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Sailing on Zuiderdam on 12/27/17 question?


travel_fanatic
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I'm very excited to be cruising on this ship during the holiday time with my family and kids, but I was wondering if there are more kids that sail during this time because it is the holiday season. I've heard HAL is more geared towards the older age group but I wanted to know if there would be a larger ratio of kids on the ship at this time. I find it to be better if there are more kids so my kids stay occupied and make friends. They keep asking about the wifi when we go, but is that really worth purchasing? I'm not sure how efficient the speed is. Also, do they do any special festivities or if there is a change in the menu for New Years? Thanks!

Edited by travel_fanatic
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Depending on the age of your children there is HAL Club that I have heard excellent things about.

 

We have found the WIFI to be very slow and also quite expensive. I wouldn't be spending money on minutes for children. We always used WIFI off the ship at a cafe whilst having a coffee. We only needed it to catch up with family.

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We have been on HAL twice for New Year's - once on Eurodam and once on Zuiderdam. There are a larger number of families on board than non holiday sailings and the caribbean tends to draw more families than other sailings. There are lots of older people, but we found that a large percentage are there with their kids and grandkids, so if your kids are in the age groups served by the kids programs, there should be plenty of kids and activities to keep them busy. We have always enjoyed the New Year's sailings.

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Wifi speeds come via satellites so it is not impressive under today's standards. It does allow you to keep in contact with the rest of the world but not good for downloading /uploading files.

 

There are special menus for Christmas Ever, Christmas Day, and New Years Eve. All of the HAL ships have plenty of decorations and lots of activities for Christmas.

 

It is my experience that there are so many activities for kids that you will only see them at meal times. Lots of friends to be made from around the world, video games to be played, swimming time, ice cream to be eaten, and scavenger hunts for the older teens to make kids nearly invisible to the rest of the passengers. Here are some examples of HAL activities for teens:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/holland-america-lines-kids-activities-examples/

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