Maasdam:Family with kids, what to expect?

[MTL=CRUISEFAMILY]

We are mid 40's with 2 kids under 14.

Wanted to know what to expect on a 14 nights South caribbean cruise.

 

Guest Age average?

Evening entertainment?

Types of shows?

Day time activities?

Pools?

 

Basically I have heard that this line caters to an older crowd, which is fine by us, we kinda like the quiet low key activities, but not so little that the kids will be bonkers having nothing to do.

 

you input is appreciated

 

Thanks

[CruiserBruce]

14 days is a long time for many cruisers. So I wouldn't expect many children. The age range of adults will tilt older, for the same reason.

[esther e]

On our last Maasdam cruise there were a few tykes in strollers and a toddler, but no "children". Cruiserbruce is right -- 14 days is a long time on a ship where there will probably not be others of a similar age.

[Krazy Kruizers]

we have been on longer cruises where there were barely 5 or 6 children -- club hal had one person working there -- not much was going on for the children

[Himself]

Maybe the children will enjoy the sights of t he ports of call on the Southern Caribbean Cruise

[peaches from georgia]

Just wondering when you are taking your family cruise? Since your kids are school age and since HAL is not in the Caribbean in the summer I suspect over the December holidays? In that case there might be a few children, but most families cruise for 7-10 days and a 14 day cruise normally would not have a lot of children no matter when.

 

There is one family pool, but not pool games or pool activities like on the more active family-oriented cruiselines. Club HAL is about it for kids' activities and how interesting that would be would depend how many kids are onboard on a 14 day cruise. The average age will be 55-60 on a 14 day cruise.

 

Have your children taken a cruise this long before? On what lines and what do they like to do onboard ship?

[mamaofami]

We were on a Maasdam 14 day cruise this past January and I can't remember seeing any kids at all. There really isn't much for kids to do unless they like going to the beach and doing port activities. Then, you have 4 sea days. I think your kids will be very bored.

[innlady1]

We were on the Maasdam in January and Carol is correct. I didn't see a single child...not even a tyke in a stroller which is unusual.

Other years we've done the Noordam 20 day b2b and on every segment, there were a few little ones.

As others have said, the 14 day cruise just may be too long. And I think the kids would be bored w/o others in Club HAL.

[MTL=CRUISEFAMILY]

Just wondering when you are taking your family cruise? Since your kids are school age and since HAL is not in the Caribbean in the summer I suspect over the December holidays? In that case there might be a few children, but most families cruise for 7-10 days and a 14 day cruise normally would not have a lot of children no matter when.

 

There is one family pool, but not pool games or pool activities like on the more active family-oriented cruiselines. Club HAL is about it for kids' activities and how interesting that would be would depend how many kids are onboard on a 14 day cruise. The average age will be 55-60 on a 14 day cruise.

 

Have your children taken a cruise this long before? On what lines and what do they like to do onboard ship?

 

We are planning February, when the kids have a 2 week break. T

We have sailed MSC for 9 and also 14 nt cruises (lots of evening entertainment, such as shows, lounge acts etc.

NCL for 9 nt.

 

The kids do enjoy the ports as much as we do.his Days should be OK since we wil be off ship and sightseeing or at the beach

It is mainly the evenings that I may be concerned with. Is there enough for them and us to do or see.

[CruiserBruce]

We are planning February, when the kids have a 2 week break. T

We have sailed MSC for 9 and also 14 nt cruises (lots of evening entertainment, such as shows, lounge acts etc.

NCL for 9 nt.

 

The kids do enjoy the ports as much as we do.his Days should be OK since we wil be off ship and sightseeing or at the beach

It is mainly the evenings that I may be concerned with. Is there enough for them and us to do or see.

 

US kids don't have a two week break. Remind yours how lucky they are!

[Alison1466]

My girls (ages 8 and 10) did a 35 day cruise on the Maasdam last summer (Voyage of the Vikings) and a 10 day cruise this past Spring Break. They love meeting other kids, but they also like getting to know the Club HAL folks on a more personal level when there aren't so many children on board. I was really worried about doing 35 days but it went great. Things they loved besides Club HAL: Huge DVD library for free rental for room DVD player, Afternoon Tea, Daily crafts with Party Planner, Movies in the movie theater (they range from G rated to R so you have to make sure the movie is "kid friendly"), and the shows in the Show lounge. The Maasdam is a smaller ship and they were able to do some things on their own which they liked. For example, if we were sitting at the Lido pool, they could go into the Lido buffet and get sorbet/ice cream. They were allowed to walk back to the room themselves and they got to have their own soda cards. On the cruise last summer, there were approx. 25 kids on the ship. Surprisingly, the 10 day Spring Break cruise had fewer. There were only 2 other girls in their "tween" range and about 5 boys. We are cruising the Med on the Noordam this summer and there will be 26 kids on the first leg of the trip, then 80 on the second leg. Hope this helps! If you have any other specific questions, feel free to ask!

[TV Dad]

I have been on several HAL cruises with my daughter and she has always had a ball.

The kids club is excellent. Your children will be entertained! Don't worry.

[MarriedACanadian]

We were on the Maasdam last week and only saw 4 children onboard the entire week. Not sure about the activities but probably will not have a lot of new friends - our experience was a much older crowd (much older than we expected for sure) - probably mostly retirees

[IzzyWizzyWu]

My girls (ages 8 and 10) did a 35 day cruise on the Maasdam last summer (Voyage of the Vikings) and a 10 day cruise this past Spring Break. They love meeting other kids, but they also like getting to know the Club HAL folks on a more personal level when there aren't so many children on board. I was really worried about doing 35 days but it went great. Things they loved besides Club HAL: Huge DVD library for free rental for room DVD player, Afternoon Tea, Daily crafts with Party Planner, Movies in the movie theater (they range from G rated to R so you have to make sure the movie is "kid friendly"), and the shows in the Show lounge. The Maasdam is a smaller ship and they were able to do some things on their own which they liked. For example, if we were sitting at the Lido pool, they could go into the Lido buffet and get sorbet/ice cream. They were allowed to walk back to the room themselves and they got to have their own soda cards. On the cruise last summer, there were approx. 25 kids on the ship. Surprisingly, the 10 day Spring Break cruise had fewer. There were only 2 other girls in their "tween" range and about 5 boys. We are cruising the Med on the Noordam this summer and there will be 26 kids on the first leg of the trip, then 80 on the second leg. Hope this helps! If you have any other specific questions, feel free to ask!

Hi Alison. We are cruising with HAL for the first time this summer on Noordam. We too are travelling with children and was wondering how you got the info on how many children are cruising at the same time as you are. We are on the Noordam 20th July from Rome. Thanks.

[GORDONCHICK]

US kids don't have a two week break. Remind yours how lucky they are!

 

 

Some US schools do. Not the district our DS is in, but a couple in our city do what is refered to as year around school and they get 2 weeks in the fall, 3-4 at Christmas, and 2 in the spring. I don't know what else.

 

When there are few children on board, they kind of set the tone/pace and get the run of the place. They may get to do things that they can't do with larger groups. One thing I've found helpful is to be upfront about when you expect your children to use the kids' area. We told them ours (he was 3.5 at the time, but now is 10) would come after early dinner seating and when we'd pick him up. They also knew we would put him down for a nap in the afternoon, etc. They were great with him and another 9yo girl. This was on Celebrity and a 12 night sailing in the beginning of November.

[kazu]

Don't let the fact that many of us don't see children discourage you!

 

My sister just got back from the Eurodam a few weeks ago. There were over 200 children on the ship. Nary a one was seen as they were too busy having fun with the HAL programmes. :D Hal's programmes for children and teens are one of their best kept secrets i think;)

[elainemasey]

We did a 1 week cruise when ds was in 1st grade over Easter vacation. I wanted some kids but not millions. That was why we chose HAL. I called them and they told me how many kids had been booked at that time. Again this year we were looking at them for this summer Baltic and I emailed customer service to see if there was enough for DS14 and again they gave me the kid count.

[GORDONCHICK]

We just returned from our 1st HAL cruise this past Sunday. Our Ds is 10 and has always enjoyed all the kids' programs, and Club HAL was no exception. There were 60 kids on board who were eligible for the program (all age groups). They even got to make pretzels from scratch as part of the culinary program for kids.

[GOLDENBONNY]

We are mid 40's with 2 kids under 14.

Wanted to know what to expect on a 14 nights South caribbean cruise.

 

Guest Age average?

Evening entertainment?

Types of shows?

Day time activities?

Pools?

 

Basically I have heard that this line caters to an older crowd, which is fine by us, we kinda like the quiet low key activities, but not so little that the kids will be bonkers having nothing to do.

 

you input is appreciated

 

Thanks

 

 

1.14 days cruise I would say 50+

2.Evening entertaimnet .... was boring on Noordam in DEc. was ok on Eurodam 2 years ago.hard to say

3.kids club only

4.What we love about HAL:) Pools are empty, older people dont like them too much:D.

[78232]

On the Zuiderdam the tv had cartoon network which was a hit with our grandaughter. She also loved room service and the dessert extravangza. Many of the evening shows are appropriate for kids to be included.

Marcia

[Sonup2Sondwn]

We are a family of 4 in our 40's with two boys how have almost 50 sea days on HAL. We sailed 21 days in 2009, two weeks over Easter on a Back to Back and 7 days in early June to Alaska. We experienced hundreds of children on these sailings, almost more than HAL could easily accomodate even though they did add staff to these sailings for the children.

 

I think the days are over when you see almost no children on HAL - we have not had that experience since 2003 when my son was one of 14 on board a 7 January carribean sailing.

 

My boys love the kids club and the many activities they offer ( they are often customized to the kids interests ) We also use to take part in a lot of the Dam Dollar programs and activities onboard in the daily planner. The kids like to play on the giant ipods in the lounges, table tennis and the pools. They check out board games, videos and play sports like tennis and basketball. They also like to eat, eat, eat...if I can't find my kids they are in the Lido or at the Poolside cafe.

 

I would be shocked if the kids didn't find loads of fun stuff to do, the staff is super with the kids. One of the selling points of HAL for me is how well ALL of the staff treat my children to make them feel special - HAL crew is the best hands down.

[Big Dawg CC]

Our kids are now 13 and 12, and have been sailing on HAL with us since 2006. We have had as many as 600 kids on a spring break cruise in the Eastern Carribean (Eurodam, April 2009) and as few as 12 kids on a last week of the summer New England cruise (Eurodam August to September 2009). They actually prefer less kids, as there is less "competition" for making new friends. Although our schools have "ski week" in February (typically the 3rd week), it is only a week and my guess is that few would be able to do a 14 day cruise.

 

Our kids always find plenty to do, and enjoy some of the night time shows, but may be bored by others. Worse case, they get CDs from the front desk and can watch them in the room. There are also games to check out in the library, and Wii and Playstation is available in Club HAL.

[California4Me4Ever]

You can call Guest Services at HAL headquarters and ask for a head count of children on your sailing. It doesn't break it down by exact age (3-11, 12-17 I think), but you will have an idea of how many children will be onboard. Knowing a general count helped my daughter feel more comfortable knowing she wasn't going to be the only child onboard. (I almost typed onBORED)