Anything onboard for a 2 and a half year old

[andnosyd]

Just trying to figure out if they offer anything for kids under 3 or not. From what I've seen, it doesn't look like it, but I was hoping someone may have different information.

[cruisinjudy]

They did say we could come in the play room with our under threes at certain times if we accompanied them. And that may have just been our that cruise. I don't know if that is the usual rule.

[Krazy Kruizers]

There are no organized play times in Club HAL for children under the age of 3.

[KirkNC]

No, nothing for that age group. To be honest, usually there are not many that young on a HAL cruise.

[Spire2000]

My daughter was 2 on our first cruise (NCL) and 3 on her second (Maasdam). She's 5 now and will be on the Zuiderdam with us in three weeks.

 

At 2, the only thing she wanted to do was play in the pool. She was potty trained so the diaper rule wasn't an issue. We basically spent every waking moment playing in the pool, which was awesome.

 

At 3, the pool was still a major draw but now she was able to go to Club HAL. Of course, she was one of only 3 kids under the age of 12 on the ship, but she still loved it.

[HALrunner]

Club HAL has let us "check out" toys, books and art supplies for our youngest when he was not quite old enough for club HAL. Beach balls are easily packable and a lot of fun for kids that age, especially to kick around in the (netted) tennis courts. We always take bubbles and party noisemakers for sail away. Kids are so easily entertained at that age, you should not have a problem:)

p.s. Don't forget to bring crayons to the MDR as they provide kids menus to color on.

[Bill B]

2000 honorary great grand parents?

[HALrunner]

How could I forget that?!?! 2000 honorary grandparents and 900 (crew) honorary aunts & uncles! Seriously, one of the best parts!

[indokiwi]

They did say we could come in the play room with our under threes at certain times if we accompanied them. And that may have just been our that cruise. I don't know if that is the usual rule.

 

They definitely don't allow this anymore. We have asked - it was a strict policy change and ships were getting their hands slapped if they were allowing it since insurance doesn't cover this. But they usually will let you have some toys, etc from the room.

[Typhoon1]

You'll be having an enjoyable time. However, I don't think a three year old would enjoy cruising.

[AlohaPride]

You'll be having an enjoyable time. However, I don't think a three year old would enjoy cruising.

 

I suppose it depends on the child. We took our oldest on her first cruise at 15 months (she's 6 now) and she had a BLAST! She made fast friends with our CC buddies, danced in the disco, played with the huge chess set (is that still on the Noordam?), watched for dolphins, ate ice cream and pizza, slept in, watched movies, guessed the towel animal, and really enjoyed having her mommy and daddy all to herself for 14 days. :)

 

We took a tour of one of the ships while she was in port here and both my 3 and 4 year old girls have been talking about the ship since. My 4 year old was amazed that there are real "Chefs" on board. It was too cute.

 

Edit to add: We also asked some of the crew if there were any other young ones on board, and one of the officers had their 2 year old on board as well so we had a few playdates :D

Edited January 13, 2014 by AlohaPride

[innlady1]

Wow....she was only 15 months at the time, Mary? She seemed much more "grown up" than that. She was a highlight of he "Good Nuts" cruise. Kind of reminds me of our oldest granddaughter.

[AlohaPride]

Wow....she was only 15 months at the time, Mary? She seemed much more "grown up" than that. She was a highlight of he "Good Nuts" cruise. Kind of reminds me of our oldest granddaughter.

 

I know! Some of the pictures from Half Moon Cay are still my favorites of her. Oh, and that outfit that Brian bought her?? ROFL it was so cute.

[andnosyd]

Our daughter has been on 3 cruises, 2 on Disney (obviously really enjoyed those) and one on HAL. The one on HAL she was only 11 months old, but we found her some things to do. At 2 and a half, I think she'll be more entertained by things onboard, it's just too bad they don't let you go to club HAL with her and watch her so she can play in there. It's a Transatlantic cruise so I doubt there will be a ton of kids onboard. I guess I can always ask the kids staff what they recommend. Thanks for all of the input!