Mamascott

I'll be in this cruise as well! I'll be with my mom and my 3 youngest kids. 10 year old boy/girl twins and my 14yo daughter.  It's our 4th time to Alaska, and 3rd time on the Amsterdam. We did 14 days last September and my kids were the only ones in the ship. I hope there are more this time. 😂

On our last cruise, I just went to the front desk and put $200 on my room for my kids to get drinks if they wanted. I had paid for our gratuities already, so $200 was more than enough for 14 days. They had no issue with it not being the $60 per day. 

I cruise HAL with my 4 kids every summer. If it is a 7 day cruise during the summer, like to Alaska,  there will be several younger people in board. However,  we did 14 days in September and my teens were the only teens on the ship. They were pretty miserable.  My 17yo was so bored, he wont go again.  But we did 14 days in June the previous year and there was a bunch of teens, and he still talks to them. So it really depends on the time of year. 

We do 4 people in an inside room and it works fine, we have plenty of space! Its me, my 9 year old twins, and my 16 year old son. My daughter and I share the queen, I leave it as a queen in case my 13 year old wants to sleep in my room and not with grandma. If thats the case, my 2 girls, 13 and 9 and I share a queen, my nine year old son sleeps on the upper bunk, and my 16 year old son sleeps on the sofa bed. Its plenty of room for us. They put the ladder at the end of the bed, and honestly.. Hes 9. He climbs up from the bed underneath. :')We stick the ladder on the floor so it doesnt get knocked down.

I have four kids, ages 9-16. They are 2 stars on HAL, and stinking LOVE IT. I was hesitant on our first trip. We were going with my mom and she said, are you sure you want HAL? Its geared more towards older folks. I happen to work with kids, so a trip with few kids was right up my alley!:')We did a 7 day to Alaska in june, and there were about 200 kids on board. The kids club was small, and with not a ton of kids. My youngest has anxiety, so the smaller numbers, smaller ship all that was great for him. My kids were thrilled to be able to eat all the ice cream they wanted, swim, watch movies, see shows.. This summer they were incredibly upset we werent going on another cruise. But we couldnt go a summer without it, so they might be missing the first few days of school in the fall. ;pTry it. I hope you love it as much as we do.

Oh, and dining. Ive never sailed NCL, but honestly.. the dining on HAL isnt that great for me. We mostly eat at the buffet now that my kids are older. the MDR is fine, but meals are smallish and my boys can eat. We do one meal at the Cannaleto each trip, and my mom and i get rid of the kids for the night and do the Pinnacle. But as far as the kids go, they prefer the buffet.

Thanks! Good to know about the number of teens. Mine has been worried they would be alone. We've done the Mendenhall hike before and will definitely check out the Anchorage one. Thanks again!

We did this cruise last year, and my 15 yo son had a BLAST. The teens spent the whole cruise together. My son came back to the room at midnight, and left in the morning. :')They even got fancy, and did pictures and ate together at one of the Gala nights. Its safe, and there are always eyes on them. We are doing the same itinerary this summer, and now my daughter will be old enough for the teen club and she is beyond stoked for it.

We cruised the Amsterdam last summer in an inside room on the 14 day Alaskan cruise. We loved it. We had 2 rooms. I had myself and 3 kids in one room, and my mother had the other with one of my kids. Im telling you, we slept so well in the inside room. It was WONDERFUL. One day my kids even slept through breakfast. :')The twins are nine, and are awake at 6:30 EVERY DAY EVER. The year prior we had a window room and it was terrible. This year we are sailing to Alaska on the same itinerary, different ship, but rooms in the same area.

Anyone else excited to see the line dance lessons on the schedule? Just me? Ok. :')I hope to see more of them! We are doing this cruise end of August, and I will be cupid shuffling, and whatever else they have with my kiddos! Maybe we get the wobble too. :'):')

Im not a seasoned cruiser, we've only been on 2. But i have some memories that still kinda move my mommy soul. On our first cruise my youngest daughter was 7, and she didnt want to leave her daddy. She cried and cried when we left him at the port. The day we rolled back into seattle, she curled up in my bed and said, mommy. I loved the cruise. We should go for longer next time. And we did. :')

The second was on our second cruise. My 15 yo was NOT HAPPY being dragged away from his friends for two weeks. I took my oldest 2 kiddos dog sledding in Alaska and after wards he looked at me and said, mom. Thank you for making me come. This is amazing. My heart exploded. Then at the end of the cruise he said he was so happy we had a trip where we could actually connect, no tech, no friends.. just me and the kids. and grandma. :')

My third that actually made me cry was watching my 8yo son get so excited about the towel animal class. It was magic for him. We spent every night after that making our own in teh room, and the WONDERFUL room stewards brought us a bunch of eyes and a glue stick. and a bag of chocolates to munch on while we make animals. ;)

I hate to be that person.. My 14 yo hated it. But his was a combination of being super seasick, and WiFi withdrawal. 😂 We went to Alaska last summer, and he was a mess. He's never been motion sick before, and he's been traveling since he was a baby. None of us expected him to get so sick. He was miserable the whole trip. However, my 11 year old daughter had an amazing time. She made tons of friends, did all the activities, went to all the shows with my mother. She had more fun then the rest of us put together.

This year we are doing a 14 day cruise. I told my oldest to bring his scholarship essay to work on, and I bought him a bigger memory card for his phone for music and games. We are bringing books, cards, games and most importantly, meds. 😂

Last year we went on the Amsterdam for 7 days. Me, my mother, and my four kids. They were 14, 11, and 7 year old twins. My younger kids had an absolute blast. There was so very much for them to do! They swam, ate tons of ice cream, did all the activities in the kids club. On our last day, my youngest daughter, who mind you SOBBED the day we were leaving as her dad dropped us. She was going to miss him so much. So she curled up in my lap the morning we pulled into Seattle, and said, Mommy? Can we do another cruise with grandma but for longer days next time? So they loved it.

We did gold panning in Juneau, it was a lot of fun. We just toured Sitka on foot, and did the lumberjack show in Ketchikan. They were all inexpensive tours, because we are a big family and I cant afford a ton of expensive stuff.

My oldest and I rented movies from the front desk, and checked books out from the library. Plus we played games in the library, we played cards by the pool. He got very seasick, and pretty much had a terrible time because of it. As far as dinner went, we had a window table. That kept them occupied, especially when we saw whales.

My younger son, 8, wears a suit that I buy a week or two after easter on clearance. 😉 And my oldest, 15, wears a pair of slacks, a bottom down and a tie.

Thats a great idea! I love dressing up in sparkly fancy dresses. But I just go to Ross and pick them up for $25. I stepped out of my room in the one I bought for my recent cruise and my 12yo daughter said..:o WOW MOM!! You look amazing!!! :hearteyes: Love that kid. :') As my girls get older im definitely going to check out rent the runway!

I got a Nikkon coolpix b500 for my trip. Its point and shoot, and has an extremely good zoom. Thats what I wanted. I am a photographer for work, and we use very large and heavy DSLR cameras. I take hundreds of pictures a day and my wrists and hands are sore by the end of the a busy day. I dont want that on my vacation. Plus I have four kids and two of them are 8yo twins, and I dont want to have to be lugging around a heavy camera while im dealing with them. Also getting a go pro for our more adventurous stuff. Mainly so my 15yo can get video of me having a panic attack while we zip line. Because his dad thinks that would be hilarious. :')

Thankfully we still had use of the other bathroom. 😂 My twins are still little flower children, and have no shame. My older daughter showered at night before bed, the twins took baths mid day after lunch and swim time, I showered in the morning, and my oldest showered in my moms room. He's supposed to sleep in my moms room, but has already called dibs on the upper bunk in my room.

Honestly, I work and go to school, so this is the only time I get just the five of us, and I love it. At home we all have school, Friends, their dad.. I love that they all want to be with me. ❤ Its going to be a great trip. Even sharing a bed with 2 wiggly 8 year olds. 😂😂

Last summer my mom took my 4 kids and I on an Alaskan cruise. We had 2 rooms, I had the girls she had the boys. Thats how it was supposed to work anyhow. What ended up happening is that my 7 yo twins shared a twin, I had a twin, my 11 yo daughter had the couch and my 14 yo son slept either on my floor, or curled up in my bed. 😑 lol! It was a squeeze!

This year we are doing the 14 day cruise, and I have a quad room. So we are leaving the bed a queen. I'm already anticipating all 4 kids sleeping with me again. None of the kids complained about the sofa bed. At some point both my older kids slept on it. I'm just hoping I get some sleep without a foot in my face. 😂

Hello all! My family and I cruised to Alaska on HAL last summer, and absolutely adored it. This summer we are doing a 2 week cruise to Alaska on the Amsterdam, and I was wondering if anyone else had done that particular cruise in years past and could tell me about how many kids were on board. I have 4 children, ages 8-15. They had a blast last year, and my younger 3 made tons of new friends in the kids club. I was wondering if, being that its a 2 week cruise, will there be less kiddos? We are going in the end of June after we all get out of school. Also if anyone one knows how many of the formal nights would be on a 2 week cruise like this? Thanks in advance for any information you can give me! Oh, and if anyone has any ideas on how to keep my 15yo son from being a total crapper for two weeks I would love it. :'):')

I went on a cruise last summer with my mom, and my 4 children. My kids had a blast! The crew was amazing with them. Got to know their names, knew that my 7yo twins loved ice cream and made sure they got plenty. 😂 The kids club was amazing. My 7yo son has really bad anxiety, and doesn't do particularly well in kids club environments. He loved club hal. They begged to go every day. And they swam every day. When we got off the ship, all of them were planning a longer cruise for our next vacation. I wouldn't hesitate to take them on another Holland America cruise.

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My mom was able to have my gratuities and room charges transfered to her room, so she could pay for those. I put my card down on my room for thing I wanted to get, so she wasn't charged for those. So at the end of the cruise, the only thing on my bill were a couple things I charged, and hers had all the gratuities, and anything else she wanted to pay for, including a couple beverage cards.

Yep. My mom came with us. The girls slept with me, and the boys with my mom. That was how it was supposed to go anyways. The reality was they all fought over sleeping with me, and I almost ended up sleeping in the tub. :D

We just got back yesterday, it was fantastic. There is a kids club for the kiddos, they were amazing. My kids swam the whole time, even when it was a little chilly. The pool water was very warm. Bring something to keep the kids entertained for dinner. I'm sure mom and dad know this, but its hard for kids to stay focused during an hour and a half meal.

We just got back this morning from the Amsterdam! It was great. I have 4 kiddos, aged 7,7,11, and 14. My younger kids had a great trip, but my oldest was super bored, and super seasick. The trip to Juneau was really rough. I'll dig through and see what I have as far as programs, but the kids club was amazing. Seriously, a lifesaver for me. The food was ok, always something to eat. Lots of ice cream! We had a magic show, a comedian, and the ships dancers. Bingo, which the kids could play. Mainly my kids were in the pool, the kids club, the movies, eating or sleeping. The oldest loved the library, games, books and puzzles.. But he mainly just hung out with his old mom. :D The weather was fantastic, my kids got tans from swimming. The only thing that really took me by surprise was how deep the pools are. The outside pool was 6ft 9in deep and the lido pool was 5ft 9. My 7yo daughter snugged up to me and said, momma.. Can we come back for more days, just with dadda next time?? Mind you, this child cried the whole first day from missing her dad, so I say this was a successful trip.

Thanks for the review! We are going on that same cruise leaving on sunday. I had a question, were there lots of of kiddos on your cruise? I have 4, ages 7-14 and im a little worried they are going to be bored.

Thank you so much! I went out and picked the little guy up a vest and tie suit and the oldest an actual suit. Also got my 2 girls some very sparkly dresses. Can't wait to see them all dressed up. Now to figure out what I'm going to wear. Hmmm. Lol!

Hello! I am taking my children on our first cruise, Alaska out of Seattle in the end of June. I was wondering the dress code for the boys in the dining room. My girls are fine wearing dresses every night, I'm sure. Lol! But I have a 14, and a 7 yo son. My 7 yo can barely figure out not to put his pants on backwards, I'm not sure if I can wrangle his behind into a suit! Will dress pants and a button down work? Maybe dig out his easter suit? Thanks in advance!