Just returned from HAL Holiday Cruise

[Felizcruiser08]

Hi All,

 

We just returned from our Holland America Noordam, 10 Day Wayfarer Holiday Cruise -( my DH and almost 6 year old son and I ) Thanks to all who helped me with preparations and feedback, specifically regarding Holland America and children.

All of my concerns were put to rest from the moment we went through the embarkation process, everyone was so nice, especially to my child. By the 3rd day staff would ask where is DS by his name. We had a spacious superior suite, plenty of room, storage, never once did we feel cramped. No noise at all - we had 2 teenagers across from us and never heard a peep from them.

 

I was concerend about some of the opinions about children from Cruise Critic HAL main forum, but passengers and staff could not have been nicer to all of us. I met a wonderful group from our cruise critic Meet and Greet and we all had such a wonderful time. Most of our new friends's children were grown so whenever they saw my child he was showered with lots of attention and it was so much fun when we went on shore excursions together.

 

My son loved Club Hal - he spent a few hours during sea days there, and since we had 8pm dinner seating, but he usually wanted to eat at the Kid's Corner on the Lido deck and wanted to go to the nightly Club Hal activities from 7 -10 pm . We usually dropped him off before 8pm . We used the 10pm - 12am services offered , a few nights so we could spend some alone time, attend the shows, dancing , etc... ( we tipped double the rate of $5 /hour since it was worth it to have alone time ) and Christmas Night we wanted to stay out later - 1am so J. S. from the front desk offered to babysit - she was so sweet !

 

The ports of call were great - we had fun at all of them, my son is a great swimmer/snorkler and in Barbados swam with wild Turtles! Half Moon Cay was the most gorgeous island, not too crowded, we steered clear of the BBQ though, as people behaved as if they had not seen food for weeks!

 

This was my son's second cruise - so he loves all things ship related. The Noordam is a beatiful ship, the kids pool was a bit crowded on sea days, some parents allowed their kids to swim in the adults only pool the first few days but HAL seemed to take care of it.

 

As far as unruly kids /parents not watching them, we did see a few instances the first 2 sea days but nothing like I expected based soley on the main board for Holland America. I was expecting chaos based on that and I was prepared for scowls at every turn, not the case at all.

 

My DH and I were amazed, actually shocked at other behavior displayed and I am not referring to wild children, think opposite end of the spectrum. No excuse me, more like get outta way ! But the mood overall was very festive, I had a smile on my face the entire time. I am so glad we chose this cruise, I love having less passengers, DH and I had sailed with Princess for 11 years and my DH has been cruising since he was 8. We wanted to have a relaxed atmosphere and it was, we met so many great people, my DS had a great holiday. I would return to HAL cruise in a heart beat.

 

I did save the HAL kids Club program and activities sheets, there was never a day that he did not want to go play with his new friends. I will send them to CruisingMama when I get a chance as she has such helpful information.

 

I am still getting used to not waking up to breakfast brought to our room for the price a tip and I definitely miss my morning Coffee on the balcony

: ( I guess this is the post cruise funk !

 

To all of you preparing for your cruises - ENJOY : )

[c-cruise]

Thanks for your review. We are going on the Noordam in Feb. with our 2 year old. This will be her 4th HAL cruise. Glad to hear that HAL is still as kid friendly as ever! Had to laugh when I read your description of the unruly adults. Never really had any problems with unruly kids on cruises, but unruly adults, yup, seen plenty of that!

[crusinmama06]

Thank you for getting the club hal pages!!!!

 

Just email me when you are ready. Thanks!

 

crusinmama06@comcast.net

[Felizcruiser08]

Hi Cruisinmama,

 

I still have my DS home with me as he does not return to school until next Monday, I think he suffered from the Post Cruise blues, he had such a blast.

 

I saved everything from Club Hal - and will give you a run down of what we did as a family.

 

I read where you will be sailing Cunard - we saw the Queen Victoria and she is absolutely gorgeous. We started looking for Cunard sailings this week. Do you know what types of programs any of them have a 6 year old?

 

We are looking for a family cruise this summer, 8 of us, which includes our 85 year old grandmother, most everyone in our group has been to Alaska but I think Holland would be perfect for her, since we need a smaller ship ,otherwise we have to wait until next

Holiday season ; ( due to schedules. I do not know if I can wait !

 

Ok, will send the info next week. Take care : )

[junglejane]

As far as unruly kids /parents not watching them, we did see a few instances the first 2 sea days but nothing like I expected based soley on the main board for Holland America. I was expecting chaos based on that and I was prepared for scowls at every turn, not the case at all.

 

It's so nice to hear you had a good time. I have been following the current "Misbehaving Children" thread on the HAL board and I too would be expecting scowls at every turn. I'm glad to hear that the onboard experience was quite different. We've had a similar experience with Celebrity. Reading the main CC board might make you think it is very family un-friendly, but our actual onboard experiences have been great.

 

--Junglejane

[LizaMM]

Thanks for your review here and glad to hear that you had a great time!

 

I was looking into my next years cruise with my kids and have been thinking about HAL after reading that the Vista Class of ships seemed to be more kid friendly. The thing is my kids are older and while I have read some great things on HAL for the younger set I have not seen much regarding teens.

 

I did start to do a little reading over on the HAL boards but did not get to far. Any input would be wonderful!

 

I am set for 09 and thinking of 2010 at which point my kids would be 13, 14, 17 & 20. Not sure if I will be able to take all of them at once or not....also I am a single mom and like to enjoy my adult time as well!

[topspot]

We cruised HAL with DD and friend (both 13). Not much in the way of organized activities. "The Loft" was the teen spot where they hung out. Movies were shown there, a space for dancing, ping-pong table out on the deck. There were also some sport things like basketball throw. Doesn't sound that exciting, but they had a great time. The loft was always supervised by HAL staff. Hope this helps:)

[crusinmama06]

Hi Cruisinmama,

I read where you will be sailing Cunard - we saw the Queen Victoria and she is absolutely gorgeous. We started looking for Cunard sailings this week. Do you know what types of programs any of them have a 6 year old?

 

I don't know :D:D:D

 

I have 11.5 months until I find out. ;) They are suppose to have a great program. It is different than RCCL, Disney and Carnival, but still suppose to be very good.

[LizaMM]

We cruised HAL with DD and friend (both 13). Not much in the way of organized activities. "The Loft" was the teen spot where they hung out. Movies were shown there, a space for dancing, ping-pong table out on the deck. There were also some sport things like basketball throw. Doesn't sound that exciting, but they had a great time. The loft was always supervised by HAL staff. Hope this helps:)

 

Thanks.

 

I am sure that if as long as I take kids on a "busy" week (Feb, April or dec break) then there will be others for them to meet. So far we have all had a great time on Carnival and the kids activities have been wonderful for the various age groups. Now that in 2010 my youngest will be 13 I suppose the "organized" activities will come in to play less often.

[Arubalisa]

My DH and I were amazed, actually shocked at other behavior displayed and I am not referring to wild children, think opposite end of the spectrum. No excuse me, more like get outta way !

We found the same atmosphere with that part of their "clientele" on HAL during our Christmas cruise.

[Arubalisa]

I read where you will be sailing Cunard - we saw the Queen Victoria and she is absolutely gorgeous. We started looking for Cunard sailings this week. Do you know what types of programs any of them have a 6 year old?

We just returned from a 15 night Holiday voyage aboard the Queen Mary 2. I have the sheets from the trip for all age groups. As soon as I get squared away with two weeks of dirty laundry :eek: :mad: I will get them scanned and posted. Feel free to email me any questions.

[topspot]

Hi All,

 

 

My DH and I were amazed, actually shocked at other behavior displayed and I am not referring to wild children, think opposite end of the spectrum. No excuse me, more like get outta way !

 

We found this to be true also. We read so much about kids running through the dining room on the HAL board. The danger in the dining room and Lido on our cruise came from the Scooters. If you didn't get out of the way, they would just run you down. :eek:

[Caribbean Sunsets]

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise. You are creating wonderful memories that you'll have a lifetime to remember. I find it's best to avoid certain threads on this site.;)

[Felizcruiser08]

Hi everyone,

 

DS is back in school so I have a few minutes to read and post. Isn't it funny how we had similar reactions to certain message boards and cruise-lines. Until I found this family board and the wonderful roll call , I was re-thinking our choice. Our TA and even HAL assured us that our family would have a nice cruise, so glad it worked out that way! Ahh that main board - I skimmed through the misbehavin' children thread a few days ago, today it is still going strong, like 9 pages, oh well.

I am not condoning kids who run amuck , parents who let their children do whatever, far from it, that is why we were looking at HAL , Celebrity .

I truly never saw the chaos that is described, never saw children running wild through the dining room. I just did not see it and we were on a holiday cruise with many kids. I did ask 2 boys to keep it down in the hall way as people may be sleeping ( it was 9pm) and they were very polite, we chatted for a bit about the cruise and they calmly walked away. Nice kids.

 

Anyhoo- I met some parents on the Noordam who had 12 - 14 year olds and I think the general feeling was that Holland could offer more for that age group, at least for sea days since everyone is usually off of the ship during ports of call days.

I worry that my DS at age 12 or sooner - may become "too Cool " to hang out with Mom and Dad. When that day arrives, I will come up with plan B and be very sad : (

Hopefully he will always love the sea, snorkeling and traveling, that is my plan anyway ; )

My DH has been cruising since he was 8 and he and his brother had each other so he said that he never got into much trouble, that was before they had much in the way of Kids Clubs. They just love everything about ships and ports of call and their Dad is strict.

 

I am scanning the Kids Club activities, time flies, I have to pick up my DS in a half hour. But will get it done this week.

 

We meet with our TA next week to arrange the Family Cruise - 8 of us ages 85 to 6 , would love to go on Noordam again, since our GM uses a walker, maybe even he Eurodam? Not sure?

Also, looking at Cunard but we do not have any prices yet, does anyone have a ball park figure? also Celebrity, - it will depend on the pricing since FIL is "treating " us to the basic rate or if we can get a deal on a balcony, any upgrades are up to us. I can handle that and am very grateful he wants to cruise again, it has been 2 years since we all cruised together.

 

If I hear of any great rates from our TA, I will post them !

 

Hope everyone is having a good day and to those of you about to cruise - enjoy ! Carly