Music walk chases us away from HAL

[REOVA]

1 hour ago, mikebsxm said:

I agree.  Most of the musicians, especially in Billboard Onboard, are so young that they were not born until the late 90's.  They know nothing about 70's music, except the playlists that Billboard expects of them.   Neil Diamond has so many wonderful hits, but all you hear is Sweet Caroline (ba ba bah) played in every set.  Back when HAL had true "Piano Bars", the artist was wide open to requests and knew most of the songs requested.  But those older piano bars, with a single piano and one well seasoned artist, are long gone, because they couldn't seat enough thirsty drinkers around the piano to justify the real estate on the ship that the piano bar was occupying.

"So good. So good" 

 

The Zaandam still had piano bar with solo pianist this summer. Are the piano bars gone on non Pinnacle Ships? 

[OlsSalt]

First time with Music Walk - Deck 2- on Konigsdam - Rolling Stone and Billboard - very loud, very busy and also very self-contained noise wise - one can avoid this area entirely and not even know it is there.  Not our tastes but we enjoyed visiting a big and watching others have fun, busting their old dance moves and sing along from an earlier musical era.

 

BB King in the Lincoln Center space was more open, and also very loud but back by the shops wo again, one could avoid this area in the evenings  and not have it intrude on the rest of the ship activities. 

 

Even the heavy smoking in the casino was pretty well contained and did not seep out beyond its confiines to any noticeable degree - but it sure was smoky ,if one needed to walk through it to get to other venues. But it also was very busy.

 

Felt the ventilation and sound buffering on this newer ship was very good. In fact, the ship itself was so quiet and sailed so smoothly, one rarely got the sense they were even on a ship. Even when hitting the telling over 20 knots barrier, that could often cause the older ships to rattle a  bit or a lot--yes, dear old Maasdam, I am talking about you..

 

We did have a rough patch of weather that caused some motion for the final two days due to the extreme storm hitting the last at sea days on to San Diego -  winds and white caps, but she still sailed smooth and swift over these very bumpy seas.

[Colorado Klutch]

1 hour ago, REOVA said:

Ah, so you've attended HAL'S silent disco parties where the music is piped into headphones that everyone wears. But the room is silent. 🤣

 

Not sure of your point here. I know HAL ships don't do this, but many dance clubs do. And I think it's the future on cruise ships. I've heard some cruise ships already have silent dance clubs. 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3356

Edited January 9, 2023 by Colorado Klutch

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, Colorado Klutch said:

 

Not sure of your point here. I know HAL ships don't do this, but many dance clubs do. And I think it's the future on cruise ships. I've heard some cruise ships already have silent dance clubs. 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3356

 

I have experienced these twice on Celebrity cruises. 

 

The problem with them, from my point of view, is that they have a limited number of headsets available, so only a limited amount of people can actually participate. 

 

And the problem with them, from the ship's point of view, is that unlike traditional clubs where part of the fun is listening to the music and watching (maybe stealing) other peoples' moves, you can't do that with the "Silent Disco", so it doesn't tend to encourage watchers/spectators (other than for a few minutes), thus it must limit drink sales.

 

Edited to add:  I may be in the minority, but they just seem kinda stupid. (And my millennial son agreed.)

 

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by cruisemom42

[oceangal00]

On 12/22/2022 at 12:26 PM, rodndonna said:

 

This did this on the Rotterdam in October and I would have called it a fail.They had a talented piano player, playing in a packed bar Ocean Bar full of people talking and laughing very loudly where he could not really even be heard. It was in  essence a very talented musician becoming background music (that people just had to talk louder over). I felt really bad for the guy.

 

 

There's no reason to feel bad. Cocktail pianists are meant to be background music. I'm saying this as someone who has a close friend who has played cocktail piano on cruise ships and says she always felt uncomfortable when people would sit and watch her as though she was giving a concert and felt awkward when people would applaud because it's not the nature of cocktail piano. That's the description of the job and what they carefully select music for - to be background music for people to sip a cocktail and have a conversation to. 

[cruisemom42]

1 minute ago, oceangal00 said:

There's no reason to feel bad. Cocktail pianists are meant to be background music. I'm saying this as someone who has a close friend who has played cocktail piano on cruise ships and says she always felt uncomfortable when people would sit and watch her as though she was giving a concert and felt awkward when people would applaud because it's not the nature of cocktail piano. That's the description of the job and what they carefully select music for - to be background music for people to sip a cocktail and have a conversation to. 

 

Completely agree. I have a friend whose husband has made a career of being a cocktail/dinner pianist (one I've actually hired for events) and he says the same thing. The role is completely different to being onstage and giving a concert or playing a set.

[robotpony]

2 hours ago, mikebsxm said:

Most of the musicians, especially in Billboard Onboard, are so young that they were not born until the late 90's.

3/5 of our last cruise’s Rolling Stone band were in their 40s!

[oceangal00]

1 minute ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Completely agree. I have a friend whose husband has made a career of being a cocktail/dinner pianist (one I've actually hired for events) and he says the same thing. The role is completely different to being onstage and giving a concert or playing a set.

And also, these are typically not musicians who make their entire career out of playing cocktail piano. Many are classical pianists or jazz pianists, or people who play with bands in very different settings. Cocktail piano is most likely not the extent of their ability or performance experience. Trust me, they've gotten their applause!

[REOVA]

1 hour ago, Colorado Klutch said:

 

Not sure of your point here. I know HAL ships don't do this, but many dance clubs do. And I think it's the future on cruise ships. I've heard some cruise ships already have silent dance clubs. 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3356

Actually HAL did this on our cruise last year. That's what I thought you we talking about. 

[Colorado Klutch]

6 minutes ago, REOVA said:

Actually HAL did this on our cruise last year. That's what I thought you we talking about. 

 

Oh, OK. Thanks for the clarification.