roussillon

Hi All. We have not yet booked this Rotterdam, cruise but I think that all should be made aware of some upcoming changes to the musical entertainment onboard HAL....I presume it is due to cost-cutting, as everyone I know really likes the music walk. Having multiple daily chamber music quartet concerts has been a highlight for us, but this is going to change. There will no longer be a Lincoln Center Stage, and apparently the string trio and piano will rotate around various ships in the fleet, and will be in the Theatre And just think how many ships there are, and they will not be on all cruises I guess. So this is a major cut. BBKing stays on some ships, but there are some changes coming in the smaller ships: There will be a new Rolling Stone lounge with different playlist which will take the place of BBKing. this is a big downgrade from my viewpoint. Please consider this when setting your expectations. We were on the Nieuw Statendam a few weeks ago and the Cruise Director alluded to changes coming from HAL headquarters but could not give any details. But he confirmed that changes were in the works. I came home and found this article from The Points Guy which is a reasonably reputable travel site. You can read the details that leaked out a few months ago which I was not aware of: https://thepointsguy.com/news/cruise-line-removes-music-venues/ I think HAL should be more forthcoming on details, as we are all putting down lots of money for an entertainment package which has been confirmed to be degraded significantly. HAL is my favorite line, but we are having some second thoughts now due to the sneaky way the changes are being handled. Anyway, Happy Cruising! Roussillon