Zuiderdam Holiday Cruise (Carib/Panama) - Teenagers?

[Alisamontreal]

Hi all,

 

We are considering the December 27th 2011 - jan 6, 2012 Zuiderdam holiday cruise with our blended family - 5 teenagers from 11 - 17. We have sailed with Royal Caribbean in the past during the holidays, and there have always been many kids for ours to hang out with. I am concerned from some of the posts on here that HAL skews a bit older... Has anyone been on this type of HAL cruise during Christmas/New Years - and if so, were there alot of teenagers??

 

Thanks!

Alisa

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

It is hard to determine how many children will be on your cruise for New Year's.

 

Many of the school districts in our area return to school on Tuesday, Jan 3.

[iriemon]

We did the New Years cruise a couple of years ago and there were not a lot of children on board (which is why we picked HAL) With the Panama Canal being a longer cruise and ending so late I doubt there will be a large number on the cruise.

[Big Dawg CC]

Our family is booked on the Dec 16 Zuiderdam cruise as our girls (12 and 14) are back to school on the 2nd. We have now done two holiday cruises with HAL and each time there has been a good number of kids, tweens and teens on board. Given that most kids do go back before the 6th, however, you will probably not have as many on board as you would if you booked an earlier cruise.

[Modern_Viking]

Hi all,

 

We are considering the December 27th 2011 - jan 6, 2012 Zuiderdam holiday cruise with our blended family - 5 teenagers from 11 - 17. We have sailed with Royal Caribbean in the past during the holidays, and there have always been many kids for ours to hang out with. I am concerned from some of the posts on here that HAL skews a bit older... Has anyone been on this type of HAL cruise during Christmas/New Years - and if so, were there alot of teenagers??

 

Thanks!

Alisa

 

I believe if you (or your travel agent) calls HAL they should be able to tell you how many teenagers are currently booked on the cruise (or at least how many people under age 18 are currently booked).

 

In the past, on 14-16 night holiday cruises (on smaller HAL ships) I would guess that there were one or two dozen teenagers on board (maybe more), but not 100's of them. Since your cruise is shorter and on a larger ship, there may be more. Also, many parents will take their kids out of school for a day or two (extending a holiday period) if that is what it takes to make a desired cruise fit into their schedule. (I am not suggesting that action as an ideal, just admitting that it does sometimes happen.) I would imagine that it is more common with elementary age children than with teens, however.

[Alisamontreal]

Thanks everyone. I am a little concerned, having read your posts. Our kids in canada don't go back to school until the 9th... I will have my travel agent call and ask how many teenagers are currently booked as you suggested!