Club HAL- firm on ages?

[onecrazymomof2]

We are sailing on the Ryndam on March 7th with our 2 boys- 6 and 9. My youngest is pretty nervous about doing things on his own. Are they firm on ages in the kids areas? My oldest just turned 9, and I saw the range is 5-8 and 9-12 (I think). My oldest would be just as happy in the younger range to stay with my 6 yr old. Would they accomadate this? Thanks for any input!

[helenb]

I don't have experience on HAL (yet... it's coming!) but on the many other cruise lines I've taken, they will seriously consider moving a child if a parent requests it, particularly if it is to be with a sibling. Sometimes the request is granted, sometimes not, but if not, they will explain why.

Generally, the fewer kids on a cruise, the more likely you are to have such a thing approved. Ideally, they want to have the kids spread equally between the age groups. So if you want to move your child from a smaller group to a bigger group, it's less likely to be approved. Since there aren't a lot of kids on HAL to begin with (as compared to other cruise lines) I don't think that's as much of an issue.

Usually they prefer to move older kids down than move younger kids up, because younger kids are more likely to disrupt older ones. In this case, you are at an advantage, since you want to move your older one down. However, I'd ask you to consider your older child's interests. On our most recent cruise, my son (age 7) was the oldest in his age group (ages 3-7) and he found that he was a little bored with the activities at times. I suppose it depends on your child's interest, but your 9 year old may be bored hanging out with 3 year olds. Just a warning.

[Scrapchick]

Hello to Helenb! Good to see you again... I hope you got the e-mail I sent you via Mary. Hotmail accounts just hate my e-mail address and reject me every time...

To answer the question!

Yes, HAL and most other cruise lines are very firm about the age cut offs. However... Depending on the number of kids on board and at their discretion, they may let an older child go back down to the younger group, for example, a 9 year old might be allowed in with the 5-8 crowd. But they will almost certainly not allow a child to move up to the next age group.

HTH!

[Cruzman]

Ahh, for the good old days when they just took a parents word relative to the age of a child. Now, children's ages are shared with Club HAL counselors via computer and we all have to deal with the inflexibility that follows.

[Australian family]

We are sailing on the Ryndam on March 7th with our 2 boys- 6 and 9. My youngest is pretty nervous about doing things on his own. Are they firm on ages in the kids areas? My oldest just turned 9, and I saw the range is 5-8 and 9-12 (I think). My oldest would be just as happy in the younger range to stay with my 6 yr old. Would they accomadate this? Thanks for any input!

When our daughters went to club hal on our cruise there was only 25 kids on board, and the girls were kept together and they are 6 & 11. Our youngest wasn't keen initially to go, but once she did start we couldn't keep her away from the club. So in saying that they obviously divide the kids up depending on the amount of children onboard.