mtnmommy

My kids--now 16 and 20--are Four Star Mariners after traveling the world on HAL with Grandma since they were little. They've visited more than 30 countries. They still keep in touch with kids they met in Club HAL/Loft from South Africa, the UK, the Netherlands, and Spain.

I would never have let them participate in this High Score Thunderdome, nor would they have wanted to.

And, as a former director of PR for a national company, I'm just wondering--what the heck?!? I would've quit rather than attempt damage control on this mess. I'm contacting HAL, but I have a feeling that there is no one home in Seattle.

Thank you so much for your report--it brought sentimental tears to my eyes!

While working on a scrapbook today for my son's high school graduation, I realized that many of our precious family memories involve cruising on HAL. We started when our son was six, and my daughter was three. The kids are four-star Mariners and have traveled everywhere from Colombia to Russia.

I can't articulate how travel enriched my son's education, as well as his appreciation for other ways of life. He also learned about etiquette, social skills, food, and how to talk to all kinds of people. We met wonderful older folks on HAL who shared their life wisdom. He did meet other kids and still keeps in touch with teenagers in Amsterdam, London, and South Africa. And Senior Prom is this weekend, and he's been rocking a tux since the 1st grade!

World travel with little ones (and teens!) can be challenging and tiring but don't ever let anyone tell you that they "aren't getting anything from it." My husband's health no longer allows us to travel--enjoy these years--they are indeed fleeting.

Best to you and your family and your wonderful adventures together!

Thanks for the good wishes, everyone. Turns out you have to be 21 to travel alone in a cabin. Our cabins are adjoining, but not connecting. Since my mom can't make the trip, either my husband or I would need to be moved next door to the cabin with the 18-year-old.

HAL is going to charge us $1200 to do this.

The explanation given is that it is considered a re-booking, even though it involves all original passengers, and that "it's complicated."

Of course, policy is policy, and HAL has a right to do whatever, but this does seem extreme. We are HAL loyalists. My Mom is a 5 Star Mariner and we are all 4 Stars--my kids have grown up sailing HAL.

I think we're coming to the end of an era for us, but we've been blessed with the many years we've gotten to travel together.

Thank you! I hadn't thought of seeing what the price would be if the 18 - year-old was in the room solo. The cabins are next to each other and, of course, we'd just work out the arrangements. They won't let us put four in a Neptune suite, and the ship is fully booked.

I know people have gotten hit with this name change fee when they've substituted a person, but it struck me as odd when all the original passengers are sailing--we're just subtracting one person. The PC said it would be considered a re-booking.

I wish I had the cruise consultant we've worked with for years--2 cruises a year, always 2 Neptune suites. Answers from Seattle vary so much; it's frustrating. I really appreciate everyone's advice.

Hoping someone can help me with a rather stressful situation. My PCC is gone for the holidays.

Our family of five has two Neptune Suites for Dec. 31 on the Rotterdam. My husband, myself, and 14-year-old child in one cabin; my mother and the 18-year-old kid in the other. As of today, Mom can't go due to her husband's health.

Fortunately, we always purchase HAL's premium cancellation protection, which is a 90 percent refund, so we're only out $1,000 for the cruise. However, if we four go without my Mom, it also will cost $1,000 to shift one person from our cabin into hers because it would be considered a name change. So subtracting a person--not adding or substituting--is still a $1,000 name change?

We do NOT want to go without my Mom, so actually this would be a good argument to use with her, since she is insisting we go. There are a lot of moving parts to the trip, so I'm hoping someone could shed light on this piece. The PCC I spoke with just said "it's complicated." We're all 4-star mariners, so I guess I should understand, but we've been blessed not to deal with this situation before.

Thanks in advance.

My family and I are boarding her tomorrow, so I'll give you the latest scoop when I get back. Should be a wonderful trip. We've sailed Holland America for years and love it--welcome aboard!

Thanks for your review. That's a wonderful itinerary, and I will miss the Ryndam--such a sweet ship. That Noro situation sounds horrible. We've cruised in Code Red once, and I flipped out badgering my kids about washing their hands and yelling at my family to stop touching their faces. It sounds like you did a great job of keeping a positive attitude (and you as well, Alberta Quilter.)

But HAL. C'mon. Would you please just bring back the decent tea bags? It's such a little thing, but the new tea is, in a word, icky. And it certainly won't keep the British passengers happy.

Whoops, just noticed in my first post that I said England and the UK. Well, that sounded stupid. Meant to say England and South Africa. Perhaps I can blame the teenagers for draining my mental capacity.

If you can work the logistics, #1. I've been fortunate to visit (and live in) some spectacular places in the world, and I thought Geirangerfjord couldn't possibly live up to the hype. It does.

RuthC, that was the case for us on the Voyage of the Midnight Sun sailing out of Dover. (What a WONDERFUL cruise!) The British kids wore jackets and ties nightly. My son had a fabulous time debating the merits of American football vs. cricket.

Lorif, our cruise last year went to Flam and Stavanger. We were in Kristiansand and Oslo several years ago. In Flam, the railway is the thing, and there is lots of info about that trip on the Northern Europe forum. My mother was ill, so we missed the train but took the kids on a wonderful hike around the fjord. Living in the Rockies, I'm pretty spoiled when it comes to scenery, but the beauty of this area blew us away. In Stavanger, we loved the boat trip through Lysefjord to Pulpit Rock. After that, we walked to the Petroleum Museum. It may sound dull, but it's a highly interactive museum that gives insight into the oil industry, even the controversial issues.

There is so much to see in Oslo--Vigeland Sculpture Park, the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History (outdoor folk museum with 155 historic buildings and a stave church), Holmenkollen Ski Jump, etc. We visited mainly because my mother had studied there in the 1950s, so we were at the university for much of the time. I recommend seeing Norway's Resistance Museum. It's near the port and very small, but moving. Another highlight for us was the Nobel Peace Center. Deeply inspiring.

We were in Kristiansand in early June, and it wasn't quite ready for tourist season. We liked walking through the pretty old town, visiting the fish market, and talking to the friendly residents. Lots of boat trips and other options when the season is in full swing.

Whatever you choose to do, it's an awesome, relaxing family trip.

We cruise HAL twice a year with our kids (leaving for New England/Canada next week!) and did the two-week cruise on Ryndam in Norway last July. Dark jeans with polo shirts or nice tops are fine for the kids (it sounds like you have teenagers?) on "smart casual" nights. You will not be limited to the Lido. However, my 15-year-old son often wears khakis, and my 12-year-old daughter wears casual skirts. It's lighter than packing lots of jeans.

One interesting note about our cruise in Norway. We do dress for formal nights, and my son didn't take off his suit after dinner because apparently that was not the cool thing to do. My son had a blast hanging out with other teens in the evenings, and many of the kids were from England, Netherlands or the UK. They were used to wearing jackets and ties for school, unlike my American son, so it was a little more formal than usual. It was fun to see them dressed up, but, of course, they wouldn't have cared if he didn't have a suit.

It was one of the best cruises we have ever taken, by the way. Highly recommend.

Thought-provoking thread. Agree that everyone must do their own risk assessment and follow what is comfortable for them. I'm from a small town in Colorado that has had an outbreak of enterovirus, and Colorado has been a "hot spot" for cases with associated paralysis. There seems to be little concern about this, even in our local media.

It swept through our high school, and my son caught it. (He's fine now.) Should we have kept him home from school and sports since August? It was a risk we took.

On our cruise to Norway on the Ryndam in July, we were informed of increased security at ports because of a terrorist threat. There were armed guards at Honningsvag, of all places, so it seems that there are no "safe" ports these days.

So, of course, much of life is a risk, and I don't want to teach my children to hide from life. However, before our cruise this winter, we will be trying to assess the risk factors. And that's all we can really do.

Just a heads-up. My family breezed through Heathrow security last month, but I was pulled aside for a random check as we boarded the plane (British Airways London to Denver.) Never had that happen before so was rather startled.

I was walking with my teenage son, and he stopped as I was pulled out, and the woman yelled at him to keep going. I had to turn on my Nook, which was fine, but the woman didn't believe that I didn't have a cell phone with me. We only carry one phone for international travel, and my husband had it. Since I didn't have a phone, she patted me down, searched my purse and examined my shoes.

Always something new to keep things exciting!

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful info. Flying to London Tuesday. We always receive extra scrutiny at Heathrow because our daughter was born in China. Good to have a heads up.

Ship: Noordam and Ryndam

Ports: Corfu and Inverness

Loved your review of the Neptune Suites! Thanks for making my day!

We usually book an SS-SY but are traveling with our family of five in two suites on the Ryndam this month. Our group includes my husband and I, my mother, and our two teenage children and, quite frankly, we booked it for the real estate since we are going to be on the ship for two weeks. At least there is some consolation in knowing that my football player son will eat seven times a day. Has anyone ever been banned from the Neptune Lounge for excessive food consumption?

My kids have been very, very blessed to go on cruises with Grandma from a young age, but it is a major come down to travel without her. After our children's first cruise with her on HAL to Alaska, we had to explain why "Mom and Dad's hotel" (Holiday Inn Express in Nebraska) didn't have the same amenities as "Grandma's hotel" (Pan Pacific in Vancouver.)

When they're backpacking through Europe in college, I know they'll have wonderful memories of traveling with Grandma in a Neptune Suite!

Thanks so much to you both for the info. We like to DIY in some ports, but with five of us--including two kids and my Mom--I do have to plan ahead. We've cruised in the Med the last two summers, where private guides and larger (and less expensive!) taxis are more plentiful. Thanks again for the help!

Thank you so much for your review. My family will be on the Midnight Sun cruise on the Ryndam on July 19, so it's great to hear such positive comments!

Could you please tell me if there were shuttle buses (for a fee, I assume) into the town centers in Tromso and Trondheim? And, in Bergen, was the ship docked at the pier that is within walking distance of the old town, Bryggen? We are traveling with my elderly mother, and her walking stamina is limited, so any info is much appreciated.

Maybe I'm showing my age, but just reading about this plan exhausts me.

We started cruising with my Mom and our kids six years ago, when they were 4 and 7. They're three-star mariners now and going on their 5th European cruise this summer. But as infants or toddlers? Oh, heck, no. We adopted our daughter from China when she was two. I spent the second half of the flight home debating which was worse: the 20-hour trip with her or the 20 hours of back labor I had with my son. It was a toss-up.

Hope it all works out for this family, but I would be a frazzled wreck. I would wait at least a year or two and then try a cruise to the Caribbean or Alaska.

Not a cruise comment, but happened when my husband and I were cruising on HAL with our then 4-year-old daughter.

I am a very fair-skinned, blue-eyed, redhead. My husband is a large swarthy Greek man. Our daughter is a small Chinese girl. A lovely lady commented on how pretty our daughter looked and asked if she was adopted. I said yes, and the lady replied, in a stage whisper, "Are you ever going to tell her?"

Nah, the kid'll never notice. Well, bless her heart, that became a family joke!

You'll have a wonderful time! We'll be on the Ryndam with our 14-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter for two weeks in July/August on the Voyage of the Midnight Sun, so I bet we'll just miss you. We've been very fortunate that my mother has taken us on European cruises on HAL for several summers, and my kids have loved every trip. Kids' lives are so packed these days that I think they welcome a chance to slow down and unplug.

One caveat, however, if your kid is an athlete. Our son trains for various sports and, on the longer cruises, he gets bummed that he can't work out. To use the gym, you have be 16 and accompanied by an adult. Totally understandable, and I'm sure that's the case on other ships as well. However, since there is no lap pool, climbing wall, etc., the only option is to jog on the sports deck. Just a heads up.

We've taken our kids to Europe the last three summers--since they were 6 and 9--and are on a Med cruise this June.

But, wow, when my son was 7 months old, I could barely get out of the house to get to McDonalds.

And we adopted my daughter from China when she was two but flying home from Hong Kong with a non-English speaking toddler quelled my desire for international travel for several years. (To everyone who was on that flight--again, my apologies. I'm sure you remember us.)

Does anyone else besides me have a problem with contracting Germaphobia while traveling? We've traveled extensively with our two kids, sailed twice in Code Red, and the idea of my family becoming ill while in a foreign country freaks me out.

I take all the usual precautions and am a believer of wiping down the surfaces in the the plane. However--it's tough to find that balance between sensible caution and Mom's Purell Paranoia. On our Med trip this summer, I will continue to require frequent hand washing, but I hope I can relax a bit so my kids don't forever associate Europe with the smell of sanitizer.

Ironically, our son had a serious issue while on the Queen Mary in the middle of the Atlantic. We, and the medical staff, thought it was a minor problem that in fact was a potential emergency caused by a rare disorder that was diagnosed once we returned home. Very, very blessed and a good reminder to me that we don't live in a bubble.

I was disappointed that on our Ryndam cruise last week they had to track down several parties missing from our lifeboat. Also, there was a lot of loud talking and messing around.

C'mon, just do two simple things: Show Up and Shut Up. (And, believe me, this is the only time I ever shut up.)

Really been enjoying your great pictures and review! We did this itinerary on th Eurodam last year and loved it--Tallin was a highlight. This year, our family of five was on the cruise before yours--Fjords and Highlands--and the ship was hit with noro, although we were thankfully spared! The crew were really working overtime, though. There was some concern about your sailing because several hundred passengers from our leg were continuing on for the Baltic trip. I see you boarded a bit late because of the cleaning, but did you eventually get out of Code Red? Just wondered how it all turned out. Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! Your black and white photos are lovely.