The one thing missing from HAL ships

[ChinaShrek]

9 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

 I'm with you, Chewie.  As a society, it's like we are afraid of some quiet and not really having a good time unless your ears are ringing from the noise 

 

 

I am a high school teacher and I have encountered a growing number of students that do not like to be alone or silent with their own thoughts.  They become anxious if they cannot play music into their ears at all times!

[vms]

I have yet to be on a ship where music is played around the pool deck that isn't too loud for my tastes.

 

I've only sailed HAL once so far, and was happy on that sailing to have a cabana in the retreat area. I would have been very unhappy if on days when the pool roof was open there had been music loud enough to disturb my relaxation in the retreat.

 

To each their own...

[iancal]

We also enjoy our quiet times.

 

But we do not expect the entire ship to be reminiscent of a reading library or a funeral home.  At least, not before 10PM!

Edited July 26, 2019 by iancal

[ski ww]

It would be nice to have a live band for sail away. Other then that we also prefer peace &  quiet.

[regnig]

We really do enjoy some piped in music at the Sea View pool.  They used to have a good variety of music and kept the volume at level that did not disturb most people.  We also enjoyed the Music Trivia played at least once on a sea day out there.  Based on the number of people who gathered to play I'd say it was enjoyed by many other.

Heck, we may be old(er) but we aren't dead either! 😏

[sevenseasnomad]

10 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

 

I am a high school teacher and I have encountered a growing number of students that do not like to be alone or silent with their own thoughts.  They become anxious if they cannot play music into their ears at all times!

A growing number of our population, especially my students, can't carry on a conversation because they either have the ear buds to listen to music/video or they focus solely on their phones to send and receive messages via various social platforms.  They will even text a person sitting next to them!  Please, don't get me started on how texting has destroyed their spelling/writing ability.  

 

Sadly, this trend seems to carry over onto ships, even HAL, where my son complained on our last cruise that "everybody has their heads in their phones and no one is meeting anyone else."  I doubt if it was that extensive, but for a millennial to complain about the lack of face-to-face conversation was enlightening to me.  

[slidergirl]

On 7/25/2019 at 9:04 AM, kira5 said:

It's difficult to find a music genre that suits everyone.  Many people have devices that provide music of their own taste - with earplugs, of course.   Some people create playlists for themselves for different occasions.   I personally play the same song as the plane is taxiing down the runway and lifting off.   Lively and  loud enough to distract me.

I bring my own music and enjoy it with my noise-cancelling headphones.  I don't have the need to have piped-in music - I've learned to tune it out anyway since I have it 8 hours a day at work.  

I also have a  song for plane taxiing and takeoff - "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins.  A few years there where we weren't allowed to use devices until 10,000 ft I missed it, but it's back on again!!  

[496and706]

I do NOT miss the HAL Cats.  They were horrid. Out of tune, auto-tuned, wrong lyrics, and too loud. 

[Happily@Sea]

On 7/25/2019 at 10:50 AM, RuthC said:

I prefer the pool areas to be quiet. But is seems as the day goes on, the background music is turned on, or gets louder than it was in the morning. Same seems to be true just about in every public area on the ship.

I don't need to be bombarded with overhead noise during every waking hour.I want to hear the sounds of silence.

 

When I was on K'dam - the music was much louder [we are talking relatively here] than on the smaller ships. To me, it felt like they were using the  music to  fill the double level Lido pool area. Now we are still talking HAL level not 'fun ship level'. One of the few reasons I will pass on the Pinnacle class - if there is another Dam ship available for the same destination/port calls in the close time frame..

[Chinook Wind]

Our December cruise was on the Eurodam and we had a Lido cabana for our 7-day Mexico cruise.  There was live entertainment (i.e. folkloric dancers) on several days at Lido poolside.  Can't speak to the aft pool.

During our latest 17-night May/June cruise on the Amsterdam we spent nearly every day at the aft pool and there was a piped in music mix..played at a low level so as not to interfere with conversations or relaxation.  Can't speak to the Lido pool for that cruise.

So there is music.

I personally don't need live entertainment or sports or anything else that would impede the ability to use the pool.  I've sailed many times on Celebrity and most afternoons you couldn't use the mid-deck pool because of the organized "guest vs crew/officer" volleyball tournaments...and had to retreat into the solarium pool in order to swim/cool down.

My feeling is that HAL has struck the right balance...and I'm not a cranky old fart -- mid 60s and ready to party in the appropriate venue. 😎

My two cents...

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Music woke me at 05:30 on the Nieuw Statendam several floors below the pool

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

;

 

[sail7seas]

On 7/26/2019 at 2:45 PM, 496and706 said:

I do NOT miss the HAL Cats.  They were horrid. Out of tune, auto-tuned, wrong lyrics, and too loud. 

 

 

I so agree and hope I never again  have to suffer hearing the screaching they always  ' belted  out' at HIgh decimals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2019 by sail7seas

[TonyC1952]

By all means, if you want an active pool, book a Christmas cruise on the Koningsdam. Loud music, and 'marco polo" for endless hours, over and over and over. We couldn't stay anywhere near that pool, the kids chased us away. No more Pinnacle Class ships, and no more Christmas cruises for us. There are plenty of other cruise lines that have active pools... use them.

 

[I_r_a]

I think a string trio or quartet would be a nice addition.

 

Ira

[taxmantoo]

1 hour ago, I_r_a said:

I think a string trio or quartet would be a nice addition.

 

Ira

By the pool? 

[SargassoPirate]

On 7/26/2019 at 7:31 AM, sevenseasnomad said:

A growing number of our population, especially my students, can't carry on a conversation because they either have the ear buds to listen to music/video or they focus solely on their phones to send and receive messages via various social platforms.  They will even text a person sitting next to them!  Please, don't get me started on how texting has destroyed their spelling/writing ability.  

 

Sadly, this trend seems to carry over onto ships, even HAL, where my son complained on our last cruise that "everybody has their heads in their phones and no one is meeting anyone else."  I doubt if it was that extensive, but for a millennial to complain about the lack of face-to-face conversation was enlightening to me.  

 

This is where Princess is headed with their Medallion program, with which you will need their app on your smartphone so that you can order a drink, food, and gamble without ever having to put down your device.  

 

 

 

 

[SargassoPirate]

On 7/25/2019 at 8:51 PM, ChinaShrek said:

 

I am a high school teacher and I have encountered a growing number of students that do not like to be alone or silent with their own thoughts.  They become anxious if they cannot play music into their ears at all times!

And I was an adjunct professor at a community college and am dismayed at the number of students who seem to have lost the ability to make eye contact,  write a coherent paragraph, talk without using "actually" "like" "you know", or (un PC here) that  the girls talk without every phrase being a question. Amusing when they are delivering a report on a study item.

 

Plus, you should see how uncomfortable they were when I made them put their devices away for an entire 50 minute class.

 

 

Edited July 29, 2019 by SargassoPirate

[Nang]

On 7/26/2019 at 9:31 AM, mcrcruiser said:

 HAL has 2 pools  & one could have some sort of entertainment  in the afternoon for 2 to 3 hours  .Even  have some pool games could be added fun  .We are 80s &  have no problem with 2 to 3  afternoon hours of  low key music  at the sea view pool along with pool fun games  like pool golf ie 

this gets my vote with some live music at sail aways at the rear pool. If you want quiet for the hour or so there might be some music then there are plenty of quiet areas available.

[Riversedge]

I’m surprised at the number of people who want quiet. We really miss the live bands by the pool. They weren’t too loud and the music got us into a vacation, relaxing mood. We’ve heard many complaints about the lack of a band for an hour or two in the afternoon. We heard they stopped the bands because of danger of electrical cords near the water. Apparently there was an incident somewhere. I’m more likely to think it was another cut back.  We like the more sedate ambience of HAL but honestly sometimes it seems half dead. 

[SargassoPirate]

37 minutes ago, Riversedge said:

I’m surprised at the number of people who want quiet. We really miss the live bands by the pool. They weren’t too loud and the music got us into a vacation, relaxing mood. We’ve heard many complaints about the lack of a band for an hour or two in the afternoon. We heard they stopped the bands because of danger of electrical cords near the water. Apparently there was an incident somewhere. I’m more likely to think it was another cut back.  We like the more sedate ambience of HAL but honestly sometimes it seems half dead. 

There's something for everybody. On a recent Celebrity cruise, we went up to the Captain's Circle event one evening.  The ship's string duo was just setting up and we thought that would be a pleasant addition.  But then they plugged in and somebody cranked up the volume to where one could not converse with someone sitting right next to you and the servers could not take drink orders.

 

We complained to the Captain's Circle host who offered some BS excuse about the acoustics in the room, but never did turn it down.

 

What was sad was that most people just sit there and take it, and damage their hearing.

[scubacruiserx2]

We prefer location bands in the day like this in Germany on the Zuiderdam

 

 

 

or in Scotland

 

 

 

 

And to keep it quite at night the way HAL does . There are plenty of other cruise lines that will have the music blaring late at night and sharing it with HAL .

 

 

 

[cruisemom42]

I do not like piped in music.

 

On Caribbean cruises, it would be nice if there were a couple of hours of Caribbean (e.g., steel drum) music daily; similar for Hawaii/Polynesia-type cruises. I do not spend much time in the pool area on other types of cruises.

[ShipWalker]

On 7/25/2019 at 4:05 PM, awhcruiser said:

I wouldn't mind a steel drum band for an hour or two a day but no piped in music please.

 

Agree! No bagpipe music.....oh, wait.