HAL christmas cruise with children

[greyskier]

Has anyone had experience of a Christmas cruise on HAL with young children.  Are there many others and does the kids club operate.Most of our HAL cruises have been overseas and there are usually no kids onboard but the australian market is probably quite different.

[Porky55]

On 7/12/2023 at 8:13 PM, greyskier said:

Has anyone had experience of a Christmas cruise on HAL with young children.  Are there many others and does the kids club operate.Most of our HAL cruises have been overseas and there are usually no kids onboard but the australian market is probably quite different.

Even though we love HAL I think Royal, Carnival or P&O will do a better Christmas cruise for kids. 😄

[Hogbay]

On 7/12/2023 at 8:13 PM, greyskier said:

Has anyone had experience of a Christmas cruise on HAL with young children.  Are there many others and does the kids club operate.Most of our HAL cruises have been overseas and there are usually no kids onboard but the australian market is probably quite different.

Nope will be the same . Royal, P&O or Carnival . Splendor even has Grinchmas in July , now extending to August .

 

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/carnival-cruise-line-launches-five-grinchmas-in-july-cruises/

[2022cruisey]

Grinchmas in July was not really very Christmassy.  There was one main meal on one day in the MDR that was supposed to be a Christmas meal.  No Christmas desserts or theme for meals.  There were decorations and an ugly jumper theme, a reading of the book and that was about it.  Not much for a 9 day cruise.

[Aussieflyer]

On 7/16/2023 at 10:36 AM, 2022cruisey said:

Grinchmas in July was not really very Christmassy.  There was one main meal on one day in the MDR that was supposed to be a Christmas meal.  No Christmas desserts or theme for meals.  There were decorations and an ugly jumper theme, a reading of the book and that was about it.  Not much for a 9 day cruise.

They probably couldn't fit it in with all the other themed nights on the cruise - super heroes, 80s, white knight etc 😂. The decorations were quite nice and there were some Christmas songs at one point. I think the kids on board probably enjoyed it. Me? Not so much. The MDR food seemed uniformly bleh so I don't think they would have excelled at a Christmas dinner to be honest. 

Edited July 18, 2023 by Aussieflyer

[PJOZ]

Haven't done a Christmas cruise with HAL but we did a mid January cruise out of Sydney to the South Pacific (a few years ago now) and there were quite a few kids on board.  My kids loved the kids club. They also did family disco night etc. There would definitely be less kids than on some other lines but that might not not be a bad thing, there were enough for the kids to have fun.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We were on a HAL cruise last Christmas. There were a few kids on board. I can't say if they did anything special for the kids though as we dined late and didn't hang around the pool much.

[Emoliash]

We have done two Xmas cruises with Hal pre Covid. Kids were 11 nd 7. They did Santa and kids club was good. Kids had a great time. Not as much as activities as other lines and they prefer Princess. But best thing was there were kids but the ship was not over run with them

[cruiser3775]

Just back from a Carnival Christmas in July cruise. Not overwhelmingly Christmassy.  There was a big decorated tree in the main atrium and Christmas decorations strung around the balconies that overlooked it.  There were smaller Christmas trees outside the restaurant entrances.   The musicians were obviously told they had to do some Christmas songs, so that picked out a couple and performed them at the start of their gig, then reverted to their usual repertoire.  They ran a Christmas jumper contest and provided most people who attended with a pretty Christmas hat.  Food in the MDR had a couple of Christmas themed main courses, roast beef with Yorkshire pud (which was burnt and inedible), and a good roast turkey with dried fruit stuffing the following night.  No Christmas desserts at all. The waiters wore Christmas hats for a couple of nights.