Sailing Holland for the first time. information about kids club for 8 year olds need

[MoyCoy]

I will be sailing the Oosterdam in December for a Mexican Riveria cruise, 7 day.  I have sailed RCL, NCL, and Princess with my twins. Thier favorite kids Club was Princess and Royal. They and I are not of fan of NCL's club. We found Princess and Royal to be very accommodating for kids on the spectrum.

 

I was able to see a example of the daily activities and they seem very similar to Princess. My twins like a mix of crafts, friendly games, and dance parties.  NCL played way to many games and not enough down time.  

We love kids clubs that educate.  Princess does a great job with thier new Discovery program,  educating the kids about the port of calls.

 

My kids had ALOT of crafts to bring home from Royal. 

 

Please tell me about Holland's program.

Can the kids stay on the ship, while the parents are in port.

Are the parents given pagers?

Does the program have a educational bent?

Are cooking demonstrations done in the club or is that a outside event?

 

I would love to hear reviews about the kids club.  

 

Thank you.

 

 

Edited August 26, 2019 by MoyCoy

[kitkat343]

I need to preface this by stating that we sailed on the Ryndam, which is one of the oldest ships in the fleet.  We took a one week segment of a three week cruise departing from Ft. Lauderdale visiting Guatemala, Roatan and Costa Maya (these turned out to all be great ports for a toddler but I'm not sure that's a common belief).  The demographics for this particular sailing skewed much older than even Hal's normal standard.  There were very few children on board.  Our son was 3, and the crafts seemed mostly of the glue stuff to paper plates standard, which was far below what we saw from crafts on either NCL or Princess.  I was also quite concerned because there were only two counselors on this sailing for the kids club.  Not  just two people on staff at any time - only two actual counselors on the whole ship, who had to work every single shift the kids club is open (which is less time than other ships, but still way too much time for two people even though the kids club was pretty empty.)  We sailed on Princess on a ship that also had very few children (Panama Canal cruise during school year had only 9 kids) and they had a lot more staff on board, so the kids club staff got breaks during some of the shifts.

 

The two actual counselors were very nice and friendly and my son was quite happy at the kids club.  Others on this forum have reported being more impressed with the level of activities on HAL, so maybe their newer ships/more kid friendly itineraries have more resources for kids.  There was absolutely no education, but this might be different on other sailings like Alaska.    If there are very few kids on your sailing, I would imagine the staff might be quite willing to accommodate whatever your children need if you can give them specific instructions (again they seemed like really nice staff, I just didn't see that they had been given a lot of resources in terms of craft supplies or high enough staffing levels so they don't get tired).

 

I was not given a pager, but the kids club staff were happy to answer the phone when I called about 10 minutes after drop off to inform me that my son was quite happy.  

 

My son really liked the cooking class - he said his pancakes weren't nearly as good as the chef's.  I can't remember if they took the kids to the cooking demonstration center or if they made them in the kids club.  

Edited August 27, 2019 by kitkat343

[Dulciana8]

We were on the Oosterdam over Thanksgiving last year with our then four year old. He loved Club HAL. He’s a seasoned cruiser (three Disney and one HAL) and we were extremely pleased with the quality of the club on the Oosterdam. We are booked again this Thanksgiving, but this time on the Nieuw Statendam. 

 

We found the counselors and programming at Club HAL to be like a hidden gem— very personalized, one on one, but structured, if that makes any sense at all. Because of the small size there was room for children to be individuals and do their own thing when possible. My son loved the personal attention. HAL is a little old school, so no pagers, and no texting (like on Disney), and the hours of the club are somewhat limited on sea days— like 9-11am, 1-4pm, then like 7-11pm. As you sign in, parents list their likely locations on board to be found during the check in window— they say they call the room first if you’re needed. Once a counselor needed us, and she checked each place on the sign in sheet until we were found at the pool— which was like the third place we said we’d be during that time (after a stop at the room and the coffee bar)!

 

I remember on port days children could stay on board with an advance registration, mainly so lunch/snacks could be ordered (and/or presumably buffet arrangements made). Each night the kids could sit together at the shows, and they had special game nights, some with family, some not, and special ice cream socials in the lido... our son begged to go every time it was open. I hope your children will enjoy it!!! Even over Thanksgiving There were only like ~200 children on board so they were in the minority. Crew and fellow passengers were giving high fives and extra goodies to our son all week. Extra towel animals, treats from the cruise director, it was wonderful to see such a welcoming environment for children on HAL. 

Edited August 27, 2019 by Dulciana8

[MoyCoy]

Thank you both for your awesome information.  I know it's time consuming to be so thorough.  But know, it is greatly appreciated!!