The End of Lincoln Center

[richstowe]

17 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

My favorite mismatch was the eastern european couple who  were obviously acting out some sort of marital difficulties on stage.

Oh boy . I'd pay to see that. DW would pay to not see that.

[TomTN]

We've been cruising since the early 90s.

Things change!

Won't please everyone.

 

I listen to a classic rock radio station.  15 years ago it was primarily 60s, 70s and 80s music.  Now it's 80s and 90s. Very little 70s and about 2-3% 60s.

 

 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, OlsSalt said:

Some duos were better than others, but others are still better than none.

 

My favorite mismatch was the eastern european couple who  were obviously acting out some sort of marital difficulties on stage. As pianist she would play over his strings, and when the set was over she would slam down the keyboard cover and stomp off. He frantically tried to keep up with her "accompaniment". Yet, they were both very talented and the music did prevail. 

 

Our duo was also a married couple. Fortunately for the audience, they had no dramas to play out for use to see.

[St Pete Cruiser]

12 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Classical Duo. On Zaandam last week, it was piano and cello. They were very good and had several different programs, but with only two instruments there wasn't the variety of pieces/styles that we heard when the ships had LC. 

Yes, George and Clara were on Zaandam for the Christmas holiday cruise. They are wonderful, easy to talk with and very informative. They were part of Lincoln Center before.  

[cruisemom42]

Didn't the smaller ships (Zaandam, Veendam) always have 2 players and not the full LCS groups?  

 

I could be wrong, but I thought I remembered reading that....

 

It appears on the larger ships there is a circulating group that performs. It was just mentioned on the Koningsdam Hawaii live-from thread that is current. My concern is that these players will only show up on certain cruises. (The one I mention is considered a "Legendary Voyage".)

[RuthC]

4 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Didn't the smaller ships (Zaandam, Veendam) always have 2 players and not the full LCS groups?  

Not always. Before the classical musicians were Adagio Strings, or others that were 2 musicians, there were the Rosario Strings, which were groups of 4. 
The Rosario Strings were excellent! Every troupe was minimum very good, and several exceeded that level. 

[pghflyer]

So sad this is gone, it was a real differentiator for HAL. I mean the entertainment is already so minimal, I wonder how much they can keep cutting here. Step One is good but they only have so many shows available.   

 

Anyhow, looking forward to hearing from everyone what they replaced this very valuable and unique offering with...........

[Petronillus]

On 1/27/2023 at 2:57 PM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I also learned that the entertainers--LC, Billboard, dancers, etc get single cabins. Teeny tiny inside cabins, but they do get to have their own cabins.

On our most recent cruise, on one of the Meet-the-Artist coffee klatches that the CD hosted, one member of the Step One Dance Company mentioned that they do get separate cabins, which they appreciate and which make HAL a preferred employer.

It reminded me of another time when the LCS pianist was married to the cello. As a result they shared a cabin and the cello got one all to itelf.

BTW, at the same coffee klatch, one of the children asked the Step One troupe is at the end of the cruise they become the Step Two Dance Company. An astute question, I thought: is it perhaps a 12-step program?

[Torquer]

We have been on many HAL cruises over the years both pre- and post-covid, and just completed our first post-covid cruise with Oceania.  It is embarrassing to say that they beat HAL by a mile in shipboard entertainment.  And this is on a much smaller ship than most of HALs' with only 1,000 passengers.  They have a wonderful string quartet that plays several sets in the evening.  They also did their own interesting version of a string rock concert in the theater one evening.  This really drove home to us how far HAL has regressed in terms of classical music, from Adagio, classical duets, LCS, and now mostly no classical music. 

 

In addition to the classical music Oceania ships have their own 10-person singing and dance company on the ship that performs with a live 7-piece band (like the HALcats years ago).  In addition they had another band that performed dance tunes (similar to the Rolling Stones Rock Room, but not as good, in my opinion).  Plus a piano bar singer.  Although the Step One dancers are very good, it really made us miss the HAL onboard singers that used to perform with a live band.

[ROUS]

George and Clara were awesome.

[Blackduck59]

With respect, comparing HAL to Oceania is like comparing apples to pumpkins. I suspect when you pay 3 times the fare the cruise line can shell out for the 10 person entertainment troupe, and the 7 piece band.

I'm sorry that the entertainment isn't what it used to be, but if it was I suspect HAL would be charging Oceania prices and those who are complaining about the "entertainment" would be howling loudly that the cruise fare was so high.

Those who can afford the high end lines, enjoy them, but don't use them as a comparison, there isn't one.

[pghflyer]

Definitely not comparable lines overall agree completely.........but HAL does have double the passengers to help subsidize costs, did afford it for a long time, spend precious little on entertainment already, and do charge prices above the entry level cruise lines.

[mcrcruiser]

11 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

With respect, comparing HAL to Oceania is like comparing apples to pumpkins. I suspect when you pay 3 times the fare the cruise line can shell out for the 10 person entertainment troupe, and the 7 piece band.

I'm sorry that the entertainment isn't what it used to be, but if it was I suspect HAL would be charging Oceania prices and those who are complaining about the "entertainment" would be howling loudly that the cruise fare was so high.

Those who can afford the high end lines, enjoy them, but don't use them as a comparison, there isn't one.

We do't know how long you been cruising ;but ,HAL has increased their prices substantially & yet cut back the entertainment   .It started back when we first boarded a HAL ship  the stage shows were very weak ,I mean extremely weak & now they rarely have any thing but these dancers  & it is wash repeat . So where is the entertainment value for  those of us who like a stage show ?  HaL is equal to Celebrity in many ways except HAL does not have main stage shows like Celebrity . If we were able to travel again ,we definitely would pick Celebrity just because they have a main showroom & have shows there not like HAL 's  World Theatre 

[Torquer]

12 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

With respect, comparing HAL to Oceania is like comparing apples to pumpkins. I suspect when you pay 3 times the fare the cruise line can shell out for the 10 person entertainment troupe, and the 7 piece band.

I'm sorry that the entertainment isn't what it used to be, but if it was I suspect HAL would be charging Oceania prices and those who are complaining about the "entertainment" would be howling loudly that the cruise fare was so high.

Those who can afford the high end lines, enjoy them, but don't use them as a comparison, there isn't one.

Well actually for the top-level suites we stay in the prices between Oceania and Hal are very comparable and the lower cost cabins are not 3 times the cost of HAL cabins.  And HAL has roughly 2x the number of passengers on its ships to pay for the entertainment cost.  So the total price all passengers are paying for a cruise on HAL is more than they are paying for the same length cruise on an Oceania ship.

 

But this misses my real point.  Oceania maintained its level of entertainment over the last 10 years, whereas HAL has severely degraded its entertainment.  We mainly go on cruises for the ports, but the food and entertainment are also important to us.  We have two future HAL cruises booked and I think we are going to be disappointed with the entertainment after being on an Oceania cruise once again.

[cruisingrob21]

I have a different perspective - it seems like HAL has changed their entertainment and now, with the game shows and more regular comedians, seems to be more similar to Princess' entertainment or other mainstream entertainment.  While I'll miss the LC group, the change has some positives I think.  It is disappointing however that they don't seem to fully utilize the main show lounges as much as they did pre-covid.  Most of the Princess ships have 2 or 3 lounges for the more informal performances (comedians, game shows, trivia) whereas the HAL ships really only have the Blues Club/Queens Lounge for those events.  Those rooms are sufficiently intimate, but seem to always be at capacity for the aforementioned events.  The Vista and Signature ships don't really have any room for changes to add another venue, and the Pinnacle class ships could make the Blues Club into two venues by removing the balcony, but I don't know how popular that might be.

[AliceS]

There are no production shows on Holland that compare to Princess.   I miss Lincoln Center and I miss BB King even more.   I love the food and the service on Holland….but for entertainment…..they are weak

[GeezerCouple]

On 3/19/2024 at 12:45 PM, Torquer said:

Well actually for the top-level suites we stay in the prices between Oceania and Hal are very comparable and the lower cost cabins are not 3 times the cost of HAL cabins.  And HAL has roughly 2x the number of passengers on its ships to pay for the entertainment cost.  So the total price all passengers are paying for a cruise on HAL is more than they are paying for the same length cruise on an Oceania ship.

 

But this misses my real point.  Oceania maintained its level of entertainment over the last 10 years, whereas HAL has severely degraded its entertainment.  We mainly go on cruises for the ports, but the food and entertainment are also important to us.  We have two future HAL cruises booked and I think we are going to be disappointed with the entertainment after being on an Oceania cruise once again.

We agree with most of what @Torquer wrote above.  (The rest is mostly due to lack of knowledge, *not* disagreement.)

 

We went on our first HAL cruise just before Covid (Nov/Dec, 2019).  DH saw an itinerary and wanted to go, and "If HE wants to go, then... WE ARE GOING!!" 😀

There were a very few Neptune Suites available, so we grabbed one.  We enjoy the PH Suites on Oceania's Riviera:  Very comfortable space (although their new ships have apparenty done away with the walk-in closet; such a nice place to quickly stash things for a sudden cleanup, right!? 😉 ).

 

We [meaning me] did *not* do our regular "due diligence studying" so we weren't sure quite what to expect.

 

WE HAD A *WONDERFUL* TRIP!  One of our best, although part of that was the itinerary.  We were planning to enjoy it no matter what, but enjoyment was so easy!

That included the MDR food, which was a special surprise.  It may not have been the same as Oceania (or their specialty restaurants), but there wasn't a single dinner where we had any complaint... and we'll complain if we think it's appropriate, especially privately to each other.  Didn't happen!

 

Our Neptune Suite cost approximately the same as Oceania's PH Suite for a similar length cruise.  Space seemed similar, albeit different layout, of course.  But HAL won hands down with a MUCH nicer and larger bathroom.  SO much nicer!

 

We did miss the wonderful Butler service that we've somehow become a bit too much accustomed to (how'd that happen!?) on a couple of other lines.  But that did not detract from our cruise, in part... because of...

 

LINCOLN CENTER! 

I wrote earlier about how I'd arrive early with a book so we could get up front and personal, which makes a big difference to us with live performances, and especially chamber music.

The venue was **MOBBED** every afternoon.  People spilling out the back, standing...

Why HAL thinks LC won't be missed "too much"??

We left our cruise feeling like we had found a new home (the ship was not too big).

 

And then... and then... LC went poof.

If there is a completely dynamite itinerary, maybe...

But otherwise, we won't be back.

Such a shame! 😡

 

GC