Activities and Entertainment today onHAL ships

[EDLOS]

I stopped sailing HAL after 9 straight cruises when the OPRAH ERA came on board. Found the entertainment declining in both quality and diversity and quantity.

Showing movies as the main theater entertainment didn't work for me. And if you did not feel like the Lincoln Center venue was your cup of tea, there was no other Music venue to go to.

That was about 5 years ago, Has anything changed, do they do Trivia daily or only on sea days, other activities ????

I look forward to any updates on today's HAL shipboard activities.

Thank you

[CruiserBruce]

They do trivia daily.

 

Entertainment all depends on the venues the ship has that you are on. The Pinnacle class ships have at least 4 venues for music.

[EDLOS]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

They do trivia daily.

 

Entertainment all depends on the venues the ship has that you are on. The Pinnacle class ships have at least 4 venues for music.

Just got off a Princess cruise with the ships theater show cast with 6 piece band,  a piano bar singer, a  string duo,  a guitarist/singer, a 5 piece group with two singers, a female soloist. one of theses was always playing in thr reception/atrium area from noon on. There was always at least three venues to choose from from 5 PM on. Yes, I realize it was a much larger ship with twice the passengers.

There were 4 Trivia venues daily including progressive Trivia on sea days.

Always something to do !

When I was last on HAL, there was only one choice at a given hour. Has that changed ?

[AFNavigator]

2 hours ago, EDLOS said:

I stopped sailing HAL after 9 straight cruises when the OPRAH ERA came on board. Found the entertainment declining in both quality and diversity and quantity.

Showing movies as the main theater entertainment didn't work for me. And if you did not feel like the Lincoln Center venue was your cup of tea, there was no other Music venue to go to.

That was about 5 years ago, Has anything changed, do they do Trivia daily or only on sea days, other activities ????

I look forward to any updates on today's HAL shipboard activities.

Thank you

If you are looking for a main theater production show, you still need to look elsewhere.  HAL has a great 6-person dance troop called Step One dance who perform about 4-5 nights a week but that's it other than showing movies with the Lincoln Center quartet playing sound to the BBC Earth films.  Both nice but not the big stage production you may be seeking.

The Music Walk is great if you like live music.  Most ships have the Lincoln Center Stage, BB Kings Blues Club, and Billboard Onboard (two pianos) with the Pinnacle ships also having the Rolling Stones Rock Room.  At least one ship changed its BB Kings to the Rolling Stone club recently.

There also should be a comedian who does shows in either the main stage or BB Kings--they are hit and miss on comic quality.

[AFNavigator]

1 minute ago, EDLOS said:

Just got off a Princess cruise with the ships theater show cast with 6 piece band,  a piano bar singer, a  string duo,  a guitarist/singer, a 5 piece group with two singers, a female soloist. one of theses was always playing in thr reception/atrium area from noon on. There was always at least three venues to choose from from 5 PM on. Yes, I realize it was a much larger ship with twice the passengers.

There were 4 Trivia venues daily including progressive Trivia on sea days.

Always something to do !

When I was last on HAL, there was only one choice at a given hour. Has that changed ?

You about summed up HAL with your last sentences...about one thing scheduled per hour.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, AFNavigator said:

If you are looking for a main theater production show, you still need to look elsewhere.  HAL has a great 6-person dance troop called Step One dance who perform about 4-5 nights a week but that's it other than showing movies with the Lincoln Center quartet playing sound to the BBC Earth films.  Both nice but not the big stage production you may be seeking.

The Music Walk is great if you like live music.  Most ships have the Lincoln Center Stage, BB Kings Blues Club, and Billboard Onboard (two pianos) with the Pinnacle ships also having the Rolling Stones Rock Room.  At least one ship changed its BB Kings to the Rolling Stone club recently.

There also should be a comedian who does shows in either the main stage or BB Kings--they are hit and miss on comic quality.

Thanks for that. We've been getting emails all of the sudden again from HAL, as we are 4 star, and were wondering if anything had changed since we moved on to Celebrity and Princess about 5 years ago. There was a glimmer of hope of possibly sticking around when we went on the Maasdam and experienced their short-lived In-Depth EXC program on an Australia circumnavigation cruise in Oct 2019. But, of course, from our understanding that awesome program has since disappeared. Unfortunately, HAL cruises just got too relaxing for us and it doesn't sound like anything has changed. I know, I'm 70 now, and relaxing is supposed to be a good thing. Right? Who knew!! 😂

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, AFNavigator said:

HAL has a great 6-person dance troop called Step One dance

 

You do realize that there are differing opinions about this "great" entertainment experience?  

[CruiserBruce]

15 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

You do realize that there are differing opinions about this "great" entertainment experience?  

There are always going to be differing opinions, that's normal. It sounds like the OP wants what HAL was in the past. While it retains some features, it has also evolved some. Just a fact. If that doesn't work for the OP, then they have the choice of evolving, or seeking a cruise line that meets their needs. Making that choice can be very difficult.

[rkacruiser]

8 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Making that choice can be very difficult.

 

It is.  But, when one decides to "wander afield", the experience is not as unpleasant as it might be.  If, one has done the necessary research before making that decision.

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

We just got off of the Eurodam last week.

 

The ship and ship size is good

the cabins are good

the food in the main dining room is very good (kind of like what Princess served 10 years ago)

The crew was excellent

 

However activities and entertainment not so good.

 

When it comes to activities fully half of the activities in the daily schedule were spa, stores or art gallary related.  Other activities were fairly limited. 

Though one of the dance shows was moving in the direction of the old production shows with an actual live singer.  In addition to the dance shows their were 3 BBC presentation accompanied by the Lincoln Center musicians.  There was 2 different comedians (1 ok 1 rather poor, of course the poor one was the one with two shows)

[AFNavigator]

4 hours ago, ldtr said:

When it comes to activities fully half of the activities in the daily schedule were spa, stores or art gallary related.  Other activities were fairly limited. 

You might be selling yourself short saying, "fully half of the activities were spa, stores, or art gallery related".  If you exclude card and board games, its more like 3/4 of the activities--at least during daytime hours--are the categories you listed.  Here's a sample HAL sea day activity listing:

https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/NS2021-WW-Day-06-Sea-Day.pdf

[Ken the cruiser]

Deleted

Edited September 10, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[EDLOS]

10 hours ago, AFNavigator said:

You might be selling yourself short saying, "fully half of the activities were spa, stores, or art gallery related".  If you exclude card and board games, its more like 3/4 of the activities--at least during daytime hours--are the categories you listed.  Here's a sample HAL sea day activity listing:

https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/NS2021-WW-Day-06-Sea-Day.pdf

Why would anyone schedule the Trivia in the middle of early dining at 6:30 PM according to the above schedule. ????????

AS activities and entertainment declined on HAL, they seem to make it worse by scheduling things for the staff convenience , not the paying passenger. 

Sorry to vent my frustration as I remember what a great experience it was to sail HAL ten years ago !!

[Wakepatrol]

What makes me laugh is people complaining about three hour dinners, like there’s actually something to run to

There isn’t 

[AFNavigator]

1 hour ago, EDLOS said:

Why would anyone schedule the Trivia in the middle of early dining at 6:30 PM according to the above schedule. ????????

AS activities and entertainment declined on HAL, they seem to make it worse by scheduling things for the staff convenience , not the paying passenger. 

Sorry to vent my frustration as I remember what a great experience it was to sail HAL ten years ago !!

HAL has essentially made daytime hours mostly "entertain yourself" hours.  It certainly makes sea days laid back but provides little entertainment bang for the buck compared to other lines.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

dup

Edited September 10, 2022 by The-Inside-Cabin

[lais]

Hey, they had adult coloring daily on my Alaska cruise this past June.  Lol