HAL to Alaska with teens

[darstamp]

We want to cruise to Alaska next year, round trip from Vancouver, in July or August. So far, we have found only two lines offering such a cruise and one of them is HAL. We have heard horror stories about HAL from friends who sailed to Alaska several years ago - they said it was geared to the very senior, with poor food, and run down. Is anyone who sailed that itinerary lately able to give us their view of these issues and the suitability for teens and their parents?

[sammiedawg]

Round trip Vancouver is not the best itinerary and does not lend itself to do a land tour, before or after. The best itineraries will be listed Vancouver to Anchorage northbound, or Anchorage to Vancouver southbound. People routinely do a combined land tour of Alaska before or after the cruise.

 

I don’t know what ships HAL is using for Alaska next year. Holland America has gone downhill over the last ten years. So have other mass market lines.

It is still a decent choice for Alaska as they have Glacier Bay permits and they run their own land tour programs.

 

We like the Princess Alaska program the best, their cruise tours are wonderful. They have fabulous wilderness lodges and offer a myriad of cruise tour choices. They also have Glacier bay permits. The Royal Princess, one of their newest ships, is doing Alaska next year and we are thinking about it for an extended family trip.

If you want a more upscale cruise lines, most of them do Alaska but they generally don’t have Glacier bay permits. They will partner with land tour companies but they generally don’t have their own lodges.

 

Alaska is wonderful but try to do a land tour.

[darstamp]

Thanks, but we are looking for the 7 day round trip and Princess is not offering that in July or August. I did it a couple of years ago to/from Vancouver with Norwegian and it was wonderful but they are now sailing out of Seattle and that doesn't work for us either.

[dogo88]

We did the 2 week trip up to Alaska from Seattle last May on the Zaandam. Awesome time. Typical Alaska weather where it can be rainy one day and sunny the next. Ports and ship were excellent. Looking forward to doing Alaska again. But wouldn't do a one week trip. Way too much to see and do in only one week.

 

Dan

[darstamp]

Glad you thought the ship was excellent. Did you find was geared to seniors or were there things for teens although probably not many were sailing in May?

[nw gardener]

We have AK 3 times on HAL ( plus NCL and Celebrity several times). We did it this year on the Nieuw Amsterdam in May this year and booked for the same ship next year. It is a lovely ship and yes, you will see more people over 50 on this line! But it really is all about the ports for AK, and you only have 2 sea days for your teens to deal with. HAL is not going to have the entertainment that NCL has, but that is not why we cruise. The Nieuw Amsterdam has the BB Kings every evening which they will probably like (check out the utube videos out there), and the pool is covered so they can use that too. If you want to do round trip out of Vancouver with Glacier Bay, that is your best bet. If you have a specific question, please ask. I saved the dailies from this year.

 

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[darstamp]

Thank you, that's very helpful. I hadn't thought about checking the videos but that's a great idea.

[nw gardener]

Lots of online videos of both the ship and BB kings. Nieuw Amsterdam is 6? Years old and did a dry dock this past Dec, it is in very nice shape. Dining was good, we loved the speciality restaurant Tamarind. Teens will love the Dive in burgers by the pool, and the pizza off the Lido at the aft of the ship.

 

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[cruise4ltlboyz]

We leave this Saturday on the Nieuw Amsterdam RT from Vancouver with our two teenage sons- both will be 14 in November. We are booked in a Neptune suite. After much research (I booked this trip last April), I actually canceled a booking on both Princess and Disney due to a more favorable itinerary out of Vancouver with HA on NA. We didn’t have time to do the land tour so a one way didn’t make sense for us and glacier bay was a must see.

 

We do a lot as a family and have never cruised before so I don’t think our kids won’t miss the rock walls and all the bells and whistles on the other ships. They should be content with access to a b-ball court and an Xbox. We are doing Alaska for the ports and have some pretty cool excursions planned. Canoe and glacier trek in Juneau, a Jeep rental in Skagway, and a halibut and salmon fishing charter in Ketchikan. I can report back when we return and let you know our thoughts.

[IluvZ]

We did a HAL cruise with our then 12 year DS two years ago and he really liked HAL. It was more low key than the Disney ship and he felt the tween and teen programs were more engaging. Much smaller groups of kids. The Xbox’s to check out were a big hit as was the sports deck, which were both never super busy.

 

We found the cruise demographic very mixed with a lot of multi generational family is on board. Much more so than we had ever seen on any other cruise. It’s also limited the amount of time that the kids that were on board for in the kids club because they were often busy with their families.

 

We find the food on HAL a big step up from Norwegian and similar to what we found on Disney. We liked it enough that we’re off to Norway in a couple weeks on the K dam.

[darstamp]

Thank you both. That is good information.

[AtlFolks]

Just got off Maasdam with two teens (18 & 15), and DW and I are 50.

 

Maasdam had only 1,300, so a small ship.

 

Cruise director staff was not doing well with the teens, but they all linked-up anyway and organized their own stuff. Younger teens who are shy may get lost.

 

On Maasdam, I felt the age gap. Lots of retirees, with a speckle of young families. Entertainment definitely geared for 50+.

 

Food service was slow and a bit bland without much variety. If you’ve sailed before, your notice the difference.

 

Decor is classic. I appreciated the artwork, but younger folks may not notice or care.

 

I hoped this helped you.

 

 

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[petepie]

We were on Westerdam 4th of July week this year with tweens and teens. There were 160 kids on board and the crowd did not seem older than we had on a prior celebrity cruise. We all had a great time!

Here is link to our trip report:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=56519127#post56519127

[dogo88]

Glad you thought the ship was excellent. Did you find was geared to seniors or were there things for teens although probably not many were sailing in May?

 

Ship was full. Not a lot of kids since school was in session. Loaded with seniors? Not as many as I would have expected. Lot of middle aged folks say around 50-60ish. There was much to do for all ages. Tours were varied and very informative. We did a lot of walking (our choice). Not many whales in May but we knew that.

[1964IceCreamLady]

We did a 7 day cruise (Seward to Vancouver) on the Zaandam last August. My teens had a BLAST!!!! The only and VERY small downside was my youngest was 12.5 years old and not eligible for The Loft. My other two teens- 17 and 15- really razzed him about it! :) We still have a family joke about "Loft Status."

 

I had a few reasons for choosing HAL over other lines. You can check some of last year's posts.