Billboard Venue

[Carol28]

What type of music is playing and is there a dance floor?

[doone]

Not sure which ship you're asking about, but the Pinnacle Class ships have some great music venues IMHO.  I love the Rolling Rock room where there are some great artists that play rock and roll and yes there is a dance floor with everyone dancing the night away. 

 

The BBKings also has a dance floor and some wonderful dancing music, again, everyone always up dancing the night away. 

 

There is also the Dueling Piano's which is always fun for sing alongs.

 

The other ships have some great music artists as well, but I find the music venue's small and very loud compared to the Pinnacle Class ships.  With that said, I still enjoyed the music on all the ships.

Edited November 19, 2023 by doone

[terrydtx]

We enjoyed Billboard on the Koingsdam this month and spent every evening there, Like it so much better than any of the theater shows. Billboard also has a great bar, and we did go there in afternoons for a quiet drink. BTW Billboard was packed every night but people gladly shared tables. 

[REOVA]

Billboard is the piano bar area no dance floor but you can chair dance 😉. More lounge or upbeat songs and ballads than dance tunes. Some of the performers are good but some are like fingers on chalkboard. Most ships have Rolling Stone Lounge (Rock, Pop, R&B, etc) that has dance floor and some ships have BB King (R&B, Motown, Blues, etc) lounge that has dance floor. Some of the Ocean Bars have room to dance with a trio or quartet playing. Crows Nest used to have dance floor and band before HAL moved EXC and merged Explorer's Lounge. 

[Carol28]

Thanks everyone.  We actually left HAL because of the entertainment quality, especially the production shows. On our last cruise, several years ago, the dueling piano gals see to be fighting with each other.  They took the term "dueling" literally!  I

I now understand the Billboard venue is a piano player singing songs from artists like Billy Joel and Elton John and the like, but not a sing along type show.  Is it usually only one performer there?

 

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Carol28 said:

Thanks everyone.  We actually left HAL because of the entertainment quality, especially the production shows. On our last cruise, several years ago, the dueling piano gals see to be fighting with each other.  They took the term "dueling" literally!  I

I now understand the Billboard venue is a piano player singing songs from artists like Billy Joel and Elton John and the like, but not a sing along type show.  Is it usually only one performer there?

 

They still have 2 players and they play off of each other but they do music that the HAL demographics like us enjoy.  No fighting and the 2 on the Koingsdam acted more like friends that adversaries. 

[POA1]

There is definitely singing along in Billboard Onboard.

[Gibbie42]

2 hours ago, Carol28 said:

Thanks everyone.  We actually left HAL because of the entertainment quality, especially the production shows. On our last cruise, several years ago, the dueling piano gals see to be fighting with each other.  They took the term "dueling" literally!  I

I now understand the Billboard venue is a piano player singing songs from artists like Billy Joel and Elton John and the like, but not a sing along type show.  Is it usually only one performer there?

 

No, it's still two pianists. They play Billboard hits from the 60's, 70's and 80's and the last set of the evening is an all request set. it's most definitely sing along. My husband and I were there every night when we were on Rotterdam in April. The pair they had that sailing were fantastic.

 

They do hire the performers separately though and their contracts can be fairly short so it does depend on who you get. But like I said, our duo was fantastic. 

[KAKcruiser]

There is a small dance floor at one end of Billboard.

[terrydtx]

41 minutes ago, Gibbie42 said:

No, it's still two pianists. They play Billboard hits from the 60's, 70's and 80's and the last set of the evening is an all request set. it's most definitely sing along. My husband and I were there every night when we were on Rotterdam in April. The pair they had that sailing were fantastic.

 

They do hire the performers separately though and their contracts can be fairly short so it does depend on who you get. But like I said, our duo was fantastic. 

The Pianists do 45 minute sets and then the Rock and Roll Venue next to Billboard will do a 45 minute set while they are off.

[rodndonna]

3 hours ago, Carol28 said:

Thanks everyone.  We actually left HAL because of the entertainment quality, especially the production shows. On our last cruise, several years ago, the dueling piano gals see to be fighting with each other.  They took the term "dueling" literally!  I

I now understand the Billboard venue is a piano player singing songs from artists like Billy Joel and Elton John and the like, but not a sing along type show.  Is it usually only one performer there?

 

 

Depending on the performers and the set (they vary the themes for the shows), there can definitely be some "sing along" invites and opportunities  ... 😃 

[Ruthenium]

My son is one of the two Billboard Onboard singer-pianists on the Eurodam for the next few months -- and from what he says, he and his fellow pianist get along really well and are happy to take requests on music from various decades.  He's a pretty wonderful singer (with perfect pitch, so your ears will appreciate it) and his performing partner has many skills as well.  People DO sing along and "it's nice," he says, and they try to do a lot of call and response!

 

 

Edited November 19, 2023 by Ruthenium

[POA1]

1 minute ago, Ruthenium said:

My son is one of the two Billboard Onboard singer-pianists on the Eurodam for the next few months -- and from what he says, he and his fellow pianist get along really well and are happy to take requests on music from various decades.

 

 

So bear this in mind: Do NOT complain about the piano players on the Eurodam! 😁

[Ruthenium]

6 minutes ago, POA1 said:

So bear this in mind: Do NOT complain about the piano players on the Eurodam! 😁

LOL -- I'm a musician too -- and I know everybody's got their opinions, not a problem, this mom won't come after you...it's subjective and I've been on enough cruises to know that not every musician in every venue is wonderful. (I've winced...)

Edited November 19, 2023 by Ruthenium

[Ruthenium]

By the way, the Billboard pianists on the Eurodam usually do one request set a night and have an all-request show one day, so be thinking of your favorite songs...

[ArizonaStorm]

TerryDTX:  You referred to the "Koingsdam" a couple of times.  Perhaps this will help.

The Dutch word for King is "Koning".

The King's ship would be the Koning's Dam -- or simply "Koningsdam".

 

I slogged through a score of short YouTube videos created by a blogger on a 20-day journey aboard the Koningsdam.  In each of the 20 clips he pronounced it as "Koisendam".  I considered making it a drinking game -- one shot per mispronunciation -- but had no desire to join the ranks of the heavy drinkers with HAL drink packages.

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, ArizonaStorm said:

TerryDTX:  You referred to the "Koingsdam" a couple of times.  Perhaps this will help.

The Dutch word for King is "Koning".

The King's ship would be the Koning's Dam -- or simply "Koningsdam".

 

I slogged through a score of short YouTube videos created by a blogger on a 20-day journey aboard the Koningsdam.  In each of the 20 clips he pronounced it as "Koisendam".  I considered making it a drinking game -- one shot per mispronunciation -- but had no desire to join the ranks of the heavy drinkers with HAL drink packages.

I guess I have been doing that spelling in many of my posts, I will try to remember it is Koningsdam going forward.

[crystalspin]

24 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I guess I have been doing that spelling in many of my posts, I will try to remember it is Koningsdam going forward.

Don't feel bad: I have to say it in my head as I type it AND check the word on my screen!

[shippmates]

I was just on the Rotterdam and the piano/singer duet in the Billboard were great.  I spend most evenings after dinner listening to them.  They go along with each other and surprised us all when they said they had only met each other on the day we boarded.  Looking forward to seeing the performers in the Billboard on the Eurodam.

[pmjnh]

We just disembarked the Oosterdam and Victoria and David were the Billboard pianists. We couldn't sit through much. They were both  out of pitch a lot, but especially Victoria. I recall enjoying George and Lena on the Koningsdam earlier this year.

 

My favorite was the single pianist on the Zaandam in February. I dont recall her first name but her last name was Lamb. She was fabulous, always had a crowd in that lounge.

Edited November 20, 2023 by pmjnh

[MISTER 67]

On 11/19/2023 at 8:45 AM, REOVA said:

Billboard is the piano bar area no dance floor but you can chair dance 😉. More lounge or upbeat songs and ballads than dance tunes. Some of the performers are good but some are like fingers on chalkboard. Most ships have Rolling Stone Lounge (Rock, Pop, R&B, etc) that has dance floor and some ships have BB King (R&B, Motown, Blues, etc) lounge that has dance floor. Some of the Ocean Bars have room to dance with a trio or quartet playing. Crows Nest used to have dance floor and band before HAL moved EXC and merged Explorer's Lounge. 

Exactly, we’ve had some really good singers but also had a few cruises were they were just horrible.

[taxmantoo]

26 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

Exactly, we’ve had some really good singers but also had a few cruises were they were just horrible.

Also our experience.  It seems that the Billboard Onboard performers' age is quite a bit less in general than the previous performers in the old Piano Bar.  The older piano players obviously had more experience in "traditional" piano bars and seemed better at interacting with the people and accepting requests for three or four hours straight.

We have seen some very good performers in Billboard Onboard and the majority are quite good at the part of the show where they play the set lists provided to them by Billboard which they have had time to practice.  For a lot of them, the "all request" part of the show seems a lot more difficult and we have heard "I don't play that one" or "I don't know that one" or "Never heard of that one" more than I care to remember.  They also play only 45 minutes and then take a 45 minute break and then another 45 minute set.  The older players would usually go from 8 pm to well past midnight, most often without taking a break.  And they did not get a night off every 6 or 7 days!  Just our experience ...

[RuthC]

38 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

The older piano players obviously had more experience in "traditional" piano bars and seemed better at interacting with the people and accepting requests for three or four hours straight.

I couldn't agree with you more. 

The musician in the Piano Bar when I returned to HAL in 1992 used to say if we could name a song he couldn't play, he would give us $1000. Turned out it was play money, but it was hard to stump him---and I know hundreds of songs going back to about 1912. 

The Piano Bar opened for the evening at 11:00 PM, and closed normally about 2:00 AM. It was 100% interactive, with no one at Corporate providing a list of what to play. It was more like going to a party every night. It was fun---not a show or performance. 

[canadarocks]

Totally agree with you @RuthC. We used to spend a lot of time late evenings at the Piano Bar. And I remember a HA cruise years ago where they had a 5:00pm BOGO Martini Happy Hour in the Piano Bar..... one of our best HA memories. 

[FlaMariner]

Billboard Onboard is our favorite entertainment venue.......A seat at the piano side bar stools is a must for our evenings.  Lots of fun no matter the genre of the evening....and "all requests" is a blast.