Kids and teens on Holland

[fla gang]

Is Holland good for kids and teens compared to Royal?

[1025cruise]

You won't find the bells and whistles that Royal has. No rock walls, etc.

[KirkNC]

I think the experience on HAL is directed towards the 40 and up crowd.  Some teens like it but not a lot of activities to amuse them, they have to amuse themselves.

[DFWGUYZ]

.,.,

Edited December 3, 2021 by DFWGUYZ
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[fatcat04]

Atm, I would not (could not) cruise HAL with our kids. Before Covid, we as a family loved HAL, including our kids. Our son is a 3 star Mariner but hasn't been on a HAL ship since Jan 2020. Go with Royal.

Edited December 3, 2021 by fatcat04

[cruisingrob21]

We have younger kids and have cruised on Disney, HAL, and Princess with them.  Surprisingly, they have enjoyed the activities on HAL the best.  Obviously disney was a lot of fun for them, but they there were too many kids even though the areas for kids was huge.  Your kids' mileage may vary!

[Brentt_M]

My kids have also enjoyed HAL more than Carnival and Royal. It really depends on the individual kid and what they find enjoyable.

[vicd1969]

17 hours ago, fla gang said:

Is Holland good for kids and teens compared to Royal?

Depends. For Caribbean sailings, the big Royal ships offer a lot more stuff for kids to do. For Alaska where Royal usually deploys their smaller Vision and Radiance class ships, HAL and Princess would have the edge.

[PACD_JG]

Maybe I'm the worst parent in the world, but I've never vacationed or travelled anywhere where my kids' choices were a priority (and we're fortunate enough to have travelled a lot).  My wife and I do what we want, and my kids will either enjoy it or they won't (if nothing else, they'll have an experience and then a memory).

[Tampa Girl]

12 hours ago, fatcat04 said:

Atm, I would not (could not) cruise HAL with our kids. Before Covid, we as a family loved HAL, including our kids. Our son is a 3 star Mariner but hasn't been on a HAL ship since Jan 2020. Go with Royal.

 

Out of curiosity, how did Covid change your kids' preferences?  Or is it just that they are older?

[iancal]

Our experience is that it is a crap shoot.  Depends on the ship, what programs that ship has for children, the program leaders,  how many other children of the same age group are on board etc.

 

In general, we would pass on a HAL cruise for our grandchildren in favor of a cruise line that was more geared to families.  RCI would be on the short list.

Edited December 3, 2021 by iancal

[cruisingrob21]

1 hour ago, PACD_JG said:

Maybe I'm the worst parent in the world, but I've never vacationed or travelled anywhere where my kids' choices were a priority (and we're fortunate enough to have travelled a lot).  My wife and I do what we want, and my kids will either enjoy it or they won't (if nothing else, they'll have an experience and then a memory).

Nope, you aren't.  If it was up to my kids, they just want to go on Disney Cruises, but not for the kids club, but for the whole ship being themed the way it is.  That being said they liked the kids club, but didn't love it and of course, disney is substantially more expensive.  I asked them if they would rather go on fewer cruises on disney, or more cruises on other lines, they wanted more cruises.

 

In 2019, the ms Amsterdam (1400pax for those that don't recall) was sailing the 14 day RT Seattle route, Alaskan Explorer itineraries.  However, due to a 7 day charter, there was a one-off, 7 day RT Seattle Alaska voyage that I knew we had to get on given that the Amsterdam is a special ship, and some of the friends in our travel group wanted to see what a "non crowded" ship felt like (and in hindsight now that the ship has been sold to Fred Olsen, I'm glad we chose that particular voyage).  They weren't disappointed as the R class ships had one of the best tonnage/passenger ratios out there.  However, being a 7 day alaska cruise, there were a lot of kids - more than kids club could comfortably hold (they are pretty small on the R class ships).  However the cruise staff adapted and had lots of kids activities on areas around the ship during the day to accommodate so many kids (they even grabbed 3 extra staff members from HQ in Seattle for our particular voyage).  The highlight, in my opinion was when the CD invited all the younger kids into the main showlounge on the last sea day for big screen bingo for an hour complete with milk, cookies, prized for all, and custom made bingo cards for the kids.  I'm not sure if that was a normal thing on HAL Alaska cruises, maybe it was a one off, but I appreciated the effort and organization that the cruise staff went through to set it up and my kids still talk about it to this day.

[fsdj1097]

Our Grandson took his first HAL cruise when he was 9 years old and was very involved in Club HAL through his high school years.  He met other youth in Club HAL that he stayed in contact with for many years.  He thoroughly enjoyed the activities that Club HAL promoted.

[FlaMariner]

Our twenty something kids are two star mariners.....This started when they were 10ish....They prefer Holland America Line and after a port call at Nassau alongside a Carnival ship and the crowd split to go to each ship my son said "I get it now why you choose Holland America Line"......

 

We began on Carnival and had many great family cruises on Carnival but we found our home at Holland America and our adult children continue as well.....not looking back.

 

 

[Suslor]

We considered The other more kid-centric lines but decided to take our grandson on a HAL cruise in June 2023 to celebrate his 14 birthday and graduation from middle school. We felt the itinerary had a lot on and off the ship that he would enjoy, even if Club HAL didn’t appeal to him. 
 

we were at a medallion ceremony where a young girl was getting her silver medallion. Her brother had already gotten his!  

[rkacruiser]

6 hours ago, PACD_JG said:

Maybe I'm the worst parent in the world, but I've never vacationed or travelled anywhere where my kids' choices were a priority (and we're fortunate enough to have travelled a lot).  My wife and I do what we want, and my kids will either enjoy it or they won't (if nothing else, they'll have an experience and then a memory).

 

The world's worst parent award?  No, I don't think so.  Maybe in the running for the wisest parent in the world award, though.  My Brother and I never had any input in any vacation my family took.  This is where we were going; Jim and I had never been there; what was there for us to protest?

 

6 hours ago, PACD_JG said:

and my kids will either enjoy it or they won't (if nothing else, they'll have an experience and then a memory).

 

No recollection that we didn't enjoy it and the trip did provide a memory.  

[rkacruiser]

7 hours ago, Brentt_M said:

My kids have also enjoyed HAL more than Carnival and Royal. It really depends on the individual kid and what they find enjoyable.

 

Thanks for stating my dilemma as an Uncle considering planning a Christmas Cruise for my two families:  a Niece-in-Law with her 4 year old daughter, a Nephew and his wife with two sons, 9 and 5.  One family lives in Maryland; one lives in Alaska.  Guess how well I know these children?  

[Loreto]

I took my grand daughter to Alaska in 2019 when she was 10.  She looked at Club HAL and said "no."  She participated in onboard activities along with her mom and had a great cruise.  This past summer  we cruised Alaska in July again as a family (sailing of the Nieuw Amsterdam.)  Grand daughter was now 12 and enjoyed the special teen activities (since there was no Club HAL) and made lots of friends.   She also did things with the grownups, even giving the Tamarind a 2 thumbs up!

 

Next summer we will take our 15 year old other grand daughter.  The itinerary is important, not being constantly entertained through Club HAL.

[rkacruiser]

10 minutes ago, Loreto said:

I took my grand daughter to Alaska in 2019 when she was 10.  She looked at Club HAL and said "no."  She participated in onboard activities along with her mom and had a great cruise.  This past summer  we cruised Alaska in July again as a family (sailing of the Nieuw Amsterdam.)  Grand daughter was now 12 and enjoyed the special teen activities (since there was no Club HAL) and made lots of friends.   She also did things with the grownups, even giving the Tamarind a 2 thumbs up!

 

Next summer we will take our 15 year old other grand daughter.  The itinerary is important, not being constantly entertained through Club HAL.

 

Thanks for your post and it helps to illustrate my dilemma.  Children's interests change as they grow.  Not knowing them well complicates my situation.  Neither family can afford a family Christmas cruise.  It will be Uncle rkacruiser who will be funding the entire trip.  Uncle rkacruiser also would like to enjoy such a cruise.  How to determine what to do?  If anything?  Maybe my desire to try to provide this for my family is an unrealistic pipe dream.  

[trivia addict]

In 2007 we took our two children who were in their late teens to Alaska on HAL.They loved the wilderness excursions and had experiences in Alaska that they never would have had in NY. but were bored to death onboard. The ship just about shut off the lights at 9 pm due to the age of the cruisers at the time!

Of course, that was many years ago and I am sure that things have changed somewhat! And full disclosure, neither would ever go into a children’s club on any of the cruise lines we took even when younger.

Obviously , RC is more activity oriented for teens, but each individual case is different. 
You will have to judge the age of the children and what their interests are.

[zgscl]

It really depends on the kids, family and itinerary. 7 night cruises, particularly during school breaks will have a fair number of kids/teens. Longer cruises & cruises outside of school breaks may have very few. They have a youth/tean center & there is a pool. Royal will have a lot more things like rock climbing walls, ice skating rinks, wave riders, etc. which you will not find anywhere on HAL. I had many great cruises on HAL as a teen and always had a good time. 

[Minne Wonka Girl]

Our triplet grandkids, now aged 13, love HAL and are 2 star Mariners. They also have status on Princess and Celebrity, but given the choice, they prefer HAL. They do not need the bells and whistles on RCI and look forward to formal nights, theater performances, Half Moon Cay, and time in Club HAL.

[terrydtx]

We took our 11-year-old grandson on an Alaskan cruise on the Noordam in 2019 in a Signature Suite. We had plenty of room and there were a lot of kids his age on the ship that he met in the Kids Club, where he spent a lot of his time, his choice. He had previously only been on a Disney cruise and his comments comparing the two was, Disney is for little kids, and he was too old for Disney. At the time we took him HAL had a promo for the third and fourth passenger sails free. Since this cruise included a 5-day HAL land tour his total cost was $495. So, he basically cost nothing to take with us, which is why we did HAL.

[sprockie]

We have always cruised with our kids (now 15 and 20) and almost exclusively on HAL.  They love it.  No there isn't a pile of other kids, but if you enjoy peaceful family time (our favourite was from about 4pm to 7pm at the pool when everyone is off having dinner or getting ready for the evening).  Our kids like spending time with us and vice versa, so chances are we're doing something together around the ship.  If a kid is the type that likes to spend time away from their family with other kids, HAL might seem kind of dull.