdam last Oct. nor on the Oosterdam this month. There was a person playing the piano from a predetermined list, no requests taken. We are booked on the Amsterdam for May and hope, since it hasn't been modified to the new entertainment style, that we will be able to enjoy dancing in the Ocean Bar again! I have objected to the change many times on various forums but really don't think it will make a difference. Our cruise in May will earn us the 4* status. One can only hope someone in corporate will realize and wake up to the void they have created. B.B. King groups are fine for a couple of evenings but not every night for everyone. JMHO

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Interesting we were on for three weeks and frequented the Ocean Bar and rarely saw a band let alone dancing. In fact there has been many complaints about HAL cutting back on "ballroom style" dancing. The hotspot was the Boardwalk area and dueling pianos, near the Casino.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The band was there pretty much every night on our way to dinner. (Late, fixed.) They weren't playing what I'd call ballroom dance music, but there were definitely people dancing. There were also a few couples who tried ballroom dancing to the BB King Band. That did not work out well because the floor was often crowded.

 

The band in the Ocean Bar played 3 sets usually - centered around dinner time. I'm pretty sure it was a 5 piece band, but it could have been a quartet. I was unaware that there would be a quiz. ;)

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Disappointing report on Oosterdam, will be on her later this year. Hal's "big push' seems to be BB King Group. Guess we will have to give it a try.

There's a thread from someone who just got off the Oosterdam a few weeks ago. You might want to scroll down until you find it. They were offering to answer any questions.

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No dance music in the Ocean Bar on the Koningsdam last Oct. nor on the Oosterdam this month. There was a person playing the piano from a predetermined list, no requests taken. We are booked on the Amsterdam for May and hope, since it hasn't been modified to the new entertainment style, that we will be able to enjoy dancing in the Ocean Bar again! I have objected to the change many times on various forums but really don't think it will make a difference. Our cruise in May will earn us the 4* status. One can only hope someone in corporate will realize and wake up to the void they have created. B.B. King groups are fine for a couple of evenings but not every night for everyone. JMHO

 

On Amsterdam the Neptunes trio still plays dance music in the Ocean Bar during the evening. See you there :D

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  • 7 months later...
On Amsterdam the Neptunes trio still plays dance music in the Ocean Bar during the evening. See you there :D

 

What a great find- based on studying daily programs online -ballroom dancing is on the decline on HAL- the Neptunes seem to be going extinct. The only places we have seen good ballroom dancing lately are on Cunard - there was an eight piece orchestra every night in the Queens Room on Queen Victoria last week. And there is nice music and a dance floor in the Manhattan Rooms on NCL.

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What a great find- based on studying daily programs online -ballroom dancing is on the decline on HAL- the Neptunes seem to be going extinct. The only places we have seen good ballroom dancing lately are on Cunard - there was an eight piece orchestra every night in the Queens Room on Queen Victoria last week. And there is nice music and a dance floor in the Manhattan Rooms on NCL.

Notice this is an old thread. What was true when it was started may no longer be true now.

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On Amsterdam the Neptunes trio still plays dance music in the Ocean Bar during the evening. See you there :D

 

The Neptunes Trio was indeed playing in the Ocean Bar in May/June on the Amsterdam. We enjoyed them every night before dinner and often afterward. This is the trio who asked me to request management keep this tradition since it looked to be doomed as the older ships go into dry-dock for "improvements". We would like to think when we board the Eurodam in a couple of weeks that we will find dance music in the Ocean Bar nightly but doubt that will be the case.

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  • 4 months later...

We have booked on Noordam for this September and hope someone who has sailed on her recently can let us know if there is any ballroom dancing in the Ocean Bar or elsewhere (not the BB Kings - we have not found them to be suitable for dancing and don’t enjoy their style or extremely loud volumes). We hope all the pleas for dance times have been heard by HAL HQ.

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Actually there is a tiny one, probably big enough for 1-2 couples. They also had a small band occasionally.

 

Never had a band in the Ocean Bar on K'dam in January. It was so disappointing. There's a stage the perfect size for a group like the Neptunes, and a dance floor right in front of the stage. All we ever saw in the Ocean Bar was a piano player who may or may not have been any good, but who had a boring/simple playlist.

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Never had a band in the Ocean Bar on K'dam in January. It was so disappointing. There's a stage the perfect size for a group like the Neptunes, and a dance floor right in front of the stage. All we ever saw in the Ocean Bar was a piano player who may or may not have been any good, but who had a boring/simple playlist.

 

Must have been because the ship was full of boring, simple passengers. LOL We were on for 21 days also in January and the few times we did stop there on our way to the MDR, the piano player was actually taking requests.

 

We were on the Eurodam a few weeks later and although the Ocean Bar stage was set up for the full "The Band" group (i.e. drums, electric piano, loudspeakers, etc.) every day for the entire cruise, they did not play once ??? :D

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Must have been because the ship was full of boring, simple passengers. LOL We were on for 21 days also in January and the few times we did stop there on our way to the MDR, the piano player was actually taking requests.

 

We were on the Eurodam a few weeks later and although the Ocean Bar stage was set up for the full "The Band" group (i.e. drums, electric piano, loudspeakers, etc.) every day for the entire cruise, they did not play once ??? :D

 

It was the first night, when you'd think he would try to engage the audience to get a following, but no. The most uninspiring piano player I've ever heard on a cruise ship. I only had 2 years of lessons and I could have played a lot of his arrangements. Only the people nearest to him were trying to listen. Lots of conversations in the rest of the lounge, some of them rather loud. So it was probably uninspiring for him, too. We moved on to Lincoln Center where the musicians found joy in making music rather than looking bored.

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We were on the K’dam christening cruise and the pianist at the Ocean Bar told us he didn’t take requests as that wasn’t in his contract but even if he had, the dance floor was a tiny circle - too small for any ballroom dances that travel. As Noordam has not been refurbished since we were on her almost 3 yrs ago my hope is they haven’t covered the dance floor with tables and still have canned or live ballroom dance music. Does anyone know if there’s still some dancing every day?

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