Age has nothing to do with it

[kittercat85]

My husband and I are in our late 20's and we loved our HAL cruise. I've also cruised HAL when I was 14 and 16 and loved it both those times as well. What we wanted on our cruise was a cruise experience about... being on a ship. We weren't looking for a giant floating resort with rock climbing walls and all that stuff. I could do that other places.

 

On our Alaska cruise, there were honestly people of ALL ages. Many kids and families, younger adults, people our age, all the way up. It was nice to have such a variety of people aboard.

 

I'm sure some of the longer cruises have a slightly older crowd than the one we were on - but that's only because most of the "younger" crowd can't afford to be away from life on land 20+ days. :p

[GUT2407]

I have seen threads pop up from time to time questioning the age of the "average" HAL cruiser and if they would "fit" or be "board" out of their minds.

 

I was just working away and I guess my mind wondered :rolleyes: and I found myself thinking the age of the fellow cruisers has nothing to do with how much YOU will enjoy YOUR cruise. It is your state of mind that is important.

 

I have shocked TAs when saying our family of 4 want to book a HAL cruise. I did my homework and yes I did chose HAL. You have to know yourself and what you want out of a vacation. We have tried Princess and Disney but we want HAL for our budget and what we want out of our family vacation.

 

I knew, even for our first cruise when DS was 7 and DD 10 that we did not want rock climbing walls, blaring music, 3,000+ other cruisers joining us, ice staking rinks, and no set time dining. We didn't want to abandon the kids to a club for 18 hours a day, nor did we want to drink to excess and party until the wee hours. We didn't want contests on deck nor multiple announcements over the PA system. Not making any statement, just not what we wanted.

 

Our lives are busy. We have little family time during the regular work week. We wanted a children's club that I could trust, we wanted to dress for dinner, we wanted to have deck space to walk, we wanted deck chairs that we could sit in and look out and enjoy the destination, we wanted cabins that accommodate 4, and we wanted quiet indoor spaces so we could regenerate our minds and be together.

 

The only item HAL may be behind is having cabins for 4. I am not counting the Neptune Suites as the 3rd and 4th are one sofa bed and that just doesn't work for a family with a boy and a girl.

 

We have met some wonderful people. We have enjoyed some quiet time together, we have enjoyed dinner in the MDR each evening and our kids love Club HAL.

 

Perfect fit for us. Not for all. But HAL can't help fit you into it; you have to know what you want out of a vacation/cruise and look at what else is out there and then choose the cruise line that best fits what you want.

 

Age has nothing to do with it.

 

 

I haven't tried HAL yet but agree 1000%. It is all about what suits you, and as for 3000 - 6000 pax, not for me thanks.

[3rdGenCunarder]

My husband and I are in our late 20's and we loved our HAL cruise. I've also cruised HAL when I was 14 and 16 and loved it both those times as well. What we wanted on our cruise was a cruise experience about... being on a ship. We weren't looking for a giant floating resort with rock climbing walls and all that stuff. I could do that other places.

 

On our Alaska cruise, there were honestly people of ALL ages. Many kids and families, younger adults, people our age, all the way up. It was nice to have such a variety of people aboard.

 

I'm sure some of the longer cruises have a slightly older crowd than the one we were on - but that's only because most of the "younger" crowd can't afford to be away from life on land 20+ days. :p

 

Thank you for saying that! It gives me hope for future generations of cruisers. When we started cruising, ships looked and felt like ships, and that's how we still like it.

 

It seems more and more people want to go on a cruise but not feel like they're on a ship. When Oasis was new, balcony cabins that face the atrium were more expensive than identical balcony cabins that face the sea. I found that appalling, an insult to King Neptune.

[ol3]

Gail, this could have been my post!! Family of 4 (son 9 and girl 13) had a great cruise of the Noordam last august! Love HAL!

[fm6175]

We are mid 40's ok I'm almost 50 , but we are sailing on our 3rd HAL cruise Jan 2015 . Absolutely love the atmosphere on the ships . Have considered all other lines but HAL works for us .

 

 

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[NotMyRealName25]

While I agree with you on your cruise is how you make it, I do think age can matter in some instances. DH and I sailed princess out of Galveston spring of 2013 and have decided we will not sail princess again (at least in the near future) due to our age. We enjoy having activities throughout the day to keep us busy such as trivia, scavenger hunts, and shows. We couldn't connect with any of the activities they had because they were geared to an older generation. I couldn't answer a single trivia question, there weren't any scavenger hunts, and the shows were all disco themed. The positive thing I can say is that everyone was generally nice (even if it did take a million years to get anywhere due to wheelchairs and walkers) and we were very relaxed since we didn't have anything to do.