Will we be the only ' young people' ?

[Lovely other]

Hi everyone. Just wandering given the average opinion of HAL is that its full of OAP's ....are we likely to be the only young ones? I'm a supposedly young looking 39 (40 in 3 weeks eek ) and my husband is 37.

Also was wandering if other cruise passengers are open minded. My reason for asking is We went on a honeymoon cruise 4 years ago on another now defunct cruise line, and even though I now know you get what you pay for, lets just say the attitudes of other passengers was shocking. My husband is Chinese and I was actually cornered in the bathrooms and verbally abused by other passengers for being in a mixed race relationship!

Oh and the other reason I ask is that I stand out a little having shoulder length pink hair and my husband regularly sports purple or blue highlights...so we're not your conventional HAL passengers

[sail7seas]

[B]What are "OAP's"?

No, you will not be the only young people.
As to open minded.......... you will see every combination of people on every HAL ship that you can imagine. As it should be.

You will also find ignorant, rude, biased people in every city, town, village, hamlet and gathering every place on earth. Surely we are all aware you can't make the world a perfect place but you can try,,,,,, one person at a time. Behave in a respectable manner and hopefully you will receive respect in return. Frankly, I don't know how else to answer such a comment but it was my wish to not leave such a horrid statement just sitting there.

If you go on a 7 day Caribbean cruise, you will find the same demographic as Princess, Celebrity etc

If you gon on a108 day World Cruise, on any cruise line, you will find many senior people. Who else has the time to be away from home that long?



[/B]

[CruiserBruce]

As has been discussed many times here, the age demographic on [B]any[/B] cruise line will depend on a couple of variables...length of cruise and time of year. If a cruise is not during school, and less than 10 days, the number of kids will be higher.

Conversely, a 15 day cruise in an exotic location during school, may have very few kids, and the general demographic will be older.

We have seen 10 day Med cruises in August with 400 kids on board, and 15 day Canal repo cruises in April with less than 5 kids on board.

[sail7seas]

[B]Oh, sorry for my poor welcome.

I meant to say Welcome to CC/HAL forum.
Happy you found us. :)
[/B]

[CruiserBruce]

An additional comment...the only time we witnessed patently offensive behavior, in the vein of racist, was on another highly popular line, not HAL. But as Sail correctly pointed out, that can happen anywhere, not just on a ship.

[Lovely other]

Thank you ...I wasn't meaning to be horrible, I was just wondering. I have read a lot of reports on HAL and most mentioned the older demographic. I certainly don't mind that. I live in a Derbyshire village where being over 65 is the majority and I love it.

I have a general anxiety about taking a cruise again just because of my past bad experience. In fact it took me three days of getting as far as card payment details before I hit the button.

[doublebzz]

[quote name='Lovely other']
Oh and the other reason I ask is that I stand out a little having shoulder length pink hair and my husband regularly sports purple or blue highlights...so we're not your conventional HAL passengers[/QUOTE]

You will stand out and not because of the mixed race relationship, but rather for your hair colorings, and probably on any cruise line. But isn't that what you want?

[Copper10-8]

[quote name='Lovely other'].........................
Oh and the other reason I ask is that I stand out a little having shoulder length pink hair and my husband regularly sports purple or blue highlights...so we're not your conventional HAL passengers[/quote]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=navy]Hopefully, Comedienne Julie Barr will be on your voyage;)[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000080][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Bill B]

[quote name='sail7seas'][B]What are "OAP's"?[/B][/QUOTE]

Old age pentioners.

[Lovely other]

I don't mind standing out for my hair. What started out as a fun attempt at change became my permanent hair colour after getting asked for ID twice when buying alcohol :D and my husband works in the entertainment industry so standing out is the norm for him. I find most older folks here love the pastel pink, my neighbour is 66 years old and she has purple highlights.

Will need to google the comedienne .... Fingers crossed we don't find my husbands friends are the entertainment like last time.

[taxmantoo]

Judging by the number of people threatening to go to other lines right now, you may be the ONLY people, young or old ;)

[lovetocruise2020]

[quote name='Lovely other']Hi everyone. Just wandering given the average opinion of HAL is that its full of OAP's ....are we likely to be the only young ones? I'm a supposedly young looking 39 (40 in 3 weeks eek ) and my husband is 37.

Also was wandering if other cruise passengers are open minded. My reason for asking is We went on a honeymoon cruise 4 years ago on another now defunct cruise line, and even though I now know you get what you pay for, lets just say the attitudes of other passengers was shocking. My husband is Chinese and I was actually cornered in the bathrooms and verbally abused by other passengers for being in a mixed race relationship!

Oh and the other reason I ask is that I stand out a little having shoulder length pink hair and my husband regularly sports purple or blue highlights...so we're not your conventional HAL passengers[/QUOTE]

When is your cruise and to where? We sail HAL and we are younger but we only do Caribbean and the two newest ships.

[mamaofami]

[quote name='taxmantoo']judging by the number of people threatening to go to other lines right now, you may be the only people, young or old ;)[/quote]


[font=comic sans ms][size=3]lol.[/size][/font]:):)

[Copper10-8]

[quote name='Lovely other']I don't mind standing out for my hair. What started out as a fun attempt at change became my permanent hair colour after getting asked for ID twice when buying alcohol :D and my husband works in the entertainment industry so standing out is the norm for him. I find most older folks here love the pastel pink, my neighbour is 66 years old and she has purple highlights.

Will need to google the comedienne .... Fingers crossed we don't find my husbands friends are the entertainment like last time.[/quote]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=navy]Julie Barr has bright pink hair as part of her image and is a very funny lady:)[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000080][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[IMG]http://comicsforrecovery.com/images/Julie-B.png[/IMG]

[Typhoon1]

Far from it. Despite its reputation, HAL attracts a wide variety of ages and cultures.

HAL's Signature of Excellence keeps them coming back for more.

[Lovely other]

[quote name='surfergirle']When is your cruise and to where? We sail HAL and we are younger but we only do Caribbean and the two newest ships.[/QUOTE]

It's on 9th August . Adriatic explorer

[sail7seas]

[quote name='Bill B']Old age pentioners.[/quote]

[B] Thank you.

I NEVER would have come up with that.

Did everyone but me know what that means? :confused: :o
[/B]

[mamaofami]

[quote name='sail7seas'][B] Thank you.

I NEVER would have come up with that.

Did everyone but me know what that means? :confused: :o
[/B][/quote]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3]Not me ![/SIZE][/FONT]

[mamaofami]

[quote name='Lovely other']Hi everyone. Just wandering given the average opinion of HAL is that its full of OAP's ....are we likely to be the only young ones? I'm a supposedly young looking 39 (40 in 3 weeks eek ) and my husband is 37.

Also was wandering if other cruise passengers are open minded. My reason for asking is We went on a honeymoon cruise 4 years ago on another now defunct cruise line, and even though I now know you get what you pay for, lets just say the attitudes of other passengers was shocking. My husband is Chinese and I was actually cornered in the bathrooms and verbally abused by other passengers for being in a mixed race relationship!

Oh and the other reason I ask is that I stand out a little having shoulder length pink hair and my husband regularly sports purple or blue highlights...so we're not your conventional HAL passengers[/quote]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3]This rude behavior is really shocking to me. But, as has already been said, there are rude people everywhere. Personally, I can't imagine anyone treating you this way.
[/SIZE][/FONT]

[Lovely other]

[quote name='mamaofami'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3]This rude behavior is really shocking to me. But, as has already been said, there are rude people everywhere. Personally, I can't imagine anyone treating you this way.
[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

To be honest until that point I'd not even considered it. When they first threatened me I had to think about what they meant as I just don't see race as an issue. But then this was not a nice cruise in any way. The list of bad experiences was way too long and it's the only trip in my life where I wanted to go home after the first couple of days. 21 day of hell ... On the plus side I dropped a dress size from the lack of decent food ;)

[sapper1]

[quote name='sail7seas'][B] Thank you.

I NEVER would have come up with that.

Did everyone but me know what that means? :confused: :o
[/B][/QUOTE]

We in Canada know. Everyone over 65 receives what the government calls an old age pension, therefore we are OAP's. I really think they could come up with a better name for it but there you have it.

[IRL_Joanie]

[quote name='Lovely other']Hi everyone. Just wandering given the average opinion of HAL is that its full of OAP's ....are we likely to be the only young ones? I'm a supposedly young looking 39 (40 in 3 weeks eek ) and my husband is 37.

Also was wandering if other cruise passengers are open minded. My reason for asking is We went on a honeymoon cruise 4 years ago on another now defunct cruise line, and even though I now know you get what you pay for, lets just say the attitudes of other passengers was shocking. My husband is Chinese and I was actually cornered in the bathrooms and verbally abused by other passengers for being in a mixed race relationship!

Oh and the other reason I ask is that I stand out a little having shoulder length pink hair and my husband regularly sports purple or blue highlights...so we're not your conventional HAL passengers[/quote]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4][COLOR=Blue][B]I'd be staring at your hair color, not your skin color or the mixed ethnicity. Sorry, but hair as you described would have me staring and shaking my head in wonderment........

Joanie[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Bill B]

[quote name='sapper1']Everyone over 65 receives what the government calls an old age pension, therefore we are OAP's. I really think they could come up with a better name for it...[/QUOTE]

Yeah... I'm in surprised in this 'age' of rampant, political 'correctness' the term [I]Old Age Pension[/I] (OAP) is not considered ageist and hasn't been changed to something less pejorative.

How about -
[I]HAL Cruise Minimum Average Demographic AGE Pentioner[/I] (HCMADAP).

[sail7seas]

[quote name='sapper1']We in Canada know. Everyone over 65 receives what the government calls an old age pension, therefore we are OAP's. I really think they could come up with a better name for it but there you have it.[/quote]


[B] I'm not sure our name for government entitlements, Social Security, is much better but as long as the money gets to the fixed income folks who really need it, let them call it whatever makes them happy.

But, yes....... OAP does sound a rather rude, disrespectful term for a 'benefit'.

[/B]

[chrispb]

[quote name='sail7seas']
[B]Did everyone but me know what that means? :confused: :o[/B]
[/quote]

In short, yes.

But we no longer call people OAPs. The term now used is Senior Citizens.

The pension is still termed Old Age but this is to differentiate it from other types of pensions, ie Disability.