Maasdam - gentlemen hosts?

[Char70]

My neighbor - no computer and a recent widow - will be on the Maasdam Montreal to Boston in October. She likes to dance but has been taking care of her husband for several years so obviously has not been able. She has never cruised before and we all want her to have the time of her life.

 

Does anyone know whether there are gentleman dancing hosts on the Maasdam?

 

Thanks in advance.

[lougee1043]

believe that hosts are only on longer cruises---how long is the lady going to be on her cruise

[Krazy Kruizers]

There aren't any dance hosts on cruises of 7 and 10 days. Even 14 day cruises it is rare to see one.

[RonnieS]

This may be off the subject, but Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau paired in a side splitter of a movie about genetlemen host on a cruise. "Out to Sea" is the tilte.

 

Many scenes were actually shot on HAL's Westerdam.

 

Respectfully, your lady friend may not be in the mood for comedy being recent widow. However if she is, I recommend this flick.

[Char70]

I had forgotten about that Lemmon/Matthau flick. Will recommend it to her. Unfortunately this is just a week cruise so I will tell her not to expect. She is probably in her 80's and is really looking forward to this cruise that a friend talked her into. We are thrilled - if anyone ever deserved some fun, she does.

 

Thanks all.

[grannynurse]

The only requirements to be gentlemen hosts on HAL is to be tall, vertical, breathing, and ability to move feet, oh and wear a kilt with grace.

GN

[Krazy Kruizers]

"Out To Sea" was filmed on the OLD Westerdam - now gone from HAL's fleet.

 

[tjcox9]

Based on the last HAL cruise I was on that had host, I'd say being tall is definitely NOT a requirement for a dance host.

[aaerobear]

My favorite story or experience with Male Hosts was from the Volendam repo in May. We boarded in SFO for the short segment to YVR. It was the end of a 20+ day cruise so there were male hosts onboard. We were watching them in the lounge and commenting to ourselves that they could not dance worth S&*$.

 

There was a table of women next to us and they had been on the cruise for the entire trip, one of them leaned over and said "we have been trying to train them for the entire voyage, but they seem to be untrainable".

 

We have had several laughs about that one.

 

Ed/Jeff

[grannynurse]

My post was supposed to be slightly sarcastic and not factual as i have no idea of what HAL requires in gentlemen hosts. Just based on observations.

 

I do remember that on our 2003 transatlantic the hosts were assigned as helpers on the shorex buses. I only saw that happen that summer so I don't know if it was a pilot program or just to fill an immediate need. I felt so sorry for the elderly man as he had trouble keeping up with the group he was supposed to be leading.

 

I remember "Kissin Annie" telling her story about the newly boarded Host who ignored her multiple times in one evening as he was unaware of her significance on board. Needless to say, she was never ignored again. Her story was that he walked the plank in chains....Knowing Annie (May she still be dancing in the Crow's Nest in the sky) I believe it.

GN

[Esme]

GN - any time we have been on long cruises where there are gentlemen hosts, I have seen them filling in as helpers for Shorex on the busses - mind you I don't think they knew what they were doing or where we were going. :) After the excursion they are required to write a report for the Shorex Office giving their overall view of the trip.

[the2ofus]

When we did our 14 day southern carib cruise in 2000 on the Noordam, there were four dance hosts. Two of them were actually very good dancers and the other two could at least keep on the beat. One of the guys even asked us to teach him a few patterns he saw us doing. They danced with all the ladies who looked willing, although several tried to monopolize them.

 

The good thing was that once they were on the dance floor others joined in. Sometimes there were so many dancers that we were dancing on the carpet around the tables. Really livened things up and made for a lot of cameraderie among the pax.