Help! Anyone used HAL for Baltics with kids?

[katredd]

:rolleyes: Hello everyone - Thanks for all the great advice I've gotten on this board. I am hoping someone out there can advise me -- I am looking at taking 10 day HAL Westerdam in Northern Europe / St Petersburg in August. Would be booking for DH, DD, DS, me and my parents. DD and DS are 9 and 7. We would need several cabins and as the $$ are big I don't want to make a bad choice....

Have any of you been on that itinerary with or near kids? I know it is port intensive, but circumstances have allowed my kids to do a lot of traveling and I am not worried about their behavior. I just want to be sure they have fun. Also -- I picked these cruises for the side-trip to Moscow. Other lines restrict ages on that trip to over 10 or 12 (so we couldn't go as a family).... does anyone know if HAL has a similar restriction? I've sent them email to ask, but haven't gotten a response.

Thanks so much for your help!

[soraya]

Hi, My friend was on the Noordam last year as it did it's last cruise on the Baltic. She didn't have kids with her, but I asked what she thought, she said there were very few kids on board, HAL did not run the kids club as they so that if they have over a certain number of children onboard.

Her opinion is that it is quite port intensive and she isn't sure that it's the sort of ports which would appeal to children as they are more cities and pretty sedate. I guess it depends on what your children enjoy doing, although she remembered Legoland being on offer!

She thought that the Med might appeal more as those countries are very child friendly and there are lots more activites to appeal but it's just what your children will enjoy.

HTH, Soraya

[stanj]

:rolleyes: Hello everyone - . Would be booking for DH, DD, DS, me and my parents. DD and DS are 9 and 7. We would need several cabins and as the $$ are big I don't want to make a bad choice....

Have any of you been on that itinerary with or near kids? I know it is port intensive, but circumstances have allowed my kids to do a lot of traveling and I am not worried about their behavior. I just want to be sure they have fun. Also -- I picked these cruises for the side-trip to Moscow. Other lines restrict ages on that trip to over 10 or 12 (so we couldn't go as a family).... does anyone know if HAL has a similar restriction? I've sent them email to ask, but haven't gotten a response.

Thanks so much for your help!

I do not know the answer concerning age restrictions but I might offer the caution that a single day side trip to Moscow is not a great way to keep kids that age interested. It is a very long day and the destination might be less than thrilling for even the most world-aware 7 year olds. Imagine having a large brood as you describe trying to take in NYC in one day when you are 330 miles away. Moscow and NYC are both large fast and intimidating cities. Russia itself is vey kid friendly but in the few hours you will be there you will not be interacting with Ruissia, only tourist activities that are seldom done by young foreign children. St Petersburg is a lot more accomodating towards kids because it is a very popular destination for Russians bringing their families and much less intimidating.
Unfortunately by using precious time in transiting those 660 R/T miles instead of touring, you will miss out on the best parts of both cities.
If you really want to have your kids experience Russia, which I highly recommend, plan on a return land based trip when they can experience it at a more relaxed pace. An apartment large enough for the whole clan could cost only $100/night so a week or two would allow everyone to get the most out their visit.
Kids can have a lot of fun, particularly when they can interact with local Russian and Scandinavian kids, most of whom know some or a lot of English but shore excursions from cruise ships are most geared toward passive viewing such as museums, palaces, monuments, and such so it might be a bit tedious for them. Maybe one of the tour companies can assemble a kids tour including the zoo, amusement parks, interactive science museum, Peter and Paul Fortress while the adults are seeing formal museums, galleries, and such and then get back together for dinner and the folkorlic show or circus.
Just thinking out loud;>)

[T739]

Our children loved the Baltic trip, and there were quite a few children and teenagers aboard (just over 100 last August). My children were 7 and 14 at the time. St. Petersburg was a big thrill for them. We did not take the Moscow trip, but our friends did and reported it to be a long and very tiring day, but interesting.

[TedC]

I also suggest rethinking that long, tiring trip to Moscow.

We did a 12-day Baltic cruise with three subteens. The kids loved the cruise, which was very port intensive. Seeing as much as possible in all those wonderful ports is tiring in itself.


While considering going to Moscow, we quickly came to our senses and decided to show them St. Petersburg. They enjoyed it. (For full disclosure, my wife and I had already been to Moscow, which we also liked, but it was on a land trip.)

If you decide to do St. Pete, check the ports of call forum for private guides such as Red October, etc. It will be much more comfortable and probably less expensive than taking ship excursions for your group.

However, if you've already been to St. Pete and think you'll never get a chance to get to Moscow, then do what you think is best for you - our feelings won't be hurt

[doone]

This is an absolutely spectacular itinerary. I did this itinerary back in August 2001 on the Amsterdam. While there were very few children on board, maybe less than 20, I am sure your children will have a wonderful time. Yes, you are correct, this is a very port intensive cruise.

[stanj]

I also suggest rethinking that long, tiring trip to Moscow.

While considering going to Moscow, we quickly came to our senses and decided to show them St. Petersburg. They enjoyed it.

If you decide to do St. Pete, check the ports of call forum for private guides such as Red October, etc. It will be much more comfortable and probably less expensive than taking ship excursions for your group.


TedC
You are right, there are several tour companies which do a very good job of revealing the city of St Petersburg with more personalized and cheaper tours. Russia is the only port that required a visa for entry but there is a provision in the immgration law that allows cruise ship passengers....and only cruise shiip passengers....to enter the country for up to 72 hours without a formal visa if they are scheduled about 10 days more more in advance of their arrival on a tour conducted by one of only a few authorized travel support companies. The most popular are Red October and Den Rus. They usually assemble small groups of 2-10 people depending on the preferences of the visitors, with a guide and a driver with a van. These personalized tours are popular not only for their lower cost but visitors get to see a lot more. They have agreements with most major museums and the palace estates in the suburbs to bypass the lines and even enter well before opening times. The big 45 passenger tour buses are not very flexible in planning or as effective in getting around the city. Both tour companies have very good reputations on CruiseCritics. I personally recommend Den Rus because I know the owner and some of the staff and don't know of a more honest or ethical company in Russia possibly because the owner formed it as a post-retirement business after moving from Florida.

With so little time in port and more things in the MUST SEE catagory than just about anywhere I am not sure why a lot of people are so anxious to forego time in St Petersburg for a very brief visit to Moscow. As a visitor's destination they are in different classes entirely. St Pete has over 120 museums, many of them world class, within walking distance of the Winter Palace. It has more palaces than anywhere on earth and it is the cultural capital of Eastern Europe and many say, all of Europe.
I am biased however having spent a lot of time in Europe and Eastern Europe and have never found anywhere as interesting as St Petersburg. That is the reason I moved from San Francisco area almost two years ago to live in St Petersburg

[katredd]

Thanks so much to everyone for your help and comments! I will spend more time looking into the St Petersburg itinerary before deciding on the Moscow trip... I guess I figured I might not get the chance again very soon to see Moscow... will have to think about it for sure!


Thanks again to all!:)

[RuthC]

Food for thought regarding the Moscow shore excursion:

When I was there two years ago the folks taking the Moscow tour were up well before the crack of dawn to make the plane. Unfortunately the fog was terrible (Rudolph was nowhere to be found;) ) and the plane could not leave on time. It did get off, but the time in Moscow was lessened. They got back to the ship around midnight.
A lo-o-o-n-n-n-g day no matter how you cut it.

[doone]

Good point Ruthc and with the time differences, its a loooonnnnnnnggggggger day!!!!!

[FoxyTerrier]

We did the Baltic last summer on the Noordam. We were an extended family of 5 w/ age ranges from 16 - 84. There were a number of kids, but not like on the Caribbean cruises we have been on. HAL did have the HAL kids club w/ various groups based on the age ranges. My son loved this cruise as we all did.

We did not do the Moscow trip as it seemed too long and there was so much to see in St. Petersburg. We did book a 2 day tour with Red October - it was fabulous!!! We were put in touch with a lovely couple who joined us. Red October handled all the Visas and were was no extra charge for this. We also went to the head of the line at all the site and of couse the admission were paid in advance. Red October also offered us evening options which we did not do as we were all exhausted after day 1. On day 2 we were to sail at 5:30 or 6pm and this was the time that all the HAL people returned at once - hundreds of them and going through Russian customs is unlike anything I have ever seen. We were late leaving by an hour and some of these older people had to stand in line for all this time. I know my mother would not have been able to do this. RO had us back in plenty of time so we were comfortable relaxing while all the chaos was going on. I mentioned this to one of the HAL staff and they said it was like this ever time in St. Petersburg.
Olga was the tour planner and our guide was named Helen and just darling.

One other complaint I heard was that people that did an evening performance came back to the ship to find not enough food in the Lido for a late dinner. So plan accordingly if you do an evening event.

We also did a private tour for Berlin http://www.berlin-sightseeing-tours.de/ Also fabulous - had a brand new MB van - we saw so much!!!

On all the other ports we did private taxi tours and did not arrange them in advance.

We also found there was no need to book HAL transfers back to the Copenhagen airport as there was plenty of taxis. I think we paid $20 US for 3 of us to go to the airport. My parents were staying longer there and paid a lesser amount to go to their hotel. We got to the airport before all the other HAL pax and I think HAL charged $40 per person.

So my advice is if you kids are good travelers they will be fine in the Baltics. We have done the Mediteran cruises too and my son loved that as well, but he is a cruise addict just like us.