Hepcats!

From October 3rd – 10th, 2026 Mike & Mary were on the Holland America Line (HAL) ship Zuiderdam, for a 7-night Canada and New England cruise. 

This cruise was organized by Tom Pecena at Ahoy Vintage Cruises (the same as our July 2023 and May 2025 cruises), and we were a part of a group of about 70 people.  The theme for this cruise was “Let’s Get Away From It All – A Big Band Cruise”.  The cruise was marketed as a 1930’s/40’s theme cruise with lots of great big band music.

Although this was not one of Tom’s organized “vintage” cruises, Mary and I wore our 1930’s/40’s vintage clothes a lot on board the ship, and we received lots of compliments.  When people get dressed up, especially on a cruise ship, it definitely adds a wonderful feel, vibe and ambience.  Having said that, the overall vibe on the Zuiderdam for clothes and evening wear was a lot more casual than the Queen Mary 2 (QM2).

There were some very nice ports of call on this cruise:  Portland and Eastport, ME; and Halifax, Sydney and Saint John, Canada.

Of course, a big feature and draw of this cruise for me and Mary was the daily dances, dancing to Big Band music, provided by the Dan Gabel Orchestra.

Before committing to go on this cruise, I did some research on the Dan Gabel Orchestra.  On Dan Gabel’s web site, several “endorsements” are noted the band has received:

o  “The real deal!”

o”The champion of authentic Big Band and vintage jazz” – Syncopated Times.

o  Hailed by the Boston Globe as “The read deal…[a band] that looks and sounds just like the 1940s”.  Dan Gabel and his Bands have entertained three Governors, a Four-Star General, sold-out concerts, and performed for countless dances, weddings, and fundraisers.  Based in Central New England, Gabel’s arrangements and compositions have been commissioned and performed across the U.S. by professional Orchestras, Big Bands, and also student ensembles.

o  Gabel Music features a roster of accomplished and internationally-acclaimed musicians who have performed in prestigious venues all over the world.

o  “See and hear the difference live music can make at your next event!”

It was noted on the band’s web site that Dan Gabel serves as President and CEO of the American Big Band Preservation Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, promoting, and performing the sounds and history of the Big Bands, with an emphasis on education and keeping this art form in schools.  Kudo’s are certainly in order for Dan Gabel’s efforts in that area!

Even with the accolades noted above, Mary and I were a bit hesitant about committing to this cruise.  Of course, hyperbole, exaggeration, embellishment, etc… is rampant on the internet.  Mary and I have seen lots of web sites and FB pages that describe a band as great, awesome, the best ever… – – and then when we attended the event the music was not even close to what was advertised.  But we liked the cruise ports of call in New England and Canada, so we decided to go on this cruise.

To Dan Gabel’s credit, about 2-3 months before the cruise embarked he sent out a survey form asking for specific band/artists and specific songs one would like to hear.  Mary and I both provided input.  Generally that input was along the lines of …… since the cruise was advertised as a 1940’s/40’s big band cruise, we wanted to hear, and dance to, music of the great big bands of the 1930’s/40’s.  We also provided other specific input on artists/songs.

On the first night of the cruise, there was a reception/cocktail party for our group, to include the band’s musicians.  I had the pleasure to meet most of the musicians, to include Dan Gabel.  Dan noted the input to the surveys Mary and I had provided, and he stated he thought Mary and I would be very pleased with the music for this cruise.

Our group had its own dance every day from 4 – 6 pm, six dances total.  Each set the band played was about 45-50 minutes long; so that required quite a few arrangements for all six of the dances.  Note Mary and I understood the band wasn’t just playing for us, and the band leader also had to select songs that other people in the group preferred.

Given the bandleader asked for input with a pre-cruise survey, and the positive response (and a certain degree of assurance) we received from the band leader at the reception/cocktail party, Mary and I were somewhat optimistic (but guarded optimism) there would be at least 3-5 decent songs out of the 10-15 songs that were played each set that would be good for Lindy Hop/Balboa.  We really didn’t think that was too much to ask for, given the cruise was marketed as providing music of the 1930’s/40’s big band swing era.

So, what about the music for the dances?  Was it the “real deal”?  Was the music “authentic”?

In general, the music was not very good; most of the music was what I call “mayonnaise and white bread”, a real disappointment.  Now, I certainly want to add that Dan Gabel, the band members and vocalists were all very good, very professional musicians.  And the music they played, they played it well (except for sometimes not maintaining the song tempo – see below).  The band certainly had the talent and chops to play a lot 1930s/40s swing era arrangements by the great big bands of the swing era, but, alas and alack, they didn’t.

For some songs the band had trouble maintaining the tempo throughout the entire song.  I believe (and I’m not alone in this believe) one of the marks of a good big band (really any band) is the ability to maintain the tempo of the song, and not “settle in” for an easier, slower tempo after the first 30 or so seconds of the song.  That should not have been hard for the band, since a lot of the songs they played were pretty much in the same slow-to-medium tempo range.

Overall the band played a lot of fox trot, ballads and ballroom type music – – very few swingin’ arrangements for Lindy Hop and Balboa, especially for a cruise with six daily dances, two sets each dance, with each set about 45-50 minutes.  After the second of the six dances the music got tiresome and repetitive.

It would have been great for the band to break out of the mold of the “same old, same old” arrangements I imagine it plays for a lot of its gigs and instead play some really swingin’ arrangements of the great big bands of the 1930’s and 40’s:  Chick Webb, Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, etc….

Even though the music was lacking, Mary and I had a great time and really enjoyed this cruise.  The Zuiderdam is a very nice ship, although not quite at the same level as the QM2; the crew was first-rate and very professional.  The group’s dances took place in the ship’s Rolling Stone Lounge; that space was adequate (barely) for dancing, plus the stage area for the band was also very tight.  The decor for the space was basically a black ceiling and black walls; not near as nice, nor as big, as the Queen’s Ballroom on the QM2.

We meet a lot of nice people and had some good ports of call; the Maritime Museum in Halifax is especially worth noting!  The weather, although a bit on the warm side, was very pleasant.  We would definitely go on another cruise on the Zuiderdam, or one of the other Holland America Line cruise ships.  An overall fun and relaxing trip!

Postscript 1 – and permit me a bit of a soapbox.  I read that the late Gunther Schuller, author of the book “The Swing Era:  The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945″, said “Any music that isn’t heard live must ultimately die”.  That’s probably true.  And that’s one of the main reasons I have collaborated with the Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra (KJRO) over the years to bring great big band music by artists such as Benny Goodman, Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Fletcher Hender, Harlan Leonard, Duke Ellington (just to mention a few) to the Lexington, KY area, via the Hepcats Swing Dance Club.

KJRO and the nightly dances by the bands at Lindy Focus are the only bands that I know of in this general geographic area that are helping keep alive the hard swingin’ music of the great bands of the 1930’s/40’s swing era.

There seems to be no shortage of big bands “out there” keeping the mayonnaise and white bread music alive of what were called “mickey mouse/sweet bands” bands of the swing era.  For this cruise, the Dan Gabel Orchestra had an opportunity to help keep alive some great, hard swingin’ music from the “hot” bands of the swing era.  For whatever the reason(s), that didn’t happen.