Children and Hot Tubs on HAL Ships/ are the rules enforced?

[shiner6]

 

This question is for passengers who have sailed this year.  What are your observations pertaining to children and the use of Hot tubs on board?  The reason I ask is because we have experienced some issues with unsupervised children (under age 16) using the hot tubs as a swimming pool on 2 other cruise lines. (Now, before you rant about me not liking children, that is not the case. We bring our grandchildren with us, however, we do not allow them to use the hot tubs unsupervised.)   My husband now absolutely refuses to use the pool or hot tubs on any ship, and I really do miss sharing this experience with him.   

[Hlitner]

Good question.  We have been on many different cruise lines (including hundreds of days on HAL) and the rule of thumb is that the crew (on HAL and other lines) try to avoid any confrontation with passengers.   Nobody is going to "card" a 14 year old and kick them out of a hot tub, unless they are really acting out.  And even then, it is more than likely that somebody might tell them to calm down...rather than kick them out of the hot tub.  

 

Hank

 

[SLC1954]

I was on the Volendam for a B2B (2 7-day) in July and the kids over ran both pools and hot tubs. There were kids running in the hallways screaming at all hours and the parents did nothing to control them. I guess thy were on vacation from parenting too.

HAL is turning into Princess but with smaller ships. I quit sailing Princess because of the “kids sail free” program. 
I will be trying to sail on the 10 day itineraries in the future.

 

[MikeD4134]

I have been on 13 HAL Cruises,ranging in length from 7 Days, 1 only, to 39 days for a total 207 days on board.  In total I have seen approximately 35 children under 17 years old on board, and have never seen 1 in a hot tub.

[Sir PMP]

1 hour ago, shiner6 said:

 

This question is for passengers who have sailed this year.  What are your observations pertaining to children and the use of Hot tubs on board?  The reason I ask is because we have experienced some issues with unsupervised children (under age 16) using the hot tubs as a swimming pool on 2 other cruise lines. (Now, before you rant about me not liking children, that is not the case. We bring our grandchildren with us, however, we do not allow them to use the hot tubs unsupervised.)   My husband now absolutely refuses to use the pool or hot tubs on any ship, and I really do miss sharing this experience with him.   

No rules enforced.

[julia]

Absolutely no enforcement.  We never sail in summer months (or school holidays) and were surprised by the number of kids on the Noordam in early May. The Lido pool cover was closed (Alaska) and the yelling, running, jumping, splashing, made that area unusable for us.  

[cbr663]

My last HAL cruise was this past November and like other posters, no rules were enforced.  Kids were constantly jumping in and out of the pools and hot tubs.  My experience is also that HAL's crews are loath to create any sort of confrontation and speaking to some parents about their child's behaviour can set of a furry of epic proportions.

[Suzanne123]

I spent a week on the Konigsdam, the Westerdam, and the Grand Princess last month on trips to Alaska.  On all three ships, the main pools and hot tubs were overrun with kids.  Also saw kids dangerously diving into the pools.  
The noise hit 80 Db according to my Apple Watch with the covered pools and kids screaming. On my cruises, HAL and Princess did not enforce the hot tub rules.

[Kay S]

Does the Alaska itinerary have anything to do with it?

[julia]

11 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Does the Alaska itinerary have anything to do with it?

Yes it definitely does, but on our previous Alaska cruises, early May and mid-September were virtually kid free, as schools were in session. Post pandemic, everything has changed.

[slavetoabunny]

I don't know about HAL, but we were on NCL last December and every single day the kids camp would take over one of the two hot tubs in the adult only area.  They monopolized it the entire day.  I told my husband he should just go hop in with them and see if they say anything, LOL!

 

[Kay S]

41 minutes ago, slavetoabunny said:

I don't know about HAL, but we were on NCL last December and every single day the kids camp would take over one of the two hot tubs in the adult only area.  They monopolized it the entire day.  I told my husband he should just go hop in with them and see if they say anything, LOL

 

I know nothing about NCL, but was the take over of the hot tub done as an official kids' camp activity?  Were  the camp directors there with them?  Your poor husband might end up in the brig if he crashes a sanctioned kid camp event!

[slavetoabunny]

13 minutes ago, Kay S said:

I know nothing about NCL, but was the take over of the hot tub done as an official kids' camp activity?  Were  the camp directors there with them?  Your poor husband might end up in the brig if he crashes a sanctioned kid camp event!

There were camp staff with them.  I don't know if is was an 'official' activity, but I thought it was wrong to take over one of only two hot tubs in the adult only area.  The kids area had their own pool, but not a hot tub.  It was a joke about my hubby jumping in the hot tub!

[cccole]

As reported by many on the HAL forum, during school holidays there are apt to be children/teens  all over the ship.  I love being around children/teens and if I choose a cruise during school breaks I expect they will be everywhere.  Would be interested to know if HAL kids club staff take over an adult hot tub.   I don't know about NCL but assume that if camp staff were with them it was o.k., hard to compare NCL to HAL.  Possibly something to post on the NCL forum.  Assume that HAL kids club does not take over an adult hot tub, but just kids without parental supervision.  JMO. Cherie

Edited August 3 by cccole

[trinilopez]

Agree with most above. We try to take longer cruises, away from holiday, summer, and school break time to avoid kid mania. HAL is definitely catering to more families, but fortunately their lack of kid friendly activities, venues and programs does somewhat limit the number of kiddos.

[Boatdrill]

9 hours ago, julia said:

We never sail in summer months (or school holidays) and were surprised by the number of kids on the Noordam in early May. The Lido pool cover was closed (Alaska) and the yelling, running, jumping, splashing, made that area unusable for us.  

Sounds familiar. I few years ago on an Alaska summer cruise, there 700 kids. The Lido pool was just as you described it, although I will add that with the roof closed, the entire area was very warm and humid.  Thankfully the adult pool on the back deck was quiet and the adult only rule was enforced.   I can't get too upset with the kids, because I was one of them back in 60's on our family cruises.  But my sister and I, were never, ever, allowed to run amok.   

[bcummin]

Our grandchildren loved the Lido pool on our family June 22 Eurodam Alaska cruise, especially during rough waters.  They were supervised by parents.  No need for Kids Club, because they had so many cousins.  🙂 

I saw peaceful hot tubs, usually with family adults.

Barbara 

[grannyshell]

We sailed in June aboard Oosterdam with our 12 yo DGD. There were quite a few kids of all ages and I was pleasantly surprised to see all of them well behaved and supervised. The most noise around the Lido pool was from a group of adults playing ping pong.

[shiner6]

Thank you all for responding.  I don't mind children as long as they are well behaved. What would ruin it for me is the lack of respect.  I will never cruise on certain lines again after experiencing children "gone wild". I know that this has more to do with parental control than ship rules. 

[Moriah]

HAL cruises longer than a week, and especially the ones during the regular school year, rarely have more kids than you can count on one hand.  If one of them gets into the hot tub I don't think it really bothers anyone. 

[Infi]

If you must travel over school holidays, try longer (14+ day) itineraries. Due to work schedules, I have to sail over summers and the holidays. I have always done 14+ day itineraries during these times and never had an issue with kids onboard. As numbers of kids onboard go up, that's when there's more potential for things to get noisy and unruly. On every trip, there was always less than 50 - quite frankly, usually less than 20 - kids onboard and things were quite peaceful.

[kevingastreich]

On 8/4/2024 at 7:28 AM, Moriah said:

HAL cruises longer than a week, and especially the ones during the regular school year, rarely have more kids than you can count on one hand.  If one of them gets into the hot tub I don't think it really bothers anyone. 

Kids are allowed in the hot tubs. If under 16 there is supposed to be adult supervision.

[3rdGenCunarder]

11 hours ago, kevingastreich said:

Kids are allowed in the hot tubs. If under 16 there is supposed to be adult supervision.

 

Is there an age below which kids are not allowed in the hot tubs? 

[kevingastreich]

3 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Is there an age below which kids are not allowed in the hot tubs? 

Only if they are still in diapers.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 minute ago, kevingastreich said:

Only if they are still in diapers.

 

That's too young. Little kids (under 5 or 6) don't thermoregulate well and can become overheated quickly. Ditto for a lot of seniors with health issues.