Just off 14 day Alaska on Amsterdam... info on kids activities

[GirlGoneTexan]

I plan to post a more detailed general review when I have time, but wanted to post a kid-activity review specifically since I know we had a lot of questions going into this cruise. We are in our 40's and had our kids, ages 8 and 11, with us. We all had a fabulous time on our 14 day Alaskan cruise, our first HAL sailing.

 

The kids had been on Royal Caribbean before and didn't care for the kids club there. It was always full, and if you didn't get there when the session began, you couldn't put them in until the next session. They LOVED Club HAL. There were only about 30 kids under age 13 on the ship, and they made so many friends. They begged to go the club every chance they could. You could drop or pickup anytime during a session. They were flexible with activities, and the kids were always engaged. They no longer offer babysitting after 11pm which apparently is a recent change. The kids stayed there every night until 10 or 11pm.

 

We had no problems with the kids in the lounges or at dinner, and several people were nice enough to compliment their behavior. We took them dancing one night at the Crow's Nest, and they sat with us a few times at the piano bar. (David Anthony is so good!!!) The waiters and bartenders were always so friendly to them, and often made special origami animals, flowers, or did tricks for them. Our MDR waiter brought them a puzzle one day for them to work on. The MDR also has a kids' menu with coloring and games. My son ordered off the main menu, but my daughter generally stuck with chicken tenders and pasta on the kids' menu. My daughter was a regular in the lido ice cream line! The kids also liked the Dive In Burgers and the taco bar.

 

The only complaint related to the kids was that the kids' menu via room service is only offered after 5:30pm. Also they did not allow us to order anything off the MDR menu, it had to be from the limited room service menu only. I had thought the Neptune Suites had more options with room service, but apparently not.

 

The kids swam in the pools several times, usually the lido since it was warmer air with the roof closed. There were often teenagers and kids in the pool. Be warned, when the seas are rough, the pools are rough! It was tough swimming on some days where the pool was more like a wave pool! They participated in the Polar Plunge, but were disappointed that it was moved from the Aft Sea View pool (which would have been a REAL polar plunge) to the Lido Pool. They still had fun and received certificates.

 

We had a DVD player in our suite, and the movies were free to borrow. They had tons of kids movies, so the kids had a movie sent to the room almost every day. It was nice that several of the moves playing in the Wajang theater were family friendly, and the kids enjoyed going. They offered Beauty and the Beast (the recent one) one evening, and Boss Baby one afternoon.

 

Our kids wore nice clothes to dinner every night (collar and khakis for the boy, dress or pants for the girl) and fancy dress and suit/tie for formal night. They love to dress up so this was no issue. Daytime was shorts or jeans and t-shirts, with a jacket if they were going up on the Sports Deck.

 

The kids didn't want to come home... and neither did we! :)

[easyboy]

Glad your kids had a wonderful time. Many parents will find your review a helpful guide when bringing their kids. Thanks.

 

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[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info.

[ski ww]

We took our 7 year old great grand daughter on a New Years cruise, she loved Club HAL & wants to know when she gets to go on another cruise. We stayed up until after mid night & it was hard to get her to leave Club HAL at night she stayed until closing every night. The staff were excellent.

Allan

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you all had a wonderful Alaskan cruise and your children enjoyed Club HAL.

That itinerary is wonderful.

I don't understand why no one could order dinner from the MDR for their cabins. I would have talked to the concierges about that. It is available for all passengers on the ships.

[serendipity1499]

What a great Kids review.. It made me want to take some of our Great Grand kids on a cruise, but it would be tough, since we have 6 Great Grandkids plus three Granddaughters.. It would be tough to decide which ones we should take? :confused:Unfortunately can't take them all..:cool:

[5bagspacked]

I was also on the 14 day Amsterdam cruise to Alaska with two teenagers. We were told there were 20 teens from 13-17 onboard the June 5 sailing. My sons did go up to the Loft (the teen area) on a few occasions early on but no one was there. They did spend one evening up there with another teen toward the end of the cruise. This meeting was facilitated by the Loft staff member. I think if there's not enough critical mass of teens in the very beginning, it's hard to make things happen with this age group.

 

My teens are typical social media users and their enjoyment of the cruise was dampened somewhat by the extremely slow internet. Throughout most of the cruise, it would take at least 1-2 minutes to load a web page. The performance seemed to be equally poor at all times so I'm not sure it's due to heavy volume. Pages with lots of graphics often would only load the text. I wouldn't find this so bad if HAL had an unlimited plan but with the per minute plans, the slow performance can be infuriating.

 

In Ketchikan, I would highly recommend the Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour (aka Deadliest Catch tour) for children especially but adults as well. It was really entertaining and educational and just the right length of time (3.5 hrs).

 

In Juneau, we went out to the Mendenhall Glacier. You can purchase shuttle bus tickets from vendors at the dock. They run about every half hour. The shuttle drivers give a nice talk on the way there and back. The kids weren't that impressed with the glacier but they really liked Nugget Falls which is only a 15-20 minute walk from the Visitor Center. If you can time it right, the Park Rangers do a nice presentation at the visitor center. We had planned to do the Helicopter Glacier Dog Sledding but it was cancelled. There is also a land based dog sledding camp but we didn't make it to that one.

 

In Sitka, the Fortress of the Bear was a bit of a disappointment (didn't help it was cold and rainy). Still worth seeing but my sons felt the Raptor center was much better. For history lovers, the Sitka History museum is currently closed but hopefully it will reopen later this summer.

 

In Victoria, the Royal BC Museum is fantastic. They also have an IMAX if you have time on your hands. We enjoyed Butchart Gardens as well. We took a taxi from the Cruise terminal. The driver waited for us tp do a tour at Butchart (about an hour total) and then took us back to the Inner Harbor for $100.

 

I think the cruise is good for kids as it offers a nice mix of sea days and port days. I can't speak for others but after 3 days of port excursions, they are ready for a break. We also found with 3 of us, it was cheaper and more flexible to do most of the sightseeing by taxis if the places weren't walkable.

 

If you are looking for an Alaska cruise with few kids, the May and June sailings are good ones to consider.

[wdwlvr94]

Thanks so much! We are going on the Oosterdam in September with two kids, so great to get your feedback!

[alwaysfrantic]

I meant to mention I saw kids from the club being taken into town at two ports for activities. They always looked so happy and like they were very well tended.

[DeeniEncinitas]

Thank you for the great info!! HAL sure came through for your children. Such a great program.

Denise:)

[Kiran]

Thank you for your post. We are bringing a teenager with us so hope there is that critical mass reached at the beginning!

[Charleston Lady]

We are devoted HAL cruisers but tried a more 'kid friendly' line when we first took a grand child with us. However our grandchildren much prefer HAL! They stay at the kid's club till the last possible time and have had lots of pool fun with the children they met--even those who speak different languages. Children have a special language all their own, and it seems to work! We have always found the amazing crew to be attentive to their 'picky' food requests and go out of their way to make them feel special. They love cruising and HAL.

[calteacher]

We were on the Veendam July 1 from Montreal to Boston. Our grandkids were 7, 9, and 11 and went to Club Hal daily. Our 11 year old, a girl, wasn't as thrilled with Club Hal as our grandsons, but there were only a couple of girls who regularly went to Club Hal. However, she did like it. Our grandsons would want to get through dinner in a hurry in order to get to Club Hal, even though it wouldn't be open until nearly 30 minutes after we usually finished dining.

 

However, our waiter wasn't very "kid friendly" until the last day or two (in anticipation of tips???). On a previous HAL cruise in 2014, the waiter was very kid friendly, would "high five" the youngest, had special tricks, etc., but the one on Veendam was just a little surly a lot of the time--even to adults. We chalked it up to either not feeling well, being homesick, or just plain tired. It didn't affect our pleasure on the cruise.

 

We did think that no matter how you ordered a steak, it was going to come the way the chef felt like preparing it. Again, no big problem, we just traded among ourselves.

[1964IceCreamLady]

Thanks for the review! We board the Zaandam this Sunday!

[DnA2010]

Thanks for the info! We head out on Volendam soon with a 13 year old and 11 month old :)

[RGBFamily]

We are devoted HAL cruisers but tried a more 'kid friendly' line when we first took a grand child with us. However our grandchildren much prefer HAL! They stay at the kid's club till the last possible time and have had lots of pool fun with the children they met--even those who speak different languages. Children have a special language all their own, and it seems to work! We have always found the amazing crew to be attentive to their 'picky' food requests and go out of their way to make them feel special. They love cruising and HAL.

 

This is bang on to our experience. The kids preferred HAL over Disney. It might be because there are fewer kids and they go to a small school so are overwhelmed with the mass quantity of Disney cruisers!