The World Through the Eyes of Children

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Day 70, Grand Asia 2017

Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017 – At Sea

Claire and James are two lucky kids. At ages 12 and 9, they are with us on our entire 80-day cruise. It may be their longest cruise, but it’s not their first. They are three-star Mariners, meaning they have sailed at least 100 days on Holland America ships before this cruise. They’ve sailed on other lines as well.

Today Claire celebrated her 12th birthday at a family dinner in Canaletto, the Italian restaurant on board. Usually she and her brother eat dinner at the Lido buffet and then go to Club HAL, the kid’s activity group, for the evening while Mary and Linda, their grandmother and great-aunt, eat an adult meal in the dining room.

On holiday and spring break cruises I’ve seen Club HAL packed with kids of all ages. A crew of youth specialists keeps them busy with age-appropriate activities, such as a scavenger hunt around the ship. Two crewmembers are running the Club HAL program for Claire and James, as well as a few other children of crew members who have come aboard for a week each. They’ve taken a backstage tour of the Queen’s Lounge. Some of the performers come to Club HAL and tell the kids about their lives on board. Recently the magician who performed at night came by to show the kids some card tricks.

Arya, who is traveling with her father and turns 7 tomorrow, has joined them during this Sydney to San Diego segment. And we don’t forget the toddler traveling with her parents. Unfortunately for them, she is too young for the Club HAL program. But she is well on her way to that three-star Mariner status.

Mary home schools her two grandchildren. Their mother has been in pharmacology school, and the kids just got the news that their mother passed her tests and became a licensed pharmacist. Mary decided to bring Claire and James along. They have math lessons on sea days, which Claire likes better than James. Early in the cruise they started journals, but that didn’t last as long as she hoped, Mary said. They have studied the history and culture of countries like Japan and China,

It’s not all work. Claire and James have checked out a number of DVDs for watching in the room (and learned they can snag bags of popcorn when movies start in the theater). They are considerate and limit their splashing when sharing the pool with adults. James gets a hamburger from Dive In almost every day for lunch.

The real fun comes in the ports. Their favorite country was Japan – the people are so nice, they said. They enjoyed shopping at the dollar stores (or “100-yen stores”), but Claire was not impressed by the obsession with Hello Kitty. They liked Beijing and climbing the Great Wall. “My legs hurt for a whole week,” Claire reported. In many cities they ride the hop-on hop-off buses. I saw the family heading off to explore Sydney from the shuttle drop-off in Darling Harbor.

What do you miss, I ask them? “Mom.” And then they were ready to end the interview and move on to their next adventure.