sherryf

I am trying to decide between Golden, Star and Island Princess ships for my 7 day Alaska cruise preferably from Seattle.

None of these ships are currently sailing from Seattle. They are all sailing one-way Vancouver/Whittier.

A lot of cruise ships are only in Ketchikan for a short time in the morning, especially those sailing round trip for Seattle that need time to get to Victoria. Due to this, there would probably be more demand for flights earlier in the day, when there are more ships in port.

We always do! When we have travelled as a family, we pass the camera around the table to make sure we get photos of everything. My food photos have been very appreciated by many!

Your never far from a McDonald’s lol [emoji23]

 

You are in Alaska!! There are McDonald's in Ketchikan and Juneau, but they aren't anywhere near the cruise ships. There's NO McDonald's in Skagway and I suspect many of the other smaller ports.

There are, however, local restaurants which have MUCH better food than McDonald's! :D

Alaska allows people to take off PB & J sandwiches so they're not that restrictive. Possibly cookies & cereal are another option which would get him through the day.

I have seen people be asked to finish or throw away their COFFEE before disembarking in Alaska. If you can't take a cup of coffee of the ship, I doubt they will allow PB&J. Just because you didn't get caught, doesn't mean it is okay.

 

Juneau - Mendanhall Glacier and Whale watching excursion

 

My kids enjoyed whale watching at 15/18/21 years old, but they are very nature oriented. Do your kids have an interest in seeing whales?

 

Skagway - Gold panning and sled dogs at Klondike Gold Fields, followed by an experience going into their 40 degree below chamber.

 

We did this when my kids were 12/15/18 years. They loved the puppies! The gold panning is kind of corny, but they were young enough to enjoy it.

One trip we hiked to Yakutania Point and Smugglers Cove. Last year we drove into the Yukon and stopped at the "desert" and at Caribou Crossing. They enjoyed that more than the Klondike Gold Fields.

 

Ketchikan - still no idea!

 

Our favorite here is Orcas Cove Kayaking with Southeast Seas Kayaks, but I'm not sure if it would be appropriate for your youngest.

 

Victoria, BC - Tea at the Empress

I've done this, but I wouldn't do it with kids.

When we have travelled with 6 adults/teens, we have gotten 3 inside cabins. Having 3 bathrooms and not needing to sleep in upper bunks is worth it. We don't spend much time in our cabins, so don't care that they are inside. We'd rather spend more money on excursions.

Unless things have changed in the past few years, it is possible to do a closed-loop trip to Alaska without a passport. My family all has passports, but a few years ago, we took my son's (adult) friend with us to Alaska. He has only birth certificate and driver's license. He was able to board in Seattle, visit Victoria, and debark in Seattle, using just the previously stated ID. We had to opt against going into Canada from Skagway, since he would have needed a passport (or WA enhanced DL, but he didn't have time to get one before our trip) for a land crossing into Canada. He enjoyed the cruise immensely, and never needed or was even asked for a passport.

Hi. We are going on our first cruise in July on the NCL Bliss, and have a Juneau port excursion dilemma.

Here's the real key to solving your dilemma. You said it's you "first" cruise, not your one and only, once in a lifetime cruise. Pick one special must-see excursion for this trip, and save the other for your next trip to Alaska. :D

Where did you find your favorite halibut, haddock, fish tacos, etc? I remember having fantastic fish and fish tacos in Alaska way back in 2000, but I have no idea where, and I will definitely want some again.

I'm not sure I've ever eaten haddock, certainly never in Alaska. Salmon, halibut, maybe cod. Mostly salmon. We have enjoyed Annabelle's in Ketchikan, Hangar on the Wharf in Juneau, and I second the recommendation for Ashmo's food truck in Sitka. For great views and great salmon, we loved the Taku Lodge glacier flightseeing and salmon lunch.

The Emerald Princess & Ruby Princess are doing 7 days trips, with the Grand Princess Golden Princess & Star Princess doing 10 to 12 days trips.

Just to be clear, all of these ships are doing 7 day cruises, with the exception of the Grand, which is doing 10 day cruises from San Francisco. The Island and Coral are also doing 7 days cruises.

Your first formal night is your first sea day, the second night of the cruise. It is absolutely NOT the night you are in Juneau! I have been on this same cruise several times, and know we never had formal night while in port.

I can't speak for the other ports but I used Southeast Seas Kayak (http://www.kayakketchikan.com) on my last Alaska cruise in 2014 and had a great time instead of booking a different company through the ship. My husband and I never kayaked before and it went really well. We did luck out with some amazing weather and no one else booked on our tour (their groups are may 8 or 6 depending on the tour).

I second this recommendation. We did their Orcas Cove tour last July. We had 5 in our group, so ended up with a private tour. We had a fabulous time! The cruise was a graduation trip for my youngest, so this was a special day for my kids and me.

We won’t be in Anchorage and I basically wanted to see totems and a clan house. I will pay admission fee ( not looking for anything for free or to cheat anyone) just basically wanted to walk around and see totems and a clan house but also be able to see a bit of the town.

 

 

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Alternately, you could go north of town to Totem Bight and Potlatch Park. We took the city bus there, and there is no admission fee for either park.

I have taken my 3 kids to Alaska on Princess 3 times when they were teens/young adults, and they always found things to do. It is not necessarily too cold for the pool. My kids used the pools, but they are native Washingtonians and are used to cool weather. They found friends and hung out at the sports court. They watched movies. They spent a lot of time in the buffet. They enjoyed going to Trivia with us. They loved our Alaska cruises together!

If the older children are too irresponsible to get the teen to the cabin, how will they handle a week in the same cabin?

LOL! They weren't really that irresponsible, but I had hoped to use the "but she's a minor" excuse to get them to let us take them all to priority boarding. It didn't work. ;p

In my experience, no. We have travelled with my teen/adult children twice while we were Platinum. Their bookings were linked to ours, but they were in separate cabins. We were able to check in together, but they were not allowed to use the priority boarding, so we waited in the regular boarding area to board with them. Even on the first trip, when my daughter was still a minor, I could not convince them to let her go with us to priority. I either had to leave her with her not-so-responsible "adult" brothers, or go with all of them in regular boarding, which we did.

I would try and book the Sanctuary, for viewing ares, but it sounds like it will be booked by the time we will board.

In my experience, very few people book the Sanctuary in Alaska. The place always looks deserted.

All HAL ships have a wonderful forward enclosed observation lounge (The Crow's Nest), which offers great viewing in comfort, if you get there early....Princess ships do not have these.:)

On my one HAL cruise, there was some art auction group on board. About half of this area was CLOSED for good portions of every day, limiting the use of this area for other passengers. It was very disappointing. I really do not see why they would need this premium space for an art auction anyway. I did enjoy the Crow's Nest when we were able to use it, but would have liked to have had full access to it.

Thank you. We don't necessarily have a problem being part of the younger age onboard. Did you have any other thoughts or comparisons between the two cruiselines? From what I've seen, other than age they seem fairly comparable.

They are very comparable. Pros and cons on both sides, but not necessarily things that make a huge difference. For example, I like the buffet, International Cafe, and pizza more on Princess, but I loved that I could get fresh eggs benedict every morning in the buffet on HAL, and their burgers are pretty good too. Personally we prefer Princess, but I'd gladly take HAL again if the itinerary was right.

Have you look at Celebrity or RCI . HAL and Princess tend to be older people .

One to look at which one stops in Skagway. HAL tends to stop in Haines southbound.

Glacier Bay is a nice day of cruising,

Look at port times to see what works for you the best.

Neither Celebrity nor RCI go to Glacier Bay, and the OP specifically stated that they DO want to go to Glacier Bay!

I've been on both Princess and HAL in Alaska. The demographics are similar, though HAL does tend to have more older folks. There were younger people and families on both, but I'd say the average age was higher on HAL.

You can probably find a vendor that will take your group, but don't expect the 2 year old to get much out of it. We took my daughter when she was 2, because my oldest son really wanted to go whale watching and we didn't have any choice but to bring her along. Her dad and I spent the whole time passing her back and forth between us and holding her the whole time. She had no clue about the whales, and has absolutely no recollection of the trip now at 18 years old.

I understand that your whole group is going and you probably need to bring the little one along, just warning you that having a 2 year old along can be a challenge.

Why you think you are entitled to any compensation is puzzling.

I never said I expected anything! They gave us some, and I said I was happy with it. It was another poster who was not happy about it and expected more!!!

I'm sure most (all) on board were not happy.

Of course we weren't happy about it. Who would be?! A woman was murdered! Lots of things can happen on cruises that people aren't happy about. Weather can be bad, ports can be missed, etc.

On my very first cruise, the desalinization unit went out one night. We woke up to salty water. No water means no coffee. A lot of people weren't happy about it. It was annoying, but it only lasted a couple of hours. What compensation did we get? Free bottled water. Period. Was our cruise ruined? No.

A horrible thing happened. A woman lost her life. Her children were left motherless. Their cruise was ruined. I was merely inconvenienced for a few hours. The impact on me was so much less than on this poor woman's family.

I am happy about the compensation we received. It was enough.

Club 1820

 

Imagine a secret society. Only those invited can join. Guests ages 18-20 will learn the secret handshake and be granted a special code word to unlock an exclusive list of Club1820 events made just for them. No parents, no little siblings, no official hosts.

It's so secret that none of the staff at passenger services have ever heard of it. My 18 year old daughter inquired about it on our recent Emerald cruise to Alaska, but nobody had a clue.