Dancing on HAL cruises? Zuiderdam?

[MorganEffie]

Hi there! My boyfriend and I are into dancing (think waltz, foxtrot, rumba...etc) and are wondering if there is any opportunity to do so on this ship? We are traveling the Baltic in June!

 

Thank you 🙂

[ew101]

The only dancing of this type for passengers on HAL is in the Ocean Bar on some vessels.   Several ships have a combo (3-4 piece) assigned there (Rotterdam and Veendam recently), some do not (Eurodam).  You need to carefully read any posted daily programs.  The smaller older ships seem a better bet for a combo in Ocean.  We might need a dancing or Ocean thread where we can report this regularly.   It might also be route specific (world cruises?).  And it hopefully does not change all the time as you need to plan ahead.  

Edited June 1, 2019 by ew101

[*Miss G*]

They had dancing every evening in the Crows Nest on the Zaandam this week.  Also line dancing in the afternoons.  I remember there being ballroom dancing on the Koningsdam in December as well.  That was held in the Queens Lounge.  I agree that there should be a dancing thread to keep track.

 

Not that it helps at this point, @MorganEffie, but Cunard has ballroom dancing each day in their Queens Lounge.  Might be a thought for future cruises.

[MorganEffie]

Thank you both! I'm guessing that they listed the dancing on the itinerary for the day?

 

I was a little nervous because I feel that most cruise lines have done away with it.

[*Miss G*]

57 minutes ago, MorganEffie said:

Thank you both! I'm guessing that they listed the dancing on the itinerary for the day?

 

I was a little nervous because I feel that most cruise lines have done away with it.

 

Yes, it is listed in the “When & Where” daily itinerary.  You will receive one each evening during turndown service.  You can also view them online in the Navigator.  Go to Settings in your phone/laptop/tablet and choose your ship in the WiFi section.  When you get to the login screen just type in “login.com” and it will automatically send you to the Navigator.  From there you can check the itinerary, make dining reservations, check your account, go to free sites, etc.  It really is a handy tool.  You will need to create a login and 4-digit passcode to log in.

[deck chair]

Hello

 

If you really love ballroom dancing  please give Cunard Line a try.  The line has orchestras and ballrooms.  Of course, it may be too late to change plans.  Keep in mind, Cunard routinely visits the Baltic region during the Summer.  Good luck.

 

Deck Chair

[Fred321]

You will have a wonderful four piece band in the Ocean Bar that plays 3 or 4 sets a night and is very enthusiastic to play for dancers.

[MorganEffie]

Thank you Fred! 😀

[backwerd]

We have just come off the Zuiderdam (Friday). We too love to dance, but unfortunately in 14 days we managed maybe three dances in the B.B. King room and that was attempting to foxtrot to music that was less than ideal for the purpose. There  is no music at all in the Ocean Bar on the Zuiderdam. There is a piano in that room but sadly no pianist. We voiced our disappointment very strongly in the questionnaire HAL sent us. We cruised twice in four months on the Veendam recently because the music in the Ocean Bar was terrific. I don't hold out too much hope for dancing on Holland America ships in the future, so we may have to look elsewhere.

 

Drew

[billbunger]

1 hour ago, Fred321 said:

You will have a wonderful four piece band in the Ocean Bar that plays 3 or 4 sets a night and is very enthusiastic to play for dancers.

 

What ship are you talking about? We cruise HAL on a regular basis and there has been no band in the Ocean Bars we have been in for a number of years.

Edited June 3, 2019 by billbunger

[canadarocks]

There was a piano player on the Zuiderdam in the Ocean Bar most evenings on our 11 day cruise in February, starting just as Happy Hour finished. But I never saw anyone dancing, nor a place where they could. 

[Fred321]

My error. We were on both the Zuiderdam and the Rotterdam the last few months and I got them mixed up since they are both now in Northern Europe. Rotterdam had a great dance band in the Ocean Bar. Zuiderdam did not.

[MorganEffie]

Oh darn, well maybe something will change between now and our voyage. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and expectations low.

[ew101]

As an example it was just reported on another thread there is a piano but no bandstand in the Ocean Bar on Westerdam.  

 

[MorganEffie]

I wonder why it varies so much from ship to ship.

 

[Edithclara]

On 5/31/2019 at 4:20 AM, MorganEffie said:

Hi there! My boyfriend and I are into dancing (think waltz, foxtrot, rumba...etc) and are wondering if there is any opportunity to do so on this ship? We are traveling the Baltic in June!

 

Thank you 🙂

For future reference, on our January 2019 Antarctica Zaandam cruise they had tango lessons and frequent milongas.

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 6/5/2019 at 7:31 PM, MorganEffie said:

I wonder why it varies so much from ship to ship.

 

 

Welcome to HAL. It seems that everything varies from ship to ship. HAL has changed its entertainment to have BB King blues club and Rolling Stone Rock Room. These changes caused HAL to get rid of the wonderful Ocean bar combos (generally assumed to be a budget thing to make up for the cost of the new bands). However, the older smaller ships don't have space to do BB King or the Rock Room, so they still have the combo in the Ocean Bar and people do dance. 

 

And I agree with others who suggest Cunard for a future cruise. They have very nice dance floors (I think QM2 claims to have the largest dance floor at sea) and live music. Also recorded strict-tempo sometimes. 

 

[atexsix]

On our Eurodam Hawaii sailing last October a musical group occasionally appeared in the Ocean Bar, I believe they were the same group that performed elsewhere: BB King's and the Mainstage.  It was usually early evening-ish and there were a few dancers, but most people would have been at dinner during that time period.

 

I remember being able to count several grand piano's on any ship, now it's just the Piano Bar (is that what they are turning into a new rock venue?) and Lincoln Center Live had one.  So sad!

[tv24]

We observed a lot of ballroom dancing in BB King's on the Noordam.  Admittedly some of the dancing did not at all fit the beat and style of the music being played.  There was a group of ballroom folks on board, an organized group, and they had some dedicated time on the BB King floor during the afternoons.  And I agree with the OP that if you are committed to couples dancing, Cunard is a very good fit for you.

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Welcome to HAL. It seems that everything varies from ship to ship. HAL has changed its entertainment to have BB King blues club and Rolling Stone Rock Room. These changes caused HAL to get rid of the wonderful Ocean bar combos (generally assumed to be a budget thing to make up for the cost of the new bands). However, the older smaller ships don't have space to do BB King or the Rock Room, so they still have the combo in the Ocean Bar and people do dance. 

 

And I agree with others who suggest Cunard for a future cruise. They have very nice dance floors (I think QM2 claims to have the largest dance floor at sea) and live music. Also recorded strict-tempo sometimes. 

 

On the Maasdam last summer we did manage to get to do some dancing in the Ocean Bar, but DW would have liked a lot more plus dance lessons.

 

I also got the feeling that when they did play dance music it was only because we and one other couple would get up to dance.

 

I was told both on ship and by e-mail after I completed their survey that their larger ships had more dancing. I'm not sure how true that is after reading some comments on these pages. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

On the Maasdam last summer we did manage to get to do some dancing in the Ocean Bar, but DW would have liked a lot more plus dance lessons.

 

I also got the feeling that when they did play dance music it was only because we and one other couple would get up to dance.

 

I was told both on ship and by e-mail after I completed their survey that their larger ships had more dancing. I'm not sure how true that is after reading some comments on these pages. 

 

You can dance to BB Kings (they play more Motown than real blues) and to the rock band. But that isn't ballroom. The larger ships don't have opportunities for ballroom dancing.

 

One night 9 or 10 years ago, I fled the showroom because the show was painfully overamplified. I wandered into the Ocean Bar and discovered the Neptunes. After their set, I chatted with them about how good they were and how nice it was not to have one's eardrums threatened. I love jazz and commented that they had played some of my favorites. I was told that the next set would be "for the dancers" so I might not enjoy it as much. So yes, I suppose they are told to provide dance music some of the times. This group may not have enjoyed playing the dance music as much as their other sets, but they still played it well. All of the Ocean Bar combos we've encountered since then have been excellent musicians. But I guess that isn't where HAL wants to spend its money. It broke my heart to see the little stage and dance floor on the K'dam going to waste with just a mediocre piano player instead of a good jazz/dance music band. 

 

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

You can dance to BB Kings (they play more Motown than real blues) and to the rock band. But that isn't ballroom. The larger ships don't have opportunities for ballroom dancing.

 

One night 9 or 10 years ago, I fled the showroom because the show was painfully overamplified. I wandered into the Ocean Bar and discovered the Neptunes. After their set, I chatted with them about how good they were and how nice it was not to have one's eardrums threatened. I love jazz and commented that they had played some of my favorites. I was told that the next set would be "for the dancers" so I might not enjoy it as much. So yes, I suppose they are told to provide dance music some of the times. This group may not have enjoyed playing the dance music as much as their other sets, but they still played it well. All of the Ocean Bar combos we've encountered since then have been excellent musicians. But I guess that isn't where HAL wants to spend its money. It broke my heart to see the little stage and dance floor on the K'dam going to waste with just a mediocre piano player instead of a good jazz/dance music band. 

 

Thank you for the information. We were definitely told both on the ship and by e-mail as a follow up to the cruise survey I filled out that there was more dancing on their larger ships.

 

We did find that true on the Noordam, but that was many years ago, so I do not know if it is still true. It was way before BB Kings. I do not remember the lounge we went to, but there was music for ballroom dancing every night.

[Teresa Price]

Just back after 23 nights on Koningsdam. No ballroom dancing at all and the entertainment was poor.

Teresa