DS7 in Club Hal?

[boulders]

I'm considering the Voyage of the Vikings cruise for summer, 2012. It will be me, Mom (late 40's), DD13 (turning 14 on cruise) and DS will be just turned 7. He's been on Carnival, Disney and Royal Caribbean. DD will be fine as long as she can hang with me or meet other girls her own age.

 

I don't expect many kids on this cruise, even for HAL. Although it's during summer vacation, it's a long cruise and not necessarily one that appeals to families.

 

Has anyone taken a HAL cruise with kids in the 6-8 age group when there hasn't been many kids on board? How did they like it?

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I sailed on Zuiderdam in summer of 2008 with my then 7 3/4 yr old son. He is a seasoned cruiser and he liked the youth program and wanted to go there.

 

We are doing Maasdam this summer, so obviously we both liked Holland America.

 

My son, Marc, made some nice playmates and he tended to spend the AM in the youth program and then in the pool in the afternoon with his newfound friends.

 

You'll like Holland. The ships are small and the kids really are treated well, especially by the pool bartenders. We were always greatly warmly when we returned to the ship. One great thing- the buffet serves all the same food as the main diningroom- so at night we opted to eat poolside from the adjacent buffet.

 

All the cruise lines have their strengths but I found Holland to be a great multi-generation cruise line. There was enough for everyone.

[Alison1466]

We did the Voyage of the Vikings last summer and our daughters were 7 and 9. They are pretty mellow kids who love to travel and they had the time of their lives. There were just a few other kids on board but enough to make it interesting for them. The 35 days is actually divided into a 17 day cruise and an 18 day cruise so some are on for 35 , etc. etc. They made great friends on the 2nd half of the cruise that they email daily and we are meeting up with them this year at the Macy's parade in NYC. The ports are awesome, the kids club is small and nice and HAL does a nice job with activities. We did the kids club, the pool, crafts, afternoon tea, movies in the theater, movies in the room, and just generally had a great time. I would highly recommend doing this cruise!!!

[boulders]

Thanks for the replies! I hadn't seen them when originally posted as I was in the process of moving. I just pulled the thread up on a search.

 

I'm a little concerned as one of the posters on our roll call made an anti-kid post.

 

I'm still not sure of our itinerary. I've got a Cunard eastbound transatlantic that I'd like to keep. It's on my bucket list. I'd originally planned a b2b on Celebrity's Eclipse as well in addition to the TA. One of the cruises goes to the Baltic capitals and one goes to Norway and Iceland. Then, I look at the one way airfare prices back to North America and :eek: I'm back to sailing back on the westbound Voyage of the Vikings. I think I prefer the VOV itinerary, but HAL's smoking policy and reputation as an "old people's" cruise line makes me nervous.

 

We'll be spending some time doing a land tour between the Cunard TA and whatever else we plan to do. I'm just not sure of whether to go with VOV or Celebrity. Any advice?