Taking teens on HAL

[aamechs2]

We really want to book an HAL Med cruise for June 30, but we have 15 year old twins. I'm afraid that there won't be ANY teens on board and they'll be bored. Of course we'll be off the ship alot but will there be any activities for the kids if they are the only teens onboard??

[sammiedawg]

There will probably be some multigenerational families on board but there is no way to know in advance. I would not expect a lot of teen activities on HAL. We took our kids to the Med on Holland America years ago because the timeframe worked best in our schedule but it was not our first choice for family cruising. I don't remember much of anything organized activity wise but they enjoyed the movies, the ports and roaming the ship.

I would post this same question on the Royal Caribbean board, a more family friendly cruise line attracting younger people. Princess might have a slightly younger crowd.

I would involve your teens in the port planning process so they feel some ownership in the trip. Most European trips are port intensive.

I think they will enjoy the experience, you are providing a great opportunity!

Edited April 25, 2015 by sammiedawg

[aamechs2]

We're in the same boat, haha. The only cruise that works with their schedule is this one on HAL. They have been to the Med 2 other times and we warned them that there might not be many kids onboard and they said they were OK with it but....I got to worrying that there will be NO kids onboard :/ We all love Princess and RCI but either the dates are wrong or we've already been to lots of the ports or the $$ is too much. So this is the only one I've found that works for all 3 criteria

[luvseaair]

We are sailing with two 16 year old boys to Norway on the MS Ryndam on the 4th July. No mention of other teens on our roll call :o so would be interested to hear if anyone on the same sailing.

 

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[sail7seas]

No one can promise you what the passenger demographic will be on YOUR cruise but I can promise you your teens would hardly be the first to sail HAL ships. It depends a lot on when you are sailing and even which ship. Holiday cruises will have lots of families and we often see generations of family sailing together for Thanksgiving, Christmas/New Years and Easter. If you are booking a short (7 - 10 day) cruise during a time when most schools are not in session, you are almost certain to find other teens. Hope I didn't insult anyone by stating the obvious. :o

 

[epixx]

Yes; I think it's highly likely other teens will sail on that cruise.

 

We have taken our teens three times on long summer (August) cruises on HAL, twice on 14 day Alaska cruises and once on an 11 day cruise from Dover to Barcelona. Each time there's been anywhere from 25-50 teens. Even though HAL has just about no activities for teens, they certainly seem to have been able to find friends and make their own fun, despite the fact that they call HAL the "no fun" ship. In fact, we're taking them again this summer on a Med cruise (although the older one is no longer a teen), and they were very receptive when I suggested it. If the itinerary and timing are good for you, I wouldn't hesitate.

[boulders]

HAL is dd16's favorite cruise line. She's been on all the cruise lines in my signature except for Princess. We've been on two HAL cruises. The first one was to the Med on the Nieuw Amsterdam, for 24 days, in July. That one had 300 kids on it. Dd went to the teen club the first night, made friends and had a posse to hang around with the rest of the cruise. They usually hung around the teen club.

 

Our second HAL cruise was over Christmas/ New Year's to Antarctica on Zaandam. There were 35 kids on that one. Dd still found 2-3 friends to hang around with, again usually in the teen club. Since they were usually the only teens in the teen club, the counselor changed the teen schedule so that every afternoon, they attended the tea in the dining room.

 

Dd says that HAL has the nicest teenagers of any cruise line.

[sammiedawg]

We're in the same boat, haha. The only cruise that works with their schedule is this one on HAL. They have been to the Med 2 other times and we warned them that there might not be many kids onboard and they said they were OK with it but....I got to worrying that there will be NO kids onboard :/ We all love Princess and RCI but either the dates are wrong or we've already been to lots of the ports or the $$ is too much. So this is the only one I've found that works for all 3 criteria

 

I hear you on the scheduling issues and family trips get even harder when they start college or have jobs. Travel as much as you can with them while you can any way that you can.

What are your ports? Since the kids have traveled before you have some idea of what activities to plan for in port.

Which ship are you considering?

I would avoid cruise bus excursions, they can be pretty boring even for me. We also had a group of four which is the perfect size to private hire driver guides. DIY train, ferry or cab trips are also good alternatives.

[Lottie Linda]

My advice would be leave the teenagers at home. I like HAL because few teenagers.

 

If your teenagers like to read books and attend classes, afternoon tea or learn mah-jong, then HAL would be a better fit. But, if your DTs like to rock climb and rocket through waterslides, there are other cruise lines.

[cb at sea]

There will be kids of all ages on all sailings...no worries! Yours won't be the only ones!

[sprockie]

Disregard all the "leave your kids at home" and "choose another line" posts. HAL is great for any age. We have cruised with our kids since they were tots and have cruised on HAL several times with them, once on Carnival and once on Celebrity. My kids have liked HAL the most. It's the overall experience and family time on a great cruise line that we all love. Yes, there will be fewer kids on HAL as compared to Royal Caribbean or Carnival, but my kids don't mind that a bit.

[aamechs2]

Thanks everyone, well almost everyone. Leave them at home means we stay home too, not everyone has nanny's or even grandparents to leave their kids with. Plus we love hanging out with them, these are our 2nd set of kids (all the others are much older) and we have learned that those years to spend time with them are gone before you know it. My kids are great kids and they are just as happy reading as rocketing down a waterslide. Since it's so port intensive in the Med, some days they will just want to veg. And since they are twins, they can always just hang together.

 

I think we're going to go for it. So any of you with teens who want to book the Zuiderdam on June 30th out of Barcelona, please do! It's a great price right now and a wonderful itinerary.

[Ky Colonel]

Thanks everyone, well almost everyone. Leave them at home means we stay home too, not everyone has nanny's or even grandparents to leave their kids with. Plus we love hanging out with them, these are our 2nd set of kids (all the others are much older) and we have learned that those years to spend time with them are gone before you know it. My kids are great kids and they are just as happy reading as rocketing down a waterslide. Since it's so port intensive in the Med, some days they will just want to veg. And since they are twins, they can always just hang together.

 

I think we're going to go for it. So any of you with teens who want to book the Zuiderdam on June 30th out of Barcelona, please do! It's a great price right now and a wonderful itinerary.

 

Congratulations, aamechs - I think you made an excellent decision to go with HAL.

 

My DW and I have 2 granddaughters for whom we have done a "Summer Adventure" each year for the past 8 years. While we have tried to make them educational experiences for the girls, we also looked for activities/trips that would enable us to share bonding time with them.

 

When we decided to take them on a cruise 3 years ago, we thought that a Disney cruise would be ideal (because of the many organized kids' activities), so we did a Bahamas cruise 2 years ago and an Alaska cruise last year. Interestingly neither one of them wanted to participate in the organized activities, saying that they wanted to "hang out" with us! So, when we were discussing this year's (2015) Summer Adventure at the conclusion of our Alaska cruise, they both said they wanted to come back to Alaska but on "Grandma and Poppy's cruise line" and not on Disney.

 

So we will be going back to Alaska on June 6 on the Westerdam, and I'm certain there will be other kids on the ship. And even though the other kids on the ship will probably be very nice and well-behaved (as we have experienced on our many HAL cruises), I'm fairly certain that our granddaughters will not participate in many (if any) Club HAL activities. From your post above, I get the feeling that your twins are similar and thus will have no problem enjoying the cruise and your fine company.

 

Smooth sailing,

 

Rod

[sammiedawg]

Thanks everyone, well almost everyone. Leave them at home means we stay home too, not everyone has nanny's or even grandparents to leave their kids with. Plus we love hanging out with them, these are our 2nd set of kids (all the others are much older) and we have learned that those years to spend time with them are gone before you know it. My kids are great kids and they are just as happy reading as rocketing down a waterslide. Since it's so port intensive in the Med, some days they will just want to veg. And since they are twins, they can always just hang together.

 

I think we're going to go for it. So any of you with teens who want to book the Zuiderdam on June 30th out of Barcelona, please do! It's a great price right now and a wonderful itinerary.[/quote

 

I love that you are traveling with your kids and they sound like terrific young people!

[sprockie]

I think you've made a wise choice with HAL. We are olderish parents too and we take a winter vacation with our kids every year (90% of the time it's a cruise). You are right, these years whiz by and we're so glad we've had this great family time and have created some great memories. We wouldn't dream of going away without our kids - they add so much fun to the vacation. It will seem like the blink of an eye before they are off on their own doing their own thing.

[sail7seas]

Congratulations, aamechs - I think you made an excellent decision to go with HAL.

 

My DW and I have 2 granddaughters for whom we have done a "Summer Adventure" each year for the past 8 years. While we have tried to make them educational experiences for the girls, we also looked for activities/trips that would enable us to share bonding time with them.

 

When we decided to take them on a cruise 3 years ago, we thought that a Disney cruise would be ideal (because of the many organized kids' activities), so we did a Bahamas cruise 2 years ago and an Alaska cruise last year. Interestingly neither one of them wanted to participate in the organized activities, saying that they wanted to "hang out" with us! So, when we were discussing this year's (2015) Summer Adventure at the conclusion of our Alaska cruise, they both said they wanted to come back to Alaska but on "Grandma and Poppy's cruise line" and not on Disney.

 

So we will be going back to Alaska on June 6 on the Westerdam, and I'm certain there will be other kids on the ship. And even though the other kids on the ship will probably be very nice and well-behaved (as we have experienced on our many HAL cruises), I'm fairly certain that our granddaughters will not participate in many (if any) Club HAL activities. From your post above, I get the feeling that your twins are similar and thus will have no problem enjoying the cruise and your fine company.

 

Smooth sailing,

 

Rod

 

What a wonderful post. So nice to read. Thanks for sharing with us. :)

 

[Ky Colonel]

... and thank you, s7s, for your kind words ...

 

Rod

[epixx]

I think we're going to go for it. So any of you with teens who want to book the Zuiderdam on June 30th out of Barcelona, please do! It's a great price right now and a wonderful itinerary.

 

Excellent choice. You're right; it's a super itinerary and a super price (for oceanview). Just watch out for Tunisia, which could be canceled. We almost picked this itinerary, too, for August, but because the timing wasn't exactly right we picked a different HAL cruise with our young adult/teen. With the early July timing, there should be a significant number of teens on board. Have a fantastic trip.

[Lizzie1213]

When my daughters were teens, they loved HAL.

[Secret7]

We just returned from a port intensive Asia cruise on the MS Volendam with our 12 and 15 year old boys. We would not dream of doing a holiday without them, and chose this cruise for the itinerary and timing, and not the ship. We knew that there would not be many kids on board and the boys were fully aware of this. There were 30 kids all up - ages from 0 through to 17. Of that, about half were over 12.

 

The HAL teen club was run terribly. They published that activities would happen, the kids would turn up and nothing would be on. This led to complaints to management, but nothing further was done to improve the service while we were on board. The teens ended up forming a group and doing their own thing, they ended up not bothering with what was advertised each day at the Teen Club as they thought that more than likely it wouldn't happen.

 

I would not let the fact that there may be no (or not many) teens on board make the decision for you, when there is a port intensive itinerary. I would think differently about this if there were lots of sea days. We all had a great time, and if I knew before we booked what we know now, I would still do the cruise, as despite HALs failure to deliver in this area, the kids made their own fun.