Nieuw Statendam or NCL star kids club?

[Bellemack]

Hey, We are going on a Greenland/Iceland cruise this coming summer. Our 9-year-old son is also coming. He's been on 2 international cruises before. MSC (Poesia) and Royal Caribbean. He had fun at the kids club on the Poesia because he made friends with some other kids but their club was older (not refurbed recently) and lacking and he seemed to echo that thought too by the end of the 7 days saying "it was boring."

Since the Greenland itinerary is a bit more mature for him we wanted to make sure we picked a boat that had a well-equipped and newer kids club. We do know that there won't be many kids on this itinerary and that's okay. He's a total nerd (in the best way possible!) and loves learning about nature, cultures, etc... Plus at the end of the day he probably could play Minecraft for hours and say it was the best trip ever (which obviously we don't want that much screen time.)

The Nieuw Statendam and the Norwegian Star are the 2 ships that keep coming up. Does anyone have a review or thoughts on the kids clubs on either of these ships? The Nieuw Statendam is newer at approx 5 yrs old and the Star is much older at 20+ yrs but it says it was refurbed in 2021. We are okay with the price of both options but the Star does come in about 1K less than Holland America.

Thanks for any Input!! There are not many videos or pics of the refurb'd NCL Star kids club online.

[Corby114]

Holland America caters to an older demographic. It's possible that your son could  possibly be the only minor onboard the ship on your sailing. Norwegian I know should have more younger passengers onboard. In a situation like this I would cruise Norwegian on this sailing.

[leaveitallbehind]

Agree with @Corby114.  The target demographics of Holland America is older adults whereas NCL's target demographics is families (much more similar to RCCL).  There will be very little for your 9 year old to do on Holland America - and likely few kids to do it with - while on NCL there will be kids programs and other kids on board.

Edited January 11 by leaveitallbehind

[kitkat343]

I sailed on the Star 10 years ago prior to refurbishment, and I sailed on HAL's Ryndam 10 years ago.  The Ryndam was one of the oldest ships in the fleet, and has since been sold off by HAL.  You can post on the NCL board to see if anyone has recent experiences with the Star, but 10 years ago this was very much not a ship that had a lot of amenities for children.  My son was 3 when we sailed both ships and had a very good time on both cruises because he loved the ports in both.  

 

I'd take a look at the reviews of the Star.  This one was the most recent that did your itinerary:  https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=707306. .   

 

but the most recent reviews start here:  https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=709303. .  

[tundra1]

We cruised Holland America to Alaska and their were over 100 kids in the kids club.  It is more a multi-generational ship, and the kids had a blast.  Just go with the better itinerary.  NCL Star has great itineraries but there are lots of complaints about the food and the unfriendly staff recently.