GirlGoneTexan

My experience has been: at the port there is a table where they count your bottles and put stickers on them showing you paid corkage. They charge it to your onboard account.  

We were on the Amsterdam for 2 weeks to Alaska in June 2017. I found the inside temperatures to be normal - definitely not as cold as outside.

While inside on the ship, my husband wore shorts with long sleeved tshirts most of the time. He'd keep a fleece with him in case we decided to go outside. I wore jeans and t-shirt.  I wore a strappy cocktail dress almost every night to dinner (we like to dress up) and was only cold when I had to run to the sport court to make my teen to go to bed - with no real nighttime, those kids would try to play ball all night!   The covered pool area was warm, especially when the sun was out. Kids swam with no problem. I sat out in shorts.

I would definitely bring layers. I overdressed on our Duck Tour on Ketchikan. It was sunny and mild, and I was sweating in the close quarters of the duck-mobile. We lunched outside, and we all were down to our lightest layer.  Some days it was so cold I had to wear a fleece AND my puffer, especially by the glaciers.  And then some days it was mild and pouring rain... light clothes and a raincoat.

You never know in Alaska!

We've sailed Holland America twice with our kids, in 2017 and 2019, and they love Club HAL. We are considering booking another cruise for summer 2022. I recall in late 2019, HAL was considering changing up the Club HAL format to more of a "freestyle" format.  When I wrote HAL about this, they said it was currently in a trial phase only on the Oosterdam.  Then COVID hit, and since then, I've been out of the cruise loop.  

Anyone know what the status of Club HAL is, whether they've changed the format or if it is the same as recent years? 

We brought our free bottle of champagne from our suite to Half Moon Cay and our own cups. My husband brought beers we had stocked in our fridge. My beach bag had a cooler built in the bottom. No one said a word... 

16 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Joshua needs to learn to proofread.

Right?!

Funny thing is, I get this email a couple hours later, which seems to be a different response:

On behalf of Mr. Kruse & Mr. Ashford, we want to thank you for taking the time to email us regarding your concerns of Club Hal and our new High Score! program. We truly appreciate your feedback; knowing your personal experience is important to us and we deeply regret the disappointment and frustration you encountered.

At this time, High Score! has replaced Club HAL for guests 7-17 year olds on the Oosterdam. Club HAL still exists for 3-6 year old one the Oosterdam. High Score! is currently planned for deployment across the whole fleet with the roll out schedule yet to be determined.

Unleash your competitive spirit at High Score!, our new family game room — currently available on the ms Oosterdam. By day, it’s a secret hideaway for kids and teens, where they can engage in a fast-paced flurry of four-person air hockey or contend for bragging rights in the video arcade. At night, the entire family is welcome to bond over board games, skee-ball, a tilting labyrinth and family activities. High Score! is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for kids and teens ages 7-17, and for the whole family, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. High Score! is a new family game room with a video arcade, Skee-Ball, four-player air hockey, foosball table, board games, tilting labyrinth and more.

We acknowledge and appreciate your input regarding our change in programming for children. High Score! is part of a larger plan to make our voyages more enjoyable for families and multigenerational cruisers. This programming offers new activities like dance classes, game nights, nature presentations and cooking classes. There are activities for several age groups – ages 3-6, 7-12 and teenagers – giving kids and the entire family more ways to have fun on board in group settings. High Score! Is intended to cater to the more than 50,000 younger guests sailing each year with Holland America Line. Our goal is to ensure that all guests completely enjoy their time with us and return home eager to sail with us again and we are very sorry if we let you down. Comments and feedback are important to us and are definitely considered in the ongoing evaluation of our product and services. We assure you that we take guest input very seriously, and have forwarded your comments to the appropriate management for their information, benefit, and corrective action as necessary.

We thank you for giving us this opportunity to review your concerns, and assisting us in our efforts to meet our goal of consistent excellence. We look forward to welcoming you on board soon. Feedback from our guests is vital in our mission to create once-in-a-lifetime experiences, every time, and we hope to share many more voyages with you.

Kind Regards,

Tyme

Resolution Specialist

Office of the President

Sent  HAL an email about it, this was their response to me, received this morning:

***

Thank you for your recent correspondence with Holland America Line regarding Club HAL.

At this time the only ship without Club HAL is the ms Oosterdam which is undergoing a trial program. We try to review no things and feature to find if we can offer an overall better experience for our guests. We appreciate your feedback and will be keep our guests as a whole in mind for our future decisions.

Please feel free to contact us if we may be of additional assistance or visit us online. We look forward to welcoming you onboard in the near future!

Kind Regards,

Joshua

We were also on this cruise. And our group contributed to the kid-count (5 kids in our group), but overall it was a great trip!

We did Tamarind twice, and it was EXCELLENT.  MDR lines on Deck 2 were super long, but since we were Neptune, we went in the Club Orange priority line and didn't wait at all.

BB Kings was fun, but got repetitive with the same songs every other night. Billboard was entertaining, but I thought David Anthony on Amsterdam was much better. Only went to one show, Step One, and it was just OK. 

Pool was super crowded on sea days, and we did have to move towels left too long in order to get seats. Sea View pool was not full but chairs were. The deck above it had plenty of loungers and breezes, though.

We took our kids (ages 8, 10 at the time) on a 2 week to Alaska on the Amsterdam. As Dulciana8 said above, because there are less kids, the kids definitely get more attention in the kids' club. We had cruised RCL before, and their kids' club was such a chaotic nightmare that my kids refused to go back.  They loved the variety of activities and how engaged the counselors were at Club HAL.  The counselors took them for ice cream, up on the sport deck for gaga ball and other running around games, and they enjoyed movie nights, skits, and other fun stuff at night. They made several friends that hung out around the ship together sometimes when not in the club.

Outside of the club, they enjoyed the pools, nights of room service and a movie, and dressing up for dining. They sat with me at the piano bar one evening, and the performer saw them and started playing a medley of Disney songs for them. I took my son to a comedy show one night, and it was relatively clean (anything that wasn't was subtle enough to be over his head). We watched a show as a family - they enjoyed it.  We danced in the Crowe's nest to the band one night. My daughter and I went to a movie one sea day afternoon when it was cold and rainy.  They played the life-sized chess one afternoon while adults in the lido watched them with surprise... yes kids can play chess! 🙂

My kids loved their HAL experience. We will be on NA in less than 2 weeks for a Caribbean cruise, so I can report back with more when we return (they are 11 and 13 now, and we're going with my sisters' kids who are 4, 6, and 17).

Here's my review of our cruise if that helps...

N Amsterdam - 23-Nov-19 - 7 day Tropical Caribbean

Our family (9 adults, 5 kids) will be on this cruise celebrating November birthdays, including a 40th & 50th, and Thanksgiving! 

32 minutes ago, doone said:

Jet skiing, its a blast!!!!!

Is the jet skiing something you have to reserve in advance, or do they have options to book activities upon arrival?  If the latter, where do you go to rent/book once there?

For our 14 day Alaska cruise, we packed a collapsible dolly in one of our bags. Then upon arrival in Seattle, we took an Uber to Total Wine and picked up a couple cases of wine we had pre-ordered online.  We had no issues getting our wine on the boat via the dolly. In fact, everyone was asking us if they'd be invited to the party! 🙂

Ahhh OK. Thank you for the clarification.

Do they still have entertainment up there sometimes? Although we enjoyed the quiet evenings chatting with the bartenders & servers, we danced up a storm in there a few times!

We previously sailed on the Amsterdam and spent many evenings in the Crow's Nest Bar.

We booked on the Nieuw Amsterdam for Thanksgiving, so I was browsing photos of the ship. Did they turn the Crow's Nest into the Explorations Cafe?  Is there no longer a bar up there???

We did a 14day AK cruise on the Amsterdam with our 9 and 11 yr old kids. My kids absolutely loved it.  We did have Club HAL, which they loved. But they also made friends with the few kids that were on the ship, and they all hung out at the pool together when not in Club HAL. One child even had an impromptu birthday party at the pool one day and invited all the kids to come celebrate. I would definitely say the lido pool was not crowded. And most of the time, the only people in the pools were the kids!! Since the roof could close, it didn't really matter what the weather was. The kids also participated in the Polar Plunge with the adults, which was fun to watch.

I would recommend going on one with a Club HAL to give them more options of things to do. The caregivers were engaged, and the kids loved going.  They didn't spend all day there, but would pick and choose different activities on sea days (gaga ball, scavenger hunt, etc). 

We did RCL Liberty in the past, and it was just too much stimulation for my kids. The crowds and lines were stressful, and the kids' club was always full (where they turned you away). The kids begged to go back on HAL. So we are going on a family cruise at Thanksgiving this year. My sister is bringing her 4 and 7 year olds on their first cruise. I know they will have a blast!

I have a trip review somewhere on here from our Alaskan cruise that had a lot of info about the kids' experience on the ship. I think you can click on my name and see my previous posts. But I am happy to answer any specific questions.

I enjoyed reading your post just now - as we will be taking our 8 and 10 year olds on the Koningsdam in March. Can I ask if you took your kids to the aft pool? I have been told that the aft pool is ADULTS ONLY, however the signage at the pool states those 14 and over require supervision. I plan on taking our kids to this pool, while supervising them of course. Hoping we don't get any glares lol. Did the staff enforced the max capacity of the pool that you noticed? It's posted as being only 8 people. Thx :)

Hi, I'm going to answer based on our cruise on the Amsterdam this past June with our 8 and 11 year olds. We were cruising for 2 weeks to Alaska, and there were about 30 kids under 13 on board, which was PERFECT. The kids made friends at Club HAL, and they really connected with the staff unlike previous cruises on other cruise lines.

Yes we took our kids to the aft pool. Got a few looks but no one said anything. There was nothing that said the aft pool was adults only.

Re: capacity, the aft pool is pretty small, but I never saw more than 5 people in it at a time.

The lido pool was typically the one people swam in, but it was never packed as on previous cruises (RCI big ships where you can't even get near the pool).

I was pleasantly surprised at how everyone, both guests and employees, treated us and our children. We were often complimented on their behavior, dress (they dressed up at formal night), and how well they danced with the band, and the piano player even took some of their requests.

My kids said they will never go back to RCI, they are hooked on Holland!

Have a great trip!

We sailed on Amsterdam out of Seattle on June 5 and prior to we did not receive an email like that.

We were 1-Star but boarded at 11:40 with no issues as we were in a Neptune Suite.

I plan to post a more detailed general review when I have time, but wanted to post a kid-activity review specifically since I know we had a lot of questions going into this cruise. We are in our 40's and had our kids, ages 8 and 11, with us. We all had a fabulous time on our 14 day Alaskan cruise, our first HAL sailing.

The kids had been on Royal Caribbean before and didn't care for the kids club there. It was always full, and if you didn't get there when the session began, you couldn't put them in until the next session. They LOVED Club HAL. There were only about 30 kids under age 13 on the ship, and they made so many friends. They begged to go the club every chance they could. You could drop or pickup anytime during a session. They were flexible with activities, and the kids were always engaged. They no longer offer babysitting after 11pm which apparently is a recent change. The kids stayed there every night until 10 or 11pm.

We had no problems with the kids in the lounges or at dinner, and several people were nice enough to compliment their behavior. We took them dancing one night at the Crow's Nest, and they sat with us a few times at the piano bar. (David Anthony is so good!!!) The waiters and bartenders were always so friendly to them, and often made special origami animals, flowers, or did tricks for them. Our MDR waiter brought them a puzzle one day for them to work on. The MDR also has a kids' menu with coloring and games. My son ordered off the main menu, but my daughter generally stuck with chicken tenders and pasta on the kids' menu. My daughter was a regular in the lido ice cream line! The kids also liked the Dive In Burgers and the taco bar.

The only complaint related to the kids was that the kids' menu via room service is only offered after 5:30pm. Also they did not allow us to order anything off the MDR menu, it had to be from the limited room service menu only. I had thought the Neptune Suites had more options with room service, but apparently not.

The kids swam in the pools several times, usually the lido since it was warmer air with the roof closed. There were often teenagers and kids in the pool. Be warned, when the seas are rough, the pools are rough! It was tough swimming on some days where the pool was more like a wave pool! They participated in the Polar Plunge, but were disappointed that it was moved from the Aft Sea View pool (which would have been a REAL polar plunge) to the Lido Pool. They still had fun and received certificates.

We had a DVD player in our suite, and the movies were free to borrow. They had tons of kids movies, so the kids had a movie sent to the room almost every day. It was nice that several of the moves playing in the Wajang theater were family friendly, and the kids enjoyed going. They offered Beauty and the Beast (the recent one) one evening, and Boss Baby one afternoon.

Our kids wore nice clothes to dinner every night (collar and khakis for the boy, dress or pants for the girl) and fancy dress and suit/tie for formal night. They love to dress up so this was no issue. Daytime was shorts or jeans and t-shirts, with a jacket if they were going up on the Sports Deck.

The kids didn't want to come home... and neither did we! :)

What exactly does this contract state?

We're taking our first HAL cruise with the kids (ages 8, 11) next month... 14 day Amsterdam to Alaska.

Premium package - I paid $388.22 USD which included tax & gratuity for 7 night cruise. It was the pre-cruise special.

Evening shows...

day 1 comedy - 10pm

Ice shows - 2pm and 4pm on days 2 & 7

Day 3 In the Air 6:30pm and 8:30pm

Day 5 70's Street Party in Promenade 10-11pm

Day 5 Ventriloquist 6:30/8:30pm

Day 7 Saturday Night Fever 6:30/9pm

Not sure I got everything, but those are the main ones, I think. Hope that helps. Have a great time!!

How long do you typically have to wait if you walk in with a party of four with no reservations if you would like to have your own table vs sharing with a larger table. Is the set up mostly tables for two or four?

 

We have previously done this with reservation years ago and were seated at our table for two with the same waiter. The tables were however pretty much an inch or maybe two apart!

 

Question....is the wait shorter if you volunteer to share?

We went to MDR last week with no reservations for Table for 2 around 7:45pm. Waited about 15 minutes. They did not offer or ask about sitting with others. However, we were seated VERY close to other couples, but we all were content keeping to ourselves.

They have round large tables (we had a party of 8 most nights) and then they have rectangular tables that they break up or pull together for small or large groups.

I always use the Transderm Scop patch (prescription) when deep sea fishing and cruising with no side effects.

I've tried Dramamine (too drowsy) and wrist bands (just don't work). The patch worked the best for me.

Thanks for your feedback! our return flight from George Bush airport is at 3:30pm, is it possible for us to go to Space Center at 9:00am, go around Space Center till 12:30pm and then proceed to George Bush airport.. do you think we can make it...

 

Also we spoke to one cab driver, he agreed to pick us up from Galveston port at 8:30am, wait for 3 to 3.5 hours at Space Center (our luggage left in his car) and then drop us to George Bush airport for US$200/-, is it worth & can they be trusted for leaving our luggage in the cab.. he will be giving his business card of cab company to us...

Space Center to GB Airport is probably an hour without traffic. So it's possible, but definitely tight! You have to drive through (or around) downtown, and traffic

Not sure what other options you have... rent a car... you could use Uber from Space Center to IAH, not sure how much that would cost, but you'd have to cab it to SC since Uber cannot pick up at port.

GirlGoneTexan, we are cruising next July and plan to do Self Disembarking, as we need to return our car back to IAH for a 2:15 PM flight. Should we get in the first group. We also need to call our Hotel Shuttle to take us back to the hotel for our car or should we park at one of the lots across the street or terminal parking lot.

I would try to get off as early as you can. IAH is quite the haul from Galveston.

It may be safer to park vs. waiting on a hotel shuttle. We parked at Galveston Cruise N Park which you can just walk across the street instead of waiting for shuttles to take you to the terminal lots. They offer discount with online pre-book.

Thanks for your prompt response. We will go ahead and fix our cab for 9am pickup at Galveston port on disembarkation day.

 

How about ordering breakfast via room service?

 

One more question, I like mixed cocktails (pina coloda, lava flow, laboodzie & wine). Do you recommend me to go for premium package...(20% off if we book now). or can I get 10 drink punch card on the day of embarkation by way of approaching bar manager...

 

Also please recommend any other good mixed cocktails available at LOS.. Thanks

We did breakfast via room service one day. We left the hanger out for delivery between 7:30-8 and they called at 7:25 to notify us they were on their way. Breakfast menu is limited but if you're just wanting fruit, coffee, and pastries, it's easy! They do have hot items like eggs, but I wasn't going to risk it after seeing the WJ eggs. MDR has made to order eggs that are much much better.

I did the Premium package because I wanted the wine & cocktails. I did not see the punch cards offered until maybe day 4 or 5? I found it easy to drink my money's worth on sea days. Port days I probably just broke even. Most of the decent wines are around $12, so with the 20% off, I could have a couple glasses of wine at dinner, port with dessert, and a few cocktails in the afternoon...unlimited water bottles and soda too, which I am not a big soda drinker but it was nice to have some with lunch. I was constantly getting water bottles to stock our room.

They offer interesting drinks of the day - they're fun to try. In general, I felt the bartenders were often very generous with their liquor pours.

Great review!! Extremely thorough ;)

 

I have been on 2 cruises (2004 and 2009) and only with the wife and it was pretty fun, mostly because it was just her and I (alone time). I'm one of those less time on the boat wish I was at the port more types anyway, but a cruise always comes up for family vacation every year.

 

Your review sort of pushes me away from wanting to take the family. We just did Ireland for 16 days this summer and it was AWESOME!! Cost about 20K for 6 of us and did Italy the year before that for 15 days for 19k.

 

A 7 day cruise out of Galveston adjoining rooms, balcony, 6 people (14,15,17,19, 41,42), (on Liberty) is looking like at least $12k plus excursions for only 3 days at a port maybe I haven't googled enough IDK?

 

I think I'd rather just fly somewhere and spend a week especially when you talk about the crowds, pools full, and the most memorable times being the excursions.

I've only been on one cruise before this one - Carnival back in 2001 with only my husband and another couple. We went in October so there were hardly any kids on the ship.

The crowds would be the big reason I might not cruise in the summer again. We really did have a great time and the kids definitely did not want to leave, but it was a relief to get to port and get away from everyone!!! We'd been to Cozumel already but it was nice to see Roatan and Costa Maya.

Cruising is nice to "sample" places you don't want to commit to, while other places it's nice to stay and immerse yourself.