Dancing on Nieuw Amsterdam

[minniem]

Hi Fellow Cruisers,

We have never sailed Holland America but are looking at a December Caribbean cruise. Can anyone experienced with HAL tell me if there is any dancing on this ship? We are in our 70's so ballroom type music would be great but really we will try to dance to anything.

Also at this late date I am guessing the early seating will be full. Any chance we could get early seating once on board. We always book far in advance so a last minute cruise is new to us.

Any insider tips from seasoned HAL cruisers will be appreciated.

Thanks, Minnie

[jayhawk66]

It would be helpful to know which ship as the number of musical venues does vary. Almost all have a B.B. Kings lounge with a dance floor and usually there will be a performer in the Ocean Lounge in the early evening, again with a dance floor. Sometimes late nights in the Crows Nest there will be a DJ.

If early dining fixed time is waitlisted you could choose anytime dining and go when you’d like. Also, I’ve had success going to the Maitre D as soon as I board and getting the seating time I preferred even though I was told it wasn’t available when I booked.

 

 

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[twodjs]

The OP is asking specifically about dancing on the Nieuw Amsterdam. Interesting that jayhawk66 mentions different dance venues. Since the retrofit, at least on the Westerdam, the dance floor and DJ are gone from the Crow's Nest, and the dance floor has been removed from the Ocean Bar. The only dance floor was in the Queen's Lounge. I believe this is the direction each retrofit is taking. Sorry to see that. We'll be on the Nieuw Amsterdam in late September and will see the current state of this ship. Any recent cruisers on this ship, please chime in.

[bobandjo]

When we were on the N.A. this time last year and prior to the refit there was dancing to "The Band" in the Ocean Bar evenings. They were a really good jazz band, not loud like BB Kings. Hopefully they didn't remove the dance floor.

[*Miss G*]

There was dancing in BB King’s on the NA in March. BB King’s shares the same space as America’s Test Kitchen.

[Sea Belle]

We will be on the NA in Dec. prior to the holidays for our annual R&R. Oh how I wish the Ocean Bar Trio was still on all of the ships. We always enjoyed out cocktail hour there and miss it.

[Carnevale]

We love to dance (ballroom) but can’t wherever the B.B. Kings play. Two problems: 1. they play very long songs with lots of riffs so you get tired and bored with the same rhythm for too long (plus there is little variation in rhythm between songs - lots of cha cha and jive), and 2. The bigger problem is that they are ridiculously loud - even with earplugs we don’t dare stay long in their venue out of concern for hearing damage. HAL used to be the “go to” line for dancing but those days are gone. It is a shame as we’ve always found lots of dancers in the Ocean Bar and it’s such small space that leaving it for dancing doesn’t take much especially if they just go with canned music which isn’t as good as a live band but, for the pleasure of dancing, we would be happy with it. But, HAL isn’t listening to those who like to dance so we mainly sail with other lines now.

[CherryG]

I 100% agree about BB Kings being too loud. Every time we've gone in there, we've quickly left because of the volume. Last time there were only a handful of people, and I'm assuming it was because of the volume. My husband is a trumpet player for over 50 years and it drives him crazy. Louder doesn't make it better. These are good musicians and it's a shame they have to play so loud.

[Kala89]

We totally agree. We used to love to dance in the evenings on our cruises but find that HAL has really cut down on the opportunities to do so. When we were on the Koningsdam, we found the B.B. King's music too loud and difficult to dance to. We liked to dance to the "canned" music between sets! We took a Princess cruise for the first time and had a wonderful time dancing to live music every night in the Wheelhouse Bar. Sure miss the old days of dancing in the Ocean Bar and might have to switch cruise lines as dancing is a big part of our enjoyment in the evenings.

[DeepWaterMariner]

We totally agree. We used to love to dance in the evenings on our cruises but find that HAL has really cut down on the opportunities to do so. When we were on the Koningsdam, we found the B.B. King's music too loud and difficult to dance to. We liked to dance to the "canned" music between sets! We took a Princess cruise for the first time and had a wonderful time dancing to live music every night in the Wheelhouse Bar. Sure miss the old days of dancing in the Ocean Bar and might have to switch cruise lines as dancing is a big part of our enjoyment in the evenings.

 

I'm afraid that the same is true for us. We can still get in a lot of dancing on Grand cruises but normal cruises on Holland don't offer much for ballroom dancers. Our recent cruise on the Maasdam had a jazz trio in the Ocean Bar that played a little dance music but nothing in the Crow's Nest except a DJ. We cruised on Princess last fall and I was surprised at how much ballroom dancing was offered. On some evenings there was dancing in three different venues.

[ladyfrost]

On 9/2/2018 at 7:02 AM, minniem said:

Hi Fellow Cruisers,

We have never sailed Holland America but are looking at a December Caribbean cruise. Can anyone experienced with HAL tell me if there is any dancing on this ship? We are in our 70's so ballroom type music would be great but really we will try to dance to anything.

Also at this late date I am guessing the early seating will be full. Any chance we could get early seating once on board. We always book far in advance so a last minute cruise is new to us.

Any insider tips from seasoned HAL cruisers will be appreciated.

Thanks, Minnie

We've just came off the N. Amsterdam and were surprised at the lack of music to dance to.  There is still a dance floor in the Ocean Bar with one Pianist [alternating days] that played more listening type music.  BB Kings...has a dance floor, nice jazz but very loud and not really good dance music.  Billboard...2 pianos and good sing a long songs but nowhere to dance.  No music in the Lido area for day time dancing or in the Seaview pool area during sail away.  DJ music played later...sometimes 11:30pm and occasionally as early as 10:30pm.   

As for dining, see the Maitre D asap and possibly make arrangement for reservations during open seating for your time if set dining is not available.  

The food was surprisingly excellent in Main Dining Room with only a couple of meals that were not  top winners.  Pinnacle Lunch menu is wonderful and food always good.  Out of the speciality restaurants during our 3 weeks, the Canaletto won hands down.  

Hope this helps. 

[CruisingGrandmaW]

On 9/2/2018 at 7:02 AM, minniem said:

Hi Fellow Cruisers,

We have never sailed Holland America but are looking at a December Caribbean cruise. Can anyone experienced with HAL tell me if there is any dancing on this ship? We are in our 70's so ballroom type music would be great but really we will try to dance to anything.

Also at this late date I am guessing the early seating will be full. Any chance we could get early seating once on board. We always book far in advance so a last minute cruise is new to us.

Any insider tips from seasoned HAL cruisers will be appreciated.

Thanks, Minnie

Dancing:   My hubby & I are big dancers.  We were last on the Nieuw Amsterdam in April 2019.  There was only dancing with a live band in BB King's - it was blues/jazz.  Definitely not ballroom.  There was a DJ at late at night - but we never went so can't say what type of music they may have played.

 

Dining:  Both Early & Late seating were fully booked - so we had to go Open Seating.  But it was perfect.  We are early diners & whenever we went down between opening & an hour later we always got right in,  The Open seating floor is the lower floor.  Once they took us up to the Upper Dining room -- it was SO NOISY.  Be glad you are in Open seating.