Dancing on the Koningsdam

[Carnevale]

I promised that on return from the Koningsdam Christening Cruise I would let fellow dancers know about the dancing experience on Koningsdam.

 

This ship has one of the best dance floors at sea - the Queen's Lounge is a wonderful space with a great floor. So, it was sad this area isn't used as a place for dancing. During the 13 night cruise there was a grand total of 2 hours of ballroom dancing (one hour during each of the High Teas offered on sea days). During High Tea the ship's band played and they were very good - very talented, good tempi, and nice dance style music. We were very disappointed we only had 2 hours with them.

 

Some guests tried to use the BB Kings' sessions for dancing but that was hard to do as this music isn't intended for this purpose. Jazz and blues are not the best fit for ballroom with mainly cha cha and west coast swing fitting what was played (but we did a waltz and a few slow foxtrots when we could even though these dances didn't fit the style of music). Most dancers gave up and only rarely came to dance so, when we saw it, the floor was empty or close to it most of the time.

 

I suspect the BB Kings are great for lovers of jazz and blues. But for dancing, not only do they offer a limited range of tempi and a misfit of styles for dancing, their songs are often very long. And, the volume was excessive - so much so that ear plugs were an important part of what we packed. The guys in the booth did what they could and added sound shields on stage, but even with these changes, the volume continued to be a problem.

 

The Ocean Bar has a wooden floor that is a circle about 12 feet across but the pianist explained that his contract does not let him play music that guests can dance to. What he played was very nice to listen to but changed tempo constantly so even non-travelling dances couldn't be done on the tiny floor. We never saw it used for dancing at all.

 

There are no other dance floors including none in the Crows Nest.

 

Wish I had a more positive description to offer. We had a wonderful dancing experience last summer on Noordam where the Ocean Bar had a small, oddly shaped floor but a great band and lots of good dance music. I had hoped that with such a wonderful floor the Koningsdam would be at least as good a dancing experience but that just wasn't the case.

[StartrainDD]

While DW's knees prevent us from doing much dancing these days we truly enjoyed the music on our recent Zaandam cruise, much of which brought out many dancers.

 

With all the entertainment options promoted for Koningsdam one would think dancers would be better accommodated. Thanks again for your report.

[Sir PMP]

I promised that on return from the Koningsdam Christening Cruise I would let fellow dancers know about the dancing experience on Koningsdam.

 

This ship has one of the best dance floors at sea - the Queen's Lounge is a wonderful space with a great floor. So, it was sad this area isn't used as a place for dancing. During the 13 night cruise there was a grand total of 2 hours of ballroom dancing (one hour during each of the High Teas offered on sea days). During High Tea the ship's band played and they were very good - very talented, good tempi, and nice dance style music. We were very disappointed we only had 2 hours with them.

 

Some guests tried to use the BB Kings' sessions for dancing but that was hard to do as this music isn't intended for this purpose. Jazz and blues are not the best fit for ballroom with mainly cha cha and west coast swing fitting what was played (but we did a waltz and a few slow foxtrots when we could even though these dances didn't fit the style of music). Most dancers gave up and only rarely came to dance so, when we saw it, the floor was empty or close to it most of the time.

 

I suspect the BB Kings are great for lovers of jazz and blues. But for dancing, not only do they offer a limited range of tempi and a misfit of styles for dancing, their songs are often very long. And, the volume was excessive - so much so that ear plugs were an important part of what we packed. The guys in the booth did what they could and added sound shields on stage, but even with these changes, the volume continued to be a problem.

 

The Ocean Bar has a wooden floor that is a circle about 12 feet across but the pianist explained that his contract does not let him play music that guests can dance to. What he played was very nice to listen to but changed tempo constantly so even non-travelling dances couldn't be done on the tiny floor. We never saw it used for dancing at all.

 

There are no other dance floors including none in the Crows Nest.

 

Wish I had a more positive description to offer. We had a wonderful dancing experience last summer on Noordam where the Ocean Bar had a small, oddly shaped floor but a great band and lots of good dance music. I had hoped that with such a wonderful floor the Koningsdam would be at least as good a dancing experience but that just wasn't the case.

 

As you can see that this miserable ship without library, promenade deck, no dancing, is just for short cruising where everyone will hang around the pool doing nothing..

[Lovely other]

As you can see that this miserable ship without library, promenade deck, no dancing, is just for short cruising where everyone will hang around the pool doing nothing..

 

Funny that because in 19 nights we never sat around the pool doing nothing ...

[dmcfad2]

Funny that because in 19 nights we never sat around the pool doing nothing ...

 

 

Neither did we in 24 days. :)

[Carnevale]

Please understand that my original post is a review of opportunities for dancing only and is not a review of entertainment on Koningsdam overall. There are many dancers who want to find the right ship for them and the intent of my post is to let them know about this specific aspect of the new Koningsdam.

[Fouremco]

As you can see that this miserable ship without library, promenade deck, no dancing, is just for short cruising where everyone will hang around the pool doing nothing..

Ummmm, not really. There's both a library and a promenade deck, albeit neither up to HAL's usual standards, and the OP says that there is dancing, albeit limited in the number of hours offered.

[Lovely other]

Please understand that my original post is a review of opportunities for dancing only and is not a review of entertainment on Koningsdam overall. There are many dancers who want to find the right ship for them and the intent of my post is to let them know about this specific aspect of the new Koningsdam.

 

Maybe you should have titled your post 'ballroom dancing' ... There was plenty of dancing on the Koningsdam just not so much of the ballroom variety.

[Carnevale]

Maybe you should have titled your post 'ballroom dancing' ... There was plenty of dancing on the Koningsdam just not so much of the ballroom variety.

 

Where was that? As my post noted, we only found the BB Kings and the two High Teas. Did we miss something?

[JJPacer]

We are going on the Koningsdam in July. However, I have noted on other HAL ships that host BB King groups, the dance floor remains unused during their performances, for the reasons Carnevale observed. It's a shame, IMHO. Makes us almost miss the Hal Cats. We would like to see a more equal amount of time where the dance floor is available for BB King fans, and for ball room dancing. One can always hope. Thank you for sharing the information about the Koningsdam.

Edited May 26, 2016 by JJPacer

[EaglesWing]

Thanks, Carnevale, for your post. It's disappointing as another takeaway.

 

I can't imagine why HAL would take the space, not to mention the cost, of a large dance floor when there's no dancing!

[Lovely other]

Where was that? As my post noted, we only found the BB Kings and the two High Teas. Did we miss something?

 

No you didn't miss anything ... On our cruise the BB Kings had a packed dance floor most of the time. You may need to take into account not all dancing is 'formal' some of us just like to cut loose a bit no matter what the style.

 

I'm sorry you found the music not to your taste but I guess it is hard catering to everyone and ballroom maybe does not have enough aficionados to make it an priority in the evenings.

 

I did notice a change in demographic on the Koningsdam compared to other HAL ships ... Not necessarily much younger but a much younger outlook.

[CruiseLady88]

I agree 100% with Carnevale. Koningsdam has such a beautiful dance floor and it is sad that they don't make good use of the dance floor. When we cruised at Nieuw Amsterdam, The Band in The Ocean bar was excellent and we can dance every night before and after dinner. The BBQ Blue on Niew Amsterdam was quite good (the male singer was better than the one on K'dam, but the female singer on NA was not to our liking. Her voice is too high pitch for my ear. On the other hand, the female singer in the BB King Blue was better than the male singer) and some of the band music on NA can be used to dance Cha Cha, hustle, and even bachata. However, the music from the BB King Blue on K'dam was not for ballroom or Latin dancing. The tempo was not right. You can just move your body according to the rhythm. Therefore, not too many people danced on the floor. I only saw few couples danced Hustle most of the times.

 

The pianist in the Ocean bar was quite good. We managed to dance couple Waltz dance in that tiny circle. But once the pianist saw us dancing and adhered to his tempo, he played more waltz music later on. But for such a tiny circle, it was quite hard to dance. So, we gave us dancing in the Ocean bar. During sea days, we just went to Queen's Lounge in the afternoon to practice ourselves. (I just played the music from our iPhone and too bad that we didn't bring our blue tooth speaker.)

 

I think HAL has changed their direction, or maybe they really don't care if they can get business from those who like to dance. Or maybe this cruise director is new and doesn't know how to run the daily activities yet.

Edited July 18, 2016 by CruiseLady88

[RuthC]

I think HAL has changed their direction, or maybe they really don't care if they can get business from those who like to dance. Or maybe this cruise director is new and doesn't know how to run the daily activities yet.

I think you have it with the first possibility, with some of the second having an impact.

 

On my last cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam, 39 days, there were far too many nights when there was no music at all during 2nd seating pre-dinner cocktail time in the Ocean Bar. Not a note played, other than the terrible background overhead music.

This was a huge change of atmosphere from even not all that long ago.

When heading back that way after dinner there were also many nights when there was nothing going on in there. That used to be the place to be all evening long.