Youth programs on HAL

[ciaobella]

I am interested in hearing about HAL's youth program from those of you that have used it: What did you, as a parent, like best about it? What do you think HAL could do better? Did your children have a good time - what was THEIR favorite part of the experience? What did you think of the Youth Program Staff? Is is customary to tip these staff members? How does HAL's Youth Program compare to that of other cruise lines, if you have had experience with more than one program? This board has great information, and we are trying to research this for a possible family reunion trip with children ranging in age from 8 - 16!

 

Thank you for your help!!!!!

Ciaobella

[betonic]

I'm also interested on hearing some of the same information. We're going on the Noordam is September with a 6 year old.

[sungoddess]

Hi,

 

I sailed for 5 years with HAL as a senior Hotel Officer, but I actually sailed for 6 weeks as Club HAL staff one summer, to sail with my boyfriend at the time. I must say, HAL has made great strides recently with their children's programs. The Oasis is a major improvement, and they now have rooms catering to the different age groups, as opposed to when they had one room for all ages. HAL now has a teen disco, video arcade and a wonderful children's room. They are not yet up to the standard of other family lines, but they are vastly improved.

[ciaobella]

Thank you, Sungoddess! It's great to hear from someone who has been on the "front line!" I guess that a lot depends on the cruise itinerary and how many sea days there are as to the kind and amount of activities there are. It's nice to know that HAL is working to provide a fun environment for all ages. What about the staff other than the director - do they also have degrees? You must have really enjoyed shipboard life - are you still cruising, or where did this job lead you after cruising?

[Bodger]

We sailed on the Volendam in March with my brother, his wife and 10 year old daughter. Our niece loved Club HAL, and spent as much time there as possible. There were more children on this cruise than normal as it spanned the March break. They had a sign in-sign out sheet and password system to control who was allowed to pick up the child.

 

The programs seemed to be very good. I know one night she went in her pajamas and they had a pillow fight. Another night there was a pirate theme. It worked well, she had a great time playing with kids her age, and her parents had time to enjoy themselves. A win-win situation.

 

The program exceeded all of our expectations.

 

Bodger

[5 in OK]

Hello! Your children will love CLUB HAL!! The following is part of the review I submitted for our May 21-28 Westerdam cruise to Alaska - your family is in for such a wonderful treat!!!

CLUB HAL!!!! We had two children in the "Tween" Club Hal age group (age 10 & 12). Each night their itinerary would arrive with the main itinerary. They would sit down with their colored highlighters (each person in our group had their own color) and they would highlight the activities that interested them. We would then tape their itineraries on the closet door by the main door so that they could easily pop in and see what time their next activity started. HAL allows kids 9 and up (either 9 or 10) to check themselves in and out. This sounded kind of scary to me at first, however, it really worked out great. We just set some guidelines - like they could only go to the room if they checked out before our pre-arranged time and they had to check out together (10 year old daughter/12 year old son) if either one needed to leave. This worked out great. A couple of times they had these scavenger hunts - Oh My Goodness - they loved these. They would go all over the ship "gathering" the items on their lists. There were strict rules in place - no running, polite manners etc.... or their team would be disqualified. The teams who came in first got "Dam Dollars". It was wonderful. On my son’s birthday - Liz, from Club Hal - she was so good with this age!!! - had ordered him a huge sheet cake with "Happy Birthday David" written on it - WOW! Talk about going above and beyond!! She was great! (Oh yes - during the orientation at 5:00 p.m. on the first day they made it very clear - in a nice way - that they preferred for children not to move up - but they could move down.) There were about 20 kids in this program.

The Loft - Kaitlyn - It would be our pleasure to entrust our teenager with her anytime. She ran an excellent, well-rounded program for some of the hardest guests to please on the ship - teenagers!!! She knew how to keep it cool - but fun. I think there were about 15 kids who came to this program - which we were happy to hear! Many kids were still in school on our cruise dates so the number was minimal. Their activities ranged from fake casino nights to scavenger hunts to charades to Guy vs. Girl night. Bingo was one of the favorite activities with HAL logo prizes. They had two flat screen tv’s for movies and a juke box to select music videos. There were also two flat screens for the two Play Station 2's. They also played board games - generally socialized constantly. On the last night they had a good-bye party and got t-shirts that everyone signed. Andrew came away with new friends and great memories. They can’t wait to go on a warm water cruise and hope to see one another there!!

[LDinCT]

My only issue with the HAL Youth Club is the 8-12 age group. The youth staff is very nice. My 12.5 yr old really didn't find it too fun and hardly attended on the Zaandam. They wouldn't allow him to go into the teen group and there were a lot of younger kids in the 8-12's. This is probably the biggest reason I may not book HAL again until he's 13. RCI has a 12-14 group which suits him a little better. They have smaller age groupings even the 9-11 worked a little better for him. Of course, I'm still waffling about this summer's cruise. We have booked the Freedom of the Seas (lol), but we are going back and forth with HAL Alaska, but the cruise fares as well as the air fares are so high. I know it's hard to believe the same people would be happy on either lines. We like them for different reasons. We have fun on the Voyager class ships, but really prefer the service and quietness of HAL. I'm not a big fan of the pool band and some of the other mass market accoutrements. Of course my last HAL cruise I was in bed by 10PM every night, watching dvd's. On my recent 2 night on Freedom, I looked at my watch and it was 3:15 am, shocking!

[sarasmile]

5 in OK- sounds like our tweens were together in club HAL last week!

 

My 8 y/o had so much fun she's still talking about it and misses the friends she made!

 

I was a bit nervous about the hopen policy for 8-12 y/o's and the span of ages... but it was fine. We too set our own rules, like she was not to sign out for good without one of us picking her up. The staff also did an excellent job of grouping the kids so that groups would have an older child with younger kids.

 

While I wasn't sure how I felt, initially about a bunch of 8 & 9 y/o's roaming the ship ALONE, having an older kid in the bunch made me feel more comfy.

 

She LOVED the scavengers hunts and overall just had a blast.

 

There is actually just one big room for all the kids 3-12 (teens are across the hall) but it's big enough that the split in half with some cross over, depending on the activity.

 

The one "bad experience" she had was playing dodge ball, I guess the boys were being really rough and saying things like they were trying to "kill" the other kids... that kind of freaked her out and she initially did not want to go back. After that though she had nothing but fun and was begging us to know when she could go back again!