Recent Entertainment on HAL

[baggal]

Given that there are no longer production shows on HAL, what are they substituting instead?  

 

We're looking at a 7 night Caribbean cruise this winter and I wonder what type of entertainment HAL will provide.  Any recent experience or expectations for the future?

 

Thanks.

[Roz]

Evening entertainment on my recent NA cruise to Alaska was rather anemic outside of BB King's and the other music venues.  First night was Mary Poppins Returns 🤔 . There were two nights of a dance troupe, a comedian, a ventriloquist,  and a combined show. 

 

Roz 

[CruiseRQA]

What are they substituting?

First night out on our recent Oosterdam cruise they showed a movie!

[cayman09]

On NS recently were two terrific bands nightly, Rolling Stones Room and BB King plus the Billboard duling pianos. they alternated so you could float to each of them. There was a terrific two nights of shows from a dance group with digitized background in the new theater. Also, a comedian and singers in the theater. 

 

The music was extremely well attended with standing room and some dancing spilled over into the Billboard walkway on some evenings.

[jhannah]

10 hours ago, Roz said:

Evening entertainment on my recent NA cruise to Alaska was rather anemic outside of BB King's and the other music venues. 

Indeed. Very disappointing. Keep your expectations low.

[stevel45]

Just got off March 27th on the Koningsdam

BB King and Rolling Stone bands were excellent standing room only

Only wish I knew the name of the band at BB Kings?

[Paulinda]

Like Roz implies, the entertainment on HAL is not to exciting.  No Broadway shows or big productions.  On a recent NS cruise we enjoyed the BB King stage, the Rolling Stones stage,  strings group (Adagio?), a dance troupe and a couple of comedians.  One was especially funny the other added magic to his jokes and it was fun.  Other than that there is the casino and lots of time to wander around.   There is also movies on your cabin TV that are not first run but somewhat newer.

[Palm Bay Cruise Couple]

The entertainment offered onboard is perfect, whether you are on the Pinnacle, Vista, Signature or the other ships.  It all depends on what entertains you.  Me, I enjoy it all.

[slidergirl]

Since this is about entertainment:

 

I may have a slight chance of doing an October or November little cruise.  7 days max (I DO have a job and will only a week off in our off season then).  Which ships have the Postmodern Jukebox group performing?  They do some of my favorite music right now - I've got 4 of their albums on my iPod for my listening pleasure.

 

I have zero interest in production/dance/strings shows.  BB Kings or Rolling Stones would be more my style.  Either that, or my iPod with my Bose headphone will be my entertainment (nothing like sitting somewhere, just staring out and listening to favorite music) as I'm easily self-amusing.

 

 

[baggal]

Thanks everyone.  We are looking at the Nieuw Amsterdam which doesn't quite have all the musical "bells and whistles" that the Kdam and NS have.  We've been on all 3 previously and know what they offer. 

 

Celebrity Edge and the brand-new Sky Princess are sailing in the Caribbean the same week as the Nieuw Amsterdam.  I'm going to take a more serious look at those ships and itineraries.  

 

I'm beginning to think that HAL really wants its passengers to have an early dinner then go back to cabin to watch a movie.  Take notice HAL - I could just as easily stay home, order in meals and binge watch Amazon and Netflix for a week.

 

Thanks

[JOHN 57]

we will be sailing on the Volendam, 18 Sep.  What entertainment is on the Volendam?  Thank you.

[tuolumne couple]

we love the diverse entertainment too. we have the late seating, so we usually try to squeeze in the 10pm show. there is so much for us to do on board, we cant seem to see it all, but we love the the comedians, music , spend time entertaining ourselves around the ship as well. what ship are you on? i find the entertainment varies...

[Shmoo here]

On 5/20/2019 at 7:51 PM, baggal said:

Given that there are no longer production shows on HAL, what are they substituting instead?  

 

On our Hawaii/Tahiti cruise they had a lot of individual entertainers - comedians, magicians, ventriloquists, singers.  One night they had a showing of Blue Plant (television show) with a "full orchestra" accompaniment.  There was one (maybe 2) shows put on with a modern dance troupe.  

 

 

[rj42]

Having just returned from the Norwegian Joy, with a 2-hour very professional production of "Footloose", an exciting and beautiful Cirque du Soleil-type production, a Beatles cover band, three comedians, and country/rock bands and piano performers and deck DJs, I realized how much of a letdown it will be to go back next week to corporate-sponsored HAL music entertainment that is the same setlists on every ship ("Piaf to Peanuts" for the umpteenth time, anyone?) and second-rate comedians and musicians in the main theater (plus the same Planet Earth movie that's on every ship now). 

 

Ah, how I miss snooty Ukrainian babes in Adagio, piano bar guys who would take requests, and even some production shows that were inspired and interesting (the Westerdam ones were my favorites). 

[syesmar]

In the latest issue of MARINER Magazine, there is an article about Step One Dance Company and "getting away from the traditional ship production".  You can read it online here: https://digital.cenveomobile.com/publication/?i=548686&p=&pn=#{"issue_id":"599916","page":6}

[DoggyDaddy]

How big are the room TV's on the Koningsdam, or does it vary with the type of room?

 

 

DD

 

[kevingastreich]

On 5/21/2019 at 11:44 AM, baggal said:

I'm beginning to think that HAL really wants its passengers to have an early dinner then go back to cabin to watch a movie.  Take notice HAL - I could just as easily stay home, order in meals and binge watch Amazon and Netflix for a week.

 

Does your living room travel to a new port every day?

 

Edited July 13, 2019 by kevingastreich

[kevingastreich]

6 hours ago, DoggyDaddy said:

How big are the room TV's on the Koningsdam, or does it vary with the type of room?

 

 

DD

 

Yes, it varies.  The bigger the cabin, the bigger the screen.

[jlnprt]

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 10:43 PM, tuolumne couple said:

we love the diverse entertainment too. we have the late seating, so we usually try to squeeze in the 10pm show. there is so much for us to do on board, we cant seem to see it all, but we love the the comedians, music , spend time entertaining ourselves around the ship as well. what ship are you on? i find the entertainment varies...

On our recent cruise on the Zuiderdam, the 10pm show has been moved to 9pm. Late diners are encouraged to go to the 7pm show. We did "anytime" dining and found we had to eat earlier than we liked if we wanted to make the show. I know it's a "first world problem,"  but I prefer to have dinner before attending the show. That said, I was a bit disappointed in the shows.

[jlnprt]

8 hours ago, syesmar said:

In the latest issue of MARINER Magazine, there is an article about Step One Dance Company and "getting away from the traditional ship production".  You can read it online here: https://digital.cenveomobile.com/publication/?i=548686&p=&pn=#{"issue_id":"599916","page":6}

Interesting article...thanks for posting the link. We went to two of the Step One Dance Company shows. I think the dancers were talented enough but I did not care for the "canned" music and backdrops. I much preferred the HAL singers/dancers that were on our previous HAL cruises. Interestingly enough, dh (who is not a big dance show fan) preferred the Step One shows. 

[BarbarianPaul]

The music venues are now really the only entertainment on board. It’s a shame, because the acts now booked in the main theater are usually just low rent and bad. 

 

We love HA anyway, but the lack of anything compelling in the main theatre means we’ve been booking more with Celebrity lately.

 

 

[baggal]

6 hours ago, BarbarianPaul said:

The music venues are now really the only entertainment on board. It’s a shame, because the acts now booked in the main theater are usually just low rent and bad. 

 

We love HA anyway, but the lack of anything compelling in the main theatre means we’ve been booking more with Celebrity lately.

 

 

I completely agree and recently canceled my December HAL cruise and booked the brand new Celebrity Edge for the same week.  I'm very happy to book HAL for a port-intensive cruise in Europe, etc., (and we have done multiple European cruises with HAL).  But, when it comes to a winter Caribbean cruise HAL just doesn't have what this aging (?) baby boomer wants on her vacation.  Its good to have choices.

[BarbarianPaul]

2 hours ago, baggal said:

I completely agree and recently canceled my December HAL cruise and booked the brand new Celebrity Edge for the same week.  I'm very happy to book HAL for a port-intensive cruise in Europe, etc., (and we have done multiple European cruises with HAL).  But, when it comes to a winter Caribbean cruise HAL just doesn't have what this aging (?) baby boomer wants on her vacation.  Its good to have choices.

You’ll love The Edge. And the entertainment is miles above what’s offered on HA.

It’s just so frustrating regarding HA’s main theatre offerings. There’s almost universal agreement on these boards that the quality needs to be improved. Why isn’t anyone at HA listening??

[JOHN 57]

What entertainment does the Volendam have?  We are sailing on the Volendam 18 Sep 19