No more production shows?

[seamist]

On Eurodam now, it is accurate, our waiter informed us no more production shows fleetwide.  Has been this new policy for past couple of months he said.

[terrydtx]

Sounds like another HAL cost cutting measure like the $10 for extra entre in the MDR. But I have admit very few of the big production shows we have seen are worth the time and cost to us and HAL.

[tpwolfe]

On 3/16/2019 at 5:48 PM, Jimbo59 said:

 

If production shows are important, try MSC Cruises. They have production shows every night, sometimes an additional afternoon show, including an abridged opera performance one afternoon.

 

But MSC is nothing like Holland America. Most of their ships are largeer than HAL’s ships.

Your right.  MSC is nothing like Holland America.  It’s better.  Even with the MSC ships being larger the have a lot more common areas so to me the ship felt less crowded then HAL.  We are 3 star on HAL and on the the Eurodam right now and we were talking today at breakfast that if HAL gets rid of their itineraries HAL wouldn’t have anything more to offer us.  We now just look at HAL as transportion to where we want to go.  Here is an some images of one of MSC production shows.  Then are from when we were on the MSC Seaside May 2018.

[Copper10-8]

2 hours ago, seamist said:

On Eurodam now, it is accurate, our waiter informed us no more production shows fleetwide.  Has been this new policy for past couple of months he said.

 

On Koningsdam currently with three production shows scheduled for a 10-day voyage; first one "Humanity" tonite 

[seamist]

36 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

On Koningsdam currently with three production shows scheduled for a 10-day voyage; first one "Humanity" tonite 

We had “Humanity” show also,  currently on Eurodam.  It is a contracted dance troupe, they are not the former HAL production cast.  This dance troupe is the replacement.  Again this information comes from Eurodam staff itself, not me.

[royal65]

We were on a HAL ship in Feb. which still had production shows. I commented to the assistant cruise director that there was a rumor production shows were being discontinued.  She confirmed it was true -- not all at once, but on a ship to ship basis and some ships already had.  I believed their quality has really decline, but we still enjoy them.  Sometimes I believe HAL is trying to drive us away.

[RoyalVisit]

1 hour ago, tpwolfe said:

Your right.  MSC is nothing like Holland America.  It’s better.  Even with the MSC ships being larger the have a lot more common areas so to me the ship felt less crowded then HAL.  We are 3 star on HAL and on the the Eurodam right now and we were talking today at breakfast that if HAL gets rid of their itineraries HAL wouldn’t have anything more to offer us.  We now just look at HAL as transportion to where we want to go.  Here is an some images of one of MSC production shows.  Then are from when we were on the MSC Seaside May 2018.

MSC's new ships may have more bells and whistles but their service is awful and their food mediocre. We tried MSC and won't go back. HAL, Celebrity and RCL offer a positive overall experience whereas MSC left us with a poor experience and we will definitely not give them a second chance regardless of whether HAL changes the entertainment.

Edited March 18, 2019 by RoyalVisit

[terrydtx]

41 minutes ago, RoyalVisit said:

MSC's new ships may have more bells and whistles but their service is awful and their food mediocre. We tried MSC and won't go back. HAL, Celebrity and RCL offer a positive overall experience whereas MSC left us with a poor experience and we will definitely not give them a second chance regardless of whether HAL changes the entertainment.

We had some friends who did a MSC cruise and they had about the same view of the experience as you. One other thing they mentioned was that the ship was mostly Europeans and the ship had so many smoking areas that they could hardly walk through the main promenade of the ship without chocking.  

[RoyalVisit]

8 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We had some friends who did a MSC cruise and they had about the same view of the experience as you. One other thing they mentioned was that the ship was mostly Europeans and the ship had so many smoking areas that they could hardly walk through the main promenade of the ship without chocking.  

It was truly awful! If it wasn't for the great itinerary (9 ports in 12 days but we couldn't dock at one port...Mediterranean) the whole experience would have been a bust.  The staff we encountered were frankly the rudest people we have ever death with in all the cruises we have been on. Poor service, dirty and stinky ship.  

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, RoyalVisit said:

It was truly awful! If it wasn't for the great itinerary (9 ports in 12 days but we couldn't dock at one port...Mediterranean) the whole experience would have been a bust.  The staff we encountered were frankly the rudest people we have ever death with in all the cruises we have been on. Poor service, dirty and stinky ship.  

Our friends did the Med cruise too, thinking it would have great European cuisine, instead some of the worse food on any cruise and the fellow passengers were just plain rude everywhere. Their experience cured us from ever wanting to try MSC.

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, seamist said:

We had “Humanity” show also,  currently on Eurodam.  It is a contracted dance troupe, they are not the former HAL production cast.  This dance troupe is the replacement.  Again this information comes from Eurodam staff itself, not me.

So was the Humanity show enjoyable? We really don't care who produces the shows as long as they are good.

Edited March 18, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[3rdGenCunarder]

21 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

So was the Humanity show enjoyable? We really don't care who produces the shows as long as they are good.

 

The dancing is part "modern dance"--think Twyla Tharp or Alvin Ailey, and part the sort of shimmy dancing that passes for a number of  styles on Dancing with the stars. The modern dance part is done very well and the way the dancers interact with the visuals is impressive. As the show went on the LED screens flashed faster and brighter and I found that very distracting. I'd love to see the show without the tech, just to watch the dancers.

 

[rkacruiser]

Maybe an ignorant thought since I don't know the thinking of the Executives in Seattle, but my thought is "This too will pass" as to entertainment.  HAL went from live music to canned music to live music to ??? for main theater shows in the years that I have sailed on HAL.  Angst on the part of the guests took place during each change.  It all depends upon whomever is the guru in charge of entertainment in Seattle and what she/he "thinks" HAL wants their guests want to experience.

[seamist]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

So was the Humanity show enjoyable? We really don't care who produces the shows as long as they are good.

It was okay.  I am one who preferred the old singers and dancers, stage props, etc. type of show..but that’s gone now.  It is what it is.

[ToBe]

On 3/16/2019 at 9:46 AM, CruiseRQA said:

Was on the Oosterdam two weeks ago:

 

No production show

No chilled soups

No smoked fish

$10 charge for an extra lobster tail

No library

No Explorations Cafe

so sad

 

On 3/17/2019 at 9:18 AM, JT1962 said:

I am probably in the minority, but I am glad there are less production shows with singers / dancers. It always reminded me of watching Lawrence Welk or the boring choreographed dance segments of the Carol Burnett show. I would much rather see a comedian, magician or really good cover band. We have also seen some really good tribute bands on cruises including shows featuring the music of Elton John & Billy Joel, Journey, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Earth, Wind & Fire, Motown tributes, Disco tributes, etc. Hopefully those will be shows in the future.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

On 3/17/2019 at 8:18 AM, JT1962 said:

I am probably in the minority, but I am glad there are less production shows with singers / dancers. It always reminded me of watching Lawrence Welk or the boring choreographed dance segments of the Carol Burnett show. I would much rather see a comedian, magician or really good cover band. We have also seen some really good tribute bands on cruises including shows featuring the music of Elton John & Billy Joel, Journey, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Earth, Wind & Fire, Motown tributes, Disco tributes, etc. Hopefully those will be shows in the future.

Really? You've seen these full show tributes in the main theater on HAL cruises? When and on what specific ships did you see them on? In the past 3 years, we have sailed on the Amsterdam twice, the Koningsdam twice, the Zaandam and the Veendam and never saw any of the tributes you mentioned. Except for on the Koningsdam, we usually saw more "low energy" production shows rather than those embracing music from the late 60s and 70s. If we had seen those types of shows, we probably would have continued to book with HAL.

[JT1962]

6 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Really? You've seen these full show tributes in the main theater on HAL cruises? When and on what specific ships did you see them on? In the past 3 years, we have sailed on the Amsterdam twice, the Koningsdam twice, the Zaandam and the Veendam and never saw any of the tributes you mentioned. Except for on the Koningsdam, we usually saw more "low energy" production shows rather than those embracing music from the late 60s and 70s. If we had seen those types of shows, we probably would have continued to book with HAL.

Never seen anything close to that on HAL. When I said cruises, I meant cruises we have been on. We primarily cruise Royal Caribbean or Carnival. My point was those types of shows are much more entertaining than what we saw on HAL. 

[Ken the cruiser]

22 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

Never seen anything close to that on HAL. When I said cruises, I meant cruises we have been on. We primarily cruise Royal Caribbean or Carnival. My point was those types of shows are much more entertaining than what we saw on HAL. 

LOL!! Sorry for the misunderstanding. That's one of the big reasons, besides having a variety of things to do on sea days, we switched over to Celebrity and Princess. We're in our mid 60s and grew up on rock n roll and enjoy those types of tributes. 

[idiebabe]

On 3/18/2019 at 4:15 PM, seamist said:

We had “Humanity” show also,  currently on Eurodam.  It is a contracted dance troupe, they are not the former HAL production cast.  This dance troupe is the replacement.  Again this information comes from Eurodam staff itself, not me.

 

This was also told to us by Staff as well as mentioned in one of the “Coffee Meets” they held on different days.  

 

We don’t mind they did away with the Production Shows and prefer the Guest Entertainers, etc.  We stopped going to the Production Shows several years ago.  We didn’t go see Humanity but our friends who saw it said they enjoyed the lighting.

 

If they haven’t had the Filipino Crew Show yet, it’s a must see and the Best we’ve ever seen.  Very talented young adults and a great show with variety!  

[idiebabe]

30 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

Never seen anything close to that on HAL. When I said cruises, I meant cruises we have been on. We primarily cruise Royal Caribbean or Carnival. My point was those types of shows are much more entertaining than what we saw on HAL. 

 

We used to enjoy the Shows on Carnival until they switched over to I believe it’s called the Playlist Productions.   Best show ever was Ticket to Ride which was a tribute to the Beatles.  The Filipino Band came up from the floor singing Sgt. Pepper’s complete with outfits.  Awesome!

[Umbarger]

On 3/16/2019 at 8:46 AM, CruiseRQA said:

Was on the Oosterdam two weeks ago:

 

No production show

No chilled soups

No smoked fish

$10 charge for an extra lobster tail

No library

No Explorations Cafe

These are some of the reasons I continued to book Hal. If these are gone I might as well book carnival. Are you listening HAL?

[SeagoingMom]

On 3/16/2019 at 9:46 AM, CruiseRQA said:

Was on the Oosterdam two weeks ago:

 

No production show

No chilled soups

No smoked fish

$10 charge for an extra lobster tail

No library

No Explorations Cafe

Hi - You and I were on the same March 2019 cruise.  I read your review, but since there seems to be no way to respond directly to the review, this was my best option for communicating with you, though it goes beyond the specific topic of entertainment (as does your post.)

In your review, you stated that you are "thinking of doing something different next year."  I am curious to know what you are considering to replace HAL.  Do you have experience on other cruise lines that you might revisit to get what you feel HAL is lacking?  Or are you thinking of doing something other than cruising?

Thanks!

Edited March 29, 2019 by SeagoingMom

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

On 3/18/2019 at 4:28 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

So was the Humanity show enjoyable? We really don't care who produces the shows as long as they are good.

 

I saw the Humanity show last week on the Nieuw Amsterdam. As stated, it is an outside dance group. I personally did not like it - too much flashing lights, too loud, dancing OK in my opinion. Others aboard thought it was great. 

[DukeASUGirl]

On ‎3‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 2:57 PM, RoyalVisit said:

It was truly awful! If it wasn't for the great itinerary (9 ports in 12 days but we couldn't dock at one port...Mediterranean) the whole experience would have been a bust.  The staff we encountered were frankly the rudest people we have ever death with in all the cruises we have been on. Poor service, dirty and stinky ship.  

My parents loved the entertainment, food, and service on MSC. It was their fellow passengers they felt were rude -- mostly the Germans, they said.

[mustgo]

We are also distressed to read about the elimination of the production shows.  They were a highlight of the cruise even when not the best. We are booked on a Rotterdam 32 night cruise in the fall.  That is a long time without the the shows and we are thinking about cancelling.  Too bad.  We really enjoy Holland.  Unfortunately things do change.