Just off Nieuw Amsterdam ... Dec 18

[NavArch64]

Hard working crew ... Ship in pretty good condition ... LCS artists excellent ... SODC fabulous ... BOL piano players not so great IMHO.

[NavArch64]

One more thing ... no more Mariners Lunch on final sea day ... DW had to go beg for tiles.

Edited December 19, 2022 by NavArch64

[CHIEFWINEMAKER]

Going to be on NA in January. Curious about your MDR experience and What is SODC ? 

[julia]

13 minutes ago, CHIEFWINEMAKER said:

Going to be on NA in January. Curious about your MDR experience and What is SODC ? 

Step One Dance Company

[MISTER 67]

2 hours ago, julia said:

Step One Dance Company

If you like what my DW calls angry dancing with ear shattering canned music, we were on the Dec 4th sailing and we walked out on 2 of the shows. Shame on HAL for not having live music in the showroom except one night when they borrowed the group from Lincoln Center. No live music in the beautiful Ocean Bar is a crime. Food was only fair with  small portions. As 4 Star Mariners we were extremely unhappy with our Dec 4 cruise on the NA, probably our last cruise with HAL, we will stay with Celebrity. 

We did receive our tiles along with a total of 4 mints for the week.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

Edited December 19, 2022 by MISTER 67

[oakridger]

When I was on NA for the Panama Canal cruise in October there was a very good 4 or 5 piece band in the Ocean Bar almost every night.  They played several (3?) sets per night.  One night a couple of the BB King horn players jammed with them for a little while!  I wonder why some cruises have something in Ocean Bar and others don't.

 

~Nancy  

[Florida_gal_50]

I don’t think there have been any mariners lunches since pre Covid.  They have had some small receptions.

[mwj]

11 hours ago, NavArch64 said:

Hard working crew ... Ship in pretty good condition ... LCS artists excellent ... SODC fabulous ... BOL piano players not so great IMHO.

We pretty much agree with this assessment. The bbking all stars were also great.

[mwj]

4 hours ago, MISTER 67 said:

If you like what my DW calls angry dancing with ear shattering canned music, we were on the Dec 4th sailing and we walked out on 2 of the shows. Shame on HAL for not having live music in the showroom except one night when they borrowed the group from Lincoln Center. No live music in the beautiful Ocean Bar is a crime. Food was only fair with  small portions. As 4 Star Mariners we were extremely unhappy with our Dec 4 cruise on the NA, probably our last cruise with HAL, we will stay with Celebrity. 

We did receive our tiles along with a total of 4 mints for the week.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

Your complaint about the ocean bar must have been heard, as there was piano music the last few nights at 4pm on the dec 11 cruise 

[jenng1976]

We were also on this cruise and really enjoyed it!  We spent most nights watching the BB King band, and the comedian (very funny!) was also in that club and it was standing room only most nights.

 

The MDR was good - breakfast a bit hit or miss in terms of timeliness but I prefer it to the buffet.  Our dinner waiters were very good.  We had early seating and it didn’t seem full (but also the cruise was under capacity I believe (1871 I think the Captain said).  We even received an upsell offer to Signature Suite which was a nice experience for us (first time!).

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts NavArch!

[MISTER 67]

8 hours ago, mwj said:

Your complaint about the ocean bar must have been heard, as there was piano music the last few nights at 4pm on the dec 11 cruise 

I’m amazed, happy times at Happy Hour.

[iflyrc5]

17 hours ago, MISTER 67 said:

If you like what my DW calls angry dancing with ear shattering canned music, we were on the Dec 4th sailing and we walked out on 2 of the shows. Shame on HAL for not having live music in the showroom except one night when they borrowed the group from Lincoln Center. No live music in the beautiful Ocean Bar is a crime. Food was only fair with  small portions. As 4 Star Mariners we were extremely unhappy with our Dec 4 cruise on the NA, probably our last cruise with HAL, we will stay with Celebrity. 

We did receive our tiles along with a total of 4 mints for the week.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

We were on the NA for the month of Nov and they had piano playing in the Ocean bar from 4 to 6 every day.

[MISTER 67]

2 hours ago, iflyrc5 said:

We were on the NA for the month of Nov and they had piano playing in the Ocean bar from 4 to 6 every day.

We saw the piano and scratched our heads as is to why no one played it the whole week we sailed which was from Dec 4-11.

Maybe an illness but we were on the Rotterdam in April and there was no live music in the Ocean Bar on that cruise either.

Bottom line is that HAL has cut back on too many things and we just don't care to sail with them anymore.

Edited December 20, 2022 by MISTER 67

[AFNavigator]

20 hours ago, MISTER 67 said:

If you like what my DW calls angry dancing with ear shattering canned music, we were on the Dec 4th sailing and we walked out on 2 of the shows. Shame on HAL for not having live music in the showroom except one night when they borrowed the group from Lincoln Center. No live music in the beautiful Ocean Bar is a crime. Food was only fair with  small portions. As 4 Star Mariners we were extremely unhappy with our Dec 4 cruise on the NA, probably our last cruise with HAL, we will stay with Celebrity. 

We did receive our tiles along with a total of 4 mints for the week.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

Everyone certainly is entitled to their own likes and dislikes on entertainment.  Sorry to hear that they didn't work out for you.  We personally really liked the Step One dance and they got a standing a standing ovation at the end of their performance so others must have liked them too.  We saw them on the NS last week and were really impressed with the lighting and sound system in that main stage...I personally loved the booming base but, then again, that's just my personal like. 

[NavArch64]

Regarding the SODC, whether you liked the music and choreography or not, the incredible talent, commitment and physical conditioning of the 3 young men and 3 young women were deserving of a standing ovation IMHO. After seeing Humanity and Musicality a number of times on different HAL ships, I actually have liked the shows more each time that I have seen them. I am still warming up to In Tandem. Having said this, I would rather go back to the "old" HAL main stage shows, but I understand the current cost constraints for HAL.

 

[iflyrc5]

Humanity is my favorite of the 4 shows they do.  I have seen it 5 times on 2 different ships and looking forward to seeing it again several times on the Rotterdam in January.

[expattraveler]

14 hours ago, iflyrc5 said:

We were on the NA for the month of Nov and they had piano playing in the Ocean bar from 4 to 6 every day.

After all the good things we heard about HAL from friends we took our first HAL cruise on the Konningsdam Thanksgiving cruise out of San Diego. Not memorable.
 

We did a follow up cruise on the December 10th to 17th sailing on the Konningsdam out of San Diego to see if the Thanksgiving Cruise experience was an anomaly and ended with better results.
 

Did it get better? Marginally at best. Possibly due to a lighter passenger load, but no wow factor.
 

Overall food quality on both cruises was poor. Even our dinner in the specialty restaurant Pinnical  on the second cruise was not up to what we experienced on the first cruise. We actually deferred. to eating in meals in the Dutch Cafe. Not what you would expect on a high end cruise line, but compared to the other complimentary dining for meals, this ended up as our “go to” dining location for breakfast and dinner.

 

The Ocean Bar Lounge was one of the highlights for a pre dinner cocktail, but where was the piano player? Nowhere to be found. Only a sign on the piano players stool for the two cruises saying “do not sit here”.

 

We have another HAL Panama Canal cruise booked in April on the Niew Amsterdam  for the itinerary. It disembarks in San Diego where we live. However, if things don’t get better after that cruise with food and entertainment it will most likely be our last HAL.  We’ll shall see….

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

On 12/19/2022 at 5:18 PM, Florida_gal_50 said:

I don’t think there have been any mariners lunches since pre Covid.  They have had some small receptions.

We had a mariners lunch on the Zuiderdam in March on the South Pacific Cruise.   It was the same as pre covid-

[The-Inside-Cabin]

10 hours ago, iflyrc5 said:

Humanity is my favorite of the 4 shows they do.  I have seen it 5 times on 2 different ships and looking forward to seeing it again several times on the Rotterdam in January.

I love SODC - they are great - Here is video if you have never seen them.

 

 

 

[rhblake]

We were on from Dec 4 to Dec 18 and spent every evening from 5:15 to 6:30 in the Ocean Bar and only once did a piano player entertain us and there was no other entertainment. I also would like to know why all of the entertainment (band and the comedian) were in the smaller venues (limited capacity) as apposed to on the the main stage. Just got our third star but probably will not go back on HA.

[VMax1700]

I know I am in a minority, but to me, dancing is not entertainment, except for those doing the dancing.  There, said it!

I would not cross the street to watch dancing.  

I will go to flamenco, but to listen to the music and vocals, not watch the dancing.

[SuperCurmudgeon]

On 12/19/2022 at 4:18 PM, MISTER 67 said:

If you like what my DW calls angry dancing with ear shattering canned music, we were on the Dec 4th sailing and we walked out on 2 of the shows. Shame on HAL for not having live music in the showroom except one night when they borrowed the group from Lincoln Center. No live music in the beautiful Ocean Bar is a crime. Food was only fair with  small portions. As 4 Star Mariners we were extremely unhappy with our Dec 4 cruise on the NA, probably our last cruise with HAL, we will stay with Celebrity. 

We did receive our tiles along with a total of 4 mints for the week.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

We were also on the NA Dec. 4 cruise, and were thoroughly disappointed. This was our first HAL cruise, and likely the last.

 

The big takeaways for us …

 

• Messy embarkation.

 

• Skimpy portions in the Lido and room service breakfast (which we only did once). Only on the morning of disembark did the Lido portions become generous. Probably trying to deplete the stock.

 

• Terrible excursions (Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay) with completely disinterested tour guides. Our USVI tour was cancelled. 

 

• Sparse table service in the bars. Bussing of tables was also lax. I found the drinks to be on the weak side, but perhaps that’s just me.

 

• Many areas of the ship were freezing (especially the Exploration Cafe).

 

• Seemingly zero enforcement of MDR dress code … baseball caps, jean cut-offs, etc ..

 

• On the good side, crew were friendly. 

Edited December 27, 2022 by SuperCurmudgeon

[MISTER 67]

2 hours ago, SuperCurmudgeon said:

We were also on the NA Dec. 4 cruise, and were thoroughly disappointed. This was our first HAL cruise, and likely the last.

 

The big takeaways for us …

 

• Messy embarkation.

 

• Skimpy portions in the Lido and room service breakfast (which we only did once). Only on the morning of disembark did the Lido portions become generous. Probably trying to deplete the stock.

 

• Terrible excursions (Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay) with completely disinterested tour guides. Our USVI tour was cancelled. 

 

• Sparse table service in the bars. Bussing of tables was also lax. I found the drinks to be on the weak side, but perhaps that’s just me.

 

• Many areas of the ship were freezing (especially the Exploration Cafe).

 

• Seemingly zero enforcement of MDR dress code … baseball caps, jean cut-offs, etc ..

 

• On the good side, crew were friendly. 

Can't disagree with anything you wrote and it was freezing on that ship for the whole week.

[SuperCurmudgeon]

39 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

Can't disagree with anything you wrote and it was freezing on that ship for the whole week.

It will be interesting to see if HAL actually responds to my post-cruise survey (I did check-off the “please contact me” thingy). Today I received a “We’d love to hear more about your favorite shore excursion!” Ugh.

[Copper10-8]

On 12/20/2022 at 11:32 PM, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I love SODC - they are great - Here is video if you have never seen them.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the vid! We also would like to see the return of the former full cast with four vocalists and six dancers but until/if that happens, Step One provides excellent and energetic entertainment! Humanity is a good show but we like In Tandem