Willl teens be bored on Veendam?

Hi, I'm thinking of maybe booking a Canada-New England cruise with another family on Veendam. I have no doubt the adults will be fine (restaurants, bars, trivia, etc.) but we would have four teenage girls with us (youngest 15 oldest 18). So they can't drink of course nor would they, but will there be enough to keep them entertained? Is there enough time in at least a few of the ports to do decent excursions? I'd hate to think of them bored out of their minds on a cruise - past cruises have been on mega-ships with water slides, ropes courses etc. I actually think they've outgrown that, but will there be other kids their age and things to do? I've never sailed HAL before.

Thanks!

If it is summer time and school is out, you can count on other young people being on board. HAL gets good marks for its young people programs and activities and they have special gathering spots exclusive for their use. This is a very port intensive cruise so there will not be much idle time on board anyway.

Good challenge and teaching experience - you know the old saying the Queen Mother gave to her daughters, which is never too young to learn - if you are bored,.... then you are boring.

Canada/New England is a port intensive cruise and there are a lot of excursions to choose from.

HAL has "Club HAL" for children ages 3 through 17. Click on the link below:

https://www.hollandamerica.com/pageByName/Resp.action?requestPage=ClubHAL&showHeader=true&showFooter=true

The Veendam has a very unique Club Hal area for teens. It is a two story space at the ship's aft called the Oasis.

It takes up space on deck 12 and 13 and has a tropical feel to it's outdoor space. They even have their own little splash pool. Google is your friend for photos of it. I've walked through it, and it looks appealing me to me. I think teens would enjoy having their private space to relax and make new friends.

We took our two children on their first HAL cruise when they were 17 & 19, and they have been on four more with us since. The 17-year-old went to Club HAL (on that first cruise) and had fun. Neither of them have ever complained about being bored or refused to go again (and OleSalt, I love that quote from the Queen Mother!).

As others have already noted, Canada / New England is very port-intensive, so hopefully you will be spending a lot of time off the ship. And there's lots to see and do.

On-board the ship, our kids love team trivia (more than I do now, in fact). And other teenagers apparently like it too, because last summer a team of six kids on our Alaskan cruise won team trivia one day.

One other note -- your 18-year-old(s) will actually be of legal drinking age in Quebec.

HAL's teen club and HAL club are very good but....

What do your teens want?

To be entertained or just to enjoy time on board and in the ports and mingle with others.

My friends started taking their daughter cruising when she was 5. IIRC the first ship was Disney. But, HAL remains this young lady's line of choice. She seems to have no problem enjoying herself ;). And with others on board. She's an adult now, but back then for her, she was fine doing her own thing.

On the other hand, I know others whose children/teens rave about the HAL club and the Loft so it all depends upon what appeals to your children. You know them better than we.

But there should be young people on board to mingle with.

I don't think they will be bored. My kids were always busy and found plenty to do. My one son preferred to hang around with us or else strike out on his own to play ping pong and chess and work on puzzles. He met a lot of great people that challenged him, gave him pointers, taught him a lot. When you see a 17 year old chatting like an old friend with a retired 80 year old U.S. Air Force Captain, you know the cruise has an awesome mix of people lol. My other son quickly joined the teen scene - there was a relatively small amount of teenagers on our cruise, but they were a great group and got tight very quickly. They were more into dancing, eating, and late night discussions under the stars. So their interests onboard were very different, but in fact, both of my boys said the Canada / New England on the Veendam was their favourite cruise.