entertainment

[esimon]

Is the BB King Blues band still performing on HAL

[HELENPSL]

Is the BB King Blues band still performing on HAL

 

I think it depends on the ship. I know they're on the larger ships but not sure about the smaller ships.

 

Helen

[CruiserBruce]

Only on the larger Signature, Vista and now Pinnacle class ships. Not on the R and S class ships.

[Copper10-8]

Is the BB King Blues band still performing on HAL

 

Yes; on the four Vista's (Zuiderdam, Oosterdam, Westerdam & Noordam), the two Signatures (Eurodam & Nieuw Amsterdam) and the newest Pinnacle-class ship, Koningsdam. I heard somewhere that they were going to do a trial on one of the smaller ships, Rotterdam perhaps, in the Crow's Nest. Maybe someone can confirm

[taxmantoo]

Seems to be the way HAL is intending to go for the future.

 

After seeing and hearing many BB King bands on several ships in the past few years, I think they should evaluate their success before hiring new ones. Some of them are quite good but some are simply awful. Sort of like the HalCats used to be... some good, some awful. ;) The group on our last Westerdam 35-day cruise was one of the worst we have witnessed. Both singers (male and female) would not have made it past the 1st audition on any reality show or even come close to getting a contract for the company that provides entertainers to HAL. They had a very small following, mostly the same 3 or 4 people who sat at the bar every night when they played.

Edited May 25, 2016 by taxmantoo

[sapper1]

Seems to be the way HAL is intending to go for the future.

 

After seeing and hearing many BB King bands on several ships in the past few years, I think they should evaluate their success before hiring new ones. Some of them are quite good but some are simply awful. Sort of like the HalCats used to be... some good, some awful. ;) The group on our last Westerdam 35-day cruise was one of the worst we have witnessed. Both singers (male and female) would not have made it past the 1st audition on any reality show or even come close to getting a contract for the company that provides entertainers to HAL. They had a very small following, mostly the same 3 or 4 people who sat at the bar every night when they played.

 

Agreed----the daily ukulele practice was far more entertaining eh? ----I wanna go back to my little grass shack in ---------:D

I will forever think of you whenever I hear that song.

Edited May 25, 2016 by sapper1

[taxmantoo]

Agreed----the daily ukulele practice was far more entertaining eh? ----I wanna go back to my little grass shack in ---------:D

I will forever think of you whenever I hear that song.

 

LOL ... of all the songs I imagined myself being associated with one day, Little Grass Shack was definitely not one of them :D

One another note, Lisa and I were on the deck last night having a drink before BBQ, when a thought occurred to me ... beer sure tastes different when it doesn't come from a bucket :D

[boze9999]

To the comment regarding entertainment, I would add (IMO) the decline in the piano bar entertainers with the switch to dual pianos. With the new set-up, none of the world's best piano bar players want to sign on for a contract. The re-formatted ships unfortunately end up with new-to-HAL piano players, who are so over-programmed with what they must play that all the spontaneous fun of the piano bar is gone. Their genres are boringly limited to the same songs night after night. I find they have little to no "real" engagement with the audience and rarely know enough other songs to take requests as in-depth and diverse piano bar players typically can do. However, I do enjoy the extra size and roominess of the new piano bar - a lot more fans are accommodated. Hopefully HAL will re-visit this dual piano concept and bring back the fun of a real piano bar (and 5-star piano bar players) in the new roomy space!

[TAD2005]

To the comment regarding entertainment, I would add (IMO) the decline in the piano bar entertainers with the switch to dual pianos. With the new set-up, none of the world's best piano bar players want to sign on for a contract. The re-formatted ships unfortunately end up with new-to-HAL piano players, who are so over-programmed with what they must play that all the spontaneous fun of the piano bar is gone. Their genres are boringly limited to the same songs night after night. I find they have little to no "real" engagement with the audience and rarely know enough other songs to take requests as in-depth and diverse piano bar players typically can do. However, I do enjoy the extra size and roominess of the new piano bar - a lot more fans are accommodated. Hopefully HAL will re-visit this dual piano concept and bring back the fun of a real piano bar (and 5-star piano bar players) in the new roomy space!

 

We agree. And we only had a single piano and artist on the Zuiderdam last Oct/Nov. We had Paul C. McD on the first leg (7 days) and he was excellent, spontaneous, full repertoire, and very accommodating to guest requests. He could play anything from the 30's to the 80's. Then, his contract ended and a new guy came on board. I won't mention the name but it begins with "T" and that should stand for Terrible. All he could play was Beatles and Johnny Cash. Requests were trashed, he walked in, sat down and started playing. No "welcome folks", nothing. we may as well had a CD player back there. We agree, bring back real talented "Piano Man' or Women.

[RuthC]

To the comment regarding entertainment, I would add (IMO) the decline in the piano bar entertainers with the switch to dual pianos. With the new set-up, none of the world's best piano bar players want to sign on for a contract. The re-formatted ships unfortunately end up with new-to-HAL piano players, who are so over-programmed with what they must play that all the spontaneous fun of the piano bar is gone. Their genres are boringly limited to the same songs night after night. I find they have little to no "real" engagement with the audience and rarely know enough other songs to take requests as in-depth and diverse piano bar players typically can do. However, I do enjoy the extra size and roominess of the new piano bar - a lot more fans are accommodated. Hopefully HAL will re-visit this dual piano concept and bring back the fun of a real piano bar (and 5-star piano bar players) in the new roomy space!

Let's be honest. HAL started moving away from the Piano Bar concept several years ago. First they got rid of the intimate piano bars on the S-class ships, and created Mix. It became less a party place where people became a close-knit group, who happened to have a piano player creating the atmosphere, to one where there was an entertainer presenting a show every night.

Then the R-class ships had the same change.

 

Instead of the passengers singing, determining the direction every night, there was a theme imposed for each night, to the extent that the playlists were predictable. Only a very few of the musicians were not cut from this same mold.

 

Some of the musicians brought in other ship entertainers to perform for the crowd. Might be fun, but not what a piano bar is.

 

And now the next step moving away from the good times. There's a show where the piano bar used to be.

[jabcruiser]

Seems to be the way HAL is intending to go for the future.

 

After seeing and hearing many BB King bands on several ships in the past few years, I think they should evaluate their success before hiring new ones. Some of them are quite good but some are simply awful. Sort of like the HalCats used to be... some good, some awful. ;) The group on our last Westerdam 35-day cruise was one of the worst we have witnessed. Both singers (male and female) would not have made it past the 1st audition on any reality show or even come close to getting a contract for the company that provides entertainers to HAL. They had a very small following, mostly the same 3 or 4 people who sat at the bar every night when they played.

I agree that the quality depends on the ship from our experience during 3 HAL cruises the past year or do. During our last cruise on Westerdam in Feb we did think the BB King Blues band wasn't nearly as good as previous two voyages on Noordam and Oosterdam. BUT, still better than any other entertainment on the ship, and they did get better as week went along(maybe we just got used to them). Our practice is to attend BB King Blues club most evenings as the other entertainment doesn't appeal to us in the least. We are recently retired "Baby Boomers" and this is the music we grew up on and enjoy. Such a great alternative from showroom song and dance, piano bar, etc. Usually try to attend comedian shows when they have them, but the last one we went to was so AWFUL don't even know if will do that again. Each to their own. BTW if you happen to get Darryl Stanley as lead male singer/band leader you should consider yourself VERY VERY LUCKY. He makes sure the shows are top notch and we consider ourselves so lucky to have enjoyed his performances in the BB King bands on Noordam and Oosterdam. Lead female, Tempest, on Noordam in March 2015 was also outstanding. What a voice and range! The BB King Blues Club bands are one of our primary reasons for being HAL loyalists now. Booked on Nov 2016 Zuiderdam cruise so sure hope the band is good.

Jane

[wishful thinking]

I agree that the quality depends on the ship from our experience during 3 HAL cruises the past year or do. During our last cruise on Westerdam in Feb we did think the BB King Blues band wasn't nearly as good as previous two voyages on Noordam and Oosterdam. BUT, still better than any other entertainment on the ship, and they did get better as week went along(maybe we just got used to them). Our practice is to attend BB King Blues club most evenings as the other entertainment doesn't appeal to us in the least. We are recently retired "Baby Boomers" and this is the music we grew up on and enjoy. Such a great alternative from showroom song and dance, piano bar, etc. Usually try to attend comedian shows when they have them, but the last one we went to was so AWFUL don't even know if will do that again. Each to their own. BTW if you happen to get Darryl Stanley as lead male singer/band leader you should consider yourself VERY VERY LUCKY. He makes sure the shows are top notch and we consider ourselves so lucky to have enjoyed his performances in the BB King bands on Noordam and Oosterdam. Lead female, Tempest, on Noordam in March 2015 was also outstanding. What a voice and range! The BB King Blues Club bands are one of our primary reasons for being HAL loyalists now. Booked on Nov 2016 Zuiderdam cruise so sure hope the band is good.

Jane

 

Agree that if Darryl and/or Tempest are on board it will be amazing! Have met quite a few of the members of BB Kings Blues Club bands over the past 4 years, and we still remain great friends. And FYI Tempest is currently on Rotterdam, along with Kickman Teddy and MoDanger. Oh yessssss! Sure hoping they are on board for my cruise next year on Rotterdam.

[Copper10-8]

I agree that the quality depends on the ship from our experience during 3 HAL cruises the past year or do. During our last cruise on Westerdam in Feb we did think the BB King Blues band wasn't nearly as good as previous two voyages on Noordam and Oosterdam. BUT, still better than any other entertainment on the ship, and they did get better as week went along(maybe we just got used to them). Our practice is to attend BB King Blues club most evenings as the other entertainment doesn't appeal to us in the least. We are recently retired "Baby Boomers" and this is the music we grew up on and enjoy. Such a great alternative from showroom song and dance, piano bar, etc. Usually try to attend comedian shows when they have them, but the last one we went to was so AWFUL don't even know if will do that again. Each to their own. BTW if you happen to get Darryl Stanley as lead male singer/band leader you should consider yourself VERY VERY LUCKY. He makes sure the shows are top notch and we consider ourselves so lucky to have enjoyed his performances in the BB King bands on Noordam and Oosterdam. Lead female, Tempest, on Noordam in March 2015 was also outstanding. What a voice and range! The BB King Blues Club bands are one of our primary reasons for being HAL loyalists now. Booked on Nov 2016 Zuiderdam cruise so sure hope the band is good.

Jane

 

Darryl and Tempest! Awesome combination!:)

[Cruising-along]

I agree that the quality depends on the ship from our experience during 3 HAL cruises the past year or do. During our last cruise on Westerdam in Feb we did think the BB King Blues band wasn't nearly as good as previous two voyages on Noordam and Oosterdam. BUT, still better than any other entertainment on the ship, and they did get better as week went along(maybe we just got used to them). Our practice is to attend BB King Blues club most evenings as the other entertainment doesn't appeal to us in the least. We are recently retired "Baby Boomers" and this is the music we grew up on and enjoy. Such a great alternative from showroom song and dance, piano bar, etc. Usually try to attend comedian shows when they have them, but the last one we went to was so AWFUL don't even know if will do that again. Each to their own. BTW if you happen to get Darryl Stanley as lead male singer/band leader you should consider yourself VERY VERY LUCKY. He makes sure the shows are top notch and we consider ourselves so lucky to have enjoyed his performances in the BB King bands on Noordam and Oosterdam. Lead female, Tempest, on Noordam in March 2015 was also outstanding. What a voice and range! The BB King Blues Club bands are one of our primary reasons for being HAL loyalists now. Booked on Nov 2016 Zuiderdam cruise so sure hope the band is good.

Jane

 

Well said! We are also recently retired baby boomers and couldn't agree more. Most of the other entertainment puts me to sleep, sorry to say. YES, Tempest is fantastic!

[colonialinnkeeper]

Been on two cruises with Harvey (from Boston) playing paino in the Ocean Bar with two other players. Really enjoyable times both before and after dinner--good mix of music and requests--great interaction with the audience. He and his group filled the place every evening. Hope to see them again.

[madera1]

We have enjoyed the BBKings group on two recent cruises and the group playing on the Noordam in January were very talented. My DH plays guitar and was quite impressed with the musicians.

 

 

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