charliemikeoh

Roz, our children are definitely not typical of today's youth (sadly, for this country, though our country would be wildly overpopulated if more children were so enjoyable!). I am a counselor; our family ministers to families who have adopted children with severe emotional and behavioral disturbances. We take one child into care here at a time to try and salvage his or her adoption. The biggest asset we have in ministry is our own healthy teenagers, who model respect for authority and responsibility with chores, for the child we take into care here. We all work hard ... and we enjoy the peace, quiet, and REST when we are able to get it! Three hot meals a day here around a dining room table, every board game made, and lots of laughter. Tragic more families don't enjoy their children, too. Be blessed!

I don't know about your children but MY children would be wholly content and delighted. They started sailing with us when they 2-5 years old each. First cruise with them was on the MSC Lirica, which is a little bigger than the Veendam. It was our favorite experience thus far. We live a very quiet, private life with no TV or electronics and enjoy each others' company.

We just finished our first HAL cruise, a week on the Nieuw Amsterdam. Already looking to book our next. Because I work for a large university, we can only really travel from about 12/12/20 to 01/10/21. We travel with four of our youngest children(ages 7-17) and usually bring one or two extra with us, so cost is definitely a factor. We LOVED Half Moon Cay. We don't like the itinerary on the Nieuw Amsterdam the week we are looking at (alas, no HMC!); none of us have ever been to any of the ports that the Veendam will sail to that week (Trujillo Honduras, Costa Maya Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize). We prefer smaller, quieter, more intimate ships. We don't smoke though and really appreciated not having to walk through a smoky casino on the HAL-NA. Our children don't need any activities to be entertained. Veendam has some very bad reviews. That isn't always truth, so we're looking for feedback. We just had four interior cabins on the Verandah deck of the Veendam held. Not sure if that was a good plan or not; we have a day or two to decide...

Sailing HAL Nieuw Amsterdam in Fall of 2019. Are there any theme nights (i.e., 70s, white, Caribbean)? TIA

We're sailing on this same itinerary 01/10-01/20. Looks like only two "elegant" (i.e., gala) nights? MSC's website says three, and I called to confirm and was advised three. Grr!

How frustrating. I decided to upgrade to the Classic (booked in July with DOU promo). Can't do it. No notice to us that this option would be closed. Not happy they can change the terms without notice. We have the brochure with the options from our booking!

Thank you, CTBob. We sincerely disliked Darrin in May of 2017. We miss Andre!

Who is the current activities director, too, please? Sailing on the Divina next month.