Holland America with Kids??

I've been on other cruise lines before - how does Holland compare to those with kids??

I have 2 - 19 and 7, she'll be 8 at the time of sailing -- wondering how Holland America is with kids --- nicer ship? The itinerary is the same, so now I have to decide on NCL and Holland.. thanks!!

;)

Generally I think you will find less kids on HAL than NCL but it will vary based on time of year and itinerary. As far as the end product, i.e. HAL club, I would think HAL would be just as good.

Kirk

don't do it :)

Just take them on NCL.

With HA you really need to give careful consideration to the itinerary and length of cruise. If you are taking a 7-10 day Caribbean cruise during a school holiday there will be plenty of other kids...although the HA kids program leaves something to be desired when compared to Princess, RCI or Carnival. But, if you are considering a longer cruise there will be very few kids....and this would even be more true if the cruise was during the regular school year. We have seen more then our share of kids who were bored out of their minds on longer HA cruises.

Hank

My sons were 15 and 14 when we sailed on Westerdam and they both loved the cruise and HAL's Club.

Your 19 old wouldn't have a plan program per the HAL website

Club HAL® — Tweens*: Tweens, ages 8-12 might learn golf putting, have disco parties and theme parties, participate in the award-winning National Park Service Jr. Ranger Program on Alaska cruises, compete in on-deck sports events, compete in scavenger hunts or simply play Ping-Pong with a friend.

The Loft and The Oasis*: Teens, ages 13-17 will especially enjoy the teen disco, karaoke sessions, video games, teen sports tournaments, card games, trivia contests, bingo, movies and videos. When there are more than 100 children on board, a HAL Talent Show is offered. (The Oasis is not available on all Vista-class ships)

Fewer kids does not equal a crappy time, IMO at least. We are taking ours (4 and 9 in December, first time with kids on HAL, and the fact that there will be less kids = more individualized attention, activities tailored to kids etc. etc. to me. My kids are keen on the lower numbers too. They don't want to spend piles of time in the kids club anyway, just the odd activity.

Fewer kids does not equal a crappy time, IMO at least. We are taking ours (4 and 9 in December, first time with kids on HAL, and the fact that there will be less kids = more individualized attention, activities tailored to kids etc. etc. to me. My kids are keen on the lower numbers too. They don't want to spend piles of time in the kids club anyway, just the odd activity.

very very true. how can kids become bored on a ship? There is so much to do, find to do and be creative. I think kids become bored too easily if there is no stimulation and think kids are over stimulated as it is. sit down, read a book, talk to some folks, learn a thing or two about others and the world around you. Am I too preachy now? Sorry.

Dec 2010 will be our third annual HAL and we always go off season when school is in session. This year we added another sister and her family. 6 adults, 6 kids age (by December) 7M, 2Y, 3Y, 4Y and 6Y and 6Y. last two won't go into HAL Club but the others will and in the past, they have enjoyed it, the small class and personal attention. Who wants to be in the Club with 50 other kids. Sometimes 6-8 is nice. We love HAL for the small amount of kids. Don't want to be on a cruise with hundreds of kids and that's only our opinion. We enjoy the company of the more travelled folks (is it bad to say those over 65?) and so do our kids. So do consider HAL, it is a classy ship and everyone is nice and the crew are great and love kids too.

in Dec of 09 we took a 14 day cruise to the s. caribbean and panama with our then 10 year old. This was the cruise before the Christmas break cruise on the Maasdam. There was only 2 other kids on board that were between 8 and 10 years of age and that was it. One of which was a boy who came to hal club on the first day and found that he was the only boy and didn't want to participate the rest of the time. So the girls had the run of the place. They absolutely loved Hal club. There happened to be two workers most of the time because one was in training for the following cruise where they were expecting over 200 kids on board.

The girls got lots of attention plus were able to taylor make the program themselves from a list of approved activities daily to fit their wants. They had a daily scavanger hunt because they both liked it so much and asked for it to happen daily. They also went for a daily ice cream during the afternoons we were on sea days. They had a 'pajama' party on a formal night...so after dinner all dressed up...they got their jammies on and brought their pillow and met at the Hal club for movies, popcorn and pillow fights. My dd had a blast!

She will be going with us on our next cruise which is a 27 day trip to the med/TA and we know there is a high chance of not any kids being on the cruise...but she is aware of that and said she loves cruising so much it didn't matter if there was kids or not. As long as she has a pool and can play the games on occasion she is fine. Our cruise will be pretty port intensive for the most part and on those days she stays with us and documents her trip for her classmates to see.

whatever you decide...happy cruising!:D

in Dec of 09 we took a 14 day cruise to the s. caribbean and panama with our then 10 year old. This was the cruise before the Christmas break cruise on the Maasdam. There was only 2 other kids on board that were between 8 and 10 years of age and that was it. One of which was a boy who came to hal club on the first day and found that he was the only boy and didn't want to participate the rest of the time. So the girls had the run of the place. They absolutely loved Hal club. There happened to be two workers most of the time because one was in training for the following cruise where they were expecting over 200 kids on board.

 

The girls got lots of attention plus were able to talor make the program themselves from a list of approved activities daily. They had a daily scavanger hunt because they both liked it so much and asked for it to happen daily. They also went for a daily icecream during the afternoons we were on sea days. They had a 'pajama' party on a formal night...so after dinner all dressed up...they got their jammies on and brought their pillow and met at the Hal club for movies' date=' popcorn and pillow fights. My dd had a blast!

 

She will be going with us on our next cruise which is a 27 day trip to the med/TA and we know there is a high chance of not any kids being on the cruise...but she is aware of that and said she loves cruising so much it didn't matter if there was kids or not. As long as she has a pool and can play the games on occasion she is fine. Our cruise will be pretty port intensive for the most part and on those days she stays with us and documents her trip for her classmates to see.

 

whatever you decide...happy cruising!:D[/quote']

 

wow, you guys can take 27 days off? cool. you live in Alaska...double cool. happy cruising.

don't do it :)

 

Just take them on NCL.

Why DONT DO IT??

Thanks everyone for your advice - it's MUCH appreciated!!! :D

The itinerary for both cruises are both the same - I'm taking her out of school for 4 days of either cruise. The difference is HA is stopping at 2 ports rather than 1.

I'll consider both tonight and make a decision.

:)

wow, you guys can take 27 days off? cool. you live in Alaska...double cool. happy cruising.

oh yes...she will have homework daily. She goes to a private Christian school but is dual enrolled in a district homeschool group also. So when we take these trips she still is responsible for doing her school work and the lessons will also focus around the history of the places she is visiting. Works out great and she learns alot about the world in which she lives!:D

She will be going with us on our next cruise which is a 27 day trip to the med/TA and we know there is a high chance of not any kids being on the cruise...but she is aware of that and said she loves cruising so much it didn't matter if there was kids or not. As long as she has a pool and can play the games on occasion she is fine. Our cruise will be pretty port intensive for the most part and on those days she stays with us and documents her trip for her classmates to see.

Why DONT DO IT??

 

Thanks everyone for your advice - it's MUCH appreciated!!! :D

 

The itinerary for both cruises are both the same - I'm taking her out of school for 4 days of either cruise. The difference is HA is stopping at 2 ports rather than 1.

 

I'll consider both tonight and make a decision.

:)

Please post same question on NCL board, to get their opinions. :)

I'd decide which ship suited me better. The kids will do fine on either, but there is such a difference in cruise styles, that you are sure to prefer one over the other. It's basically the traditional cruise experience versus the non-traditional. Most people have stong preferences.

HAL is a VERY kid friendly line. She will love the kids club

Fewer kids does not equal a crappy time, IMO at least. We are taking ours (4 and 9 in December, first time with kids on HAL, and the fact that there will be less kids = more individualized attention, activities tailored to kids etc. etc. to me. My kids are keen on the lower numbers too. They don't want to spend piles of time in the kids club anyway, just the odd activity.

That is my take also. I would rather be with 5-10 kids versus 25.

Kirk

Holland Amreica has put in kids activites in as an after thought and squeezed them in to their existing ships...

For Children I would suggest Disney, NCL and Princess all of whom have built up their programs and built their ships with family in mind.

Holand america has much smaller ships 1200 passenger verses the 2400 and 3000 passenger ships which have total entertainment centers

On the smaller were built for a small group of people that dont really need to be entertained and with a strong leaning toward the older travler rather than younger ones

As such Hals is not a warm atmosphere for the youngetr set:cool:

Holland Amreica has put in kids activites in as an after thought and squeezed them in to their existing ships...

For Children I would suggest Disney, NCL and Princess all of whom have built up their programs and built their ships with family in mind.

Holand america has much smaller ships 1200 passenger verses the 2400 and 3000 passenger ships which have total entertainment centers

On the smaller were built for a small group of people that dont really need to be entertained and with a strong leaning toward the older travler rather than younger ones

As such Hals is not a warm atmosphere for the youngetr set:cool:

Quote from Hawaiidan in another thread...

"After experiencing the totaly out of control kid seen I will NEVER go on a cruise during any school holiday, or when the cruise line has a family special... that is kids sail at any discount. on any line.

The Kids factor drove me to sail Regent where they didnt give a discount to kids, has a strict policy ( a Kid is someone under 21 in their book.) and way willing to pay 500 to 800 a day to be on a kid free ship. On Kid cruises the parents are as bad the kids... and actualy facilitate the bad behaviour.

The whole promotion of bring kids as many and as young as possible is in my book wrong and self indulgent. sitting next to the little darling during their food fights in the buffet.... have then ringing cabin doors, A crying baby in the dining room..... NO way pal.... Children shouldbe seen and not heard.... I say let them wait till they have the maturity and the financial ability to take themselves.... Adults deserve cruises as a place to relax.... kids , in my book just plain dont belong a a cruise abnd any line with a Kids program has lost me as a passenger

Run dont walk from any ship that welcomes kids because the spolled adults who bring them are as big a problem or worse.:eek:

Thought I'd share Hawaiidan's comments from another thread about kids on HAL now on page 3... He's absolutely entitled to his opinion, but this might help you see where he's coming from and why he doesn't want to encourage you to go on HAL with your family.

We have found HAL to be absolutely fine for families and will happily take our DD on their ships. There is a small minority of people who don't want to see kids on ships under any circumstances, but you probably won't encounter this on board and I'm sure your family will have a wonderful time. Kids don't need rock walls to be entertained and as long as Hubby and I are paying for the cruise, we will decide which line we go on, not our 9 year old!

There are two other recent "kids on HAL" threads you would learn a lot from, so do a search for those and enjoy the variety of opinions on offer...

We've been on four HAL cruises, starting when my kids were 7 and 9. On our last one they were 13 and 15. HAL is by far our family's favourite cruise line. We've cruised during spring break when there were a lot of kids, and during times when there were very few. Club HAL and the Loft have always been very enjoyable for them. We've been on NCL, RCCL, and Costa, but my children have always had much more fun on HAL.

Holland Amreica has put in kids activites in as an after thought and squeezed them in to their existing ships...

For Children I would suggest Disney, NCL and Princess all of whom have built up their programs and built their ships with family in mind.

Holand america has much smaller ships 1200 passenger verses the 2400 and 3000 passenger ships which have total entertainment centers

On the smaller were built for a small group of people that dont really need to be entertained and with a strong leaning toward the older travler rather than younger ones

As such Hals is not a warm atmosphere for the youngetr set:cool:

:confused:Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam accomodate over 2,000 passengers. Zuiderdam, Oosterdam and Noordam over 1,800 passengers. These ships were built with families in mind.

A lot depends on the itinerary, and time of year; less kids on board when school is in session.

We are certainly not anti-kid (our daughter started cruising when she was 5) but will relay a conversation we had on a Caribbean cruise early last December (Princess). We were sitting next to a friendly young couple (probably 30s) who had two children (about 8 and 11) who they had pulled out of school for a 10 day cruise. The parents started talking to us and soon complained that the kids program was awful because there were very few kids on the cruise. I remarked to the Mom that perhaps it was because most parents believe in sending their children to school when school is open. She told me that "everyone pulls their kids out of school." Of course that is not true and the reality is that most parents would never pull their child out of school for a cruise. But, if a parents feel that is the best option they need to accept that there will not be a lot similar aged kids on the ship. In fact, some cruise lines used to not even operate their children's programs during the school year although, lately, they do seem to have some kind of program year round.

Hank

I have a 9 year old just going into 4th grade and I cannot imagine pulling her out for 10 days at this stage. School is just too academic and important. That is WHY we travel during school vacations. We really have little choice. I am shocked that responsible parents would do that with upper elementary aged kids!

We did a transatlantic crossing when our daughter was 4, in early September after the schools were back in session and she was one of 2 kids on board. Of course there won't be many kids on board at such a time! Frankly, that's why I do like going during the holidays... I don't have to worry about my daughter being alone in the kids club. There can be 500 kids on board one week and none the next, depending on the school calendar. It's incredible that this wouldn't occur to parents when booking a trip...

I plan on booking a trip out of the school holidays only because the weather will be warmer traveling to Bermuda, rather May than April, when she's off.

I will be taking her out 4 days - whether this is right or wrong is just the thoughts of opinions of the childs parents...

You can say that I'm wrong or I'm right -- I have to do whats best for us at the time. No, I don't want her to be the only one on the ship, nor do I want her to miss important things in her life at school. She just started 2nd grade, will be 8 at the time of the cruise. If she was in the upper elementary grades I WILL NOT or WOULD NOT pull her out of classes. I never did that with my son at that age, but up till 2nd grade I did take him out once or twice during his years, he's now 19.

I didn't want this to be a 'war' thread.... I was just asking a nice question regarding kids on HA.

I'm sorry if it has upset some or opened up a can of worms.... Wasn't my intention! :)

In terms of academics and pulling kids out of school there's a big difference between a 2nd grader and a 4th grader, and a huge difference between 4 days and 10 days... A couple of days is one thing... 2 weeks of school is another.

As for opening up a can of worms... Any thread on kids on this board will achieve that goal! if you read the other two threads I referred you to, you'll know what I mean... You asked a reasonable question and got the inevitable array of responses... Staying focussed on your original question, I think plenty of people have shared their experiences on HAL and convinced you to give them a try.

I'm sure you'll have a great cruise on HAL!

Here I am opening that can of worms again, regarding kids and HAL :) hehe

I was just checking on HAL and they have a great itinerary for Bermuda from NY - the oceanview rooms are huge compared to other cruise lines..

The price is nicer as well for a much bigger room.

I love the itinerary --- even speaking w/ the HAL rep, she assured me that there is a kids program and that kids are welcomed. I would honestly hate to tick anyone off on their vacation if they saw a child --- I sometimes find that older adults just hate being around kids. I know my daughter is well behaved at 8 and will not run around the ship like a banchie! :)

Any advice out there about HAL and the Bermuda itinerary ...

Thanks!!

xoxoxo:)

GRR _ just looked at the rooms .. rep told me 297 sq foot on an oceanview, it's only 197.. so it's a tad bigger than NCL.