Carnival vs. HAL w/ 12 yr. old

[kaiiak]

Thinking about booking a Mexican Riviera cruise in April. Carnival Spirit and HAL Oosterdam are roughly the same prices. We are not sure which would suit our tastes better.

Some background info....We have traveled on Princess in the past and LOVED it! We were not impressed w/ Norwegian (lack of activities and poor customer service) We're pretty down to earth people from Los Angeles, and I'm a teacher so I'm used to being around a bunch of kids - not a bother. We are also interested in a good kid's club for our son to visit on occasion.

Any suggestions/experiences with the two lines??

Thanks!!!

[hammybee]

Under most circumstances, I would recommend HAL. However, given your son's age, he is going into the HAL tween club for 8-12 year olds. On Carnival, he would be assigned to the 12-14 year old group. Only you can decide which group is a better fit for him.

[FRANKIEDNYC]

:) for a 12 year old, definetly carnival

[cruznon]

I've been on both ships on their Mexican cruises. Definiately the Carnival Spirit. More activities for your son and he'll love the great pizza and soft serve ice cream 24/7!

Oosterdam is a wonderful ship, but I think Carnival caters more to families and kids from what I've observed.

[kakalina]

Definitly Carnival with a youngun'

[MSammy]

If I were taking a twelve year old, it would be on Carnival. Lots more kids--lots more activities for his age group. He'd be fine on Holland but I think Carnival would be better for him overall.

[Jemima]

I'd guess more 12 year olds would like Carnival than HAL. However, if your family prefers Princess to NCL, then you and he may prefer HAL to Carnival. Also, the Oosterdam is one of the larger HAL ships, around 1800, but a bit smaller than the Spirit. It is a 7 day cruise and if this is an early April cruise there will probably be quite a few kids. Most likely your son would enjoy either cruise. I'd suggest you pick the cruiseline you think best fits you. While I didn't start cruising until my daughter was grown, I do observe how kids enjoy HAL. My observation is that when parents enjoy the cruise their kids do also. And most kids do seem to be having a good time. When a parent isn't happy with the ship, very often their children aren't either.

[kaiiak]

Thanks. It seems there are a lot of votes for Carnival, but after researching my husband is more interested in HAL. I think my son will be happy wherever we go - but after his research he is voting for Carnival. So I seem to have the deciding vote.

I am leaning towards HAL because I figure in April there definitely will be some kids onboard at the Kid's Club - as long as he can make one new friend he'll be happy. But we'll see... thanks!

[Lynne Myrna]

I'm trying to answer this in a fair manner....YOU would love HAL.....your child would love "Camp Carnival"....I'm not saying that HAL doesn't have a good kids club, but I've been on 2 Carnival cruises....there were a fair amount of children on both, & it seemed like they had a blast....it's a little more subdued on HAL, but you can't beat the service. Try HAL.....I don't think you'll be sorry.

 

Lynne:)

[WeLoveCruising]

I think it depends on who you're trying to please more...you or your son. I think he might be more pleased with the number of kids activities on Carnival, but if you're deciding based upon quality of food, service, ship atmosphere, lack of crowds, etc...hands down I would choose HAL.

 

If you are sailing on a seven day cruise in April, there will be plenty of other kids your sons age. The Oosterdam might have 100 or so kids (on a break week....much less than that other times), where Carnival would have literally multiples of that....but, all he needs is a group his own age to be happy. We've been cruising on HAL with my son (now 18) for the last ten years, and he's always had a great time. In fact, I think fewer kids onboard helped him develop relationships faster.

[betonic]

I travel with my son on HAL and he loves Club HAL. I personally, don't feel that I will like the Carnival experience so have never even considered it. I did consider taking him on a Disney Cruise but decided against it based on the available routes and value.

 

I'm sure that your son will have a great vacation no matter what you decide.

[prescottbob]

Ahoy!

 

We took our young'ins on two cruises in the past, an NCL (agree with you) and a HAL. All depends IMO if its during spring break, traditional holidays and summer vacation time. HAL always has a number of usually well-behaved young'ins on board during those times. Otherwise the 'younger crowd' is a bit limited, if any, at other times especially on the 14+ day cruises. My kids had a great time on the HAL cruise (however, it was over a Thanksgiving break a decade or so ago).

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise. Always nice to expose the younger generation to 'cruis'in'. Future CC'ers, no?

 

Bon Voyage and Good Health!

Bob:)

[prescottbob]

Ahoy!

 

We took our young'ins on two cruises in the past, an NCL (agree with you) and a HAL. All depends IMO if its during spring break, traditional holidays and summer vacation time. HAL always has a number of usually well-behaved young'ins on board during those times. Otherwise the 'younger crowd' is a bit limited, if any, at other times especially on the 14+ day cruises. My kids had a great time on the HAL cruise (however, it was over a Thanksgiving break a decade or so ago).

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise. Always nice to expose the younger generation to 'cruis'in'. Future CC'ers, no?

 

Bon Voyage and Good Health!

Bob:)