Teens on Noordam in the Med. in Sept.

[croydonCruiser]

We are planning a trip to Europe in 2014, and are looking at a Med. cruise while we're there. In particular, we are considering some, or all of the 33 day Noordam cruise departing Istanbul on Sept 16 2014. We've scoured all the cruise web sites, and looked at all the itineraries, and this one looks pretty good! :D

 

Now we have to decide whether HAL is right for us, and indeed if we are right for HAL! My first concern is the kids. They will be 13 and 14, and although they don't need water slides, rock climbing walls, ice rinks and so on, they'd really like a pool and a few other kids to hang out with. HAL has the pool covered, but given the timing (Sept) I'm not too sure whether there will be many (if any!) others around their age. I know the kids in Europe and the US start the new school year in Sept, so my feeling is that there won't be very many on board at all. Of course no one can say for sure how many there will be, but if you've previously sailed the Med in Sept, can you remember if there were many teens on board?

 

I've been reading this board for the last week or so, and have found answers to most of my other questions, which has been great!

There's a huge depth of knowledge here, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of others over the next year! :p

[Essiesmom]

You will be fine on Noordam. Even if there aren't a lot of kids...In 33 days, you only have 5 sea days. It's very port intensive, so you will return exhausted from your explorations and just want to shower, eat, and relax. The itinerary is more important than the ship. EM

[CruiserBruce]

There will be very few kids. Any will more likely be preschool. Not high school.

[kazu]

The longer the cruise, the fewer the children especially in the school year.

 

I don't think it makes any difference what line you are sailing. How many would be on board would be difficult to predict. There could be others in your situation and there could be none.

[KirkNC]

I agree, not many kids especially school age. I am sure yours will still have a great time!

[croydonCruiser]

Thanks for all the replies. I've explained the port intensive nature of the cruise, and told them that they may possibly be the only teens on board, and they are still keen to go! So it's all looking pretty good at this stage. It's still a long way off, but the 13 months will go by pretty quickly. We've got plenty of planning to do in the meantime!

 

Thanks again! I'm sure I'll be back with more questions! :D