Young Adults on Oosterdam

[EuroDate20]

Hi there! We're considering a 7 day New Year's cruise to Mexico on the Oosterdam with our college age son. I've never sailed HAL, but have heard it tends to attract older passengers. Our son is into water sports, meeting girls and would like to hang out with other young adults his age. Is our son going to be bored and lonely on this cruise? I'm hoping there will be many other kids his age there.

[Northshorecruisers]

That's a tough one. There may be some young adults on board because it's sailing over New Years....but I don't think there will be a lot. And, that age group no longer has organized activities like Club HAL.
On our next sailing we are taking a 26 y/o & two 18 y/o's - but they're happy to lay by the pool, play some ping pong, shoot baskets, and just hang out with each other. Maybe someone who has sailed recently can say if the ship has any meet & greets for the younger adults.

[catl331]

During holidays and summer cruises, many families sail HAL. There have been other inquiries about sailing with young adults and there always seems to be others of that age aboard during these times. During sailings of more than 7 days you tend to find the retirees as working people take a week off. There is a disco-type venue on board and if enough young adults participate they will stay open later. Also there are numerous daily activities he (and his new-found friends) might be interested in also.

[Caliterp07]

My husband and I are both young adults (23/24) and will be sailing in a few weeks on the Westerdam. I'm fairly certain we'll be the minority on the ship, but luckily both of us are content to just hang out with each other. If I wanted other young 20-somethings to hang out with, I would have picked a different cruise line (even on RCI, we felt like we were wayyyyy below the median age!)

Maybe your son would like to bring a friend or a cousin or someone?

[canadianbear]

I think he might find some people his age on the Mexico cruise...we took our two "kids" (24 & 22 at the time) and they did find some people their age even on the Alaska cruise. Both went in the frame of mind of not meeting anyone so made sure they took books, their photography equipment, etc just in case but both came back quite happy! There might not be "a lot" his age but I'm sure he will meet a few. Have a wonderful cruise.:)

[Aunty Pat]

New Years is a great time to take young adults (18 & over) on a HAL cruise. The 5 young adults in my family group loved it on our New Years cruise. They were treated like adults with the exception of not being able to purchase alcohol on the ship (18 is the legal drinking age in Mexico). There was a young adult singles get together at the start of the cruise where they made friends right off. Since they had their own cabins, the only time we saw all of them was at diner and when we booked a shore excursion for the whole family. If you’re going as a family group, make sure to have assigned seating for dinner or you may never see everyone until it’s time to get off the ship.

Aunty Pat


Barefoot Windjammer - Phantom ‘81
K&D German Rhine Line ‘84
NCL - Norway ’85, Pride of America ’05, Southward ’87, Star ’97 & ‘05, Starward ’92, Sun ’02 & Windward ’93
RCC - Song of America ‘89
American Hawaiian - Independence ‘98
HAL - Volendam ’99, Noordam ’06, Oosterdam ’07 & ‘09, Statendam ’02 & ‘08, Prinsendam ’03 & ’06, & Zuiderdam ’04, ’06 & ’07, Westerdam ‘09
Carnival - Spirit ‘05
Celebrity – Summit ‘05
Cruise West - Yorktown Clipper ‘06
Princess - Golden Princess ‘07
A & K - East Queen ‘07
Cunard - QM2 ’08
Pending Cruises:
Oceania – Insignia, June 17, 2010

[EuroDate20]

Thanks everyone! For the New Year's cruise, since it's going to be festive, would you recommend the late dinner seating over the 6 pm seating? We've never celebrated the holiday at sea, so I'm hoping there'll be some special attractions to justify the extra cost.