First Cruise - Kid Friendly?

[sobore]

I am looking for opinions as to why or why not take a very first cruise on HAL. Some have mentioned that HAL may not be kid friendly for children 5-10 years old.

[doone]

HAL is trying to market their cruise line to being more of a family friendly cruise line, which I think they have done pretty well in some areas and maybe need a little bit of help in other areas, but overall, its pretty good for the kids, IMHO. My sisters, brother-in-laws, neices and nephews from the ages of 5 - 16 sailed with us about 5 years ago on the Veendam. This was on the February vacation so there may have been a few more activities for the kids, not sure. But to make a long story short, the kids had a blast with Club HAL, as a matter of fact, they planned another family cruise, which is happening this February, only they said 7 days was not enough, we're booked on the Volendam for 10-days on Feb. 11. The kids are now 10 - 18, this will be our last family cruise as my oldest nephew will be joining the Navy in September.

 

I say go for it, the kids will have a wonderful time especially now that HAL has enhanced their kids area since my neices and nephews have sailed, they'll have a great time.

 

I am sure others here will have some other information to give you as well, but that's my 2 cents worth.

[kryos]

I say go for it, the kids will have a wonderful time especially now that HAL has enhanced their kids area since my neices and nephews have sailed, they'll have a great time.

Another thing you might want to consider ... make certain to travel at a time when kids are out of school. This way there will be more kids on the sailing for your children to become acquainted with. It's always more fun for kids if they have a whole bunch of new friends to hang out with on the ship even during those hours when the kids club is closed. If you sail during time periods when kids are in school, they won't get that since there will be very few kids onboard to participate in the kids programs. Also, while I don't have kids, I would assume there would be a lot more activities done in Club Hal when they have a large number of kids participating as opposed to only a few.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[formercruisestaff]

A positive or negative (depending on how you look at it) to HAL when they have lower kid counts is that the kids get more individualized attention. The same activities are available regardless of kid count, but I've found that people who seem to enjoy the children's program at HAL like it because the counselors get an opportunity to know the children, and they're not treated like cattle, being scanned in and out and wearing name tags. On the opposite, the people who seem to dislike HAL's programming feel their children will/did not have as much fun because their were less kids aboard.

[doone]

Formercruisestaff, yes, that's an excellent point. My nieces and nephews enjoyed the smaller groups on HAL and they got to know the counsellors and the counsellors got to know them as well. Even though it was a 7-day cruise, the kids and counsellors seemed to all be friends after a few days. As I mentioned before, we sailed on Feb. school vacation, that being said, we only had approximately 80 children onboard. Enough so the kids all had someone to hang out with, but not enough for them to take over the ship. It was truly nice. We'll see how many are on our Feb sailing of 10-days.

[sobore]

Thanks for the great advice! BTW, where is HAL crusing in Feburary?

[doone]

Winter time is mainly the caribbean. Check out their web site and itineraries for February at: http://www.hollandamerica.com Good luck.

[RevNeal]

In Feb of 2006 HAL will have 8 of their 13 ships in the Caribbean for at least part of the month (Maasdam, Noordam(1 cruise), Ryndam (half the month), Veendam, Volendam, Westerdam, Zaandam, and Zuiderdam). As for the rest of the fleet:

 

The Amsterdam will be doing round trips to Hawaii out of San Diego.

The Oosterdam will be doing Mexican Riviera (west coast of Mexico) out of San Diego.

The Prinsendam will be on the "Grand World Voyage"

The Rotterdam will be in South America

The Ryndam will be doing a Panama Canal transit

The Statendam will be in Austrialia/New Zealand & South Pacific

 

Of these, the Caribbean and Mexico's west coast are excellent choices for a kid's first cruise in February. In 2007 HAL will have only 5 ships offering cruises in the Caribbean during the month of February. The rest of the fleet will be offering cruises else where around the planet.

 

Normally I put on a pose of finding children distasteful ... in truth, I am generally quite fond of the little beasts. ;) Have a wonderful cruise with whatever itinerary you choose!

[Randyk47]

In March 2004 we had 200 (+/-) children on the ship. For the most part it appeared they were happily involved in the ship's Club HAL program. And, should add, that was well before the SOE upgrades which will add even more latitude for kids on the Oosterdam. It was interesting that on the last sea day my wife and I were coming back from the Crow's Nest, where we'd been watching the Oosterdam sail past Havanna, when we ran into a half a dozen or so kids. They were riding the elevator and when the door opened for us they were sitting or laying on the floor. They apologized immediately and most of them stood up. We said that was OK and we started up a conversation with them about how they had enjoyed the cruise. I'd say they were 11-13 years old and they were bored, riding the elevator up and down and up and down, and generally ready to get off the ship on that last day. I sat down on the floor with them and we kind of reviewed the then 6 days of the cruise. What did they like? What did they see? What didn't they like? We wound up riding up and down with them a number of times and at the end they allowed as though it hadn't maybe been as bad as they thought.....but they were ready to go home but maybe in just a little better mood, at least for the rest of that afternoon! :)

[gizmo]

As some others have mentioned the time of the year and length of cruise has a lot to do with the number of kids on board.

 

Presidents week in Feb you will find many kids on board especially on 7 day cruises.

 

I don't think Hal is unfriendly but somewhat limited as to what other cruise lines provide.

 

Some cruise lines have programs that run much longer than Hal's. The hours are limited. On the other hand Hal's programs are not a crowded as other cruise line.

[formercruisestaff]

gizmo's right - I'd say in terms of facilities and resources, HAL is still behind (but catching up)

 

However, I think the hours are pretty reasonable - on a sea day Club HAL kids and tweens runs from 9am-noon, 2-5pm, and 7:30/8 (depending on the ship) until 10pm with optional group kidsitting until midnight. The Loft (for 13-17 year olds) is open on a seaday from 10:30-noon, 2-6pm, and 9pm-1am (though they will close early if teens don't show up, or leave early).