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Rkbmr73

By Rkbmr73,
in Holland America Line

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taxmantoo

taxmantoo

Posted
Posted
We were on the Zuiderdam in March/April 2015 and JMO -- thankfully the screaming HAL Cats were gone!!

We had the new group -- The Band -- they were very good.

 

As with the Hal Cats previous to them, The Band also has its fans and its haters. On our last Nieuw Amsterdam cruise, they were so bad and boring that passengers started referring to them as "The Bland" :eek:

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sail7seas

sail7seas

Posted
Posted
As with the Hal Cats previous to them, The Band also has its fans and its haters. On our last Nieuw Amsterdam cruise, they were so bad and boring that passengers started referring to them as "The Bland" :eek:

 

Were they as loud as the HAL Cats?

 

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igraf

igraf

Posted
Posted (edited)

Not loud. Just bland. Think of "The Band" as the antithesis of the excellent BB King Blues Club. I usually enjoyed the Neptunes in the past, but The Band simply had no soul. And not very many passengers in the audience, either.

 

Something for everyone, I guess.

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

Were they as loud as the HAL Cats?

 

Edited by igraf
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idiebabe

idiebabe

Posted
Posted
As with the Hal Cats previous to them, The Band also has its fans and its haters. On our last Nieuw Amsterdam cruise, they were so bad and boring that passengers started referring to them as "The Bland" :eek:

 

They must have been the same ones we had on the NA in April. They were BORING! They just stared at the sheet music while they played, never looked up, never spoke, never sang a song now and then, etc. BORING!

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sail7seas

sail7seas

Posted
Posted
Not loud. Just bland. Think of "The Band" as the antithesis of the excellent BB King Blues Club. I usually enjoyed the Neptunes in the past, but The Band simply had no soul. And not very many passengers in the audience, either.

 

Something for everyone, I guess.

 

igraf

 

Thanks. Doesn't sound like I've missed much by not yet hearing them.

 

I liked the Neptunes much better than HAL Cats.

 

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DeeniEncinitas

DeeniEncinitas

Posted
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They must have been the same ones we had on the NA in April. They were BORING! They just stared at the sheet music while they played, never looked up, never spoke, never sang a song now and then, etc. BORING!

 

Ditto!!!

They were on our March cruise and it was awful!

I am trying to find a discriptive word to use but all I come up with is boring!

Denise:)

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Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

Posted
Posted (edited)

HAL Cats were simply "pick up bands" and an awful concept. Rather then booking real bands (musicians who had a history of working together) HAL just hired professional musicians (of varying skill levels) who were capable of reading music. So you put X number of musicians (with zero brass players) on a ship, appoint a "musical director" and then expect those musicians to form different groups to deal with all needs. The musicians often had different contract periods so they came and go and the band member kept changing. Musicians will all tell you that there is more to a decent band then just putting a group of musicians together with a pile of sheet music. It takes time to develop a real style and get to know how to best work together.

 

As part of their "innovative" program HAL also (several years ago) terminated all of their brass (trumpet, trombone, etc) musicians. This meant they could reduce the number of musicians and save money. But try to imagine playing Big Band music without a trumpet or trombone. Or how about dixieland, jazz, etc. The music is just "blah" and lacking in depth and color.

 

And then we have the old HAL practice of providing a decent classical music quartet (some of these groups were fantastic). The brilliant thinkers in Seattle came up with a "great idea" of reducing these groups to a mere duet (usually piano and violin) which in theory limited their repertoire to music for piano and violin. But not on HAL where they were expected to play classical and chamber music intended for 4 or more pieces. Yuck! We once had a great duet on a HAL cruise, but most of these duos we heard were terribly lacking the skill to play music, scored for 4 or 5 musicians, with only two players. A single violin just cannot pull off music intended for Violin, Viola, and Cello

 

.But we will not single out HAL for the change in music policy because we have seen similar cut-backs in several other mass market lines. But HAL has worked hard to be "just one of the gang" rather then then the premiere product of years past :(

 

 

 

 

Hank

Edited by Hlitner
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Gerd

Gerd

Posted
Posted

.

 

Dear all

 

I cannot more agree with all your comments about the latest HAL music & dance entertainment.

 

A lot of years a Hungarian music was played – gone ??:mad:

 

Next are the HAL Cats. But they are been originally the background band for the main stage. Later-on, they started to play dance music. And this orchestra appears from time to time all around the vessel. But there is a huge different between both usage. They never really convinced me to be a dancing 'animator'…:confused:

 

And unfortunately HAL discontinued with a Crows Nest Band.:(

 

-> I hope that HAL can collect somehow enough money and bring back those perfectly dedicated marvelous Filipino Crows Nest Band :) => and that they restart to play each evening.

 

 

But I doubt it will, because the two latest vessels do even no more have a dedicated stage !:rolleyes:

 

 

Happy cruising

 

G E R D

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JennysUncle

JennysUncle

Posted
Posted

The Ryndam still had the HALcats, and they were excellent - including Sidney the singer. They would have been better with a brass player instead of a second electronic keyboard, but they did have spirit.

 

We had 'the Band' on the Oosterdam. Bland is right, but it didn't matter much because the mostly just were backing the shows. Didn't play often in the Ocean Bar (where there was no Neptunes).

 

"Loud" is all relative. If you want a real example of LOUD go to the BB Kings. The singer has to scream to be heard, and you can hear them down the corridor.

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iancal

iancal

Posted
Posted

As someone,else posted recently it will not be long before the only music on HAL is from a pay jukebox.

 

They are probably trying to adapt the technology to keycards right now!

 

Downside is we will have to pay. Upside is that we will get good music/sound.

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HokiePoq

HokiePoq

Posted
Posted
We still had Halcats on the Veendam in March, and they were great!

 

Still great on the Veendam this summer! Would be better with brass but the talent and versatility of the HalCats was quite good (vocalist not so much, JMO). They played in the Crow's Nest on the nights they weren't needed as a stage band for the guest entertainers. Neptune duo was excellent, too.

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Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

Posted
Posted
As someone,else posted recently it will not be long before the only music on HAL is from a pay jukebox.

 

They are probably trying to adapt the technology to keycards right now!

 

Downside is we will have to pay. Upside is that we will get good music/sound.

 

A jukebox with a decent selection would be an improvement over some of the entertainment we have heard on HAL (we have also had some excellent entertainers). In a sense, HAL now uses a very sophisticated jukebox as the major accomplishment to their production shows. Even when they use some real musicians, they are relegated to playing along with prerecorded tracks (the sophisticated jukebox).

 

Hank

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iancal

iancal

Posted
Posted

Yes, that is exactly how they have managed to cut entertainment stagg.

 

I have this vision if the MDR turning into a self service automat. Order your food at the table and it gets delivered by robotic arm...similar to how some pharmacies in Europe control and deliver drugs to the chemist/cash point.

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trident

trident

Posted
Posted

We are five star mariners with HAL and the music, as others have stated, has gone down over the years. We just took a cruise with Celebrity Sihouette and the music was great. Live music in at least four lounges each evening and even outside the dining room before dinner. The disparity was so great that if music was the only criteria, we would choose Celebrity every time.

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idiebabe

idiebabe

Posted
Posted
We are five star mariners with HAL and the music, as others have stated, has gone down over the years. We just took a cruise with Celebrity Sihouette and the music was great. Live music in at least four lounges each evening and even outside the dining room before dinner. The disparity was so great that if music was the only criteria, we would choose Celebrity every time.

 

We may have to start trying Celebrity! Our last Cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam with "The Band" looking lifeless and with no Singer in the Ocean Bar was very disappointing! Also, disappointing that there is no longer a Guitar Player on the Vista and Signature Class Ships, etc. We enjoyed that up in Crow's Nest! The Production Shows aren't a deal breaker for us but we always enjoy the Music in the Lounges especially for pre-dinner Drinks!

 

We're spending too much money on our Cruises to not have good Music in the Lounges! I think HAL is making a mistake with these Cutbacks!

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