Does Nieuw Statendam have karaoke?

[SSBrickNJ]

Sailing on August 2nd and I have previously enjoyed karoake onboard Royal Caribbean ships.

How about HAL's Nieuw Statendam....will it also have evening karaoke as an option?

[CruiserBruce]

It didn't when I was on board last July/August.

[Tedw]

I just got off two days ago. No karaoke on our 7 day cruise.

 

[oceanbeau10]

Unfortunately, no

[RuthC]

I haven't seen Karaoke on a HAL ship in years. The last time I know I remember seeing was 2010, although it's possible it has been since then and I just don't remember it. 

[Sir PMP]

You're the first, go for it.

[SSBrickNJ]

What DO all of you HAL cruisers do after your Main Dining Room dinner and before heading off to sleep?

.......or better phrased: What are the best evening activities my wife and I might enjoy?

[CruiserBruce]

5 minutes ago, SSBrickNJ said:

What DO all of you HAL cruisers do after your Main Dining Room dinner and before heading off to sleep?

.......or better phrased: What are the best evening activities my wife and I might enjoy?

I am guessing you haven't read the many threads about BBKing band, Rolling Stones Lounge, piano players, etc?

[Sir PMP]

9 minutes ago, SSBrickNJ said:

What DO all of you HAL cruisers do after your Main Dining Room dinner and before heading off to sleep?

.......or better phrased: What are the best evening activities my wife and I might enjoy?

We'll walk around the deck, if there is one..

[Destiny0315]

12 minutes ago, SSBrickNJ said:

What DO all of you HAL cruisers do after your Main Dining Room dinner and before heading off to sleep?

There could be a few that fall asleep during the Main Dining Room dinner.😀

[RuthC]

23 minutes ago, SSBrickNJ said:

What DO all of you HAL cruisers do after your Main Dining Room dinner and before heading off to sleep?

.......or better phrased: What are the best evening activities my wife and I might enjoy?

I prefer late sitting for dinner, which has been at 8:00 PM, so am finished sometime around 9:30-10:00. 
HAL is starting late dining earlier these days, though. 
Then, I have usually gone to the show, which was scheduled for 8:00 and 10:00, but Hal has switched the time to earlier, if they have a show at all. 
After that I have loved going to the Ocean Bar to listen to the combo, or the Piano Bar to enjoy the party atmosphere that was always such fun. But HAL has dropped the combo on most ships, and there are no Piano Bars on HAL anymore. Billboard Onboard is no replacement for a true piano bar. 

Especially post-covid, it's as if HAL is making every effort to drive people out of the public areas at the earliest possible hour. It's very difficult to find fun on their ships anymore. 

[SSBrickNJ]

22 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

I am guessing you haven't read the many threads about BBKing band, Rolling Stones Lounge, piano players, etc?

Correct. August 2nd still seems far away.

Forgive my laziness please.

[SSBrickNJ]

2 minutes ago, RuthC said:

I prefer late sitting for dinner, which has been at 8:00 PM, so am finished sometime around 9:30-10:00. 
HAL is starting late dining earlier these days, though. 
Then, I have usually gone to the show, which was scheduled for 8:00 and 10:00, but Hal has switched the time to earlier, if they have a show at all. 
After that I have loved going to the Ocean Bar to listen to the combo, or the Piano Bar to enjoy the party atmosphere that was always such fun. But HAL has dropped the combo on most ships, and there are no Piano Bars on HAL anymore. Billboard Onboard is no replacement for a true piano bar. 

Especially post-covid, it's as if HAL is making every effort to drive people out of the public areas at the earliest possible hour. It's very difficult to find fun on their ships anymore. 

Oh No!

This is not good news at all.

No wonder the price was so reasonable.

[oakridger]

I love going to the BB King lounge and Rolling Stone Room.  If it's warm outside, the movie by the Lido pool at night is good or hanging by the Seaview Pool bar and having a drink with friends.  I'm not bored at all!

 

~Nancy

[Dobby36]

49 minutes ago, SSBrickNJ said:

What DO all of you HAL cruisers do after your Main Dining Room dinner and before heading off to sleep?

.......or better phrased: What are the best evening activities my wife and I might enjoy?

I find plenty to stay busy between grabbing a drink in one of the many bars, partaking in the trivia or hosted games (of which there are usually 1-2 at least/night) and testing the fates at the casino. I also find there are others willing to join in and work on a puzzle or board game, people are always around after dinner. Just precious few after 11 or so in the music venues.

[SSBrickNJ]

5 minutes ago, Dobby36 said:

I find plenty to stay busy between grabbing a drink in one of the many bars, partaking in the trivia or hosted games (of which there are usually 1-2 at least/night) and testing the fates at the casino. I also find there are others willing to join in and work on a puzzle or board game, people are always around after dinner. Just precious few after 11 or so in the music venues.

Thanks for taking the time to post a response.

Tell me about the hosted games please.

[0106]

@SSBrickNJSounds like you have also booked a wonderful Northern European cruise.  I will be so busy exploring and hiking Denmark and Norway during the day that a won’t need to be entertained after 11 pm.  I’m cruising for the ports, not the night life.  
 

You can get an idea of things people do at night by following some of the LIVE threads and looking at the Daily list of activities people post.  You may want to look back to similar cruises from last season.

Edited January 24, 2023 by 0106

[SSBrickNJ]

10 minutes ago, 0106 said:

@SSBrickNJSounds like you have also booked a wonderful Northern European cruise.  I will be so busy exploring and hiking Denmark and Norway during the day that a won’t need to be entertained after 11 pm.  I’m cruising for the ports, not the night life.  
 

You can get an idea of things people do at night by following some of the LIVE threads and looking at the Daily list of activities people post.  You may want to look back to similar cruises from last season.

First of all, thank you for your encouraging uplifting post.

Secondly, I'm not looking for something to do after 11pm. I'm looking for something to do after our 5:45pm Main Dining Room seating. So...kind of like 7:15pm - 11pm. More or less 😉

I am sure we will enjoy seeing live music...but not every night please.

I'll have to do as you say in your 2nd paragraph.

Yet just for now, it is helpful to have back and forth discussions going on this thread 🙂

Edited January 24, 2023 by SSBrickNJ

[Dobby36]

8 minutes ago, SSBrickNJ said:

Thanks for taking the time to post a response.

Tell me about the hosted games please.

there are entertainment hosts that run games beyond trivia.  Think charades, musical chairs, majority rules, or other board/activity games that can be played in groups.  There is also a "20-questions" kind of game that the crew plays where the audience watches and they have to guess what famous figure they are, things like that - depending on the entertainment staff (and some are DUDS) these can be very well fun and fun - hope you enjoy! 

[SSBrickNJ]

1 minute ago, Dobby36 said:

there are entertainment hosts that run games beyond trivia.  Think charades, musical chairs, majority rules, or other board/activity games that can be played in groups.  There is also a "20-questions" kind of game that the crew plays where the audience watches and they have to guess what famous figure they are, things like that - depending on the entertainment staff (and some are DUDS) these can be very well fun and fun - hope you enjoy! 

Well that was a super helpful answer.

Thank you!😉

[0106]

I did a quick search, this post may provide some insight.  There are many similar threads.

[AFNavigator]

42 minutes ago, Dobby36 said:

there are entertainment hosts that run games beyond trivia.  Think charades, musical chairs, majority rules, or other board/activity games that can be played in groups.  There is also a "20-questions" kind of game that the crew plays where the audience watches and they have to guess what famous figure they are, things like that - depending on the entertainment staff (and some are DUDS) these can be very well fun and fun - hope you enjoy! 

We were on the Nieuw Statendam in December...don't recall seeing many of those activities on the daily programs.  I guess our cruise director (and stand-in "Lead Entertainment Host" the first 3 days) didn't work too hard on their entertainment agendas.  The majority of scheduled "activities" during the daytime hours were sales pitches ((spa, jewelry, watches, health improvement (acupuncture, "Anti-Aging Miracles", back pain relief) for-fee fitness evaluations, etc.).  Yes, there were some other daytime activities listed but nowhere near as many as the non-stop sales pitches.

 

We still enjoyed the cruise but found the daily agenda lacking compared to those of other cruise lines. We're not looking for an entertain-you-every-minute agenda like Carnival or Royal Caribbean pushes but it would be nice to have more audience participation activities such as newlywed vs long-wed game on the agenda.  It's not like they don't have anywhere to do group activities...the World Stage only gets used 1-2 times per day (some days not at all) during daytime hours.  We're not karaoke fans but the World Stage could be a great venue for a large karaoke competition.

Edited January 24, 2023 by AFNavigator

[iceman93]

I agree with you @AFNavigator, but maybe it's just because we've both got Air Force in our blood!  The cruise director on our NS cruise last summer (a petite Asian lady) was all smiles and shmarmy, but offered little in terms of activity planning or hosting.  We would have appreciated more of the fun, casual activities like the newlywed vs. oldywed game.

 

As for karaoke, I agree with @RuthC that I haven't seen it on HAL in a long time.  Honestly, I think the problem is that on a multi-day cruise you end up with just a few people who monopolize the karaoke (and who usually aren't as talented as they think they are, driving everyone else away).  If they could figure out a way to "spread the wealth" a bit and get more people to participate, it could indeed be a fun addition to the daily program.

[AFNavigator]

3 minutes ago, iceman93 said:

agree with you @AFNavigator, but maybe it's just because we've both got Air Force in our blood!  The cruise director on our NS cruise last summer (a petite Asian lady) was all smiles and shmarmy, but offered little in terms of activity planning or hosting.

Hmmm, sounds like you exaclty described the same NS cruise director we had in December.  Her stand-in the first few days--a nice young lady from Portugal--was much more energetic and interactive walking around the ship but the agenda still was very light on non-sales activities.

[brovol]

We are on the NS in April.  We sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam at Christmas, and although two different ship classes, I think things are relatively consistent with HAL.  The NS has a rolling Stones Rock bar, which we look forward to checking out.  The NA didn't have this.  On the NA, however, we very much enjoyed the classical string music, played at Lincoln Center Stage.  I guess HAL is doing away with this as an every evening show, but will still have it at some point on the cruise, and those changes wont occur for several months.  BB Kings is really good too; although not really blues.  More contemporary pop, so if you are a big blues fan (like I am) don't get your blues expectations high.  Still enjoyable shows though.

 

We tend to eat dinner very early, so as to catch whatever is playing thereafter.  My wife watches the schedule closely, and so we tend to get to the venues early to get a seat, and then move on to the next place as soon as the last thing we are doing ends.  I think between the Rolling Stone,  BB Kings, and Lincoln Center Stage (or whatever it turns into), you will have plenty to do each evening. 

 

The two piano (Billboard) shows were very disappointing on the NA.  That is all about who you have for singer/piano players.  Some would be awesome, and others lousy.

 

Another option is heading to the Crows Nest, which is very nice, but "chill" in the evenings.  There is a full regular and coffee bar there, games, as well as tables for cards if you are interested in that. My wife, two adult children and I went up there on a slow night, got a beverage and played Euchre.  The views there are incredible. 

 

One thing I didnt like about the NA, and I'm sure its the same on the NS, is that the lido buffet is closed so much; including between 8:30 and 10:30 pm.  Its nice to have the option to get a snack, or something sweet during that period, and the only option was the pizza place, which was very busy because nothing else was open.  Even if they kept a small section of the buffet open, with sandwiches or simple things to grab; but they didn't on the NA.  Hope the NS is different.

 

I think most folks are able to stay entertained on these ships, even if they arent party ships.