This was posted yesterday regarding changes to Holland America Oosterdam Kids Club. Not a good change for younger kids!

[MoyCoy]

I am sailing the Oosterdam with 9 year old twins Dec 14th.  I usually enjoy a few dinners alone in a specialty restaurant.  But with these new changes..I just don't feel comfortable leaving my children alone for hours unsupervised. 

 

Anyone else have experience with new HAL High Score kids club?

[Sebleo]

I’ve never sailed on HAL, but that is not something I would have my child participate in. 7 year olds with up to 17?! And they can leave whenever and with anyone?! 
 

My child is autistic, but even if he was neurotypical, I wouldn’t have him go there at 7. Especially with adults coming and going! 
 

To each his own, I’m sure parents will still use the service. And everyone has to decide what’s best for them and their child- maturity levels and what not. 
 

I’m just really surprised at such a large age group!!

[kitkat343]

Oh wow.  The HAL kids club was not particularly good for us, but this seems much worse.  There's no way our family can sail on HAL with the current under 7 hours, and the lack of supervision for over 7s.  

 

The passengers on HAL seemed much more hostile to children than on other cruises (we sailed a one week segment of a 3 week cruise from Fr. Lauderdale on an itinerary that wouldn't normally appeal to families) so maybe they just want to keep their core customer base happy and discourage families from sailing?  This would create a long term demographic issue for HAL though.    There were literally only 2 kids club counselors working on the Ryndam for the kids club when we were there so it is hard to imagine they are saving that much money with this change.  

Edited December 3, 2019 by kitkat343

[akeasley]

I've sailed on HAL twice (pre kids) and wouldn't consider them at all for cruising until my kids were much, much older.

 

 

[Bagelbagel81]

On 12/3/2019 at 11:19 AM, MoyCoy said:

I am sailing the Oosterdam with 9 year old twins Dec 14th.  I usually enjoy a few dinners alone in a specialty restaurant.  But with these new changes..I just don't feel comfortable leaving my children alone for hours unsupervised. 

 

Anyone else have experience with new HAL High Score kids club?

 

 

I will be sailing Zaandam April 21-May 2 and have two young kids that I was hoping to get into the kids Club. If they don't have it at all then I am going to cancel. Surely they will notify us ahead of time so we can make informed decisions? This is my first cruising experience and I am already hesitant to go based on the change of Ports in the itinerary already and the fact that my youngest will be one week shy if the minimum age for Kids club, so might have to stay with us anyway.

 

Does anyone have any further information on this? I would love to know before the 75 days prioir (mid Feb) so I can make the decision to cancel without penalty.

 

 

 

 

[kitkat343]

"and the fact that my youngest will be one week shy if the minimum age for Kids club, so might have to stay with us anyway"

 

Is your youngest a week shy of 3 years of age at the time of sailing?  Honestly, due to  liability over potential injuries I do not believe children younger than the minimum age can ever be let into drop off care.  I do not believe the cruise insurance will cover them if a child who is too young to be in the kids club gets hurt there, and the counselors will at a minimum lose their jobs.

 

If your child is 2, your options for free drop off care are Carnival, Cunard (whose counselors were the weakest of the lines I've sailed  with kids - Princess, HAL and NCL and lacked patience to help my 2 year old), or nurseries you can pay for on newer and some refurbished RCL ships, all Disney ships and the NCL escape.  Princess and Cunard will allow younger children to attend the kids club with parental supervision.

 

If your children are all 3 at the time of sailing, then you might also want to repost this question on the HAL board where someone who has sailed more recently can tell you if the kids club is operational.

Edited December 28, 2019 by kitkat343

[Bagelbagel81]

You are correct. I contacted the Ship Services directly and they told me that as well. It's completely fair- I think I was too hasty believing it was more about the toilet training than the actual age.

I have since cancelled our cruise, unfortuntely- there we too many niggling factors that I felt uncertain about as a first time cruiser. My husband is also disabled so we were relying on the kids club and also ports that required minimum manouvering to see sights.

Thanks for all your help!
🙂

Edited December 28, 2019 by Bagelbagel81