HAL Maasdam : Canada - New England - Travelling with teens

[juliescrapbook]

We are thinking of booking a 7 day cruise in August 2014 on the Maasdam Boston - Montreal. However, we are hesitant since we are traveling with two teenage boys (14 and 16). In the past we have sailed with Carnival, RC, NCL and Princess but we have never been with HAL.

 

Can anyone reassure me that there will be other families with other teenagers ?

Edited July 4, 2014 by juliescrapbook

[Padraic]

There will be teenagers although not a lot of them. I was on last weeks Canada/New England cruise with my 17 year old grandson.

[trabeler]

If local schools are still on summer break, there will be some teens, but not as many as earlier in the summer.

 

We were on this itinerary in mid June and there were maybe 20 total teens. Thankfully my daughter found a few to hang out with. If your kids make friends easily, they should be able to find others. There are a lot of ports on this itinerary so there isn't a whole lot of idle time to worry about...

[Swice]

Remember it's a smaller ship... so there will never be a huge number.

 

But we were on HAL Canada/New England last year and my boys had a great time. My 13-year old actually celebrated his birthday on board-- staff and other teens made him posters and decorated the teen area with balloons. They made him feel special. I would say there were more than a dozen who actually participated in the teen activities (we saw a few more were on board). I credit the staff members for having activities that boys and girls both enjoyed (they had sport related/camp style games that were not rough enough to keep the girls away, but still rough enough for the boys to be interested).

 

There were plenty of younger children... but again because of the ship size it was not a huge number, but there were "plenty."

 

I will also add, that most of the kids seem behaved for the most part.

 

My boys have actually been turned off by Carnival... too many kids that they end up "waiting" so long for a turn at an activity that it ends up not being fun. My boys are HAL snobs, they like the fact that the counselors/staff members get to know them and interact with them and that they're not "just another passenger."

 

As the parent of boys, I also appreciate the fact that we've had guys on staff that are "fun" and "cool" and really seem to enjoy their jobs. Please-- No offense, but sometimes boys need male role models.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Swice

[TheEmerson]

I came off the Maasdam in Jube with my 13 DD. While there were a number if teens on board, She was happy with what was onboard and kept fully occupied.

While never using the teen programs. It comes down to the teen in question and can themselves find things to do without being handed to them. We played chess and ping pong on the Lido and other things. She loved what she can do and what she did do.

[Krazy Kruizers]

It all depends on how late in August you cruise.

In our area, schools start the third week of August.

Also remember that this is a port intensive cruise and you all will be off the ship most of the time.

[Typhoon1]

There are always plenty of teens sailing in the summer months. They will make plenty of new friends.

[MeganMB]

What week are you thinking of? We're going August 2 with our 13 year old son.

[Jolie_Cruiser]

If you do decide to book here is thread in the Canada forum which might interest you:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2042599&highlight=tweens

[candbgirl]

Go over to the roll call forum and see if your cruise has a thread. Maybe there will be others asking the same questions .

Edited July 5, 2014 by candbgirl

[masonpips]

We're boarding in the am with a 15 and 16 year old. I'll report in after the cruise!!

[Cruiser Bruiser]

My very sophisticated niece and I will be sailing this itinerary in June. She will be 3-months shy of 18 and will have just graduated from high school, so she might be in more of an "adult" mood. ;) However, it's encouraging to hear that there will be a smattering of young people aboard!

[masonpips]

Following up after our cruise. There were VERY few teens on board. Our kids didn't meet anyone (but didn't attend anything in the club either).

 

Since it was very port intensive and we had 3 generations with us, we did a lot of stuff together and the kids didn't seem to miss not meeting others. I would go into the cruise expecting them to be with you quite a bit and/or plan things for your family to do at port (Rock Climbing in Acadia Nat'l Park was OUTSTANDING) and then if they meet up w/others it's a bonus.

 

There were some younger kids in the main pool each day but we always went to the back pool and laid out there, very quiet and peaceful.

 

It probably helped that World Cup semi finals were on during our week so we all gathered in Crow's Nest to watch games. They also had a "DVD" book onboard with over 1,000 titles. My kids really enjoyed renting different movies and generally relaxing!

[ispooks]

we are going on Aug 9th cruise with 2 families - we have a 16 and 21 y.o and our friends have a 17 & 20 y.o. should be some teens onboard, but my kids like the smaller teen clubs, as well...

[GradUT]

we are going on Aug 9th cruise with 2 families - we have a 16 and 21 y.o and our friends have a 17 & 20 y.o. should be some teens onboard, but my kids like the smaller teen clubs, as well...

 

We just got off the Veendam (Quebec to Boston) and I saw very few, if any, kids the ages of yours on board. But, as others have said, it's a very port-intensive cruise so having a lot of ship activities is not a must.

 

If you haven't already made plans for Halifax, you might consider doing a Segway tour. We had a great time on it last week! And while our kids did not accompany us on this tour, we did a Segway tour with them in D.C. when they were 17 and 20 years old and they still talk about it!

 

http://www.segwayns.com/html/tours2.html

Edited July 18, 2014 by GradUT