Ever "gone dancing" on a HAL ship

[luvtravel]

when on a cruise? We never have - but we would like to do some ballroom type dancing, including swing, chacha,etc. and wondered what the opportunities for that are. Is the music live or is there a band(s) - are there special areas? Is this information posted onboard? I know that each cruise will have passengers that do and don't, but wondered what your experiences are. Thanks all!

[debjo]

I'm curious about this too, since my husband and I just finished 8 ballroom dance lessons (not that we know what we're doing yet), and it would be fun to "try" dancing on a ship without having an instructor telling us what to do!

I hope that some savy HAL past passengers will help answer the original poster's questions (and mine)!

Debjo

[Krazy Kruizers]

Every day in the daily program you will find the times listed for the live bands to play in the Crow's Nest and Ocean Bar on the R and S class ships. The Vista class ships have the Northern Lights area which is mostly disco.

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam has a very small dance floor in the Crow's Nest, which doubles as the piano bar. There are usually a few couples that will ask the pianoman to play something appropriate for ballroom dancing. In the Ocean bar, the band mixes it up and there will be lots of opportunities to "strut your stuff". We had several balls in the Queen's lounge and lots of ballroom dancers. There was a couple onboard to teach dance also.

[FoxyTerrier]

DH and I dance a lot when we cruise - almost everynight. It's not ballroom dancing, but none the less it's dancing.

We pretty much hang out in the Disco or Crow's nest. The cruise staff has a nightly theme and it's a lot of fun.

I'm looking forward to dancing next month....

[lka1012]

Well, I've tried to dance. But since I really can't dance, I ended up stepping on either my or my partner's feet. But there is dancing in the evenings for those who can (or can't but try.) :o

[Stevesan]

It's relatively small, but all HAL ships have the Ocean Bar. There's a live trio or quartet playing a mix every night. Alternating waltz, cha cha, swing. A lot of fifties and sixties Golden Oldies.
We book late dining. Each evening we'll visit the O'Bar for a predinnner refreshing beverage:p and to trip the light fantastico. It's an excellent way to work up an appetite.

The Ocean bar design in the Vista Class ships sucks big time. One full side is open to the atrium. A divider splits the front and rear of the lounge.
Although the dance floor is small in both, the design in the older ships is far better.

The Crow's Nest is good for late night, but it's usually deejay style with rock and new wave.

[ger_77]

We danced in the Ocean Bar before dinner on the Prinsendam and are looking forward to dancing again on the Rotterdam in October and the Maasdam in February. We just finished a "refresher" for ballroom dancing; we're not the fancy flamboyant kind of dancers, we just enjoy ourselves on the dance floor even if we're not doing everything to the letter. Go ahead and have fun!

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[luvtravel]

for all the input ... glad there is dancing....we too have take a few lessons...good enough just to enjoy ourselves and have (alot!) of fun. Glad there will be others too....we look forward to sharing the floor with you!! Thanks again everyone!

[the2ofus]

because of the 'motion of the ocean'. You never know for sure where the floor is going to be when you put your foot down. Just adds to the enjoyment, IMHO.

My DH and I used to love ballroom dancing and looked forward to our dancing on board during our cruises. You will enjoy the Ocean Bar especially. We always found that other ballroom dancers were friendly and it was easy to strike up a conversation. This is especially true on the 10 and 14 day cruises. If the floor becomes too crowded, as it does when there are also dance hosts on board, you can always dance on the carpet around the dance floor or in the hallway.

Just be sure to watch your step on the S class ships. There is a slight step up onto the dance floor. If you are dancing too close to the edge you might get in trouble.

Have a wonderful time... and remember, you paid for the dance lessons, so you can dance the step any way you choose.:) (Spoken by a good friend when he became frustrated because he just couldn't get the hang of a difficult dance step.)

[bepsf]

The Ocean bar design in the Vista Class ships sucks big time. One full side is open to the atrium. A divider splits the front and rear of the lounge.
Although the dance floor is small in both, the design in the older ships is far better.


Stevesan --

Ocean Bar has been re-designed on Noordam, w/ the bar, entertainment and dancefloor all on the portside - just seating to starboard.

Much better IMO - I believe the other Vista's will be similarly redesigned when they go in for their SOE drydocks.

[karen2cruz]

Glad to hear there is some ballroom dancing. I am taking my 18 yo son for a graduation trip and he has been on ballroom dance teams. My DH is a "can't but will try" dancer, so it will be fun to step out with my son who loves to dance.!

[Stevesan]

Ooops - forgot to mention. Our last cruise, a two weeker on Veendam, saw three or four male "Dance Escorts" in the Ocean bar each night. They were very popular.

[konkrete kid]

My DH and I sailed March 15th on the Noordam and were looking forward to dancing (have been ballroom dancing for the past 18 months). The ocean bar has a trio every night from 5:30-11:30 p.m. - excellent dance music (cha-cha, fox trot, rhumba, waltz) although the floor is small with enough room for only 3-4 couples at one time.

Every evening in the Crow's next another trio was playing similar music which included a female singer. They were an excellent band although sometimes the rocking of the ship made it difficult to keep your balance as this area is at the top, front of the ship and feels the motion of the sea quite easily. Also, the band in the Crow's next seemed to take frequent, long breaks which put a damper on your dance momentum. The dance floor here is a bit larger and could accommodate more couples.

But, we did enjoy dancing every evening, although sometimes we were the only couple on the floor!

[HLR]

Hey!

I was just hired as a "Dance Host" on the 27 night Transatlantic sailing of the HAL Rotterdam, April 5th, 2007 from Rio to Athens...I hope there will be ballroom dancing!

I recently taught the daytime classes on the NCL Dream and will be "hosting" on the NCL Jewel on September 3rd, 2006.

I would think that with 9 of the first 12 nights of the cruise being "at sea" there will be daytime lessons and evening dancing.

Howard

[SabreSailor]

If you like ballroom dancing as we do, I'd strongly recommend that you look for a HAL "Big Band" cruise. We were on the Noordam transatlantic last month with the Guy Lombardo orchestra aboard. On a majority of evenings, they pushed the tables back in the Crow's Nest and opened the floor up to dancing. On occasion the band would play midday. On days at sea, the dance hosts would give a free one-hour dance lesson (different ballroom dance each day), which was a lot of fun. They even took time out at the end to show some advanced steps to those with more experience.

The Ocean Bar on the HAL ships we've sailed (Noordam, Maasdam, Ryndam, and Amsterdam) has a trio that plays mostly cocktail music and most of it is danceable. But the Noordam's Ocean Bar dance floor is really small and crowded compared to the other three.

[Brandis]

On our transatlantic cruise on Prinsendam there was also a bigband onboard. They played every evening in the theatre before the show, also sometimes during the day on the pool deck. They probably also provided the music for the Black/White Officers Ball (missed it so I don't know, but was impressed with the preparations of the decoration)

Marc

[Stevesan]

Hey!

I was just hired as a "Dance Host" on the 27 night Transatlantic sailing of the HAL Rotterdam, April 5th, 2007 from Rio to Athens...I hope there will be ballroom dancing!

I recently taught the daytime classes on the NCL Dream and will be "hosting" on the NCL Jewel on September 3rd, 2006.

I would think that with 9 of the first 12 nights of the cruise being "at sea" there will be daytime lessons and evening dancing.

Howard

You can bet on evening dancing in the Ocean Bar. With so many sea days, there should be daily classes. If there's not, see the cruise director and volunteer to conduct ballroom. I'm sure he/she will be delighted to add them.

BTW - Rotterdam is a great cruise ship, my favorite. Have a wonderful trip.

[ventru]

The Ocean bar band on the Rotterdam was great, and last year CD Susan Wood gave dancing lessons in the Crows Nest ................ they were great!