Club HAL reduces minimum age

[papadave]

I was checking http://www.hollandamerica.com today and saw that one of their improvements was lowering the minimum age for Club HAL to 3 years old. Personally, travelling with a 6 year old, I'm unhappy with this change because of the prospect that the youngest age group activities will now be appropriate for a 3 year old (and may not hold my daughter's interest).

 

Has anyone been on a ship since the policy change? I have no idea when it was put in place, but I would be interested to know how the new policy is working.

[sail7seas]

:)

 

 

 

I was checking www.hollandamerica.com today and saw that one of their improvements was lowering the minimum age for Club HAL to 3 years old. Personally, travelling with a 6 year old, I'm unhappy with this change because of the prospect that the youngest age group activities will now be appropriate for a 3 year old (and may not hold my daughter's interest).

 

Has anyone been on a ship since the policy change? I have no idea when it was put in place, but I would be interested to know how the new policy is working.

 

They can't seem to win for trying.

How many times we have read about parents who are unhappy their three year old cannot go to Club HAL. So, HAL changes it to accommodate those folks and the parent of the six year old is not happy.

What ages do other cruise lines accept children for their programs? Seems to me I have read that HAL was requiring children to be older than other cruiselines were so....now they are trying to please most of the people most of the time.

That's about the best they can do IMO

I hope it works out okay for you and your daughter. Hope you have a great cruise....and that she does, as well.

[ekerr19]

Our kids have been participating in Club HAL for years - HAL makes a very concious effort to segregate the activites based on age (and thus their abilities) I really would not worry about this too much. Depending on your travel date - there will undoubtably be other children in your daughter's age group that will allow her to stay occupied/entertained and befriend. :)

 

 

Sail - I agree, HAL can't win for trying... folks have complained for years that 5-yrs. is not young enough for kids in Club HAL - please, lower the age limit...

[iluvcruzin]

Most are age 3 and potty trained. I think one of them is 2 1/2. HAL is not a big family style cruiseline where lots of kids will be on board anyhow. The 6 year old has just a good chance to be grouped with a 3 year old as a 11 year old. Also it's a good chance there may only be a few kids on board and your child could be bored to tears so if a childs interest is of importance, there are other lines more catered to familes with small children. Age 3 is not an unreasonable age to allow kids into the program. After all, its basic purpose is for babysitting & entertainment so the adults can have a break.

[sail7seas]

Most are age 3 and potty trained. I think one of them is 2 1/2. HAL is not a big family style cruiseline where lots of kids will be on board anyhow. The 6 year old has just a good chance to be grouped with a 3 year old as a 11 year old. Also it's a good chance there may only be a few kids on board and your child could be bored to tears so if a childs interest is of importance, there are other lines more catered to familes with small children. Age 3 is not an unreasonable age to allow kids into the program. After all, its basic purpose is for babysitting & entertainment so the adults can have a break.

 

 

Actually, the number of children varies hugely by date of the cruise. If cruising over the holidays or school vacations, HAL ships attract loads of families just like all the other cruiselines.

We have cruised over Christmas/New Years a number of times and there have been hundreds of children.....same for Easter vacation and summer Caribbean cruises.

[papadave]

Our kids have been participating in Club HAL for years - HAL makes a very concious effort to segregate the activites based on age (and thus their abilities) I really would not worry about this too much. Depending on your travel date - there will undoubtably be other children in your daughter's age group that will allow her to stay occupied/entertained and befriend. :)

 

Thanks for the input. I am hoping that my daughter will be able to find others to play board games with and is not just plopped down in front of a video or given a piece of paper and some crayons. Otherwise, she'll wind up spending a lot of time with family.

[localady]

:)

They can't seem to win for trying.

 

How many times we have read about parents who are unhappy their three year old cannot go to Club HAL. So, HAL changes it to accommodate those folks and the parent of the six year old is not happy.

 

What ages do other cruise lines accept children for their programs? Seems to me I have read that HAL was requiring children to be older than other cruiselines were so....now they are trying to please most of the people most of the time.

 

That's about the best they can do IMO

 

I hope it works out okay for you and your daughter. Hope you have a great cruise....and that she does, as well.

 

I have to agree with you there S7S!! Keeping all the people happy all the time is pretty impossible.:rolleyes:

 

PapaDave- Hope you and your family have a wonderful cruise!:cool:

[MSG]

We'll be on the 3/27 Westerdam with the kids and I have a quick question. How and when do you sign the kids up for Club Hal groups?

 

 

MSG

 

Zuiderdam 7/04

Westerdam 3/05

[papadave]

I've read elsewhere on the board that you sign up on the first day of the cruise.

 

See you there.

[carolcp]

It's been a 4 years since we used Club Hal but it was wondeful. Last time in Norway, they had a group for the little kids, tweens and teens. There were only about 5 in tweens but it was fine. The kids had activies every evening from movies, to "poker" parties with prizes, pizza parties, tennies, pingpong, volleyball, basket ball, crafts, swiming parties, birthday parties (both of our daughter had birthdays during the cruise so we arranged a cake and ice cream for the club), games and even scavenger hunts. They were never plopped down in front of a video. On some cruises there are even special (extra cost) shore excursions for the club hal kids.

 

The tweens had a dance one evening too. On the Rotterdam they built a beautiful club hal with limited access so that the kids could be more carefully watched and not wander off. One of the things the kids got a kick out of was to sit down on the highly polished floor with their feet up and slide across the floor due to the rocking of the boat.

 

Since we had late seating for dinner, we had to take the kids to the Lido every evening to eat because they wanted to go to Club Hal instead of joining us for dinner.

 

Club Hal even served them soft drinks so they got their daily dose of sugar and didn't need to buy a soft drink card. The kids got Club Hal tee shirts one year, about 10 years ago, but I don't remember if they got them last time.

 

It seemed that they have some standard activies and then customize activies for the ages of the children on that cruise. We got a daily activity list in our room stating what the kids would be doing that day and were to meet.

 

I think the first time we met was in the Lido at the ice cream bar to see how many kids wanted to join the club and just to see the other kids. The old Rotterdam did not have a special Club Hal location, sometimes it met in the card room, sometimes in the Lido. I had two children at the time 5 and 9 and I was always going to two different locations to drop off and pick up. Seemed the closer the time to retreive kids, the further away they were from one another.

 

One hint, our club hal director was eating in the Lido one evening before they were to meet - give them a break and just wave - don't bother them - ours nicely but firmly told us that was her personal time and she was off duty.

 

Carol

[localady]

 

One hint, our club hal director was eating in the Lido one evening before they were to meet - give them a break and just wave - don't bother them - ours nicely but firmly told us that was her personal time and she was off duty.

 

Carol

 

I would never bother staff during their meals, but that just seems like a very rude response!!!:eek:

Thanks for all the great tips about the Club Hal program!!!:)

[Himself]

You know HAL is trying. Maybe they can have programs for three and six year olds. They are trying and keep getting kicked. It is not fair.

[Rotterdam]

Why don't you hire a nanny for the week & bring a friend of your daughter. That way She'll be watched & have fun.

[stefhef]

We went on our first cruise when the kids were 3 and 5 on Celebrity, as well as the second one when they were 4 and 6. Once the youngest turned 5, we switched to HAL. Five years later, HAL is finally getting with the program. Good move HAL.

[Girlsnightout]

I've been waiting for this for YEARS! First I had to wait for my kids to be old enough, now we've been waiting for my nephews, whom we always cruise with.

 

That is GREAT news, HAL here we come!!!!!:D

[Sueseb]

We will be on the Zaandam 3/26 and when my daughter checked with HAL she was told that the plan for 3 year old is in the works but has not been instituted yet -- at least not on the Zaandam for our cruise.

[papadave]

We will be on the Zaandam 3/26 and when my daughter checked with HAL she was told that the plan for 3 year old is in the works but has not been instituted yet -- at least not on the Zaandam for our cruise.

 

I checked the HAL website, and it appears that the upgrade which includes opening the Club HAL program to 3 year olds, is complete. Maybe they are considering things ready for the checklist before they actually are up and running. Anyway, the link to their signature of excellence progress chart is:

http://www.hollandamerica.com/pdfs/SOE_update.pdf

[RonnieS]

We've had our now 6 year old son on Royal Caribbean twice and he loved the Adventure Ocean program for kids. We hear good things about Club HAL so we're looking forward to our New Years cruise 12/30/05.