BarryFromBoston

February 9

17 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

I really have no desire for the other guests to be involved in the performance.

You're assuming this is the case. It isn't. Guests sing ALONG, not on microphone. With a good piano bar, the guest chooses their experience, from ambient entertainment to very inclusive, by where they sit. What happens off mic around the piano is a whole second level that guests on the other side of the rooom don't hear. The main difference is that at its heart, the dueling show as done on HAL was meant to be scripted, carefully timed material, so the screens would project trivia about what they're hearing. Solo piano bars may have a theme, but are ready to re-shape the evening, on a dime. Please note that there are dueling shows on other brands that are not scripted, and are nearly all requests. I do those, and very happily so, aboard NCL. Some great dueling is launching on RCCL. It's all what's right for the demographic present. In fact, on Day 1 of a new cruise, the stage manager or production manager would break down the cruise by age, location, and how many of each level of loyalty level are on board. This didn't affect most acts. But I would say, "Let's swap out Best & Worst of the 70's with Best of Broadway, and since we have so many Europeana, let's scratch TV themes and add in..." (and so forth).

February 5

3 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

Isn't it just as entertaining (if not more so) to have the pianist interact with the AUDIENCE?

That's what a good single-piano format is.

I think so.

February 5

3 hours ago, RedIguana said:

Most cruises have a 7 night segment. If he had started "Free Bird" mid-cruise, mot of the passengers would be disembarking before the song was over🤪

Okay, so here's my story about Freebird. I personally am never the guy who gets snippy when people want Piano Man or Sweet Caroline. When I started on RCCL, people walking through the Schooner Bar would yell, "Freebird!". (Google "Why people yell Freebird".) Being a 9 minute song (14 in concert) they're usually just goofing on me. So, I started a running joke that if someone came in and yelled, Freebird", I would say "sure, right after this request". Often, the regulars had been prompted that if someone yelled it, and I agreed to do it "right after this song", if the person tried to leave, the whole room would go, "Ut Ut! Your song is coming!", all while I was doing the longest, slowest version of "Send In The Clowns" ever. So, if I asked you to choose again, either I'd already done the bit, or the audience immediately turned to me as if to ask, "Are you gonna do the bit?". It assuredly wasn't personal.

February 5

3 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Interesting that you mention piano tuning. It is very common, on turn around days in Florida ports, to see (and hear) local professional piano tuners doing their thing. It happens to us, a lot, when on Princess where they have a real piano in the atrium. In December, we were aboard when a tuner was working on the Sky Princess atrium piano and he told me he is busy, every Saturday and Sunday tuning cruise ship pianos.

By the way, you are terrific on any kind of piano/key board :).

Hank

Exactly, Hank. So, now say you're cruising the African Coast, and the cruise is 3 months long. Any good tuners in Zembabwe?

February 5

2 hours ago, montythecat said:

I really

can’t believe that HAL’s finances are such that

this type of penny pinching is necessary.

I doubt it's penny punching. Billboard On Board is an entertainment product that is purchased for a given time, for a total $ figure. This is the same as the production shows ("Jukebox"), and BB King. Perhaps this is the end of 5 years? There have been times I'm purposely not specifying where pretty much everyone thought something was a turkey at final dress rehearsal, and then ya just have to make it work. With BoB, they have adapted the product best as they can. The same outsource is brining in the players, so there are really no losers in this story.

February 5

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

It is laughable that some ships have faux piano cabinet shells with an inexpensive electronic keyboard mounted inside.

Hank

sometimes, especially with the case of pop music or dueling pianos, the shells are custom-made, and the digital keyboards inside are not inexpensive. They never require tuning, which is important because other instruments tune to the piano, and lining up tuners on a long or nonrepeating itinerary can be a big job. It is also easier to contain the sound to where you want it, and not to where you don't. They also have flexibility to color to the arrangement with strings, or add a bass.

January 30

1 minute ago, pd291 said:

I was fortunate to have seen Barry perform several times & I even held one of the signs during a performance.

I'm guessing it was a stop and go sign, for "Best & Worst Of The 1970's", or signs for Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer. To stay up on Stryker, you can use this link: https://www.facebook.com/StrykerFanClub

January 29

2 hours ago, Destiny0315 said:

The concept always was and is dueling pianos as can be seen in this video direct from Holland America from 2017.

That was a concept video. That vid is not on a ship, they are not really playing, and the lids on the piano wouldn't be. It was a slow roll out. I was still playing solo in 2020 on the ships that all wound up being sold in May of that year, which were Veemdam, Maasdam, Volendam, and Rotterdam. It was outaourced. I'm guessing what happened is that it underperformed, but they paid a flat rate for x number of years. The same can be said of the jukebox production shows and Lincoln Center.

January 29

1 hour ago, jeh10641 said:

I have heard that ship casinos sailing from US ports are governed by the rules and laws of Las Vegas. Therefore, no looser or tighter. Individual machines may be programmed that way. I have not been able to confirm this.

Jim

My remembrance of crew training is that the ship casino is bound by the laws of the flag country, I.e the Netherlands.

January 29

Dueling pianos has been a popular format, and is currently on NCL, RCCL's newest ships, and many others. Served up in a larger, less intimate space than a traditional piano bar, the players aremeant to alternate songs, but support each other throughout, on piano, leading the audience, or playing hand percussion.

January 28

It would be thriled to be back for VOV. We'll see if the new people in the chairs remember me.

January 28

10 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Formal night?

LOL! I played for Wayne Newton's show a few months ago.

January 27

2 hours ago, madera1 said:

I used to enjoy the solo piano performances and pre Covid there was one singer who had his own groupies sitting around the piano. Some even had signs! I don’t recall if that was Barry or another singer.

I definitely had groupies. The two that had all manner of signs, and people who skipped the MainStage to get a seat in what I called "The Ring of Fire" were myself, and Stryker.

January 27

3 minutes ago, iflyrc5 said:

Tonight she said she lives in Texas now so maybe a Texas drawl.

I did dueling with her on NCL. Shr's a great performer, and a fun person.

January 27

7 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

Well, @BarryFromBoston, it’s nice to see and hear from you. I’ve seen your name mentioned on CC, on multiple occasions, and kind of had a picture in my head of an old white-haired guy singing lounge songs not-from-my era. You look like fun! I hope to see you on a future sailing.

Thanks, Miss G. I do over 2000 songs for memory, and write new comedy material every day. Hope they make an offer I can accept. It was airways my favorite gig, for over a decade.

January 27

Hello from Boston and thanks so much for holding me in your memories. I've been doing conventions, club dates, and private shows. HAL was always my favorite. If they can offer a guest status job (many lines made entertainers crew during COVID, are doing very well, but didn't offer that important amenity back since), I would live to be back on HAL, and left a message for my agent already. Fingers crossed!

July 2, 2017

I am trying to book the trolley for an upcoming cruise with a stop in Bar Harbor. The ship arrives at 8am and the only time available for the 4 hour tour is 9:30.

Seeing it is a tender port, what are the chances that we would make it? Do they usually let off the people who booked thru them first?

Thanks for any help..

There is sometimes a very small window called the "skip breakfast" window. It means that if you are ready to go, the instant they start tendering, there is often a few minutes where you can get a tender ticket, the moment they become available. But with any delay (it also depends if you're coming from Boston and still in the USA or re-entering the USA from Canada in Bar Harbor), be it setting the anchor, Customs and Immigration related, or simply a lot of people waiting from the get-go, it seems very easy to miss a 9:30 tour.