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What's it like on HAL at Christmas / New Years?

CCNY

By CCNY,
in Holland America Line

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CCNY

CCNY

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Interested to hear what a holiday cruise is like with Holland America? We would be totally happy for just a "normal" (i.e. non-holiday) cruise experience at the end of December and early January, so wondering how much attention is actually given to holidays. Special holiday themed happenings on board?  Special menus on Christmas or New Years?  But mostly wondering if there are typically lots of families / children? I imagine the departure date probably affects how many families with school aged kids can travel, based on school holiday schedules.  Not trying to be a grinch.... but we do enjoy HALs low key adult time.   We're looking at a 14 day Rotterdam itinerary that would include Christmas and New Years.  Thanks for your impressions.

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crystalspin

crystalspin

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We boarded Koningsdam last 29 December. Decorations (Xmas tree, etc) were still up from Christmas. Maybe some modifications for NYE. I think it was a Gala ("dressy") night in the MDR. We ate New Years Eve at Rudi's -- it is our anniversary. We were given silly hats.

 

Since the NYE/NY leg of our B2B was nine days, I think most or all schools would have been back in session before the turnaround day. Possibly the cruise before might have had more children.

 

Shortly after New years the flower arrangements et al were updated.

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wdw1972

wdw1972

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On a typical 14-day itinerary  you'd have a handful of kids.  At this time, especially if it's really two 7-day cruises BTB you'll have hundreds of kids on each cruise, making it pretty miserable if "low key adult" is what you're looking for.  Thanks to a kids sail free promo last year the holiday cruises seemed to be overrun with kids beyond anything HAL cruisers had seen before, and unfortunately not all were well-behaved little angels.  The ship was unable to really provide for them, as Club HAL is very small, so HAL was a big part of the problem.

 

Sue/WDW1972

 

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CCNY

CCNY

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That's helpful to hear.  We just did the Nieuw Amsterdam 15 day Panama Canal [San Diego to Ft Lauderdale].  Only 4 young children on board, as far as we could tell.  I'm afraid the holiday time might be kind of hectic.

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OlsSalt

OlsSalt

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We always swear we will never do another holiday cruise again, but some how we have gone back for a few more. But we always have the same feeling - never again. Until the next time. ....... 

 

They are not typical HAL cruises at all. They are something  else. Just know that up front. Things are more festive, people are noisier, and less likely to observe the quieter HAL traditions - constantly yelling in groups in the pool, that sort of thing.  

 

People travel in larger groups as well, take up more tables and elevators, and even paraded about in matching Pajamas on Christmas morning.  

 

We did a Christmas segment and a New Years segment last year and the two segments were quite different - far more kids on the Christmas segment (500?). But  felt more like regular HAL passengers (older) on the New Years segment.  If you have a choice, pick the New Year segment if you want it a little more low key except for NYEve. People did get very glamorous on New Years Eve.  Lots of sparkle.

 

Hardest thing for us was finding any place on board (Konigdam) on either segment where it was quiet, and had no annoying piped-in music Even the extra-cost Retreat Cabana, which we chose upfront in order to get away from the expected crowds and noise,  allowed a family of eight to occupy a two-person cabana - two adults and 6 kids!  Staff/management chose not to do anything about this, so know before you sign up during this holiday time. 

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pirate cruiser

pirate cruiser

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I also think it depends on the itinerary-we were on NS after Christmas thru Jan. 7 in the Carribbean last year-there were lots of kids and decorations. Kids don't bother us but they did take over both pools and we could tell some folks were not happy. It was festive and the NYE party was packed at the lido pool. 

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SDARCH

SDARCH

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2 hours ago, crystalspin said:

We boarded Koningsdam last 29 December. Decorations (Xmas tree, etc) were still up from Christmas. Maybe some modifications for NYE. I think it was a Gala ("dressy") night in the MDR. We ate New Years Eve at Rudi's -- it is our anniversary. We were given silly hats.

We had the exact same NYE dinner (and silly hats) as you on this cruise.  The ship seemed full.  Many multi-generational families.  The New Year's Countdown party at the Lido Pool was a blast with plenty of sparkling wine being passed around.  I think it is the first time I had made it to midnight in 20 years.  We had a blast!

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crystalspin

crystalspin

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2 minutes ago, SDARCH said:

The New Year's Countdown party at the Lido Pool was a blast with plenty of sparkling wine being passed around.  I think it is the first time I had made it to midnight in 20 years.  We had a blast!

We did not make it! being old fogeys...

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Banditswife Great Review Rare

Banditswife

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We are booked for the Zaandam holiday cruise this year.  We expect there might be more kids, but hoping they don't take over the ship.  We are hoping the smaller ship & longer itinerary will help to reduce the number of children.  We are looking forward to the festive decor & more holiday related activities.

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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14 hours ago, wdw1972 said:

On a typical 14-day itinerary  you'd have a handful of kids.  At this time, especially if it's really two 7-day cruises BTB you'll have hundreds of kids on each cruise, making it pretty miserable if "low key adult" is what you're looking for.  Thanks to a kids sail free promo last year the holiday cruises seemed to be overrun with kids beyond anything HAL cruisers had seen before, and unfortunately not all were well-behaved little angels.  The ship was unable to really provide for them, as Club HAL is very small, so HAL was a big part of the problem.

 

Sue/WDW1972

 

 

Completely agree with this.

 

OP the tree lighting ceremony is very nice - don’t miss it.  Santa comes for the kids - quite cute.  New Year’s Eve is a nice celebration in several locations.

 

I posted a LIVE thread last December - January on the Koningsdam which did Christmas and New Years.  If I were to do another Christmas/New Years cruise I would make sure the segments were longer (ie 14 days) to avoid the 600 children on board.  I like children but unless it was a port day, there was no use of the Sea view or Lido Pool and it was very loud.

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AKJonesy

AKJonesy

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15 hours ago, CCNY said:

That's helpful to hear.  We just did the Nieuw Amsterdam 15 day Panama Canal [San Diego to Ft Lauderdale].  Only 4 young children on board, as far as we could tell.  I'm afraid the holiday time might be kind of hectic.

Yes, it will be.  Totally agree with post #5.  If you want low key try taking a longer cruise that is NOT a back to back.  

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wandrr

wandrr

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We did a New Year cruise last year on Volendam. For us and about 40 others, the cruise was a back-to-back with the Grand South America. Of the 40 who did the back-to-back, the universal opinion was that the New Year seven-day cruise was awful. Many children were on board, most of whom were well above the age of majority. Childish behaviour was the norm. The majority were loud, boisterous, rude, demanding louts. The crew interactions that we witnessed made us cringe because of the rudeness and downright nasty behaviour of the passengers. We personally were threatened with physical assault by one of the overage children. The crew intervened and censured the offender and then apologized profusely to us. The perpetrator was completely representative of the majority of the louts. The only saving grace of that New Year cruise was the fact that it was a precursor to a Grand voyage.

 

Note that this is not just our personal opinion. All 40 of the passengers doing the back-to-back agreed with our assessment. Even more telling was the unofficial opinion we heard from many crew members, from senior officers to the lowest ranks. They hated the seven-day New Year cruise.

 

Never again, for us, and we are serious.  🤬

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jeff74

jeff74

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We were on the Volendam last year for Christmas and thought that it was fun being on the ship during that time.  We didn't have any issues with the number of kids being on the ship but we're biased having a son who was 13 over the holidays.  The only time we really noticed the magnitude of kids was at the "Meet Santa" event during Christmas which of course should have been expected.

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jeff74

jeff74

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I’m guessing there were at least 100 kids on the Christmas cruise last year.  It’s true that there are very few kid amenities but these days a lot of kids are just on their laptops playing online or locally networked games against each other.

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CCNY

CCNY

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Thanks to everyone for all the perspectives!  Very helpful to hear the range of experiences.  Affirms my suspicion about the wisdom, for us, of not doing a 14 day cruise that is really two 7 day back to back out of Fort Lauderdale at Christmas and NEw Years.  If we had a big family vacation, I could see the attraction.  But for us....Probably leaning towards a pre- or post- holiday cruise as a better fit. for us.  Or maybe one of each!!!  LOL 

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