Holland America to Alaska with kids??

Am I crazy to consider Holland America with a 9 yr old and 5 yr old? I like their itinerary and the balcony cabins seem bigger.

Of the three cruises I took with my son, I found the other passengers on HAL to be the least friendly towards children, but we sailed from Ft. Lauderdale for a week long segment that was part of a larger 21 day cruise, so it would tend to draw a much older crowd than an Alaska cruise. Fortunately, the Alaska cruises generally have a lot of families. Due to your itinerary and the fact that you probably will sail during the summer holidays, fellow passengers are much less likely to be hostile, but you should be prepared to possibly encounter some unfriendly passengers.

HAL's kids club was the weakest we experienced, since it consisted mostly of gluing things to paper plates for my 3 year old, but we were on the Ryndam, one of their oldest and smallest ships on the fleet, and others have reported much better experiences in the HAL kids club in this forum. My biggest concern with the kids club on the Ryndam was that only two counselors were assigned to the ship. Minimal staffing was to be expected, since there were very few children on this cruise, but 2 people are going to be working a lot of hours if they are the only ones covering all of the shifts in the kids club.

HAL would not be my first choice to sail with children in general, but they have an excellent reputation for their Alaska cruises, and Alaska is an amazing destination for children. If the price, dates and itinerary are right on HAL, I would go for it. Princess' Alaska trips also have an excellent reputation, so if their cruises work for you I would sail with them over HAL. The kids club hours are better on Princess, and their activities were stronger. You mentioned looking for a larger cabin, so you might want to look at the Princess mini suites - they are a good size for a small family.

Princess? We did Alaska with Princess in the summer and seemed the perfect balance. I for a second considered HAL, but their reputation scared me, though I really got to expect summer one week cruises in Alaska have kids and it would be insane for any line to not have a robust kids program.

Can't comment about the cruisers who can't appreciate they were kids once or sadly don't have any kid in them anymore :mad:

I've found fellow HAL passengers to be very friendly towards children. We've done one 24 night cruise and one 21 night cruise. Lots of kids on the first, very few on the second. HAL is dd16's favorite line. It's ds19 and ds9's second favorite, after RCCL.

Thanks for the replies! Man.. I just don't know... We'd love to do Disney but it's just not in our budget. However my kids were very overwhelmed with the clubs on Disney so maybe Princess might be a nice fit. Back to the drawing board. :)

My mother in law just sailed HAL to Alaska in June and said there were many families and little ones. She loved the cruise too.

Thanks for the replies! Man.. I just don't know... We'd love to do Disney but it's just not in our budget. However my kids were very overwhelmed with the clubs on Disney so maybe Princess might be a nice fit. Back to the drawing board. :)

We love Disney as well, but I wouldn't pay their premium for Alaska. DCL is much more geared toward warm weather sailing IMHO. We've done HAL with our kids many times (including Alaska). Definitely a much different onboard experience than Disney, but we've always had a great time. HAL has much better Alaska itineraries as well. Their RT Vancouver itinerary goes to Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm. If you do HAL I would definitely stick with their vista class ships to Alaska.

Club HAL is probably 10x smaller than the Oceaneers club, but there are way fewer kids and they got a lot more personal attention. Lot's of arts and crafts, games, and activities. They do have more limited kids club hours than Disney. They close at both lunch and dinner.

We've done Princess with our kids as well and it is really very similar to HAL. Between the two I would go with whichever itinerary and ship works best for you.

Thanks so much everyone, this helps a lot! It's definitely going to be HAL or Princess!

We took our two granddaughters to Alaska on HAL when they were about 8 and 11. They loved the kids club because there were only about 10 kids per age group so they got a lot of attention from some very creative counselors and they had a blast.

The next year we went on Royal Caribbean to Mexico. There were 100s of kids and the girls hated it. I guess it depends on the child.

I'd do Princess or Celebrity with kids. Both are great. There is the outdoor movie theater on Princess and lots of activities onboard. Celebrity has the best youth program afloat IMO.

What month are you looking at?

Assuming Mid to late June, July and August you will find other families on board.

I am sure you and the kids will have a nice time.

Keith

We did HAL with Alaska. I agree with others that the kids' clubs are slim, but because the boat is small, you can get some nice special treatment. My child was too young for the club, but the counselors were fine with me just bringing her in and sitting and playing with the toys. She also liked watching the older kids play! I don't think the bigger lines would have let me do that. I think they did have stuff like video games and crafts, so it's probably okay for a low-key way to occupy them for a few hours on a sea day.

One thing about Alaska is that the port excursions are very active -- you'll probably be out and about all day, and just want to eat a good meal and crash when you get back. I'd try to find a cruise with fewer sea days though -- I think ours only had one sea day, but left from Canada. Also, because it's a bit brisk in Alaska, even in the summer, you might not miss the things like water slides. There were some pre-teens using the pool when we were there, but I don't think that's the big draw of Alaska.

Another plus of HAL is that the boats are smaller, so can fit further into Glacier Bay than the mega ships can.

Finally. this may or not be a plus for you ... but you won't find any "Sexy Bod" competitions or anything like that on HAL. I was a little embarrassed to have my kids around the aging frat boy atmosphere on our last Carnival cruise -- I was disappointed that Carnival couldn't save the bumping and grinding contests for the evening crowd, when the little ones are headed to bed.

HAL also had some nice "cultural" events that might appeal to you with your kids -- like they had the rangers do a talk and show slides about the national parks; and I think the Indonesian staff members did a talent show of Indonesian dance and music (but I missed that due to nap times).

Am I crazy to consider Holland America with a 9 yr old and 5 yr old? I like their itinerary and the balcony cabins seem bigger.

We did HAL this year to Alaska with our DS who is 10. He liked their kids club better than the DCL club that we did in November.

The hours are more limited but the club had good activities and great counselors. They also had a number of new video game options, both within the club and in a separate video game room.

Another vote for HAL. We did it with our then 8 yo granddaughter whose a very experienced cruiser on the Westerdam and she loved it. I found the staff and other guests both in the kids club and around the ship to be very accommodating to the kids on board. Now I went in May so there weren't too many kids but it was still a nice experience for us all.

Glad to hear the positive reviews! We are booked for Alaska in August 2016 on HAL. Grandparents' choice of lines and itinerary . . .

What specifically about HAL's reputation scares you?

Roz

Thanks so much everyone, this helps a lot! It's definitely going to be HAL or Princess!

Good decision! Both provide excellent Alaskan cruises! :)

Have been on HAL only once when we went to Alaska with my then 9 year old granddaughter. She's an experienced cruiser, it was probably her 5th or 6th cruise, and we all had a great time.

The kids club was just the right amount of time, with great attention and activities geared to the location.

I picked it for the ports and Glacier Bay, and was very glad I did.

Only regret was while she was glad to be on a cruise, at the price we paid, Alaska is not a cheap trip, she was not impressed with the fact the we were actually in Alaska. It could have been anywhere so I wished I had waited a few years to take her.

I hope you have a great trip!

We have been to Alaska with Celebrity and also with HAL. Kids were 1, 3 and 5 yo on Celebrity, and then went on HAL with kids aged 1, 5, 7 and 9 (multi-gen family trip with brother's family and grandparents). Both trips were great, and we never felt that the kids were a bother for anyone. There is so much to see right from your balcony - you won't regret it! Here is a review of our trip on HAL in 2011 on the Zuiderdam if you are interested. Enjoy your trip!

I am so glad to come across this! We are looking at a 21 day Antarctica cruise with two little guys. Its my dads dream trip and while he can still enjoy it i really want to do it as a family (brothers and spouses... Should be fun!) but I was super nervous because HAL has the best Itinerary (only hal and celebrity go) and ive always heard it isnt kid friendly. Still not sure if well book but its nice to see positive feedback!