Children on HAL?

[BambiRumsey]

Looking at our pre-holiday cruise for 2008 and am considering Westerdam due to AWESOME itinerary.

 

Was wondering if any parents or families have recent experiences with the Club HAL that you can share.

 

We enjoyed our Zuiderdam cruise a few years ago but found the demographic to be a bit old for us. Has HAL's customer base expanded to include more families? Our daughter is 8 and a seasoned cruiser with 6 under her belt.

[CruisinKiki]

You are right, there seem to be less families and a slightly older average age on HAL. I haven't seen very many children in the three HAL cruises I have taken. This will be affected by the time of year and itinerary. If you are looking for a lot of families with young children and planned children's activities, then HAL probably isn't the line for that. But, sounds like your DD is an experienced cruiser and probably enjoys the chance to go. Lucky her!

[hammybee]

You are right, there seem to be less families and a slightly older average age on HAL. I haven't seen very many children in the three HAL cruises I have taken. This will be affected by the time of year and itinerary. If you are looking for a lot of families with young children and planned children's activities, then HAL probably isn't the line for that. But, sounds like your DD is an experienced cruiser and probably enjoys the chance to go. Lucky her!

 

Based upon most reports, of most cruise lines, pre Christmas sails tend to attract an older crowd, not just on HAL, but on all cruise lines, because most school-aged children are still in school.

 

Here is a link to a report of a pre holiday Princess cruise:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=680192

 

I am rather fond of Club HAL, especially for the age group your child is in, because it does not rely upon the gimicks of some of the other cruise lines.

[theonlywaytogo]

This was our 1st cruise on HAL and my childrens 4th cruise. We sailed in December (not on a school break) on a 10 day. There were about 90 kids total on the ship. 30 in the younger group, 30 in tween (where 8 year olds go) and 30 in teens. The max that showed up at each session was 10 kids. It was a very different experience from our past cruises but like I said our kids still loved it. Since there were such few kids the counselors seemed to somewhat tailor make the program for the kids in attendance. The boys mostly wanted to play PlayStation2 and do outside sports and the girls seemed to want to do crafts (so they let them do these simultaneously):) . The only thing we weren't too pleased about was the lack of security compared to past children's programs. The children in the age group are allowed to sign themselves out at any time. If you do not allow this, your daughter must move in with the younger kids (you may actually prefer this). Our children did not want to go with the younger kids,:( so we signed the permission slip for them to leave as they please but we verbally told our children that we did not want them to do it. One day they decided to close Club HAl 1 hour early and sent all the kids away!:eek: Our children stayed together and came directly to our room where we just happened to be. They also sent them on many shipwide unsupervised scavanger hunts. The kids were happy about this (their parents weren't too thrilled) during this time the counselors basically can relax so they LOVE them!;) I was a little worried about how kids would be received by other passangers after reading the boards before we cruised. I am happy to report we did not encounter anyone negative. We did stay on top of our kids especially at the pool to make sure they obeyed all the rules at all times. Most people seemed happy to watch them enjoying themselves! Hope this helps, I'll be glad to answer any other questions you may have and hope you have a wonderful cruise!!!!!!!!!

[twinkletoes4445]

We were on the Zuiderdam this past Feb., and I don't think we saw more than a dozen kids from babies to college-age. We only saw one child in the dining room, and he looked to be around three. We did see a couple of young girls, probably 10 or so on a scavenger hunt.

 

All your daughter really needs is a few other kids (or even one) that age to be on the ship and I'd suspect that will happen. I think kids at that age would have a good time on HAL, and I'd rather have my child, at that age, be on a ship where there's not tons of other kids.

[hammybee]

All your daughter really needs is a few other kids (or even one) that age to be on the ship and I'd suspect that will happen. I think kids at that age would have a good time on HAL, and I'd rather have my child, at that age, be on a ship where there's not tons of other kids.

 

I like the way you put this and it's true, all it takes is one new friend to make the cruise for most children.

[twinkletoes4445]

I like the way you put this and it's true, all it takes is one new friend to make the cruise for most children.

 

I think quality far outweighs quantity in this case especially at the age of the OP's daughter. The kids we saw were well-mannered, and I suspect it would also be easier to keep an eye on the kids (for the person in club HAL), and also for the parents, when the ship is not overflowing with other kids. My kids have always been able to find a friend when in situations like this...especially when they were under 13 or so.

[jbhcw]

Well, we'll find out in about 5 weeks how Club Hal is:) We are cruising with three grandchildren, 15,7 and 4. I called HAL the other night to ask how many kids were on our sailing and it's 29 with the ages being mostly between 3-12.

 

Since we chose this cruise to be with our family and for the itinerary, mainly HMC and Grand Turk which to me is very kid friendly I'm not too worried. Just hope the teenager does find someone to hang out with:) Actually I think that since there isn't a ton of kids it will actually be a better experience for the two little ones, espcially the 4 year old as he is a little shy.

 

I will hopefully do a review of our cruise on the Zuiderdam when we get back and will include Club HAL:)

[twinkletoes4445]

jbhcw...

 

Have a great time! :)

[Two if by Sea]

One unmatched child of my daughter's age and compatible temperament is all I'm hoping for.

 

Too many kids and she'll be overwhelmed anyhow.

 

A few activities might require more than 2 kids, but even two can have fun on a scavenger hunt if they go together.

[BambiRumsey]

Hannah's first cruise was on the X Galaxy the first week of September when she was 4. I think there were a TOTAL of 17 children on board that week and some of them were infants. She got a LOT of personalized attention and had a great time.

 

She has also cruised Disney (which we all disliked), Carnival, RCL and Costa.

 

On our most recent cruise she was old enough to sign herself out but we elected not to do that (after discussing it with her). By the end of the week we all agreed that with a walkee-talkee she would have been fine to sign herself out and will probably allow it on the next cruise.

 

We generally cruise the week before Christmas because Santa must come to our house on the 25th, the price is about 1/2 of holiday week and the ship has SOME children but is not over run with them.

 

I would be okay with about 90 children as a previous poster said. I just know that we sailed on Zuiderdam the first week of January the average age was about 70 and I don't think they even HAD a club HAL area on that ship at the time.

 

I ask about families not just for her sake but for ours - we like to make new friends too!

[rebeccalouise]

I think that it is better when there are fewer children. On my European cruise this summer there were about a dozen kids in my son's age range and it worked out great. On our TA cruise there were only about eight kids signed up for the youth program in his age range and it was wonderful.

 

I think his least favorites were Carnival and Norwegian because the youth programs were jam-packed with kids. I think this causes overstimulation, more risk of contracting viruses and infections, and there is a feeling of kaos.

 

I do think that your child will have fun on Holland America. We did Holland America when we were kids and I don't remember many children back then. There was no formal youth program and certainly no kids club and somehow we managed to have fun.

 

I did Oceania in January and there were three kids on board. Two were nine year old girls and they played happily for the whole cruise. I think that this age (nine and up) aren't as concerned with the organized activities- they make their own fun.

[Akheila]

oh my you people are all scaring me! we leave for our cruise soon ...on the zuiderdam...with a 3 1/2 year old....so hearing the first week of January having an average age of 70....will we have the whole ship to ourselves after supper???? will our daughter drive everyone nuts?? now I'm nervous....I'm sure we'll have fun but yikes!

[jbhcw]

Akheila, give HAL a call and find out how many kids will be on board, and It is definitely going to be an older crowd of folks sailing. Were you planning on taking her to the shows? Just wondering, if she's a well behaved child I see no problem with that, and I know she'll get lots of attention from all the staff, they love kids:)

 

There's another, older thread here, that I actually was the one asking about kids and Hal, I've tried to copy and paste:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=621050&highlight=Club+Hal+kids

 

Please don't stress:eek: you'll have a great cruise, just go with an open mind and a positive attitude:) Make it happen, it's up to us to do that you know:)

[BambiRumsey]

thanks for the link JB.

 

We tried/got assigned late seating a couple of cruises ago when she was about 5 and poor thing would just end up laying her head on the table and falling asleep after the appetizer! Now we do whatever we can to get early seating when she's with us and save the late seating for the Mommy-Daddy solo cruises. That way she can see the show (she LOVES the singing and dancing) and maybe head to kids club for a bit afterwards if she is till perky.

 

It sounds like more and more families are giving HAL a try. DH still has reservations due to our last experience but the food on HAL is definitely the best we've had a sea and did I mention the itinerary was fabulous (REALLY want to get to Aruba and Curacao!)?

 

I'm going to keep lobbying for giving HAL another try - thanks for all your help!

[Zeta3]

We just returned from the Zuiderdam and we had two 5 year olds in our party. My nephew enjoyed Club HAL, my daughter hated it (not unexpected). I was actually kind of suprised that with such excellent service and friendliness from the staff in general we found the Club HAL counselors to not be very friendly and to be quite lackadaisical towards the kids. We have seen this same thing on other lines though I think some of it has to do with the staff being a little burned out and taking the week in-between the Thanksgiving and Christmas cruises as a bit of a break with the smaller number of kids.

 

The activities were the same for ages 3-12 which was sometimes ok and sometimes alittle crazy. There were lots of crying 3-5 year olds during the dodgeball session. :eek:

 

I have the Club HAL dailies if you would like an idea of the activities and times.

 

I think Club HAL is probably usually pretty good and it will depend on your kid and the type of activities/atmospheres they enjoy as to whether it will be a total hit or not.

[Two if by Sea]

I have the Club HAL dailies if you would like an idea of the activities and times.

 

Yes, I'd love to see those -- esp. for the tweens age 8-12 if you have them.

 

As for letting her check herself out with a walkie-talkie I'm all for it. I've already purchased a pair of high-quality Motorolas (the kind you need an FCC license to operate legally, so I now have my own call sign!) and we've tested them out in our urban neighborhood.

 

I can get 1800 feet away around a corner and she can still hear me through all the buildings that entails, but at 2000 feet (as the crow flies) a connection was no longer possible.

 

So that leaves me to worry: what if she tries to reach me and can't? How reliable are even the best of these onboard a ship the size of the Maasdam?

 

We'll need some sort of fallback plan in any case, but I'd like to know if the odds of needing to use it are remote or not so remote.

[BambiRumsey]

I think if the child is old enough to tell time you can give them a reasonable idea of where to you find if/when they leave kids club so if for some reason the distance is too big for the two-ways to work they can come find you in person and tell you what their next plans are....

[Two if by Sea]

Actually I was thinking she could come back to the cabin, where we would leave each other notes.

[jbhcw]

Zeta, I would also love to see the Club Hall activities, our kids ages are 4 and 7, not sure if the teenage will particpate or if they have activities for them. There is a basketball area on the ship so he will be happy:D

 

We are neighbors, live about 30 miles north from you:)

[Swice]

Last spring break my two boys (4 & 6 at the time)... had a great time in Club HAL. There were organized activities. Our boys had zero complaints! In fact they asked to go again.

 

We took them to the dining room with us each night and ordered from the regular menu to expose them to different foods (not one order of chicken fingers and fries the entire week). It was fun watching them experiment with the different foods... the staff got a kick out of watching for their reactions. Duck was a hit-- cavier was not!

 

After dinner, they begged to go to club HAL. We took them to the juggling show and full production shows. They STILL talk about the amazing juggler. I don't know why more parents don't take their kids to these things-- our boys thought the special effects were "cool."

 

One note that I haven't seen anyone else mention: True, HAL is not Carnival. They don't have massive amounts of kids on each voyage... but when school is out, they do have their share. HAL hires "extra" workers for several weeks to help with the influx of children during spring break season and christmas. One of the extra workers told us that she's a former teacher and HAL calls her for three week shifts about once or twice a year. Once we found this out, it became easy to pick out the temporary help-- while they were fine for the most part, they were not as proactive. It's kind of like when someone from another department comes over to my department at work to fill in for someone on vacation... they simply are not up to speed on the routines. Hope that makes sense.

[CCCM]

DD (then 8) had a great time on the Westerdam in Club HAL October 2007. There were about 30 children total. She met a little friend, they ended up being three cabins down from ours. We let her sign herself out, so she could do the scavenger hunt. She knew to stay at Club HAL and we were always there to pick her up about 10 minutes before the end of the program.

 

The Captains daughter was also in the program that week and they had a birthday party for her.

 

With three sea days, I am hoping that at the age of 10 she will enjoy Oosterdam's Club HAL in April.

[Zeta3]

Here is a link to our Zuiderdam Web Page. It has links to the dailies and Club HAL Dailies. The kids & Tweens were in one group for our sailing.

 

http://web.mac.com/sigma1914/cruiseinfo/Cruisereg_and_Zeta3.html

[jbhcw]

Great info from everyone, thanks Zeta for posting the kids program, I will forward to DIL. Got our Docs on Monday, so am getting excited:) I will report back after our cruise:)

[SmokinActuary]

My 9 year old daughter had a great time on the Zuiderdam this past March.

 

HAL does not have the bells and whistles but she received good attention and she had fun.