Are We Too Young To Enjoy HAL?? ( Said in the nicest possible way)!!

[Jules215]

Hello HAL Cruisers!!

 

I'm wondering if i can perhaps get a few opinions from some of you, and hopefully don't offend anyone in the process. :D

 

My partner and I are in our very early 50's, ( but consider ourselves very young 50's), perhaps because we still have grade-school age kids...We have the opportunity to cruise on our own in late Oct. sans kids...To date we have cruised on both RCCL and Carnival and have enjoyed both for different reasons...However, the Eurodam has caught our attention, and we're giving it serious consideration...But we are a little concerned about the "demographics" of the other passengers, ( and please don't take that wrong)...We are by no means late night partiers, but we do like to relax with a drink the evenings, listen to a little contemporary music, play some roulette, people watch etc.

 

We've had a very stressful 2yrs and I think all we're looking for is to relax...We don't need, and have never participated in, planned cruise activities...We may dress for dinner one or two nights but would suspect we'd take most of our evening meals on the Lido deck.

 

Some of the things that have caught my attention about the Eurodam, ( and in no order), are:

 

1. Bathtubs in OV rooms...Silly perhaps but I'm a bath person, and don't especially want a balcony or suite.

2. There appears to be a room that shows films...We would enjoy that very much if they're somewhat current.

3. The Eastern Carib. itin.

4. The reviews of the food quality and ambiance of the ship

5. The cabana's by the pool, ( my partner is fair-skinned and usually I'm out by myself most of the day because he's avoiding the sun), so he could join me more perhaps.

 

So I guess to sum up we're looking for quiet relaxation, but also a little bit of "buzz" too...Will we find that on HAL??

 

TIA

[jhannah]

You are not too young in the least! We didn't begin cruising until we were in our fifties; and we've always had twenty-somethings on our cruises. You will enjoy the Eurodam. She's a fine ship. You'll love the Tamarind and Silk Den.

[wilsonqbc]

Not at all too young as I am in my 40's and enjoyed Eurodam, during march break there was a nice mix of ages. We were looking for a traditional cruise and thats what we received. although the disco does tend to be quiet

and not too much going on after 2300 hrs. but that was fine with us.

Note: you might enjoy the Retreat cabanas more than the Lido ones, we had a retreat one for the week and it was well worth it, the Lido ones would be great for people watching as you say, and if you or your kids would be using the pool a lot they would be a better choice as they are right beside the pool

[TracieABD]

We are in our mid to late 40's and we did not feel old or young on our cruise. There was a great span of ages and this made the trip very interesting!

BTW-- We loved HAL!

[mrszuhwiggins]

Hi there,

You are most definitely not too young. My husband and I began cruising on HAL a few years ago and we have not yet passed 45. We enjoy the more sedate atmosphere (no hairy legs or belly flop contests out by the pool) and the great food and exceptional service. I will agree that the demographics skew a bit older than on some of the other cruise lines we have sailed, however there is a good mix of folks on these cruises, and I have to say that most of the "more experienced" cruisers I meet on HAL are young at heart and I have had some of the most interesting, entertaining conversations ever with them. I have, just this evening booked our next HAL cruise for this Christmas, and am counting down the days. Just FYI - we also have school age kids and their FAVORITE line is HAL and we have cruised RCCL, Celebrity, Princess and NCL. We have not yet been on the Eurodam, but I'm sure you will have a wonderful time.

[SwissMyst]

I think the only deficiency would be the "contemporary" music request. HAL does seem to rely on the old standards, which for a lot of us before the-baby boom is wonderful, but this might not be your tastes. They do try to up the beat a bit, but not sure how far or how successfully. But I think it would be hard pressed to offer anything contemporary with the music scene today (rap, metal, rave - gheesh, make me show my age....)

 

You picked a lovely ship with excellent reports and you also may find the days are busy, full of sun and you want may head to bed early after dinner too.

 

I was on a cruise recently where we had very young performers but who geared the shows to the passengers who were all pretty much WWII and olders. I asked them how they liked doing all those old standards that we as passengers loved, but were a couple of generations away from their own music tastes. They said they loved them and it was fun to sing and dance and be romantic because that just wasn't an experience they were familiar with.

 

So with that in mind, if you approach it as a music history appreciation cruise, you might well find your self toe-tapping to Love Is a Many Splendid Thing or Three Coins in the Fountain :p ..... before we really let our hair down with John Denver (actually a fake John Denver put on one terrific show on one HAL ship)

 

For the record, what are your more contemporary music tastes for your age group -- what crossovers might there be after all?

 

PS: One thing about cruising with us old guys is not worrying about what you will be like in a few more decades for yourself, because this is a very good group of seasoned fellow travelers who make cruising still work for them even when age is starting to take its toll, as it does and as it will. Once you get used to unpacking your suitcase only once on a trip, you may never look back.

[lovetocruise2020]

Hi all,

We just turned 30 and choose the Eurodam because we wanted a classy ship not a party ship. We leave Oct 30. I am SUPER EXCITED. I think we will fit in just fine and you will too!

[Jules215]

Thanks for all the responses thus far...I think everyone got what I was trying to ask!! :D And please don't misunderstand, we enjoy people of all ages...My parents and some of their friends are some of the funnest people I know.

 

And to SwissMyst, in hind-sight perhaps "contemporary" wasn't the word I should have used...( And my son's are confirming that there is nothing contemporary about our taste in music)...LOL...60's, 70's, 80's, 90's pop is more what I should have said.

[wilsonqbc]

The Band played good music by the pool like Louie Louie or Oye como va Santana, which was great.

[Jules215]

The Band played good music by the pool like Louie Louie or Oye como va Santana, which was great.

 

That works!! :D

[TracieABD]

There was a Beatles sing along in one of the bars on the Rotterdam. It was very well attended by our demographic!

[Hitcher13]

I am really glad you asked this question, as my husband and I were wondering the same thing about ourselves, 46 and 49. We are celebrating our 25th anniversary with a dream vacation, and our very first cruise. We will be on the Westerdam - Greece, Italy and a few others, for a 12 day cruise - we are so excited. We were wondering - but not really concerned. We often travel with my parents and their friends - and we have such a great time. We are looking forward to a really diverse group of people, and hope to make some great friendships. The countdown is on......:)

[SwissMyst]

Hmmmmmm, what is with all these kiddies signing up for our cruise ships. Pretty soon we oldsters will be the new minority group on HAL. Be kind to us. :) Don't drown us out with your disco.

[SwissMyst]

Hmmmmmm, what is with all these kiddies signing up for our cruise ships. Pretty soon we oldsters will be the new minority group on HAL. Be kind to us.;) Don't drown us out with your disco.

[Hitcher13]

Hmmmmmm, what is with all these kiddies signing up for our cruise ships. Pretty soon we oldsters will be the new minority group on HAL. Be kind to us. :) Don't drown us out with your disco.

 

 

It's because we truly know where all the action is and who we will have the most fun with - and really, admit it - we all want to bring out our inner "John Travolta"....lol....;)

[dockrocker]

Age demographics really vary depending on the itinerary. Seven-day Caribbean routes = all ages. Transatlantics, 21-plus-day cruises, cruises in more exotic locales = strongly skewed toward older people.

[SwissMyst]

Age demographics really vary depending on the itinerary. Seven-day Caribbean routes = all ages. Transatlantics, 21-plus-day cruises, cruises in more exotic locales = strongly skewed toward older people.

 

Follow the money, as they say. Or, follow those with more leisure time.

 

Older people tend to have more discretionary travel money and time to take the longer cruises. Younger people still have families to include in the trip prices, and usually less time off. Hitting around 50, this starts changing and after 60 cruising on the longer trips really starts picking up.

 

Another factor is where it is warmer in the winter brings out a lot of older, retired people who just like to escape the cold and will often repeat many times the sunnier cruises typically in the Caribbean.

 

But the passenger mix really does not have a lot of material impact on the cruise enjoyment if one goes for the ports and just time away from it all. Interaction with other passengers, particularly on the larger ships can be as little or as often as you want. Not a lot of bikini clad babes or rippled 6 pack hunks at the swimming pools on our ships, but that might be the only place where this big age difference is really noticed.

[PICKLEBALL WIDOW]

Good Grief! I have to admit that right now I am totally dumb-founded!

 

I am an experienced Cruise Critter and have sailed with HAL only one time before. I left there feeling like it was OK, but then they came up with this fabulous itinerary for this winter that I couldn't pass up, so I booked with them again.

 

If you've sailed before you know it's not unusual for someone to schedule a meet and mingle...a time for us CC members to get together, meet and (usually) have fun. We always do a lot of laughing and just have a good time at these, and they've provided a great way to break the ice with fellow cruisers, compare notes on excursions, etc. They're generally lots of fun, right?

 

I'm booked on a HAL cruise in December so I joined the board. I suggested our group do what many groups are doing at their M&M's and have a fun gift exchange. They are SO much fun and it's a kick to see what people get for $10 or less. GREAT things like local recipe books, t-shirts, thermos mugs to use on the ship, etc. It just seems to bring fun to what can be a sometimes uncomfortable positions for people who aren't minglers.

 

Get this....I was told, in no uncertain terms by a cc'r on that board, that when HAL has a Meet and Mingle, that it is a "more reserved" affair and that if I wanted to hold a gift exchange I would have to find another time and place to do it.

 

My initial thought is what kind of people am I going to be sharing 10 days of my life with? If I had it to do over again, just based on the CC board relating to the cruise I'm going on, I'd choose another cruise line. ANY OTHER cruise line.:(

[babyorca]

I don't think you guys are too young. I did my first HAL last year and I was 31. I loved it. I really appreciated the finer qualities of HAL. :) I know I just want it all, from the breakfast in bed to the dancing after the shows at night. If only I could do it all without sleep eh? lol.

If you want to relax, you will defintely find it there. Enjoy your cruise!

[fridayeyes]

I'm 43, and I've been cruising HAL since my mid-30s. :) C'mon in - the water's fine.

 

@ Weebles - there's a statistic floating around here saying that people on these boards make up some 2% of HAL's pax, so don't worry. And as far as I'm aware, it's HAL who says what does or doesn't go at a Meet/Mingle, not some random poster here. If the rest of the group likes the idea, well, go for it.

[SRH]

I think the issue is less one of age and more one of tastes. I cruised on the Veendam with my girlfriend in June; I'm 27, she's 26.

 

We didn't think any age differential was an issue and it never made us uncomfortable. We got a few jocular comments about it: "I think the two of you drop the average age of this ship to around 80." But, it was all in good fun and we never once felt out of place.

 

We're not party people and we wanted higher quality amenities and food. We were very satisfied with what we got and are eagerly looking forward to our next HAL cruise.

[ariawoman]

Hmmmmmm, what is with all these kiddies signing up for our cruise ships. Pretty soon we oldsters will be the new minority group on HAL. Be kind to us.;) Don't drown us out with your disco.

 

36 and sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam this fall :-)

 

Don't hate us because we got smart at an early age to travel HAL :-) Just think of us as more refined. :cool:

[ariawoman]

 

We're not party people and we wanted higher quality amenities and food. We were very satisfied with what we got and are eagerly looking forward to our next HAL cruise.

 

That's exactly the reason I chose HAL. I don't feel like I'd enjoy the Carnival type scene. (not to diss carnival but when I go to the mediterranean, I hit the ports so hard that at the end of the day, I dont care much about clubbing it up at the bar lol). My 1st cruise was on a charted Seabourn yacht ( i presume not the exact same experience as a regular seabourn cruise) but it was "refined" enough (and relaxed at night enough) for me to know that not having a ton of after dinner options is just fine by me (though I know HAL has many more options than seabourn did passenger size on HAL compared to my prev cruise is 10x larger).

[SwissMyst]

My favorite place on HAL ships is the library and Explorations Cafe -- how is that for party hardy?

[terigo]

Jules, we went through the same dilemma.

We sailed last with HAL over 20 years ago, and yeah, I felt like I was visiting my grandparents.... so we started cruising NCL. RCCL, Celebrity, and Carnival.

All of them were just fine... never have had a bad cruise yet!

 

You would think we wouldn't have worried this year, considering my husband and I now are actually that "older generation", being 62 and 59....

but I am a DJ for an underground metal station and my husband likes to party with the best of em... so we feel a LOT younger.... and we worried the ship would be too staid.

 

So we booked ourselves on Princess.

 

However, we were really drawn to the same things you are regarding the Eurodam.

After reading the comments on CC and other places about the age variety, and realizing things are different with HAL than they were 22 years ago, we cancelled the Crown Princess and decided to go ahead and book the Eurodam for Dec 4th.

 

I couldn't be more excited....I'm really looking forward to it!