A few Oosterdam questions for you HAL experts

[want2travelbad]

Hi! I am new to Cruise Critic, and am enjoying getting to know some of you via your posts on the HAL Board! Everyone here is so interesting, and nice, and I love the sense of humor many of you have and so willingly share!

My family will be taking our first HAL cruise in 3/05. We are booked on the Oosterdam, for the 7 day Mexican Riviera itinerary. I am 42, my husband 41 and our son is 11.

Our last cruise was on the DCL Magic, and we had booked it to appeal to our son. Funny thing happened...he hated the kids club, for the noise and chaos. He ended up hanging around with us the entire trip. So this time we decided to book a line/ship that we (husband and me) would enjoy and we think HAL will do. We understand that HAL is not going to provide an experience for our son that RCCL or another more family-oriented line might and that is okay. Nevertheless, I am curious about the kids club on the Oosterdam, for "tweens". Anyone have any information about the activities for this age group, and what I might expect in terms of number of kids on board? (Note we are traveling the week before Easter, returning the day before Easter). Our son might not partake, but if the atmosphere is calm but fun, he might give it a shot. If he just hangs with us the entire week, we are fine with that too.

Also, any tips on must do's to enjoy the full HAL experience? Any suggestions about activities or ship areas that we shouldn't miss?

Linda

[WindyCity]

Welcome to the HAL boards. I can't help you with the Club HAL question, but exploring the ship is definitely a must do. Try the different activities, bingo, trivia, etc. at least once. On our first cruise we saw youngsters playing bingo also - parents buy the cards, so this is one activity you can enjoy with your son. Go to the shows.... and try out the casino.

[flamingogal]

Wantto travel -

My teenagers (11, 15, 16) found the ClubHal to be pretty lame. This was last year, Western Caribbean, Veendam, January. On the Veendam there were not many activities geared towards tweens or older teens. Mostly everything was for younger children. Regardless, your son will find any and all kids his age and will have a good time. Let him explore with his friends and eat with them if possible. He'll have a great time. I haven't sailed (yet) on a Vista ship like the Oosterdam, but on the Veendam, the crew seemed to know which children belonged to which adults, so there wasn't too much room for them to get into trouble. Hopefully this will be a bonus for you also. I think an Easter cruise will probably have a large number of kids on board. Hope this helps.

Jeanne

[TedC]

Don't miss the fresh-squeezed OJ on both sides of the Lido at breakfast. (I hope they're still doing this, things change, you know).

Also the free ice cream, also on both sides of the Lido from lunch time until late. Toppings are available near where the ice cream is scooped.


And there's free popcorn at the movie theater - but on a 7-day cruise you probably won't have time for movies.

Oosterdam is a beautiful, comfortable ship - Enjoy!

[WindyCity]

OOPS, Forgot to mention the Bread Pudding - definitely have to try it!!:D

[Jacqueline]

My daughter is 11. Part of the problem with this age is that they may feel that are too old for the kids in the kids group (my daughter would not go in the room as the kids looked too young and were mostly boys) and are definitely too young for the teens.
FWIW my 3 kids did love the Westerdam and we were on for 13 days. Your son may meet a friend at the pool or even just happen to click at the club. Everyone has a different experience.
I just asked Kathleen and she said "he'll like it- cruises are great!".
BTW she tends to stay with me more than mix- my one teen is queen of the social scene and the other is a bit shy and keeps to himself. But he commented on the friendly staff and the great food as being highlights.

[bepsf]

Oosterdam has a room for kids - it's set up as a nightclub w/ booths and a sodabar just for them, plus computers for them to work on.

Club HAL organizes lots of activities for kids - crafts like t-shirt dyeing, tours of the ship, movies, pizza parties and pajama parties, basketball tournaments, etc. They sit as a group in the magic show and can participate in the passenger show.

Kids have a wristband placed on their wrist for the duration w/ their name, stateroom number and lifeboat number so if anything happens, the staff can take care of them.

[want2travelbad]

Thank you for the welcome, and for all of your tips. I am looking forward to that fresh-squeezed orange juice for sure!

[Randyk47]

It's hard to tell what one child might like and another not. This past March on the Oosterdam there were actually quite a few kids across a fairly broad age range on the ship. We did see the kids out and about with the HAL personnel from time to time and it appeared they were having a pretty good time. One funny thing happened on the last day of the cruise. It was a sea day and very windy so in mid afternoon my wife and I decided to go up to the Crow's Nest for a drink and to watch Cuba and Havanna slide by to our right. Leaving the CN we called for an elevator and when it arrived there must have been 6-8 kids probably in the range of 11-14 years old. They were sitting on the floor of the elevator and obviously just riding it up and down and obviously very, very bored. They were immediately embarrassed that we'd kind of surprised them....that part of the ship was pretty quiet. Rather than fuss at them or make them feel bad I sat down on the floor with them and asked about the cruise. After they got over lamenting about how boring this particular day had been they did start talking about all the great things they'd seen and done. Took us a couple of trips up and down to get all the stories out but they'd pretty well decided that the cruise really hadn't been all that bad....except for that one last day. ;)

[Cerinda]

Linda, We'll be on board that week, too: us two in our 40s, DSs 17 and 8, and DD 15. We're new to HAL, too; new to cruising with children as well. I HOPE the children meet other young people to socialize with; as far as I can see, the program itself is beside the point: usually our kids LIKE to be with us, and they'll be under our supervision in any event.

Randyk47, Can I buy you a drink? Warmth and understanding like yours are in altogether too short supply. Teenagers need more people like you around!

[Randyk47]

Cerinda - Thanks for the kind words. My "baby", by a previous marriage, is 32 years old so it's not like we have kids around all the time. Carey is a great "bonus mom" with him and it's a shame we weren't able to have any of our own. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time and it was fun to hear them talk about the cruise from their view point.

[Cindy-Sue]

We travel with another couple who has only one child, an 11 year old girl. She brings one of her girlfriends, and there are no worries about how they entertain themselves....there is more than enough for them to do!

[travellady]

We may end up on the Oosterdam Feb 21 Mexixan Riviera cruise because I can purchase there CPP plan and get a 90% refund if we have to cancel for any reason. Since the possibiltiy exists that we may, it seems like the best choice.

My concern is my 11 year old son - very social and loves entertainment. He absolutely loved Voyager of the Seas this summer. But I'm afraid we're limited in Feb. I asked the gal on the phone home many kids his age were currently booked and she said there are 21 ages 9-12. Possibly my son can find one to hang out with.

Anyway, I only have the reservation on hold and have another 5 days to decide. Any insight is much appreciated.

[Pete&Cat]

We will be on the Oosterdam also for that cruise and are bringing are two sons for their first cruise, they are both 18 so they really don't qualify as "kids" anymore. It will be interesting to see how they like it, both are really looking forward to it knowing full well that HAL is not set up like Carnival for teens. But both are quiet sorts and enjoy reading and are really active in the school bands and show choir so I think they would fit into the HAL atmosphere. I have to admit to being leary of including them if for no other reason that my wife and I could have taken another cruise with the money being spent on them! :D