Best Holland America ship for kids?

[Hlitner]

I really dislike seeing inaccurate info posted on CC and our antenna when up with we saw a post regarding Princess. So lets clear the air :). Princess has both youth and teens programs on all of their ships, but they do have limitations ONLY on their two smallest ships (Ocean and Pacific Princess) where they only open the program if there are at least 20 kids on the voyage. All the other ships operate both programs year round (they have separate facilities for the youth and the teens) and they use professional children's counselors). All the counselors we have met (over the years) had either teachers or early childhood education degrees. This is pretty similar to the counselors we have met on HAL although we have been on long HAL cruises when the lone counselor ran adult games because there were no children on the cruise.

 

I should end this post by making it clear that we are not specifically recommending Princess (although we like the line) but simply correcting some mis information.

 

Hank

Edited May 3, 2015 by Hlitner

[1of4]

I appreciate the information posted on Princess. When we were on our last Princess cruise the kids club did not open because there were not enough children on board. Those kids are the sole reason we will never sail Princess again. Their conduct was sub par at best their the parents were unaccountable stating they were on vacation and it wasn't their problem that the cruise line did not open the children's club.

 

These children ran wild, soaked people coming off elevations on formal night when the doors opened and then ran away, ran across furniture and knocked people over on the stairs. Nobody stopped them.

 

When I was researching children's clubs earlier this year the Princess web site said there must be 25 children for the club to operate.

 

If this information is incorrect then it is the cruise line that must update their web site.

[Cookinco]

You'll get more (and better) responses if you post this question on the appropriate Roll Call for your cruise.

 

Rod

 

 

Thank you for the advice! I did post on my roll call a few weeks ago, but so far nobody but me has joined! Still plenty of time though. Have a good day! :)

[Ky Colonel]

Cookinco,

 

Your experience pretty well mirrors ours - we took our 2 granddaughters on Disney cruises the past 2 years and this year we're taking them to Alaska on HAL (Westerdam) in early June. So far our Roll Call only has about a half dozen signed up, but that's okay because we really do not expect our granddaughters to join any of the scheduled Club HAL activities.

 

For what it's worth, I suggest you post frequent (maybe even daily) messages on your Roll Call asking folks traveling with kids to sign up. Many inexperienced cruisers are not even aware of CC and some who are may not be familiar with the Roll Calls and how they work.

 

Good luck on your cruise and smooth sailing,

 

Rod

[Spunky946]

Great question. We just took our 9 year old son on a Disney Cruise so our HAL cruise to Alaska in August will be a big change (multigenerational family trip). I'm hoping there will be other kids for him to meet and hang out with on the ship. Anyone else cruising with kids on the Seattle to Seattle leaving August 8th?

 

We went last summer on that same cruise but leaving 8/15 and their were quite a few kids and my kids had a blast. I was really impressed by the kids club and the amount of planned activities they did and that they were not constantly staring at a screen. They did have screen time, but it was not often.

 

We are going back in February to the Caribbean and can't wait

[Cookinco]

We went last summer on that same cruise but leaving 8/15 and their were quite a few kids and my kids had a blast. I was really impressed by the kids club and the amount of planned activities they did and that they were not constantly staring at a screen. They did have screen time, but it was not often.

 

We are going back in February to the Caribbean and can't wait

 

Thank you for your reply! That gives me great hope!