Zuiderdam Adriatic Dream - Kids Friendly?

[BeautifulBat]

Hi The Adriatic dream is the cruise destinations we have been searching for. The price also seems to be lower than Royal Caribbean.

 

Question is...is the is cruise line a good option for children? I have active 10 year old boy and a 7 year old dancer girl. They are good kids that like to have fun.

 

Any information would be wonderful.

 

Thank you

[Essiesmom]

With an itinerary with only one sea day, it really doesn't matter. You will be off the ship every day but one, come back exhausted and just want to shower and eat, and get to be so you can do it again tomorrow. Many of the ports are easy to do on your own, with the help of a guidebook. EM

[NYteacher]

Our now 13 yo son has cruised HAL several times from ages 9-12. He loves the kids' club there because it has fewer kids and there is less/no waiting time for different things like the video games.

 

There have always been some kids on our HAL sailings so he has had some kid company.

[Shetlander]

Hi The Adriatic dream is the cruise destinations we have been searching for. The price also seems to be lower than Royal Caribbean.

 

Question is...is the is cruise line a good option for children? I have active 10 year old boy and a 7 year old dancer girl. They are good kids that like to have fun.

 

Any information would be wonderful.

 

Thank you

 

It really depends upon what is important to you. We sailed on Ryndam from Athens to Rome when our boys were 9 and 5, and the previous year sailed on Adventure of the Seas. We all preferred Ryndam.

 

Our boys never went near the Kids Club on RCI but thought Club HAL was great. There was a small number of children on board (it was October) but they got to know each other and all the different ages got along well together. We also liked the quieter and smaller ship, although Zuiderdam is a bit bigger than Ryndam.

 

There are some real pluses for a family on HAL:

 

1. Unlimited laundry for $7 per day - fabulous!

2. No charges for children at the Pinnacle Grill!

3. Much better library and you can borrow board games.

4. Club HAL.

5. Great itineraries.

 

We also liked the mix of passengers and whilst there were only a small number of children on board nobody seemed to object to them, and it seemed to me that one of the great things was that everybody got along well together.

 

So for us HAL is the ultimate family cruise line, but as I said it really depends upon what is important to you.

 

If I can think of anything else I'll post again and please ask if you have any specific questions.

[1of4]

Absolutely! In my opinion it is the best for children. Both of mine prefer HAL to Disney. Honest. We just finished a 20 day cruise with my 10 year old boy and 13 year old daughter. They both love Club HAL. Every day there are new activities that keep it fun. They have movie night, pyjamma parties, olympics, make your pancake breafast in the culinary arts center, arts and crafts, video games, sports, treasure hunts..... Each night you get the itinerary for the next day.

 

Disney was too much of everything, including children and noise. Princess doesn't open its club unless there are 25 children on board. Celebrity has extra charges per child for some of their children's activities. Azmara doesn't have a children's club.

 

We have tried other lines and keep coming back to HAL and Club HAL plays a major role in our cruise enjoyment.

[SecondComing]

As this is a European cruise and not the Caribbean, you will encounter a much older group of cruisers with far fewer children. We just got off the Zuiderdam in Rome, and we saw very few children on board for our 12 days, perhaps 20-30 or so. Most of the kids seemed to be under 3-4 years of age although when we toured the ship we would see 2-5 kids in the kids club, and maybe 2-3 playing basketball, and maybe 4-5 in one of the 2 pools. What time of year are you going......during summer vacation you might find more kids......

[doclove]

We will be doing our 3rd cruise with the kids on Holland America in June on the Zuiderdam. This will be their first in Europe.

 

My kids love HAL and actually prefer it to other cruise lines they have been on. HAL typically has fewer kids so they get more attention from the cruise staff and like was mentioned before, there is less competition for some of the activities like the computers. We also found that in the dining room it was a novelty to have kids there. The dining staff bent over backwards to make sure they were happy. Our server did magic tricks for the kids and brought out special desserts for them.

 

I'm not sure if it is still the same, but when we were on the Oosterdam a few years ago they emphasized having "family" activities. Each night there was an activity that the whole family was invited to. This included a talent show, cooking, movie night, and dance dance competition.

 

If your kids require having lots of kids the same age around them, a rock wall, or ropes course then HAL isn't for them. But if they enjoy a slower pace and more personal time, then HAL is great.