Out to Sea for Oct. 19-20/13
(c) By
Jim and Barb Fox
News Update: The B.B. King's Blues Club is being expanded to other Holland America Ships:
B.B. King’s Blues Club Schedule
Entertainment options and activities on board cruise ships continue to
evolve to keep the good time rolling on the high seas.
News Update: The B.B. King's Blues Club is being expanded to other Holland America Ships:
B.B. King’s Blues Club Schedule
- ms Westerdam: October 19, 2013 - April 5, 2014
- ms Zuiderdam: November 18, 2013 - March 17, 2014
- ms Eurodam: Through December 8, 2013. Returning March 23, 2014
- ms Noordam: Opening December 16, 2013
- ms Nieuw Amsterdam: Opening April 6, 2014
Holland America Lines’ (HAL) Eurodam has added the overwhelmingly
popular B.B. King’s Blues Club along with Dancing with the Stars: At Sea.
On
a recent Canada-New England Fall Colour cruise from New York City to Quebec
City, we found the blues club packed nightly as were the dancing competitions.
 |
| A new addition to the ms Eurodam is the popular B.B. King’s Blues Club. (Barbara Fox photo) |
Culinary enhancements include visiting celebrity chefs and authors to
enhance the Culinary Arts Centre program.
Tasty additions are An Evening at Le Cirque, replicating the famous New York
restaurant, in the Pinnacle Grill one evening on each cruise.
There’s also the Taste
of De Librije dinner with dishes and menus from chef Jonnie Boer’s restaurant
in the Netherlands.
The
new Master Chef’s International Dinner in the Rembrandt Dining Room showcases signature
dishes from around the world.
Other
additions are the alternative dining Canaletto Italian restaurant and Tamarind
for fine Asian cuisine with its Silk Den lounge and views from atop the ship.
 |
| The ms Eurodam at port in Saguenay-Lac Saint John, Quebec. (Jim Fox
photo) |
An
expanded “On Location” program on HAL ships provides itineraries for cruisers
seeking enrichment activities and experiences at ports of call.
The
Alaska CruiseTour program will be called Land and Sea Journeys next year with more
opportunities to explore and personalize vacations.
The cruise line has also renewed its partnership with Microsoft to continue with free computer
and digital camera enrichment classes.
Let
the good times roll
Direct from the home of the blues – Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn. – is the at-sea version of B.B.
King’s Blues Club aboard the ms Eurodam.
 |
| The ms Eurodam below the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City. (Jim Fox photo) |
“We get great feedback; guests love it,”
said Erik Elvejord, HAL public relations director.
The
club’s All Star Band had showgoers at two performances in the Mainstage theatre
on their feet, grooving with the Memphis sounds by such artists as B.B., Sam and Dave and Otis Redding.
 |
| (Barbara Fox photo) |
The
usual venue is the Queen’s Lounge on a stage resembling a Memphis club with guitars
hanging in the backdrop.
Band leader Primo
even has a legendary Hammond B-3 organ heard so often in the blues classics
while Tony, who along with vocals, recreates the guitar playing of the late
Jimi Hendrix.
“Bringing the vibe of Memphis aboard Eurodam has created a new atmosphere
on the ship,” said Richard Meadows, a HAL executive vice-president. Consideration
is being given to expanding it to other ships, he said.
Available are specialty cocktails from the
land-based King clubs such as the rum-based Lucille and Rock Me Baby concoctions
mixed with fruit liqueurs and juices.
Moving and grooving
Another fan favourite is the new “Dancing with the Stars: At Sea”
featured on all 15 HAL ships.
Six
theme cruises through early next year feature dance lessons, meeting the
dancers and a production with celebrities and dance pros.
Set
for the Jan. 5 and 12 sailings on the ms Nieuw Amsterdam are pro dancer Tristan
MacManus and celebrity show participant Sabrina Bryan.
Additional
pros and competitors are planned for the ship’s seven-day eastern and western
Caribbean sailings.
 |
| Tristan MacManus and Sabrina Bryan perform |
There
are on-going competitions on the ships in which the audience takes part in the
judging.
It
will result in 15 dancers being selected to receive a free cruise and compete
for the Mirror Ball Trophy in the championship round.
Day at the beach
Spending
a day at the beach has been enhanced at Half Moon Cay, HAL’s private island in
the Bahamas.
On the 1,700-acre uninhabited Little San
Salvador Island with a crescent-shaped, white-sand beach and warm, blue-green
waters are two-storey beach villas.
The five colourful luxury hideaway villas available for rent have hot
tubs on the second floor while the other beach cabanas were “refreshed.”
The
Grand Cabana has received new decor and a slide from the deck into the ocean.
A
new glass-bottom boat carries 290 people to view the island’s underwater colourful
reefs and sea life.
Six
more horses have been added for riding along the beach and swimming on them in
the ocean.
There’s also a refreshed Bahamian church and private chapel in a garden
overlooking the sea for wedding ceremonies and vow renewals, and a pirate-ship
designed Captain Morgan’s Bar.
For more details or to book a cruise: www.hollandamerica.com; 1-877-SAIL-HAL (1-877-724-5425)
-30-
Jim and Barb Fox can be reached at outtosea50@hotmail.com
For more Out to Sea trip tips: http://outtoseatravel.blogspot.ca
Other links:
Other links:
Toronto Sun
Vancouver24Hours (Sun daily)
Canoe.com (Sun Media website – 7-million unique travel pages
hits a month)
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