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

[Horizon chaser 1957]

We were on the Zuiderdam last Christmas/ New Years settling in for the Grand World. Good grief what a zoo! Normally, I enjoy seeing children on HAL, and looked forward to seeing families at Christmas, but….

HAL was running their ‘Kids Sail Free’ promotion, which they’re doing again this year. The captain told us there were over 400 children on board. HAL ships aren’t designed for that. Club Hal, etc. seem to handle about 40 kids really well, but 400 is an overwhelming disaster. There was nothing for most of them to do. The line ups for anything were endless. Families of six were packed into regular size cabins. I didn’t even know that was legal. 
But, it was Christmas, and most of them were excited and happy most of the time. A lot of people expected more for the kids to do, but hey, when your kids sail for free, I guess you get what you pay for!

[POA1]

We've done cruises during the entire holiday period, ranging from Thanksgiving through December 27th. We thought they were great. If you want a more sedate HAL-iday experience, pick a sailing of 9 days or longer. (Not a B2B with two 7s strung together.)

[OlsSalt]

Looks like the best advice to get a more traditional "HAL cruise experience" over the holidays is to book the smallest HAL ship, for the longest itinerary that is not a back to back. With no "kids sail free" promotion, and if possible the most obscure and hard to read departure port. There are some choices.

 

 Our own experiences were on the Oosterdam, then the Eurodam, and lastly the Konigsdsam; going for okay to terrible, in that order.  

 

I would still try the Zaandam or Volendam to explore a full HAL holiday cruise experience and see if the above theory holds. Those who do want a much "livelier" HAL  experience can do just fine with the larger HAL ships. No question most were enjoying themselves, even if we were not. (Old fogies here.)

[scooter6139]

We have scheduled a Christmas cruise to Mexico on Koningsdam in 2024, but, after reading all the review of how many kids that likely to be there, will move that booking to some other time.  Sucks being married to a teacher who has limited time to take cruises!  

[C 2 C]

If you like children, you will love holiday cruises.  

We cruised on Nieuw Statendam last year for 8 consecutive weeks.  

For the holidays, there were over 700 back to backers, a number we have never experienced before.

Every stateroom was packed, not the traditional 2 to a cabin, but most likely crammed to the rafters.

My kids and our grandchildren are angels.  Yours not so much. 😇

We are cruising again over the holidays because it was cheaper than going home and coming back again to a warm place in the Caribbean..

[bajae]

12 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Looks like the best advice to get a more traditional "HAL cruise experience" over the holidays is to book the smallest HAL ship, for the longest itinerary that is not a back to back. With no "kids sail free" promotion, and if possible the most obscure and hard to read departure port. There are some choices.

 

 Our own experiences were on the Oosterdam, then the Eurodam, and lastly the Konigsdsam; going for okay to terrible, in that order.  

 

I would still try the Zaandam or Volendam to explore a full HAL holiday cruise experience and see if the above theory holds. Those who do want a much "livelier" HAL  experience can do just fine with the larger HAL ships. No question most were enjoying themselves, even if we were not. (Old fogies here.)

I am hopefully you are correct. Ours is the 16 day Hawaiian holiday cruise on the Zaandam 2024/5.  While I expect some young ones, I hope most parents are selecting a more kid friendly itinerary.

[C 2 C]

The music soundtrack played on N Statendam was horrid.  Imagine 15 versions of the same Christmas song by different performers, one after the other.