I am beginning to have my doubts on the kid friendliness

[localady]

Even for a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise during Palm Sunday/Easter Week, especially for someone whose child is neither yelling nor crying, but is precocious and well mannered?

 

SmokinActuary- You will find some cruisers posting here feel that any children are too many children, but it is truly a small minority.:o

In the past few years HAL has gone over and above to expand their kids program and it is very good. My sons have enjoyed the Oasis and Loft area for teens and friends had positive reports about their younger kids HAL program also. We cruised at Easter and during Christmas break and never experienced "roving bands of wild kids".

I believe that HAL is a perfect ship for a multi-generational get-together. I know you will love Half Moon Cay, it will be a perfect day for all of you!:D

[kakalina]

Yes, I have kids. Yes, I like kids. No, I am not ignorant. I think ignorance is shown when others get personal over an OPINION. The OP asked for OPINIONS, this means my personal thoughts on the subject. No one has to agree with them. I am not right, or wrong.

[cruznon]

Multi-generational cruises are really wonderful. We've seen so many families do this. Samme and Smokin, have a great time with your kids on your cruises...

[peaches from georgia]

I have kids and now 6 grandchildren from 1 to 15. Would we take them all on a cruise? Absolutely. Would it be a HAL ship? Probably not.

 

Not because they wouldn't have fun on HAL, but because I think they would have a lot more fun on a cruiseline that offers more for kids of various ages and when we take them it will be for their enjoyment primarily.

 

When we cruise alone we cruise a line like HAL w/out all the things especially meant for kids (rock climbing walls, ice skating rinks, etc.) Then we will have our quieter adult cruise. Cruise with them and we want it really kid-friendly with all the perks.

 

JMHO.

[innlady1]

of HAL's Vista class ships.

 

I am concerned that during a peak week Club Hal can't handle the shear number of kids on the cruise.

 

ANd I am also concerned that some long time HAL cruisers don't think HAL and kids should go together.

 

Maybe it is becaused I am really stressed out and my family and myself need a vacation. :)

 

I am not sure about your first question. I guess that is best addressed to HAL.

 

As for your 2nd question, that some HAL cruisers don't think HAL and kids are a good match, I have no problem with kids (we have four granddaughters between the ages of 3 and 7)...as long as they're well-behaved.

 

We have two daughters....when they were children, they were always well-behaved in restaurants and other places we took them, and they have instilled that behavior with their children.

[DFD1]

Smoking: Please don't let the negative comments here deter you from adding significantly to your daughter's education by taking her on your cruise.

 

I first cruised with my son when he was nine. Those early cruises and other travel which followed became an important part of his education. He is now thirty-eight and is taking his daughter everywhere he and his wife travel.

 

Travel is an important part of his family life and has taken him through many countries. He is as close as I have met to being a true citizen of the world.

 

It all started with a cruise to Nassau many years ago when he was nine.

 

Take your daughter with you.....for her sake. To heck with the nay-sayers.

[2boyzmom]

We are cruising next year on the Noordam due to their "family friendly" advertising. I never even considered HAL until I saw those ads....

So- if people want a cruise line without kids onboard, I suggest cruising off off season- otherwise you're stuck with us :)

[SmokinActuary]

Thanks for those with kind words.

 

FYI my daughter is an only child and we take her most everywhere we travel. She is a joy to be with and has benefited immensely from the experiences she has had with us.

[babyher]

I, like everyone else here I am sure, cannot stand "brats" on a cruise ship or anywhere else.

 

Well behaved kids quietly, respectfully enjoying themselves and the ship are actually fun to watch.

 

Of course there are several exceptions, but I think most cruises or land based vacations can be great family trips and learning experiences for kids . if the parents plan ahead and help make them so.

 

Yes your Club HALs , Camp Carnivals, whatever are great for kids to meet other kids and have fun on their levels. Hey ,when we were kids we didn't want to hang with our parents 24/7.

 

But parents can also make plans to make family time fun, choose excursions and activities that everyone in the family can have fun and learn at the same time.

[michmike]

Most of us true child haters (tongue somewhat in cheek) have enough sense to schedule a cruise at times when there are not likely to be many children on board. So you'll be spared dealing with the worst of us. We have a son of our own (now 27) but quite honestly I would not want to be on a cruise with 200-300 kids onboard. That is due to the fact that despite everyone's protestations that "their kids" are well behaved, the chances of a bunch of unruly rug rats just go up exponentially when you have that number of children on board.

 

So take the kids during spring break, over the holidays, etc and I'll stay home... and both of us will be happy..

 

no disrespect intended... just the preservation of my sanity while on a hard earned and well deserved vacation.. *S*

[waiting2retire]

To Smokin', Samme, and most other parents who cruise HAL:

 

I have no doubt, from your earlier posts, that you did, indeed, put a lot of thought into your decision to cruise HAL with your child. You know your child better than any one of us here, and you are the best judge of where your child would be happy. If other parents are less thoughtful about what would please their children, and choose a cruise based on their own needs only, it is no wonder that their children become bored, sullen and less than cooperative on what is supposed to be a family vacation.

 

I was not fortunate enough to have been financially able to cruise with my children, however, it would have been a very tough decision to make. I would have had no problem on HAL with my daughter, who was a quiet child who liked to read and interact with adults. In fact, at 24 years of age, she is now working on a HAL ship and loves it. My son is another story. Although equally well-behaved, he was an active child and would have much preferred NCL with its abundance of physical activities and other children to interact with.

 

To those who say children do not belong on HAL, I heartily disagree. It totally depends on the nature and disposition of the child. To those of you who know your children will be happy on HAL, have a wonderful family vacation!!

 

Bonnie

[caribbean girl]

We have cruised with both of our children on HAL. Our only disappointment (and theirs:rolleyes: ) was that there weren't more kids on board for them to hang out with. They enjoyed everything about HAL except that there weren't more people their own age to spend time with.

 

I think you will enjoy your cruise and so will your children. If your trip is planned during a school vacation you will all end up happy because there will be something to please everyone. :) Take what you read with a great helping of salt and enjoy a wonderful vacation!

[Toad]

I believe that HAL is a good choice for a multigenerational cruise as we have done just that with parents, sibs etc. I also think HAL is a wonderful cruiseline for ALL of those who are kind and considerate of others. I do not think HAL is appropriate for ANY child or senior citizen who is rude and does not respect the rights of others. So in a perfect world I would only cruise with the aforementioned considerate people....... and I will say that HAL is as close to perfect as we have found. So, everybody CHILL!

[mom2m&a]

We were on the Oosterdam over Thanksgiving with our two kids, ages 11 and 9. We were also in a multi-generational group. This was our first cruise on HAL. We NEVER felt like the kids were unwelcome anywhere on the ship and they were treated as well, if not better than we were (we had some problems with service during our cruise). Our children were treated no differently than they had been on RCCL and Celebrity.

 

We did not have a good experience with Club HAL and found it was inferior to the kid's programs on the other cruise lines. Part of this was because there were so many kids on the ship that their age group was shunted off to an empty conference room. While the group was adequately staffed, the facilities were terrible and I'm still upset that they expected my 9-year-old to go down the hall to a public bathroom unchaperoned. As someone on another thread pointed out, there's no Megan's Law on a cruise ship and you just don't know who else could be in there. I didn't like the fact they forced us to let the kids check themselves out at any time.

 

I think that HAL would like you to believe that they are a family-friendly cruise line, but they need to rethink their kid's program if they really want the family crowd.

 

Meanwhile, don't let these blowhards on this board make you feel bad because you actually enjoy being with your kids on vacation. HAL is not Crystal or Silversea, and as long as they offer a kid's program your kids are welcome on the ship.

[hammybee]

As someone on another thread pointed out, there's no Megan's Law on a cruise ship and you just don't know who else could be in there. I didn't like the fact they forced us to let the kids check themselves out at any time.

 

Unless things have changed on RCCL, they allow a 9 year old to sign themselves out of the program, at any time. WHile I do understand none of these clubs want children who do not want to be there and that some parent really do dump the kids off for extended periods of time, the entire deal made me as uncomfortable then, when my DD was younger, as it does now.

[PathfinderEss]

Gees, these threads about children on Hal ships are getting almost as bad as the smoking threads. I don't know if I would be considered a long time cruiser on Hal or not....but I know most of us on the cc boards love to cruise. We all have our reasons, especially us ladies. No cooking, no making beds, no cleaning, literally we are waited on hand and foot.....and don't we love it! We like relaxing, the sea, the slower pace, etc....dressing up at night, piano bars, shows......could it get any better, don't think so. Children on Hal or any other cruise line or ship doesn't bother me. I enjoy all age groups on cruises....but I just have one thing to say to parents about bringing children on board a cruise ship, you probably come on board for the same reasons I do, but when you step on board a ship your parenting continues 24/7, you cannot take a vacation from them (but if that is the way you feel, leave them at home). Cruiseships are not all that safe, certainly we have seen that time and again, so it is nesecary to always be with them, knowing where they are and who they are with, most important. To many parents going cruising with their kids, (we've all seen it), they are turned loose from morning till night because I guess the parents want to do their thing and well the kids can go do their thing because they are a captive audience on a cruise ship.......oh so wrong. So just remember when cruising with your children, they are your responsibility, not mine, not Hal's, certainly not the service staff and not even club Hal's. Most of us love kids, the well behave kind. More power to you, for taking kids on cruises, I wish my parents could have afforded to do that while I was growing up, just think how many days I would have on Hal by now, wow! On our last cruise there was a 3 year old that already had 32 days on Hal.............

[kryos]

I'd say you're stressed and you need a vacation. Are your kids undiciplined barbarians? If not I'm sure they'll have a great time and they won't get a second glance from some of the more grumpy curmugeouns onboard.

Also, I would advise the OP that the people on these boards are certainly not representative of all HAL passengers. In fact, we represent a very, very small minority.

 

While I don't think HAL is the best line for kids (in general), they are actively marketing to families with kids and therefore if a family chooses to sail HAL, then the little ones are welcomed with open arms. If any individual passenger gives you any crap about your kids playing in the pools or perhaps yelling a bit, tell them to go pound sand. Your kids have as much right to be there as they do. Of course, I am assuming your kids are reasonably well-behaved ... but assuming that, if you want to sail HAL, then by all means bring the kids.

 

As far as the kids club not being able to handle a large number of children ... I think they "staff up" when they know a sailing is going to have a larger number of children onboard.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

As a long time HAL cruiser in my opinion you shoud rethink which line you choose. Many other lines are out there that truly cater to children. Many of the old time cruisers, myself included, think of HAL as an elegant, beautiful getaway where the sounds of running, crying, yelling children are NOT welcome. don't get me wrong I like kids, in there place. I just don't think HAL is the place.

I agree with you 100% that there are better lines out there for children, but to be fair ... HAL is taking proactive steps to market their 7-day cruises, especially on the Vista ships, for families with children, and therefore, I don't think what you or I would prefer matters. If we take one of those cruises, we just have to accept that the boat will probably have quite a few "running, crying, yelling children," and we just have to deal with it or not sail those ships.

 

I would strongly advise anyone with kids to carefully think before bringing them on a HAL ship ... but that is not because they are not welcomed there ... it's just that I feel there are far better ships to consider when planning a family type vacation. But if someone really wants to bring their kids on HAL, there is no reason those kids shouldn't be able to have a great cruise too ... and if that means a bit of running around the pools, yelling and laughing, and maybe some crying in the dining room ... plain and simple, the rest of us have to just learn to deal with it.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[FoxyTerrier]

I thought long and hard about whether or not to chime in on this.

 

I think HAL and Club HAL do a great job. On our first cruise my DS turned 13 so I only know about the teen program. He really enjoyed Club HAL and I was worried when he turned 18 that he would miss meeting older teens.

 

I personally love seeing kids cruising. Kids learn from experience if you never give them a chance to dress up, eat formally in the dining room they will not learn how to behave. Children also learn from the behavior of their parents - if the parents are rude and don't behave they will learn it is OK to also act they way in public.

 

I also think it is not wrong to give a reminder when you see kids acting up, or running in the halls. A simple "slow down" or "not so loud" goes a long way as a reminder.

 

I think I have seen as many rude and unruly adults on HAL as I have seen rude and unruly kids. It amazes me how rude some adults people speak to the HAL staff. The Ugly American comes to mind.

 

Samme and Smokin - I'm sure you will have a great cruise. Don't worry and just check in on the Club Hal often. Give you children a reminder about mannors every now and then too.

 

We used to ask George "Did you bring your restaurant mannors?" when we would go out to dinner and that was about all we would have to say. DH only had to take him out to the car for a chat once.

[SmokinActuary]

I am not really worried that my daughter will not behave herself, but of course I will keep an eye on her.

 

 

To give everyone a background on how I made my choice of HAL:

 

Because of various circumstances we could only chose from 3 7 day cruises leaving on the 31st:

 

Carnival

RCC

and HAL.

 

Since we have Grandparents, Aunt and Uncle, Parents and one child I tried to find the best cruise to accomodate all parties.

 

Carnival would have given more for my daughter and sacrificed somethings for her grandparents.

 

RCC was more expensive than the other two and FWIU is not exactly the best of cruise lines.

 

I ended up chosing HAL because while it doesn't have the facilities like Carnival for Sara, it seemed to be a better fit for everyone. Besides being an only child living with her parents and grandmother, she is used to adults.

 

To be honest, I was just looking to Club Hal to entertain Sara for a couple of hours on Sea Days. She is the type of kid who makes friends very easily and if worse comes to worse I will host a Monopoly Game (or something like that) for any friends she has made on board.

 

Come port days we are going to be very active so the ship's ammenties are less of a concern.

[vince b]

The idea that kids should not be aboard HAL ships is absurd. As is the fact that the line is not "kid" friendly. As a kid (I'm 40ish now) I sailed on HAL ships every summer. And guess what? There was a kids club, and air hockey tournaments. And ping pong tournaments. And toward the end of each trip, both a kid's talent show and costume parade in the main lounge. These were separate events. (I played the bongos and went as the Statue of Liberty).

 

I lived for the kid's club, and some of my strongest memories come from there.

 

I believe the problem is the growing popularity of cruising. There are more people doing it, and therefore more kids on board. Growing up there were usually a handful of kids my age per cruise - not the dozens or more we've read about here.

 

And let's face it, some parents do use the cruise to take a vacation from their kids. I want my kids to enjoy the kids club (because I remember how great it was), but it will not be their entire trip by any means. And I can guarantee two things: 1) they won't be running around the ship and 2) they'll be dressed to the nines every night.

[FoxyTerrier]

I ended up chosing HAL because while it doesn't have the facilities like Carnival for Sara, it seemed to be a better fit for everyone. Besides being an only child living with her parents and grandmother, she is used to adults.

 

I think you made a great choice given all that were cruising. Most of our HAL cruises also included my mother and father so we were also trying to please all. After the first HAL cruise we knew HAL was for us.

 

I am an only child as is my son so I know exactly where you are coming from. IMHO I think only children act a bit more adult like even though they are often labled as spoiled. As a child I once told my mother "I think spoiled is good", she still reminds me of this almost 50 years later. :p

 

There is a difference between "spoiled" and "spoiled rotten"!!!

[SmokinActuary]

There is a difference between "spoiled" and "spoiled rotten"!!!

 

LOL - you took the words right out of my mouth. That sums up my daughter in a nut shell!!

[innlady1]

I think you made a good choice, Smokin, and you'll all have a wonderful time!

 

We own a bed and breakfast inn, and we have children and their parents staying with us often. Over the years, I've often remarked to my DH that overall, our guests who have been children are often better behaved than some of the adult guests we've had!

[gourmetgirls]

Our first cruise was on the Veendam in Alaska. Our party included 6 adults and 7 children (ages 9-15). We chose HAL because we wanted an upscale experience that all ages could enjoy. Our kids loved the cruise and the HAL experience. They enjoyed dressing up and eating in the main dining room even on the nights that the adults ate in the Pinnacle Grill.

 

By the end of the cruise we had received several positive comments about the behavior of the kids. One lady told us that she never felt lost on the ship as long as one of our kids was nearby as they could always point her in the right direction!

 

When we arrived home, both of our girls (then ages 11,14) told us that they would prefer cruising on HAL again as opposed to a cruise with hundreds of kids. With only 70 kids on our Alaska cruise they felt that they were able to get to know the kids that were on board better.

 

Our family, along with my sister-in-law, her husband and their 2 boys (ages 11,13), are looking forward to our next cruise to the western Mediterranean on the Westerdam in July.