Should I change Christmas Cruise?

[Tiggipaws]

Hello

 

I've just read on another thread about hundreds of children being on cruises over Christmas. I have booked my first cruise on the Eurodam in 2017 to the Caribbean for 14 nights and this is putting me off. I don't know whether to see if I can change the dates to the beginning of December instead or would I have the same problem.

 

Stupidly I though that HAL ship passengers were 50+ and that there would only be a few children if any. Before I get blasted about being a misery, I'm not, but the thought of hundreds of children running amok on a ship fills me with dread. I expected that with some other lines but did not anticipate this with HAL.

 

Any advice would be aprreciated

 

Thank you:(

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

If you are uncomfortable with that many children, by all means change your date for your cruise. I think a lot of grandparents bring their children and grandchildren on cruises during the holiday season. I was on a 17 day Holiday cruise on the Amsterdam - about 1400 passengers and there were 80 children from infants to teenagers. Generally they were well behaved and I think the older ones were downright bored.

[dakrewser]

I doubt there will be "hundreds" of children on a HAL ship, but still - we never sail during school holidays. Do try to switch to the beginning of December (or the beginning of January) which also has the benefit of much lower fares.

Edited September 4, 2016 by dakrewser

[Winters in NZ]

We have greatly enjoyed 2 Christmas cruises in the past, one being aboard Celebrity while the other was with HAL.

 

Anticipation of encountering mobs of children running amok had caused us concern, but the actual number of these pint-sized passengers were very few and far between.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Cruises during the holiday season are generally more expensive, so most families will probably be seen at Disneyworld, rather than cruising.

[Heartgrove]

I'm not sure of what you have booked, but it appears to be a 14 day East-West Caribbean. Parents would likely have their children onboard during the schools's Winter Break, normally one week. That would leave one segment without as many children. Keep it and enjoy the cruise!

 

I understand where you are coming from as I have been frustrated with a cruise I had booked that is scheduled to have a Card Players Group aboard. Even though I was told by HAL Groups that only the meeting rooms are to be blocked off, I have stayed concerned - even so far as to check another cruise line for that week. This week I took advantage of the Flash sale and moved the booking up one month to November. And upgraded to a SZ for only $100.00 compared to the VA I had booked!

[IsanTom]

I would change to when kids are in school!

[blizzardboy]

I doubt there will be "hundreds" of children on a HAL ship, but still - we never sail during school holidays. Do try to switch to the beginning of December (or the beginning of January) which also has the benefit of much lower fares.

 

You must not have read my post on the "Christmas at sea" thread. The cruise director on our Jan 2014 Panama Canal cruise told us there were over 800 kids on board on the Christmas cruise 3 weeks earlier. There were over 400 on our 2004 Christmas cruise. They really gear up the activities for kids because of the big number aboard.

[Copper10-8]

Hey, Christmas is family time so yes, you will see more kids for both the Christmas and New Year's cruises. Club HAL usually adds more staff to accommodate them and keep them busy. I don't know about "hundreds" but you'll definitely will see more onboard than during school year times. Decisions, decisions! :cool:

[Alberta Quilter]

There were 300 kids on our Christmas cruise ten years ago, and we hardly noticed them! We saw some of them at dinner in the MDR, and at the shows afterward. The only time we saw all 300 of them was on Christmas morning when we watched them get their presents from Santa in the show lounge. The HAL staff kept them well occupied and we did not notice any children running amok. It was a great cruise; I would do it again.

[casper106]

For sure there will be more than usual. Perhaps you might choose the next cruise slot on the calendar. Not to mention that you pay a premium for the holiday period.

Edited September 4, 2016 by casper106

[Ofmyheart]

If you don't want a lot of kids on board consider a TA. We had 6 kids on the first one, 3 kids on the second. Will see what happens in November on our third.

[Tiggipaws]

Hi

Whats a TA please?

[Ofmyheart]

Trans-Atlantic, few kids can miss that many days of school unless they are home schooled.

 

Many people believe they cant possibly be on a ship for 7 days without getting off, so did we. Sea days have turned out to be some of our best days, way more activities than short cruises.

[RuthC]

I replied with a few suggestions in the other thread where you posted about this. You might want to keep up with that thread, too.

[kazu]

One of the things that makes Christmas special for me is seeeing the joy in childrens' eyes and watching them bubble :)

 

HAL has great childrens' programmes that keep them quite busy. In fact, friends of ours have to "drag" their children out of Club HAL.

 

If children are going to be a worry, then, best to change your cruise.

 

I think it would be fantastic to sail at Christmas time. Such fun :)

 

You need to do what makes YOU happy though :)

[Tiggipaws]

Hi everyone

 

Thank you for all the replies. Should have contacted my TA before I posted the question, apparently I have to cancel my original booking and rebook losing my deposit of £462 ($614.21) So hubby and I are going to go on the cruise and have a great time, whatever!:D

[Krazy Kruizers]

I really do hope that you have a great cruise.

We haven't cruised over the Christmas holiday in many years. Far too many children on the ships for us.

[Loreto]

One of the things that makes Christmas special for me is seeeing the joy in childrens' eyes and watching them bubble :)

 

HAL has great childrens' programmes that keep them quite busy. In fact, friends of ours have to "drag" their children out of Club HAL.

 

If children are going to be a worry, then, best to change your cruise.

 

I think it would be fantastic to sail at Christmas time. Such fun :)

 

You need to do what makes YOU happy though :)

 

I agree with Jacqui! The childrens' presence made our cruise special. We were on a 21day South America/Antarctica Holiday cruise 2 years ago on the Zaandam. The children were from all over the world and were very well behaved. Club HAL had the situation well in hand. There were many activities for them, and they were in awe of everything they saw on this cruise.

 

DH and I are approaching 70:o and prefer a quiet cruise. I have found missing school has never stopped parents from taking kids on a cruise.

 

You will have a wonderful cruise!

 

Karen

[Alberta Quilter]

You will have a great time! We found our Christmas cruise to be more "Christmassy" than what we would have had at home by ourselves.

[geoherb]

We've taken several Christmas cruises--on HAL, Princess, Royal, and Celebrity. HAL had the fewest number of children. We purposefully looked for longer cruises on older ships. A lot of families with young children are looking for the newer attractions that other cruise lines feature, so unless grandpa and grandma are paying for everyone, they're not looking at HAL.

 

But since your cruise isn't a true 14-day cruise, I'd suggest looking at switching dates to earlier in December or look at ones that are true 14-day cruises (such as on the Rotterdam) instead of ones that can be booked as 7-day cruises separately as well.

[OlsSalt]

We did several HAL Christmas cruises, and never saw children "running amok". Just the opposite, and there were hundreds of them because this is family time. We saw them happily engaged in organized activities led by some pretty professional HAL staffers for the youth programs.

 

We saw them dressed in their "Sunday best" for dinner and were an absolute delight to see the wonder in their faces knowing something special was being asked of them in return for dressing up.

 

And who could ignore the building anticipation when the Captain announced the ship radar was picking up Santa and his reindeer.

 

However, there are other downsides doing a Holiday cruise - the ship over all felt more crowded, probably because cabins that normally held 2 people now held 3-4 family members. People tended to move in larger, extended family groups so they filled up tables and elevators more quickly. The dining room felt more stressed with larger "feeding tables" (Oosterdam) and harried mothers running young children in out of the dining room during the more lengthy meal times now onboard.

 

The upside was the special glow to the ship decorations and the fun people had with their cabin doors. The seasonal motif and the glowing 'Happy Holidays" neon signs on the upper deck. This was not a quiet, interactive cruise. It was very much a large family group cruise -which often included several generations together.

 

We probably would not do one again, but can't say there was anything bad about either of them. Just different, and certainly festive if one wants to get away for themselves during this time of the year when sometimes "blended" families end up in little turf wars over who is supposed to do what and be where during the holidays. We are going cruising sometimes is the best answer.

[igraf]

Some of the Panama cruises will switch to a 7-day holiday Caribbean cruise over Christmas Day (e.g. Zuiderdam partial Panama Canal), so the 800 kids were probably on a 7-day Holiday itinerary.

 

It is less likely that there will be a lot of kids on a 14-day cruise unless it is a back to back (7+7) cruise.

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

 

You must not have read my post on the "Christmas at sea" thread. The cruise director on our Jan 2014 Panama Canal cruise told us there were over 800 kids on board on the Christmas cruise 3 weeks earlier. There were over 400 on our 2004 Christmas cruise. They really gear up the activities for kids because of the big number aboard.

[SD Cruise Cpl]

We were on the Eurodam for Christmas 2010. We were told that there was several hundred children on board but we never felt like there was a large number of kids around. There was a few more than normal at the lido pool during the day. HAL hired a bunch of college kids to help with the larger than normal number of kids and they did a great job.

[lazey1]

I have been on a number of HAL cruises including one holiday cruise and can truthfully say that I have never seen large numbers of kids running amok. On the holiday cruise there were about 75 children and we very rarely saw any of them.

The one and only time when I saw a child misbehave was on the Zaandam, not a holiday and it was because the parents totally ignored the child at dinner in the master dining room. So many of us complained about the screaming 2 year old that the dining room manager finally came over with a bottle of orange juice and some crackers for baby and asked the parents to please feed the child before coming to dinner in the future. The parents became so outraged that they stomped out yelling and never returned.

 

I hope you enjoy your holiday cruise.

[madjohn]

I am new to HAL but have sailed Princess many times. Twice on two week Christmas cruises. There were many children. The number was over 800 on each cruise. Like others said, Christmas brings out the families with multiple generations. That is what we had. We brought two of the kids. Now kids don't bother us at all and we actually enjoy them. On Princess they were not a problem. the last few nights they started to congratulate and in fact it was sad. You could tell all the kids had had a great time and made a lot of new friends and it was killing them that it was almost over. Actually saw some crying. My son was actually depressed for a few days after we got home.

 

It my opinion you can't beat a Christmas cruise and I wish I could do it every year. HOWEVER, if your not a kid person and little ones doing little one things bother you, DON"T go on a Christmas cruise.

 

Have a good trip whenever you decide to go.