HAL compared to other lines?

[REOVA]

36 minutes ago, petuniaflower said:

Sorry more questions..is there an arcade?  We often will stop in for half hour and play air hockey etc as a family.

 

And is there a list of movies currently playing?

And where can I find a recent daily?

How many times is the comedian on for a week cruise, assuming the under 18s can go?

No arcade but I hear maybe video games in kids club but they wouldn't let me in to verify.  🙂 There is ping pong table at Lido pool and basketball or pickle ball. 

 

Movies are in the room on demand TV. There is a big screen at Lido pool that will have movie night once or twice depending on cruise days or a sports game. No theater on the Pinnacle Ships. 

 

Comedians can do 1 show or a set of shows for 2 nights depending on how well they are received, if another act gets sick, etc. Sometimes an over 18 show will perform at 10 pm. 

[petuniaflower]

9 minutes ago, REOVA said:

No arcade but I hear maybe video games in kids club but they wouldn't let me in to verify.  🙂 There is ping pong table at Lido pool and basketball or pickle ball. 

 

Movies are in the room on demand TV. There is a big screen at Lido pool that will have movie night once or twice depending on cruise days or a sports game. No theater on the Pinnacle Ships. 

 

Comedians can do 1 show or a set of shows for 2 nights depending on how well they are received, if another act gets sick, etc. Sometimes an over 18 show will perform at 10 pm. 

Got it, so not even movies on the lido every night?  Wonder why, that seems to cheap for them to offer..

[TexasBrit]

3 hours ago, jimbob22 said:

Just to clarify, your sailing did not have 3 or 4 dance shows in the main theater?  I'm just wondering if something was going on on NS (maybe one or two of the 6 dancers were sick?) b/c Rotterdam and K-dam seem to have been operating as normal.  

 

Bummer about the food, I guess Rotterdam got the good tenderloin and lambchops. I ate quite well on Rotterdam.

 

I do agree wrt to comedians.  Tbh, in the current era, I think they're under such tight reign that it's very hard for them to generate huge laughs.  The comedian on Rotterdam tried her best, but it was not an easy gig.  

There was one evening in the beautiful main theatre with the two pianists from the Billboard room, and there was a dance group that did routines to some of the songs. I don't think it can be described as a dance "show" though as the pianist/singers were the main performers. The other nights featured the comedian or the BBC Nature video on the big screens with music. Again, not a production show as such. IMO that space was wasted on this cruise, but I understand that the companies are having to cut expenses.

 

We are not big eaters of beef, so can't comment on that but I did try the lamb chops that sadly were quite tough and didn't taste like lamb! The meat in the hamburgers at the pool grill that we tried once was dry and bland; we both left half of them uneaten. .

 

We have seen many cruise-ship comedians and never stayed for their entire schtick. The adult only late night versions were even worse, so now we don't waste our time. I realize some people enjoy them.

[jimbob22]

4 hours ago, petuniaflower said:

Sorry more questions..is there an arcade?  We often will stop in for half hour and play air hockey etc as a family.

 

And is there a list of movies currently playing?

And where can I find a recent daily?

How many times is the comedian on for a week cruise, assuming the under 18s can go?

the comedian on Rotterdam did not do that many shows and she wasn't that great overall (I don't really blame her, it wasn't an easy crowd, and I don't think that most of the crowd was drunk enough to laugh at anything).  To be really honest, I think your family would be happier on NCL, Royal, or Carnival.  NCL emails me constantly and often has good 3rd or 4th in a room sail cheap or free deals.

[vicd1969]

4 hours ago, petuniaflower said:

Got it, so not even movies on the lido every night?  Wonder why, that seems to cheap for them to offer..

The Lido big screen TV does play a movie at night, when it's not playing football games. During my November sailing, I remember Top Gun Maverick and Where the Crawdads Sing were featured. However, there is no movie or music video played during daytime.

 

The Club Hal center on the Nieuw Statendam has two air hockey tables and about 5 video game stations. Unfortunately, adults can't use them with their kids after the first night.

[vicd1969]

1 hour ago, jimbob22 said:

To be really honest, I think your family would be happier on NCL, Royal, or Carnival.  NCL emails me constantly and often has good 3rd or 4th in a room sail cheap or free deals.

Agree completely - HAL's competitive strength is not its 7-day Caribbean sailings (hence the discount to entice passengers). 

[vswan]

Sounds like everyone would suggest you go elsewhere. A different opinion. We took our two teenagers on HAL for their first cruise when they were 15 and 17. They had a ball. This was years ago, but if anything they have added more things for teens to do - at that time there were no movies on the lido, no music walk, etc.

 

If you take this cruise, be sure to send them to the kids club the first night. That is were our kids met all of the others on board and made connections that lasted for the week - and kids from all over the world, not just the US. I think what made this special for them was that there were a limited number of young people on board so they really got to know the other kids that were there. Really opened their eyes to different cultures. I think if you asked either of my kids now what line they would like to cruise on HAL would still be at the top of their list.

[dockman]

9 hours ago, albingirl said:

We've been on a number of cruiselines, NCL, Carnival, Celebrity, HAL, and have noticed that teens will do their own thing, no matter what is offered.  There are plenty of people here who say HAL is for old geezers and too sedate, but we found, with our kids, they find plenty to do on their own.  Some kids don't need an organzied entertainment schedule, and mine sure didn't, and you'll do just fine.  Just depends on their personalities.

As we all know life for many does require the ability to sometimes entertain yourself rather than constant barrage of videos, cell phone tik tok stuff, shows, waterslides.

 

If i had a teen or two who could not find something of interest to do on  a cruise ship I would frankly be a bit concerned about their future as adults. 

 

Many teens do seem to pick up a few life skills like how to dine in a more formal setting, how to behave and be respectful of older adults, how to enjoy the vastness of the ocean and how to get around and discover new places that they have never been. 

 

Also as previously stated most teens will be able to hook up with a few other young folks and while some may pretend to be too "cool" to enjoy a cruise I suspect that they create memories and helpful life lessons that will long outlast hanging out at the mall watching tik tok.

 

And of course when the kids return home to their "peeps" I would bet there will be a bit of swagger and bragging about going on  a big cruise ship.

[petuniaflower]

Ya, what I was looking for was family activities in comparison with other lines, thanks to those who have chimed in! My kids dont even have phones/wifi on vacation, we usually bring cards/dominoes and are into board games, so was really more looking into things we can do as family, though they may venture to the teen club a few evenings..so no concern needed here;)

 

We actually may consider this sailing due to price/2 new ports and just to try a new line..we are quite easy to please but like to know what to expect!

 

Thanks all!

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, dockman said:

And of course when the kids return home to their "peeps" I would bet there will be a bit of swagger and bragging about going on  a big cruise ship.

 

Not the way it happens now. Their "peeps" find out through Instagram, Tik Tok et al just moments after it happened. 😆

 

Truly, kids don't brag about these things. I'd take my son on great travel adventures when he was young. On the first day back at school I'd ask questions like "So what did your friends think about what you did over the summer?"  He'd throw me a look and say "Mom, we don't talk about stuff like that."  Very deflating, that was....  😉

[AFNavigator]

1 hour ago, petuniaflower said:

Ya, what I was looking for was family activities in comparison with other lines, thanks to those who have chimed in! My kids dont even have phones/wifi on vacation, we usually bring cards/dominoes and are into board games, so was really more looking into things we can do as family, though they may venture to the teen club a few evenings..so no concern needed here;)

 

We actually may consider this sailing due to price/2 new ports and just to try a new line..we are quite easy to please but like to know what to expect!

 

Thanks all!

HAL might be a good fit for your family then.  You basically described the Crow's Nest in saying, "we usually bring cards/dominoes and are into board games, so was really more looking into things we can do as family".  The Crow's Nest is a quiet area with lots of board games, Scrabble, Yahtzee, etc., as well as jigsaw puzzles in various states of completion.  If working (they weren't on our recent Nieuw Statendam cruise), the EXC area there has some nice interactive touch screen panels that show lots of interesting facts about ports you will visit.

[dockman]

20 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Not the way it happens now. Their "peeps" find out through Instagram, Tik Tok et al just moments after it happened. 😆

 

Truly, kids don't brag about these things. I'd take my son on great travel adventures when he was young. On the first day back at school I'd ask questions like "So what did your friends think about what you did over the summer?"  He'd throw me a look and say "Mom, we don't talk about stuff like that."  Very deflating, that was....  😉

I guess not all kids are the same....maybe some do still actually talk to their friends?

 

My kids dont even have phones/wifi on vacation, we usually bring cards/dominoes and are into board games, so was really more looking into things we can do as family, though they may venture to the teen club a few evenings..so no concern needed here;)

[Reds4life]

On 1/3/2023 at 11:05 PM, petuniaflower said:

Ya, what I was looking for was family activities in comparison with other lines, thanks to those who have chimed in! My kids dont even have phones/wifi on vacation, we usually bring cards/dominoes and are into board games, so was really more looking into things we can do as family, though they may venture to the teen club a few evenings..so no concern needed here;)

 

We actually may consider this sailing due to price/2 new ports and just to try a new line..we are quite easy to please but like to know what to expect!

 

Thanks all!

We just got off our first HAL cruise for 5 days on the Zuiderdam. We were drawn to the price and 2 new ports as well. They had evening shows on 3 of the 5 nights - singing group twice and comedian once - and they were great. BUT, the sea days were dreadful. No activities or shows planned. Very boring even for my 82 yr old mother. No burgers, hot dogs, or chicken tenders on the buffet and the worst pizza ever. We did a couple trivia games and "how to" activities but very little compared to other lines to do. My 12 yr old tried to kids club and it was very disorganized. As mentioned, no arcade, no waterslides, rock wall, etc. They don't seem to try very hard to accommodate families at all unfortunately.