Understand That Holland America Ship Koningdam dose not offer stage entertainment like other cruise lines?

[Upgrade Me]

New to HAL I am seeing many items saying that HAL Koningdam dose not offer stage entertainment shows?

[BarbarianPaul]

5 hours ago, Upgrade Me said:

New to HAL I am seeing many items saying that HAL Koningdam dose not offer stage entertainment shows?

I was on the Koningsdam for trans atlantic last spring, and there were indeed no production shows, just various singers, but I’m not sure if that was just because it was a TA and they were trying to keep costs down.

[twodjs]

Holland America has eliminated large production shows with singers and dancers across their line. They do still have smaller performance groups - Step One Dance Company, Postmodern Jukebox (vocal group) and Cantare doing shows. I saw Step One on Oosterdam on the Coastal recently - they were quite good. They did two different shows on our cruise. I have seen a YouTube on Postmodern - creative take on a Megan Trainer tune which I enjoyed. Of course the quality of the performance depends on the talents of the individuals. You can probably YouTube all three groups to get a better feel for what they offer.

[Shmoo here]

48 minutes ago, BarbarianPaul said:

I was on the Koningsdam for trans atlantic last spring, and there were indeed no production shows, just various singers, but I’m not sure if that was just because it was a TA and they were trying to keep costs down.

HAL has basically eliminated production shows, apparently on all ships.  We did a 28 night cruise last March, lots of comedians, singers, magicians, ventriloquists, comedians, singers, magicians, ventriloquists, etc........

One night of a BBC nature show with live music (think - oversized TV show).  A couple of nights of One Step productions (not a fan).  

 

The lounge entertainment was basically Billboard Onboard Dual Pianos, and BB Kings (again, not a fan).  A couple of nights there was an in-house pianist in the Ocean Bar.  

 

 

[BarbarianPaul]

1 hour ago, Shmoo here said:

HAL has basically eliminated production shows, apparently on all ships.  We did a 28 night cruise last March, lots of comedians, singers, magicians, ventriloquists, comedians, singers, magicians, ventriloquists, etc........

One night of a BBC nature show with live music (think - oversized TV show).  A couple of nights of One Step productions (not a fan).  

 

The lounge entertainment was basically Billboard Onboard Dual Pianos, and BB Kings (again, not a fan).  A couple of nights there was an in-house pianist in the Ocean Bar.  

 

 

That’s not completely true. As I clarified in an earlier post, we just returned from a 33 night cruise on the Noordam from Honolulu to Auckland. They had multiple production shows featuring “the Noordam singers and dancers.” I was surprised as well to see these shows on the schedule. They were pretty good too!

[jimmy2x]

Am quite sure that I’m in the distinct minority here, but if I never saw another dance/variety show, it would be great. Very much enjoyed the evening entertainment that was available. We were on Koningsdam last February and had a great time in the evenings. Far livelier than the HAL of old. Dance floor was crowded, dueling piano players, good comedians. Was probably my 15th HAL cruise, and am looking forward to returning to the Koningsdam in February. 

[doone]

5 hours ago, jimmy2x said:

Am quite sure that I’m in the distinct minority here, but if I never saw another dance/variety show, it would be great. Very much enjoyed the evening entertainment that was available. We were on Koningsdam last February and had a great time in the evenings. Far livelier than the HAL of old. Dance floor was crowded, dueling piano players, good comedians. Was probably my 15th HAL cruise, and am looking forward to returning to the Koningsdam in February. 

We were on the Koningsdam in March and we were also pleasantly surprised with the evening entertainment as well.  We loved the Rolling Rock Room and BB Kings, always full each night, great addition IMHO.  We are looking forward to our cruise on the NS 2021.

[VMax1700]

6 hours ago, jimmy2x said:

Am quite sure that I’m in the distinct minority here, but if I never saw another dance/variety show, it would be great

 

A silent, but happy minority! 😉

Count me in....!

[Oakman58]

The one thing that is keeping me from booking the Koningsdam for the 17 day Hawaiian cruise is the lack of daily activities and theater entertainment I'm afraid I would experience with Holland.  That cruise has 10 sea days (5 going and 5 coming) so I'm afraid I would get bored without some good ship activities during the day.

[baggal]

1 hour ago, Oakman58 said:

The one thing that is keeping me from booking the Koningsdam for the 17 day Hawaiian cruise is the lack of daily activities and theater entertainment I'm afraid I would experience with Holland.  That cruise has 10 sea days (5 going and 5 coming) so I'm afraid I would get bored without some good ship activities during the day.

 

I completely agree that 10 sea days without some interesting daytime activities and FUN evening entertainment would scare me away.  In 2018 we took a very port intensive combined Med and Northern Europe cruise on the Kdam.  There were only 2 sea days (much needed)  on a 12 day itinerary.  At that time, we had an excellent port guide and decent evening entertainment.  Looking at 10 sea days with not much to do would send me straight to the airport for a 10 hour non-stop flight to Hawaii and then pick up an organized tour from there.

 

Are you listening HAL?

[Iris5383]

11 hours ago, BarbarianPaul said:

That’s not completely true. As I clarified in an earlier post, we just returned from a 33 night cruise on the Noordam from Honolulu to Auckland. They had multiple production shows featuring “the Noordam singers and dancers.” I was surprised as well to see these shows on the schedule. They were pretty good too!

I was also on that repo cruise, from Vancouver to Sydney, and absolutely agree with your comments on the Noordam Singers & Dancers! They were the best I've seen on any HAL ship and very entertaining.

[BarbarianPaul]

11 hours ago, jimmy2x said:

Am quite sure that I’m in the distinct minority here, but if I never saw another dance/variety show, it would be great. Very much enjoyed the evening entertainment that was available. We were on Koningsdam last February and had a great time in the evenings. Far livelier than the HAL of old. Dance floor was crowded, dueling piano players, good comedians. Was probably my 15th HAL cruise, and am looking forward to returning to the Koningsdam in February. 

Yes, all the music walk activities are great, but they shouldn’t have to compensate for the downgrade in the main stage entertainment that we experienced on the Koningsdam trans atlantic in the spring, featuring an unimpressive bunch of boring, low key performers and an unfunny comedian. That’s why I was happy to see the production shows back on the Noordam. They were fun and lively.

 

[creel5857]

We always like a variety of shows.........musicians, comedians, dancers, .......but HAL sufferers greatly.   We have gone HAL on last few trips because of the cost and the ship had been recently updated and food is about the same, but otherwise we would choose Princess 

[Upgrade Me]

I guess removing singers and dancers helps keep the prices down. 

[BatchawanaBabe]

We just returned from a 10 night cruise to the ABC's on the Konigsdam.  This was our first cruise with HAL and we don't plan on another one due to the lack of entertainment.  Their in-house productions consisted of 6 dancers - no singers.  They brought in a magician and a singer who was also a comedian.  Both were so-so.  Some nights nothing was happening in the main theatre.  We didn't really enjoy Music Walk.  The rooms were too small, not enough seats for everyone, the music too loud and the sessions short.  We enjoyed one movie on the outdoor screen but they weren't shown every night and one night they were preempted by a football game.  

[Crusinsusan2]

On 11/29/2019 at 9:42 PM, jimmy2x said:

Am quite sure that I’m in the distinct minority here, but if I never saw another dance/variety show, it would be great. Very much enjoyed the evening entertainment that was available. We were on Koningsdam last February and had a great time in the evenings. Far livelier than the HAL of old. Dance floor was crowded, dueling piano players, good comedians. Was probably my 15th HAL cruise, and am looking forward to returning to the Koningsdam in February. 

 

We will join the minority with you Jimmy2x! Much rather have good loud live dancing music that we can participate in, sing along to and comedians we can belly laugh with after a few cocktails. BBC w accomplished musicians has also been a refined treat. The vaudeville singing/dancing is not our era nor our 3 sons but appreciate those clinging to it. We just choose not to attend unless sailing with our elders that always appreciate it.  Also looking forward to our Jan Koningsdam sailing by ourselves where our parents won't complain about the lack of singers and dancers and our son's won't complain we are idiots and lame that we want to dance to BB Kings! Full circle for sure....and all at the same time 🙂               

[jimmy2x]

It should be noted that at almost 73 I am hardly one of the younger passengers. 

[iancal]

We are in our late 60's.  We have no interest in seeing yet another dance/variety show.  If we want to see one, there are several high schools/junior colleges in our area that put them on.  We typically sit at the very back, aisle seats, and more that often leave after 15-20 minutes.  Does not matter if it is HAL or any other cruise line that we have the good fortune to be cruising with. Same goes for the comedians, so called.

 

We would much rather see a good vocalist or some instrumental.

Edited December 13, 2019 by iancal

[BarbarianPaul]

On 12/13/2019 at 8:59 AM, iancal said:

We are in our late 60's.  We have no interest in seeing yet another dance/variety show.  If we want to see one, there are several high schools/junior colleges in our area that put them on.  We typically sit at the very back, aisle seats, and more that often leave after 15-20 minutes.  Does not matter if it is HAL or any other cruise line that we have the good fortune to be cruising with. Same goes for the comedians, so called.

 

We would much rather see a good vocalist or some instrumental.

Music Walk provides countless opportunities for good vocalists and instrumentals. But it shouldn’t be an either/or kind of proposition, and a few production shows on the main stage, which is in fact designed for production shows, add a little more fun and variety, and provide for us a reprieve from a seemingly endless supply of mediocre vocalists.

And the far from perfect HA production shows, whether you appreciate them or not, are in an entirely different league than those offered by high schools and junior colleges.