Book Club

[ORCRUISER]

Does HAL still have a book club on cruises longer than 14 days? If yes, is there a way to find out what book will be features?

[take us away]

Have only seen a book club on grand cruises but have never seen a book list prior to the cruise.

[kazu]

Had a book club on our 33 day South Pacific on the Westerdam as well as our 30 days on the Prinsendam.

 

The book isn't announced until you get on board. At least not to my knowledge and from what the librarian said. Library arranges to get copies and they are passed out to those who wish to participate. Copies of the books are limited.

[Krazy Kruizers]

A couple of years ago there was one on our 21 day repositioning cruise.

It didn't last long when the lady in charge on about day 4 asked the people to write a review of the book they had been assigned to read. Her intention was to read everyone's review to anyone who wanted to listen -- one review a day. Only 2 people took time out on a port day to write a review.

[catl331]

Doesn't seem that HAL thinks its passengers are interested in books anymore--just wine tasting and Happy Hour!

[QueenGlassHalfFull]

There was a book club on our 21 day SA/Antarctica cruise several years ago. We met on sea days and had about 15 people in the club. The ship's librarian ran the discussion. It was a great experience - multi-national membership with several published authors in the group. We read "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett, an appropriate selection given our itinerary. When we finished, the librarian arranged lunch for all of us and gave us goody bags of HAL items. It was a very enjoyable experience.

[MaisonRose]

Every Hal cruise I have been on has had a book club run by the Librarian. The book is provided (go early, copies are limited). These events get mixed reviews: one cruise the group was over 40 persons. Another the book was really stupid (to me).

Here is an idea: you can propose a book group on your roll call, ask for book suggestions or pick one and ask if anyone is interested. It helps if the book is readily available and can be downloaded electronically.

I have done this on several ships, choosing books related to a port or destination. For example I had a group of twelve who read various (Donna Leon) Brunetti series taking place in Venice. They were very popular and I even brought three of the TV series: the word got around and the room filled up for the shows. (This was not on HAL ..they seem to fear public showings of copyright material).

On HAL we saw The Leopard, and read it, too, before we arrived in Sicily. One of our members had a Pinnacle Suite so we had a private showing there.

One time we read Operation Meatball and saw The Man Who Never Was..related to WW2 and Cadiz, Spain. Lots of guys joined that one.

 

Anyway, just an idea! There is a book suggestion forum, I think.

[MaisonRose]

It just occurred to me that on my last voyage on the Eurodam in March: the DVD player had been eliminated in Favor of movie streaming. That isn't a bad thing, but access to a DVD player is questionable. Not sure if the upper level categories have players, but it might be useful to check before carrying your own DVD s on to a HAL ship.

[Alberta Quilter]

There was a book club on our May/16 cruise to Hawaii on the Zaandam. My DM read the books but didn't take part in the discussions (there were scheduling conflicts with other activities).

[ORCRUISER]

I have been part of 2 HAL book clubs and enjoyed them. We read Bel Canto on a South American cruise and Like Water for Chocolate on a Panama Canal cruise. I was on a HAL Baltic collectors cruise and no book club. It was 19 days but was actually 2 cruises with very few sea days so that might be why there wasn't a book club.

[Barrheadlass]

Just returned from 1/2 of the Voyage of the Vikings and we had a book club. Book was The Tricking of Freya which involved Iceland. I enjoyed the book...the book club, not so much.