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Antarctica 21 nt w/kids?

gatorsfam

By gatorsfam,
in Holland America Line

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gatorsfam

gatorsfam

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We're considering sailing on the Zaandam 21 night SA/Antarctica. Our 4 children (15/13/10/4) usually accompany us on our adventures and we plan to take them along. I'm interested in hearing of other families that have sailed this itinerary (or similar).. Will they be about the only kids on board?

 

They carry themselves well on ships so I don't expect any issues there, and it looks like the Zaandam has an apparently decent kids program/areas to help them pass the time.

 

I'm a bit concerned about the # of sea days and their ability to find something to do I think it would be an incredible experience to share together.

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Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

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On a cruise that long and with so many sea days, you will not find many children on board. Thus there may be only 1 person working Club HAL.

We did a repositioning cruise one time and there were only 6 children on board. Not much happening in Club HAL as a couple of the children were crew children.

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cnbfrank

cnbfrank

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We were on the Jan 6 2011 Antarctica cruise. I remember seeing only a couple of young children and no teenagers - and then only very infrequently. I wondered if they were children of the officers, perhaps. There are a lot of sea days on this trip - Antarctica is spectacular, but they might become restless at "scenery" and wish to be ashore and active on more days than this voyage allows. You know your children best, though. For the two of us who love being out on deck and observing birds and nature in general it was a fantastic trip.

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falcon10156

falcon10156

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We sailed the Jan 6, 2012 sailing. There were several kids and a couple of teens on board. The HAL childrens progamme was in full swing on the Veendam when we went although only a few kids but they did have a few staff.

 

Kids seemed to have a great time. Itinerary is awesome and a great opportunity for your kids. If they have travelled alot they will be fine. There is nothing like seeing penguins in the wild swimming beside your ship or whales breeching or seals "suntanning".

 

I would recommend it.

 

Debbie

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dfish

dfish

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As a teacher, I would say that it would be an incredible educational experience for the older children if structured correctly. I also did this cruise in 2011 and I think there was only one child on board, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. The older kids might even enjoy some of the lectures and it would be super cool if they could have a short personal conversation with some of the presenters.

 

Debbie

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monina01

monina01

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We sailed the Jan 30 Antarctica sailing this year and we only saw one little girl, I think she was about 5. No other children.

 

But wow...it sure was an amazing experience....they would be so lucky to experience it if they enjoy such things and are as awed by mother nature as we are.

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gatorsfam

gatorsfam

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Wow! Thanks for all the great input.. This confirms a lot of what we suspected, but it is always great to get first-hand thoughts from those who have traveled along similar paths.

 

dfish - my wife is a teacher as well and educational experiences are always top of her reasonings for our adventurers :)

 

vict0riann - great idea about the kids maintaining a blog through the cruise... even if we just maintained it locally until we got home it would be a nice way for them to keep a journal of their experience

 

brazilgirl - the take-away for me from your travelog is to be flexible and maintain a good attitude through the twists and turns of such an itinerary ;)

 

Now hopefully HAL cooperates by moving the rates near the ranges we noticed last year and we can make this dream a reality

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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vict0riann - great idea about the kids maintaining a blog through the cruise... even if we just maintained it locally until we got home it would be a nice way for them to keep a journal of their experience

 

The internet was just catching on when our children were young. We had our children write photo journals of their trips. During the trip they wrote about each day. When we got home and had the photos developed (remember those days??) we put the photos with each day. My children are now 25-37 and to this day they pull out those journals to show others. In fact, my 33 year old just told me that he gave his Nova Scotia/PEI journal to a co-worker to look at. She is heading up there this summer. Sometimes the kids weren't keen on me making them do the journals, but I know how much they mean to them when they pull them out and share them with others. Today it is much easier to use tablets, computers, etc. However you do it, it will be a great memory for them. Even the four year old can tell you about their day and someone else can write down their story.

Edited by vbmom87
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Watson's aunt

Watson's aunt

Posted
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Hi

 

Not sure the ages of your children. but you can start now reseaching where you will be going. I agree with having them do a journal. But get maps, Name of countris, cities and towns. Have a road trip kind of journal. What kind of animals did they see and where. what the flags of the country look like capitals. Hide some books and such for later during your cruise. Get a map of the world and have the mark cruise. (you might need 4. I would get one large map. They can use this for furure cruises and 4 smaller ones. Camera's are a must. The indoor tv which has the maping it will tell you the temp, how deep the water is, where ther are how far your have traveled from the start and from last port. Plus other things. they could interview the crew and learn about there homeland and familes.

there is so much you can do if you make a game of it. Make sure the take photo's of the towel animials. Wow I envy them. This is a cruise of my dreams. have a great time.

 

 

Mary

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gatorsfam

gatorsfam

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Getting a Brazil visa looks like it is not a lot of fun (similar to getting a US visa apparently)... Sooo.. .was wondering if anyone knows about HAL's policy of joining the sailing in Buenos Aires.. I'd hate to miss 4 days on the ship as that is a good chunk of the time, but if the visa is delayed or not attainable for whatever reason it would be good to have options. I suppose HAL is fine with it and would prefer a heads up in advance.

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Vict0riann "Live from...." Rare

Vict0riann

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I looked on the Brazil Travel Forum in Tripadvisor, and it looks as if there are no shortcuts for visas. Where are you? I guess timing is everything!

 

Our daughter had her passport stolen in Copenhagen and had to stay behind to get a new one, so we sailed without her, and she joined us in Helsinki - no problem with HAL, of course we had to advise them what happened, and they were on the lookout for her when we docked in Helsinki. She did have trouble finding the ship in the huge port area, but I imagine BA is organized for cruise ships. For Argentina, of course, you have the "reciprocity fee", but that can be done on line. :)

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Pete Jackson

Pete Jackson

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Getting Brazilian Visas is no problem when you use a visa service, such as the Zierer visa service in Washington. The main concern is going without your passport while it is mailed or delivered to the service. They will tell you exactly when to send/give in your passports and, if you need your passports for other travel, they will coordinate the process so that you have your passports when you need them. There is an expense, of course, but it's not unreasonable.

 

HAL will give you the names of Visa services that they recommend.

 

Brazil has a reciprocity policy in visas, and so makes Americans go through exactly what Brazilians need to do to visit the USA. Most Europeans, for example, do not need Brazilian visas. There have been bilateral discussions between the US and Brazil to simplify or eliminate the visas. Contact your congressperson if you wish to tell them your feelings about this.:)

Edited by Pete Jackson
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lovely_serenity

lovely_serenity

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Buy them cameras, and get them to do a blog like Sarah's (Lovely Serenity). We will all anticipate seeing wonderful stuff! Amazing Antarctica! :) Ann

LOL just happen to read this thread and I'm like, hey! :D haha I see my name ^^~

 

&& I'm so jealous of your kids, I wish I could do a cruise like that D: if they're elementary students, bring them on vacation and skip school while they still can, because as they get older, it'll become more & more difficult for them to skip, as their schoolwork gets more difficult :/ I speak from experience

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gatorsfam

gatorsfam

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LOL just happen to read this thread and I'm like, hey! :D haha I see my name ^^~

 

&& I'm so jealous of your kids, I wish I could do a cruise like that D: if they're elementary students, bring them on vacation and skip school while they still can, because as they get older, it'll become more & more difficult for them to skip, as their schoolwork gets more difficult :/ I speak from experience

 

That's exactly why we're trying to make this one happen as our oldest is entering High School this fall and it will get harder and harder to pull off something like this for a looooooooong time

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lovely_serenity

lovely_serenity

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That's exactly why we're trying to make this one happen as our oldest is entering High School this fall and it will get harder and harder to pull off something like this for a looooooooong time

Ahh~ I wanna go! ^^ Yeah! Because in high school, you'll get different teachers for every subject, so basically, your kid would have to literally catch up in 8 different subjects by him/herself! :/ Still, in grade 8 & 9, your kid could probably still afford to skip that many days. Grade 10+ however, will become very difficult :(

Edited by lovely_serenity
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