HAL to quiet?

[ja940]

We are a very active couple in our early 60's, cruise very often. Mostly take Celebrity for Caribbean, ports not important. 

Last on HAL about 10 years ago, and just too quiet at night. Is it still? Eyeing Zuiderdam 10 day in October.

 

 

[cabinluvn]

We find HAL to be pretty sedate on the smaller ships. The Zuiderdam should have the BB King show and that is pretty lively. Nothing much going on after 10 PM

[canadianbear]

I like it being quiet but not dead!  We went to the Crow’s nest after the show for a drink and there was one person in there and the bartender.  It sounds like it would be too quiet for you.  We found more entertainment on Princess and the one cruise we recently did on Celebrity but still love HAL.  

[fatcat04]

Last Feb on Nieuw Amsterdam, very similar ship to Zuiderdam, the differing musical/entertainment offerings were as follows:

 

BB Kings All Stars: 8:30/45, 9:30/45, 10:30/45

Billboard Onboard Pianos: 8:00/30/45, 10:00/15 , 11:15/30

Lincoln Center Stage: 2pm (sea days only), 6:30, 7:30, 9

Mainstage show: 8 and 10

DJ in BB Kings from 11:30 on.

Most nights there was a pianist in the Ocean Bar 5-7:45ish

 

We did the late show at BB Kings a couple of nights. Not a ton of folks there but enough for us to have a good dance crowd. Notably, the band was great!

[Sir PMP]

2 hours ago, ja940 said:

We are a very active couple in our early 60's, cruise very often. Mostly take Celebrity for Caribbean, ports not important. 

Last on HAL about 10 years ago, and just too quiet at night. Is it still? Eyeing Zuiderdam 10 day in October.

 

 

SSSSSSST...

[Mary229]

I am a big fan of HAL because of the ports and itineraries.  It is definitely not a party ship in my opinion.   

[ja940]

Sir PMP - ??

[canadianbear]

3 minutes ago, ja940 said:

Sir PMP - ??

Maybe he fell asleep 💤 😁

[sevenseasnomad]

After BB King's Blue Club band shuts down around 11:30 on some ships, the DJ takes over.  If you want late night, you can find it, although if you're the only couple dancing DJ may end his/her session early.  

 

I agree that most passengers retire after 11, some before, but the ships are quiet for the most part the closer to midnight it gets. If you want a "party-hardy" atmosphere, try Carnival, RCCL, or NCL.  The three times I've cruised Celebrity, those ships were quiet after midnight too for the most part.  Very few people wandering around.  The majority of us who cruise HAL regularly do so for the quieter ambiance with an emphasis on ports.

 

HAL does provide a late-night scene on most of its holiday cruises, especially Christmas/New Year's.  We've sailed on all sizes HAL ships for these holidays since 2010, and the ships rocked until 2 a.m.  Lots of people about most nights.

 

Yes, the band with BB King's is great.  I found only one to be not as good as the rest, and we've been dancing to them since 2014.  If you attend all their shows each evening, (each of the 3 shows is different) you have many opportunities to dance.  Hope this helps. 

[fatcat04]

1 hour ago, canadianbear said:

Maybe he fell asleep 💤 😁

Or he has a slow leak 🤣

[Sir PMP]

2 hours ago, ja940 said:

Sir PMP - ??

quiet....

[Riversedge]

4 hours ago, ja940 said:

We are a very active couple in our early 60's, cruise very often. Mostly take Celebrity for Caribbean, ports not important. 

Last on HAL about 10 years ago, and just too quiet at night. Is it still? Eyeing Zuiderdam 10 day in October.

 

 

 

 

We just returned from 35 days on the Zuiderdam.  Wouldn’t recommend for many, many reasons.   BB King is too loud and we are people that like a lively atmosphere and are in the same group as you.   They also seem to play the same songs a lot.   I am going to post some comments about our cruise in a few days.  Trying to get all the things done at home that seem to mount up while gone.  

[Aquahound]

6 hours ago, ja940 said:

We are a very active couple in our early 60's, cruise very often. Mostly take Celebrity for Caribbean, ports not important. 

Last on HAL about 10 years ago, and just too quiet at night. Is it still? Eyeing Zuiderdam 10 day in October.

 

In comparison, yes, HAL is still a very sleepy cruise line.  The others mentioned BB King or the piano player, etc, but it's the same thing every night.  It gets old quick.  There's no nightly theme parties like the 60s party, 70s night, lido dance party or silent disco you get on Celebrity.  Plus, you'll be lucky if you get 1 game show on HAL.  One game show I love on Celebrity is the dance contest with the ships officers.  HAL doesn't do anything like that.  Heck, they don't even have a live poolside band anymore.  

 

HAL has it's good points but entertainment and activities is certainly not one of them.  

[ja940]

Now the rest of the story...since we moved up to a sky suite on Celebrity, DW wants to stay with suites. That takes out CC and Aqua on Celebrity and mini suite on Princess. So it’s HAL for October or no cruise...and I’m sure it will be relaxing. No?

[dockman]

Quite seems to be an endangered species these days in the world.  

 

Normal life seems to be bombarded with too much, too loud music in malls, supermarkets, elevators, restaurants,etc.  Add in people talking at way too loud volumes, screaming kids, roaring motorcycles, beeping horns, trucks roaring around, and on and on.

 

One thing i love about a cruise is being able to find a truly quiet place like a nice deck chair on prom deck where the only sounds i hear are the ocean and the wind.  Getting harder and harder to find.

 

A nice long hike in the woods, or around a nice prom deck,  has more appeal to me than a DJ blasting his/her idea of music.

 

Seems most ships are big enough to provide quiet and non quiet areas to satisfy those who want quiet and those who like more activity.  Unfortunately seems the future is more noise, more announcements, more blah blah blah and less peace and quiet.

[Wayfairers]

On the Grand South America earlier this year the crows nest was full almost every night until after midnight....not sure how late because we left most nights around 11 or so.  Great late night entertainment with Stevie on the piano. People dancing, participating in sing alongs, very active and fun crowd. We were on the Prinsendam

Edited September 7, 2019 by Wayfairers

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, dockman said:

Quite seems to be an endangered species these days in the world.  

 

Normal life seems to be bombarded with too much, too loud music in malls, supermarkets, elevators, restaurants,etc.  Add in people talking at way too loud volumes, screaming kids, roaring motorcycles, beeping horns, trucks roaring around, and on and on.

 

One thing i love about a cruise is being able to find a truly quiet place like a nice deck chair on prom deck where the only sounds i hear are the ocean and the wind.  Getting harder and harder to find.

 

A nice long hike in the woods, or around a nice prom deck,  has more appeal to me than a DJ blasting his/her idea of music.

 

Seems most ships are big enough to provide quiet and non quiet areas to satisfy those who want quiet and those who like more activity.  Unfortunately seems the future is more noise, more announcements, more blah blah blah and less peace and quiet.

 

Well said!! I love that days on HAL are quiet. 

 

If I'm going to sail on a line I don't know,  absolutely get a balcony, just in case the ship is noisy. On our one and only Princess cruise, the balcony was the ONLY quiet place I could find. Piped in music in the lounges, loud music or movie soundtrack by the pool, endless announcements. The balcony was tiny, but it was a refuge. 

 

I agree that HAL is quiet at night in terms of entertainment, especially with the loss of mainstage shows and a decent small combo/jazz group. Sometimes not even a piano player after dinner. But nobody could call the "music walk" quiet. It should have warning signs like the ones construction sites put up reminding you to use ear plugs. 

 

[canadianbear]

3 hours ago, ja940 said:

Now the rest of the story...since we moved up to a sky suite on Celebrity, DW wants to stay with suites. That takes out CC and Aqua on Celebrity and mini suite on Princess. So it’s HAL for October or no cruise...and I’m sure it will be relaxing. No?

On our recent Celebrity cruise we were also in a Sky suite-Celebrity sure knows how to treat their suite guests.  We have been in many, many Neptune suites on HAL and Celebrity wins hands down.  Neptune suites are very roomy etc but you don’t get Michael’s Club where liquor is included-you have the Neptune lounge but pay for drinks.  You don’t have a butler (we didn’t use him) but you have a Neptune concierge...

 

Yes, HAL will certainly be relaxing.  Maybe give it a try and make your own conclusion-you both may love it! 

[BJzink]

This atmosphere is exactly why I no longer sail the "Behemoth" ships.  I sail to explore other countries/cultures and even if I am only in 1 or 2 ports there, it is enough to decide if I want to go back for a longer stay.  I like the classical music presentations, the fresh flowers all over the ship (even in the Lido), the extra special staff, the elegant décor, the teak walking deck, and the dining experiences.  The longer itineraries give me a real chance to wind down and get away from the daily routine at home.  I do not need to be entertained, can find plenty to do on my own, but if there is entertainment, I will attend if it is something I think I will enjoy.  I am sailing on my 8th & 9th Hal cruises in the next 4 months.  

[Aquahound]

4 hours ago, Wayfairers said:

On the Grand South America earlier this year the crows nest was full almost every night until after midnight....not sure how late because we left most nights around 11 or so.  Great late night entertainment with Stevie on the piano. People dancing, participating in sing alongs, very active and fun crowd. We were on the Prinsendam

 

The Prinsendam sounds like it was a special ship.  I only wish HAL provided that evening atmosphere in the Crows Nest of all their other ships.  

[RuthC]

21 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

The Prinsendam sounds like it was a special ship.  I only wish HAL provided that evening atmosphere in the Crows Nest of all their other ships.  

Since the Prinsendam didn't have a Piano Bar, nor any sort of equivalent like the R-ships' Piano Lounges, or the bigger ships' Dueling Pianos, the Crow's Nest always had a piano player there in the evenings. But the room could be quite quiet at the same time, depending on itinerary. 
One of the piano players used to refer to the room as 'The Library'. Even as late as midnight there were people reading quietly on some of the cruises. 

[Ken the cruiser]

7 hours ago, ja940 said:

Now the rest of the story...since we moved up to a sky suite on Celebrity, DW wants to stay with suites. That takes out CC and Aqua on Celebrity and mini suite on Princess. So it’s HAL for October or no cruise...and I’m sure it will be relaxing. No?

We agree, sky suites can definitely spoil you, especially when all 4 perks are included in your booking.

[Aquahound]

12 minutes ago, RuthC said:

Since the Prinsendam didn't have a Piano Bar, nor any sort of equivalent like the R-ships' Piano Lounges, or the bigger ships' Dueling Pianos, the Crow's Nest always had a piano player there in the evenings. But the room could be quite quiet at the same time, depending on itinerary. 
One of the piano players used to refer to the room as 'The Library'. Even as late as midnight there were people reading quietly on some of the cruises. 

 

Ah.  Got it.  I think back to my first HAL cruise.  It was on Nieuw Amsterdam and we loved listening to the solo guitarist in the dimly lit Crows Nest at night.  It was such a nice atmosphere.  Apparently those days were numbered though because this has been absent from all my subsequent HAL cruises.  

[KroozNut]

20 hours ago, Sir PMP said:

SSSSSSST...

 

Is he snoring?

[JeffElizabeth]

6 hours ago, Wayfairers said:

On the Grand South America earlier this year the crows nest was full almost every night until after midnight....not sure how late because we left most nights around 11 or so.  Great late night entertainment with Stevie on the piano. People dancing, participating in sing alongs, very active and fun crowd. We were on the Prinsendam

Great fun with Stevie in the piano bar. He would play through breaks and people stayed up late in the Crow's Nest.