Volendam - Entertainment

[Krazy Kruizers]

The first night we were on the Volendam, Nick Arandes, a comic was part of the entertainment - he was great - but unfortunately he left the ship the next day in Nassau.

We had 3 production shows - two were new for us. Show Stoppers and H20H were new. Personality we had seen before. Show Stoppers and Persoanlity were both great. We didn't care for H20H. They butchered too many songs like "Bridge Over Troubled Water". The a male singers for the shows were awful - basically they couldn't sing. The females were great and great voices. At the back stage tour, all of the singers and dancers said that they would be leaving HAL in June. Some of them have been with HAL for 4 contracts. The 2 youngest - both men - 18 and 19 are in their first contract and have no desire to stay. They all admitted that when they signed their contracts they didn't think that they would be doing other jobs besides doing shows. The younger ones thought that they would have lots of free time since there were only 4 times they would have to perform in 10 days.

The group "Sunset" performed for an hour before each dinner seating the first 10 days. They were great. The main attraction each evening was 95 year old Flo and her 80 something husband who danced all the time from 5:15 - 6. If you missed them then, you could always find them later in the evening at the piano bar or late at night in the Crow's Nest.

The first 10 days we had "The Tritones" playing in the Crow's Nest in the evenings - they were also great.

The second 10 days, we had some awful piano player in the Ocean Bar from 5 - 6. He hit so many "sour" notes that it gave us a sour taste and we stopped in there only twice.

The second 10 days, The Tritones and Sunset took turns playing in the Crow's Nest.

Sonja Marie was in the Piano Bar. - not bad. Most of the time she did all the singing - not too many people joined in. She had a lot of guess that tune and tune trivias during the cruises.

Annie Frances, a singer from Australia, sang quite a few times, for evening performances in the Frans Hals Lounge. She was all right. We only went to one of her shows.

Paul Pappas was another piano player - he was very good - did several shows.

Many nights Moonlight Strings played in the dining room from 6 - 6:30. A couple of nights we had the piano players. Very nights did we have the player piano the entire dining time.

The best show - Rocky Mountain High: The John Denver Tribute Show! Jim Curry has been singing John's songs for more than 20 years and he has also performed with members of John's band over the years. His wife also sings and plays as well with him. They came on the ship on Feb 18 and left on Mar 10. They are supposed to return to the Volendam the end of March for either 1 or 2 cruises. They sold out of nearly every CD on the cruise before ours - there were only 14 CD's left to sell on our cruise.

[dakrewser]

Sonja Marie was on the O'dam with us in January. We didn't go to the piano bar much although she was better than some we've had!

[Krazy Kruizers]

She tried her best to get people to sing along with her on our first segment - no luck.

She had better response on the second segment - especially on St Patrick's Day when she was moved to the Crow's Nest for most of the evening.

[elmorejj]

We have sailed with Sonia Marie 3 times on the Zaandam, the last time being over Christmas. At first I didn`t like her, but she kind of grows on you. She has an awful lot of trivia games in her repertoire.......jean :cool:

[Time2sail]

The best show - Rocky Mountain High: The John Denver Tribute Show! Jim Curry has been singing John's songs for more than 20 years and he has also performed with members of John's band over the years. His wife also sings and plays as well with him. They came on the ship on Feb 18 and left on Mar 10. They are supposed to return to the Volendam the end of March for either 1 or 2 cruises. They sold out of nearly every CD on the cruise before ours - there were only 14 CD's left to sell on our cruise.

 

Does HAL contract these entertainers to just one ship or will they go from ship to ship?

[Himself]

Nice to see that Paul Pappas is still on the Volendam. He was on the Volendam in Alaska last Summer and on the Caribbean Cruise in November.

I first ran into him in the Spring of 2003 on the Zuiderdam.

Himself