Question about Thanksgiving on Volendam

[Robin7]

My DH got a new job (hurray!) so we can finally figure out when to cruise next. We're considering a 10-day partial transit of the Panama Canal on the Volendam. The end of the cruise will be just after Thanksgiving. Do you think there will be a lot of children onboard or will the 10-day length mitigate the numbers? Do HAL ships celebrate Thanksgiving? Will my own children forgive me for leaving them home over Thanksgiving???:D

 

Thanks in advance for you opinions!

 

Robin

 

This is the itinerary:

 

Tue Nov 13 Fort Lauderdale, FL

Wed Nov 14 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Thu Nov 15 At Sea

Fri Nov 16 Aruba

Sat Nov 17 Curacao, Netherlands Antilles

Sun Nov 18 At Sea

Mon Nov 19 Panama Canal (Partial Transit)

Mon Nov 19 Colon, Panama

Tue Nov 20 Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

Wed Nov 21 At Sea

Thu Nov 22 At Sea

Fri Nov 23 Fort Lauderdale, FL

[terrascape]

We were on board the Volendam in Nov 2005 for a Southern Caribbean 10 day cruise that returned to FLL on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Since it was a 10 day cruise there were very few children (or teens) aboard. They would have had to miss at least 4 if not 5 days of school the previous week + the 3 days of Thanksgiving week. It was a very normal HAL 10 day cruise. Thanksgiving day was the last day & it was spent at Half Moon Cay. The entrance to the dining room was decorated for Thanksgiving & there were special souveneer Thanksgiving menus given to everyone. They had the typical Thanksgiving choices of Turkey (with all the trimmings) or Ham & I believe Salmon was the seafood selection. It was a very nice evening & a great way to spend Thanksgiving. By the way, we will be on the Volendam again this year for the Nov 13-23 cruise. Hope you can make it.

[sk8teacher]

We love cruising over Thanksgiving, as it only costs me 8 days vacation! The Volendam is a lovely ship and yes you will have turkey with the trimmings. As for your kids, who's vacation is it? Seriously, come aboard and enjoy it, I'm sure that the kids will not object.

 

I would also like to mention that we have a roll call going over on the Roll Call board, so come on over and join the rest of us.

 

Hope to see all of you on 11/13!

 

Cheers,

[Krazy Kruizers]

We were on the Ryndam over Thanskgiving. And we were surprised to see over 150 children on our 10 day cruise.

[Robin7]

Thanks for your input. CCers are THE BEST!

 

150 kids is A LOT! My poor children will have to wait until they're old enough to pay their own way. Heh. (We cruise to have time alone.)

 

It looks like we're probably going to avoid the entire issue by booking the Volendam cruise leaving on November 23rd, doing the same itinerary. That way we wouldn't have to fly out until late on Thanksgiving Day, and our kids wouldn't be so upset. My new daughter-in-law was aghast at our thinking about being gone on Thanksgiving Day!:eek: This will be her first time apart from her family on a holiday, and she wigged out when she heard we might be gone. So this will keep the peace.

 

Thanks, KK. I would have enjoyed sailing with you, terrascape and sk8teacher. Happy cruising!

 

Robin