Teens on HAL

[shiner6]

We just disembarked from Koningsdam Alaska trip with our 2 teens and a 9 year old. If you are wondering what is offered for them (teens) on this cruise, I will tell you that it is limited to about 1 or 2 hours a day of activities geared toward them.  I advise your teens to make friends early on and then they are able to hang out. The staff was very good to them and they enjoyed evenings in the crow's nest.   One of the disappointments came from Mature cruisers (like myself) complaining about the "noise" from the basketball court.  They made the teens stop playing and the basketballs disappeared for the next day.  I wasn't present when this occurred, so don't know if they replaced them later. The younger children had more opportunities to gather.  Of the activities, they did not care for Origami-none of them wanted to participate in paper construction.  We purposefully chose HA for its subdued atmosphere on board, but we did not anticipate the Elder reaction.

[Torquer]

Do you know if the "noise" was from the kids yelling and screaming or due to the basketballs bouncing on the deck (if the latter, what do you expect from a basketball court).  I'm very surprised to hear that since the sports courts on a Pinnacle-class ship are far away from any public area where someone would be hanging out such it would bother them. 

 

Frankly, I have never noticed any badly behaved children on any HAL cruise we have taken, as opposed to some of the stories I have read about Carnival, Disney, and other more mainstream cruise lines.

[shiner6]

I was not present, however, I must say that I never witnessed any shenanigans from children on this cruise.  It was very pleasant to cruise with all ages who were so well behaved. As a matter of fact, all of my fellow cruisers were polite and courteous. People were very respectful of each other.  The noise was due to the basketball bouncing, not yelling  (so I was told by the teens).

[PACD_JG]

Shiner, what were the dates of your cruise? I was on the 25 June sailing with my two teens, and the only feedback they disclosed was there were between 50-100 kids total on the ship.  My kids weren't bored, but I can guarantee you they only said that because they had each other to keep themselves company.  I agree with your assessment that teens definitely should make every attempt to befriend somebody as early as they can on the cruise (since as you said teens only meet in the HAL Club for an hour once a day on port days, twice a day on sea days...unlike the younger kids who can hang out in Club HAL all day).

Edited July 12, 2022 by PACD_JG

[vicd1969]

That's really unfortunate that there were complaints about the basketball court. Surprised that someone on the Lido deck can hear and is sensitive to the ball bouncing, as the court is up on deck 10/11 far from any passenger cabins. My nephews were able to play a few times on the Koningsdam's sister ship and the fjord background made for a memorable basketball experience.

 

[Wakepatrol]

Your sailing through a painting while cruising to Alaska. Bored teens….leave them home

[PACD_JG]

18 minutes ago, Wakepatrol said:

Your sailing through a painting while cruising to Alaska. Bored teens….leave them home

Probably the same ***** who made the teens stop bouncing the basketball.  Get off my lawn!

[shiner6]

 

16 hours ago, Wakepatrol said:

Your sailing through a painting while cruising to Alaska. Bored teens….leave them home

Yes, we did encounter more than one episode of unapproval by old farts.  Fortunately I am 69 and remain kind and young at heart.

[LocoLoco1]

Most HAL cruisers seem to most comfortable with a Nursing Home ambiance. I (age73) found it very hard to find anyone up for a B-ball shoot around or even brisk hikes when ashore. I was firm with my 40ish kids… please look elsewhere. 

[ChinaShrek]

3 hours ago, LocoLoco1 said:

Most HAL cruisers seem to most comfortable with a Nursing Home ambiance. I (age73) found it very hard to find anyone up for a B-ball shoot around or even brisk hikes when ashore. I was firm with my 40ish kids… please look elsewhere. 

 

HAL needs to attract a younger demographic or it will not survive much longer. I will be on the Rotterdam next month and plan to use the basketball court. If it is there, it should be used!

[LocoLoco1]

I think HAL or a similar line will survive: There IS a huge ‘Senior Set’ of cruisers with $$$ who want it sedate, but can’t afford 5-star or Yacht-like cruising. On such a cruiseline teens and kids are not part of the deal.  

[Nukesquad]

1 hour ago, LocoLoco1 said:

I think HAL or a similar line will survive: There IS a huge ‘Senior Set’ of cruisers with $$$ who want it sedate, but can’t afford 5-star or Yacht-like cruising. On such a cruiseline teens and kids are not part of the deal.  

True they will survive, but if they want age restrictions, go with lines like Virgin who restrict the age.  

[sergel02]

I mean I don’t think not catering to teens will kill them but for those who really don’t want kids, they might go Virgin, Viking, or Cunard.

 

Personally I’m in the camp that the ship doesn’t need to cater to kids or teens like Royal or NCL, but it should have a decent program or facilities for those who do come on.

 

There IS a set of cruisers who have families, but like the smaller size of ships, focus in enrichment and ports, who also can’t afford Disney. 
 

The basketball thing is unfortunate, but does make me wonder if some ships in the future will move it inside like I think the Disney Wish has or Royal did with Anthem if the Seas kind of. A bulk of the games and physical activities are centered around a section inside of the ship rather than a sports deck on top.

[Brentt_M]

My kids (13 and 18) will be joining me Saturday on what will be their 5th cruise on HAL.  They enjoy HAL much more than Carnival or Royal and they same can be said for me (40).  My son plays a lot of basketball each cruise and never had an issue. There has been times they made them stop cause other activities were going to start in that space and I also know all of the sports equipment does dissappear during our day in Glacier Bay.

[*Miss G*]

6 hours ago, sergel02 said:

I mean I don’t think not catering to teens will kill them but for those who really don’t want kids, they might go Virgin, Viking, or Cunard.

 

Cunard has very well-behaved kids; much like HAL has very well-behaved kids.  I’m fine with parents who want a playground-at-sea going elsewhere.

[Andi Land]

I was on the June 18 Koningsdam sailing and we had a group of pre teen/early teen kids on board who behaved terribly. They would run up and down the stateroom hallways SCREAMING at each other and then laughing that they were screaming. At one point, we were walking to the MDR for dinner and they came running down that hallway screaming and laughing. 
 

I am in my mid 40’s and have kids of my own. I like kids. This cruise, however, made me wonder what was going on and why didn’t the parents ever tell them this was unacceptable behavior? The parents were there on the MDR occasion and they laughed because the kids were having so much fun. 
 

As another person pointed out, they always take the equipment away for Glacier Bay. GB is supposed to be a quiet experience and they don’t want the noise pollution going thru. Is it possible that’s the day the equipment disappeared?

[sofietucker]

1 hour ago, Andi Land said:

I was on the June 18 Koningsdam sailing and we had a group of pre teen/early teen kids on board who behaved terribly. They would run up and down the stateroom hallways SCREAMING at each other and then laughing that they were screaming. At one point, we were walking to the MDR for dinner and they came running down that hallway screaming and laughing. 
 

I am in my mid 40’s and have kids of my own. I like kids. This cruise, however, made me wonder what was going on and why didn’t the parents ever tell them this was unacceptable behavior? The parents were there on the MDR occasion and they laughed because the kids were having so much fun. 
 

As another person pointed out, they always take the equipment away for Glacier Bay. GB is supposed to be a quiet experience and they don’t want the noise pollution going thru. Is it possible that’s the day the equipment disappeared?

We don't cruise in summer or school holidays any more because this type of behavior seems to be rampant then. And the parents, I guess, are "on vacation" from being parents.