Cheryl H

What cruise company besides Disney would you recommend for children ages 5 and 12 that offer RT from either Seattle or Vancouver?

I can tell you that our son has loved Adventure Ocean on Royal Carribbean. He's done Alaska, and twice on the Canada/New England itinerary, and one in the Bahamas. His first cruise was when he was 3 1/2. Alaska was between kindergarten and first grade.

There are photo books of our cruises with him in the link below. Do you have specific questions about Adventure Ocean? I can try to help.

He will be 10 next year when we go back to Alaska on the Radiance. We are doing a round trip Vancouver on Sept 4, 2015.

I agree with picking the itinerary and ship that you want. I believe Adventure Ocean has pretty much the same activities for the week no matter what itinerary. They sure keep the kiddos busy and having fun. I might add that the Radiance had family time at the indoor pool twice per day since it was too chilly outside to use the outdoor pool. So was very nice.

The only outhouse, which is "bad", is at the start of the trail.

Thank you. I was able to talk to Seawind Aviation last night and I happened to ask her and she said she thinks the outhouse was recently upgraded. I hope she is correct. But I'm just relieved to know there's any thing there in case of an emergency. :-)

By any chance, would you know if Traitor's Cove is a place where bug spray is a must? We are visiting Sept 9 (2015).

Thanks in advance.

I don't remember seeing one at the viewing platform but there is one on the drive from the dock to the platform. Ask your guide if the need arises. Also Traitors Cove is a fishpass not a fish ladder.

Thank you very much!

By any chance, do you know if there is at least a pit toilet here that can be used if the need arises?

Thanks for the description of the dock and the walk.

Also know that for the toasted tomato and cheese sandwich, you can ask to hold the tomato and it comes as just a toasted cheese sandwich.

I still have an old child's menu and it says shakes available at current bar pricing. It doesn't say how much.

We've been twice on the 7 night one on the Jewel. Loved it! I would say inside the ship, it is the same vibe, except maybe not as many at the pool. If it's chilly weather, the solarium pool will have some family time during certain hours. On our cruise, I think we were the only ones that took advantage of that. There were only 8 kids on our last Canada/New England cruise, but our son still loved it.

Our favorite tour was with Blue Nose Sidecars in Halifax. They took us all around town in their sidecars. We felt like royalty riding around. It was fun. We visited a maple products store, a local author's home, a bakery, and then Peggy's Cove lighthouse. We had them drop us off at the Boardwalk so we could eat at Salty's. Then we shopped and walked the boardwalk back to the ship. There's a photo book from our latest Canada/New England trip in the link below.

We also did the Kennebunkport tour and enjoyed that. It was a cute little town and we had a nice lunch at Federal Jack's.

We did Oli's Trolley to Acadia National Park.

Best of all was all the yummy seafood at each stop.

For Boston the first time, we did the Old Towne Trolley hop on and hop off. I think first we had lunch at Legal Seafood on Long Wharf. Then we hopped on the trolley at stop #1. We never experienced any trouble with the trolleys. They had several trolleys and we never waited long at any stop for the next trolley. We hopped off at the Old State House and at the USS Constritution.

The second time we were in Boston, we hired a private guide to take us to some of the sites. It was a 6 hour tour. We enjoyed it so much we hired her for the day we got off the ship also. We saw sites downtown, plus we got to go to Concord and Lexington. The icing on the cake was touring John Adams home. Enjoyed Minute Man National Park too.

Have fun and enjoy your trip!

Wow, thank you so much for all the information. I'm going to write all that down. Can't wait until our visit to Vancouver.

Thank you so much for the information. I printed it all off. By chance, have you ever eaten at the Elephant & Castle, Lions Pub, or the Flying Wedge Pizza? Those all sound interesting to me. We were also thinking of eating at the Loggers Grill burger place at the Capilano Bridge place.

I've enjoyed reading the information on this post. For those of you who recommended the Pan Pacific, I was reading that there's an elevator down to a food court. Any idea what restaurants are down there? Any possibility there's a store down there that we could get a loaf of bread? Also is the food court area relatively safe?

(We have a 10 year old along with us and we bring a loaf of bread on the ship for an occasional Peanut Butter sandwich on the cruise. )

Thanks in advance.

Cheryl

Oops, my previous post, should have said to make the most on your day in "Victoria".

Lots of great information, but I do have a question or two. We will be spending two days in Vancouver prior to our Northward bound Princess cruise to Seward. I have made plans for the Seward end, but am worried about Vancouver. We would like to see Bouchard Gardens in Victoria. Haven't heard them mentioned on this thread. Does anyone have an idea how to get there and a hotel to stay at not far from the Cruise ship dock. We may rent a car for those two days. Any suggestions? The hop on/hop off trolley sounds good.Thanks:)

If you wanted to make the most of a day in Vancouver, you might book Harbour Air over and back for the day. It's only a 30 minutes flight. We flew with Harbour Air and they were so nice. You can also sign up for an email to see if any of their flights go on sale. One way looks to be around 100, but sales some take it down to 65. I know their spot in Victoria is really close to Government Street, the Empress Hotel, and the inner harbour. We love Victoria. They are float planes so it's harbor to harbor service.

Last time we cruised Alaska, we actually flew into Seattle, spent the night, and took the Clipper ferry to Victoria for a day and night. Then we flew Harbour Air to Vancouver. We purchased an extra seat since we were over the luggage allowance, but they ended up sending our luggage ahead and refunded our extra seat back to us. Then once we landed in Vancouver, they took us in their free shuttle to the ship.

To the original poster, thanks so much for the suggestion to sign up for groupon in Vancouver. We are wanting to do the Capistrano Suspension Bridge. I wonder if they are ever a groupon.

We've been on the Enchantment and on the Jewel & Radiance which are sister ships to the Brilliance. If you are solely basing your decision on the ships, I would vote for Brilliance.

The main reason for me was the Windjammer Cafe layout.....on the radiance class, the food is spread way out on stations and people don't bunch up so much.....also you can go outside to eat as the Windjammer is on the back of the ship. On the Enchantment, the Windjammer food stations were all jammed together and thus so were the people-elbow to elbow trying to get themselves food off the buffet. We like to eat breakfast and lunch there so that was our main observation.

Also our son complained that the Adventure Ocean activities weren't as good as on other ships. However, I think that was because the staff may have been letting the girls win at some game and he was not happy about that. The thing I noticed about Adventure Ocean was that for the Adventure dining nights, the kids were not given a choice. It was cheese pizza. As opposed to other ships we have been on, where the parents select from cheese pizza, nuggets, hot dog etc for their meal that evening.

Victoria is one of my favorites!!! Visit Barb's Fish & Chips at Fisherman's Wharf. They have good fish and chips plus you can also buy some raw fish from one of the vendors there and feed the seals right off the dock there. Also you can catch a water taxi there by Barb's and go to the Inner Harbour. Walk through the Empress Hotel, walk down Government Street and get some chocolate candy or some ice cream in Rogers Chocolate Store. Also we took a nice horse & carriage ride here.

It seems like when our son was 1, he really took an interest in Elmo's World DVD's. You might bring along a portable DVD player for your cabin for a little down time with Elmo. I think the DVD's come with 3 episodes each on them.

Have fun and make lots of memories!

We loved it so much, we did it twice. Jewel of the Seas on RCCL. The first time was when our son was 3 1/2. He loved the ship, especially climbing stairs, playing miniature golf, walking out onto the helicopter pad, and riding in the glass elevators. For that cruise, he loved any tour we booked that involved a big motor coach bus. I'll try to remember what we booked for each time. One thing we were glad we had was a portable DVD player for our cabin. We brought along a few of his favorite preschool shows. There wasn't much on TV for him. It's not like we watched a lot, but he did enjoy a little down time in our cabin.

Age 3 1/2

Boston: Took the Old Towne hop on hop off trolley. Hopped off at the Old Statehouse, and the USS Constitution, Toured the USS Constitution ship and the John Cassin ship next to it. Forgive me if I forget any details. I think that tour went all over Boston. I sort of forget now what all we hopped off to see.

The next morning, we visited the Boston Children's Museum and then went back to our hotel to get our bags and went to the ship to board.

Portland: We took the tour of Kennebunkport. Ate a meal at Federal Jack's and it seems like there was a book store there. I know we bought a new picture book about Maine and a toy school bus. He loved the bus ride there and back and the town was cute and we enjoyed our afternoon there.

Bar Harbor: We were supposed to be on a combination tour. It was supposed to be a trip up to Cadillac Mountain plus a boat ride on the 4 masted schooner (Margaret Todd). But the schooner cancelled on us so they just did the bus portion and refunded the rest. We enjoyed it.

Saint John: We took another bus tour that had about 3 stops. Reversing Falls, Carleton Martello Tower which was our favorite stop because we got to go inside it. And the third stop was to a market.

Halifax: Did the hop on hop off bus to the Citadel, and visited the maritime museum, and then we walked over to the boardwalk area to have lunch at Salty's on the boardwalk. You can walk the boardwalk all the way back to the ship.

Age 7

Then the second time we did the same trip, our son was 7 years old. We had a great time. There were about 8 kids in Adventure Ocean with him. It was a small group, but he loved the organized activities and the staff. I'll start with Boston for that trip too.

Boston: We stayed at the airport at the Embassy Suites. We got there 2 days early. The following day we booked a national park ranger for a private tour. Let me know if you want her name and number. She did a fabulous job. She picked us up at the hotel and took us to the Old North Church, then Paul Revere's home, then out to Concord to visit Minute Man National Historical Park. They had a group portraying British loyalists so we heard from them and saw them fire the weapons from that time. We also visited the North Bridge and the site of the shot heard round the world. Our son filled out a workbook and was given an oath to be a junior ranger. Then we finished that day in Lexington. We had her drop us downtown to eat and we took a cab back to our hotel. She was such a great guide that we booked her for our end of our cruise so she was kind enough to drive us to the port and tell us where she would pick us up off the ship when our cruise was over.

The next day we got on the Jewel of the Seas.

Portland: This time we booked the Lighthouses of Maine tour. We started at the Portland Breakwater Lighthouse (Bug Light), then Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, and finally Portland Head Light (there we could go in the museum and walk the cliff walk nearby. Then back at the pier, we saw a pedicab (sort of a bicycle rickshaw) We had him peddle us down to DiMillo's On The Water. Had a fantastic lunch with cheesecake and blueberry cobbler for dessert. (It is a floating restaurant). I believe we walked back to the ship.

Bar Harbor: We shopped a little. Our son had fun picking out a little treasure chest, a toy boat, and some polished rocks. Then we took Oli's trolley tour of Acadia National Park. It was October and we saw some lovely foliage and enjoyed seeing Thunder Hole. We had a nice lunch at Geddy's. Our son's meal came on a frisbee that he got to keep.

Saint John: This time we selected a bus ride over to St Andrews by the Sea. To us, it was a bit of a dud of a tour. It was a cute little town, but several of the shops were already closed for the season. We decided next time we visit Saint John, we are just walking down to the mall for lunch and some shopping in town.

Halifax: Best tour ever!! Google Blue Nose Sidecars. We rode around in the side cars like royalty around town. Loved it. We had stops at a Maple products store (try the maple butter), a bakery, a local author's home, and then Peggy's Cove (light house). Then we had them drop us off at the boardwalk again. We ate at Salty's again. Then we walked back to the ship. There's a really nice hand made glass shop and a pewter shop on the boardwalk if you want something handmade from the area. They had really nice things.

So back in Boston, we got off the ship and our guide picked us up. She took us to the home of John Adams & John Quincy Adams. We got to go inside and tour that. Then we headed to Charlestown and had lunch at the historic Warren Tavern. We visited Bunker Hill Monument and the USS Constitution again. The interesting thing about the ship was we got to tour a different area of the ship than last time. Then she dropped us off at the airport.

Here's a link to the picture book from that trip:

https://cherylhtravelpics.shutterfly.com/pictures/192

Have fun!! We love that itinerary and all that yummy seafood.

Cheryl

We had 1100 on the Radiance and loved it. No noise from above at all. Plus it's only 1 floor up to get to the Windjammer for breakfast!

This next time we are 1602. Can't wait!

We recently (last month) returned from the RCI Radiance northbound Alaska cruise with our family that included our 17 month old grandson..Did we have an amazing time...YES. RCI has a great nursery that caters to the age of 6-36 months..and there were 9 around his age and younger onboard.

 

Don't let anyone discourage you from a family cruise...Enjoy making memories and live life !!

Love your positive response! We've had a lot of wonderful trips with our little guy who has now somehow managed to be 9 years old already. We have lots of vacation photo books with photos of him with us making lots of memories with us. And even if he doesn't recall the early trips, he has lots of pictures to look at in the photo books...and the memories are in my heart.

If you do Astoria, we did a nice tour there of Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark ended their adventure. Also we toured a maritime museum dedicated to the rough water rescue by the Coast Guard. Also at the maritime museum was a light ship that we went inside. I had no idea that they used light ships posted in the sea at locations where they could not build a lighthouse.

Another idea if the coast drive doesn't work out. Look at Clipper Vacations. The Clipper ferry has a 3 hour ride up to Victoria. We stayed at the Magnolia in Victoria and then did lots of fun things there in Victoria. We took a water taxi around to Fisherman's Wharf for fish and chips at Barb's and the kids fed the seals right off the dock there. Also we took a horse and carriage ride. I believe you can book a whale watch trip here too. There's a few other things to do here too. It was just a neat little town.

Also in Seattle we did the Aquarium. It was nice. We stayed at the Pan Pacific. Right beside it was Tutta Bella Pizza, and right under it is a Whole Foods (we went down the elevator to get gelato in Whole Foods). If you do decide on the ferry, get your boarding passes the evening before to avoid standing in the long line the next morning. You have to check all your luggage as there is not much room for carry on (except a small purse or camera).

Have fun!! That scenic drive sounds really neat.

I'm glad to hear about the bugs being gone later in the season.....although our first trip to Alaska was 4th week of June and we saw maybe 3 mosquitoes total....(however we did not go to Denali).

I will add one thing about the adults only pools. On Royal Caribbean, for Alaska cruises, and sometimes for Canada/New England, there will be a certain time of the day for "family time" in the solarium pool (indoor pool). It's something like 10-12, 2-4 or something similar. We were grateful to have a little time in there with our son. I think our family was the only one taking advantage of it and he minded his manners and we watched the time so we didn't encroach on the adult only time.

There really aren't too many children on the Alaskan cruises compared to the tropical itineraries. We are going back to Alaska Sept 4 next year and expect even less this time since school will be back in session.

I did feel like our Alaska cruise was more casual. We wore jeans every day on the ship. And we wore slacks/tops to the main dining room. For the 2 evenings that were formal in the main dining room, we opted to eat in the pay extra venues (formal was not required)....and enjoyed it so much we still do that to this day.

You might look at the Radiance of the Seas. Their solarium pool area is heated up and is nice and tropical in there. It mostly does northbound or southbound, but it does have a round trip Vancouver in May and September. That is the one we are doing next year.

Have fun planning!

Oh great! Thank you! That answered my question. I am hoping they will be okay with being in seperate groups, but I don't know why not. They go to seperate Sunday School programs, so they are used to it.

I have seen several threads about car seats... in Arizona kids are required to be in a booster until they are pretty big (like 90lbs and 4'10"). Do you know if they will be required to have a booster seat in a taxi and/or buses for excursions?

Thanks again!

I'm trying to recall on our Alaska one, about car seats. Our son was 6 I think. We had a town car service in Seattle and I believe we had them bring a booster along for him. Then the cabs in Seattle did not mention it and we did not ask. We hopped in and buckled him in. Then we had a ferry up to Victoria and he didn't need a booster. Then a floatplane to Vancouver.

In Ketchikan, Seawind Aviation picked us up and drove us to their seaplane. She may have brought a booster along. I know her husband was the pilot and they have kids. I can't remember. Then again, we may have just buckled him in.

In Juneau, we signed up for a ship tour to AJ Gold Mine. That was a mini bus and no seat was required. The gold mine was really interesting. They supplied the hard hat and hearing protection. Then we had lunch at Twisted Fish and took a white school bus shuttle out to Mendenhall. No seat needed on that either.

In Skagway, we took the Chilkoot train/bus combo. It was a mini-bus again. No seat needed. Everything else we did in Skagway involved walking.

You probably aren't going to Icy Strait so I'll skip those details. In Seward, we had hired a private tour (SUV) to get us up to Anchorage with tour stops all along the way. I believe we had her include a booster for that. Then in Anchorage, the cab that took us to the airport did not have a booster. We just buckled him in.

That was our experience.

PS: Maybe we'll be at some of the same ports as you. We are booked on the Radiance for September 4, 2015. Have fun planning!

I am so glad I'm not the only one worrying about taking my two kiddos(10 & 7) by the time we cruise in June 2015.

We are trying to figure out which ship to take:

Royal Caribbean

Disney

Princess?

 

Any suggestions will be appreciated!

I can only speak to Royal Carribbean experience. We've taken our son four cruises and gearing up for his 5th next year. He was 3 1/2 on his first. He's now 9. He loves RCCL's Adventure Ocean. We've done Alaska, Bahamas, and gone on the Canada/New England one twice with him.

When we first board, there's usually a table set up nearby with bracelets for the kids. It has their muster station number on it. The kids wear the bracelets all week. Also the first afternoon/evening there is an open house for to come to Adventure Ocean for parents to see the facilities and meet the staff.

They have different sessions available beginning the next day. Our son loves it. Games, science, etc. It is all very structured. Also about 5 of the nights, and on one of our cruises, it was 6 nights, they offered Adventure Dining. We signed our son up some time during the day for the evening meal. We selected his entree (nuggets, pizza, hotdog, etc), and then simply drop him off at the predetermined time. I think it was 6:00. They took them to eat and after dinner, took them back to Adventure Ocean for the evening activities.

You can also take them to dinner with you and just bring them yourself later. And there is a third option. I believe you can sign up for a pickup at the dining room, but I forget what it's called. Then they eat a meal with you, but a staff member comes to the entrance of the dining room to get them on your behalf so that you can finish your dessert at your leisure.

Do you have any questions about cruising with kids on RCCL? We do bring a portable DVD player for in our cabin to play some of his favorite DVD's. The TV stations don't offer much for kids. Also we let him bring his DS. When we took a private whale watch tour, he brought it along and watched for whales some and played his game quietly the rest of the time. He was happy. We were happy. He also did well on a couple float plane rides. He did pester us a little bit wanting to return to the ship so he could go back to Adventure Ocean. :-)

Another thing....our son loves peanut butter sandwiches. We usually bring some Jif-to-go and a loaf of bread. Also the main dining room has a children's menu. Kids can order from that or the adult menu. Or some of both!

We got in the habit last time of picking him up at 10:00 pm from the Adventure Ocean and then taking him to get a slice of pizza before going back to our cabin.

What itinerary are you going on? If interested, you can see our cruise photo books in the link below. He had a grand time on each trip.

I wish we had flown to Anchorage first (to get the long flight out of the way first) and floated southbound instead of northbound.....or better yet....book a back-to-back cruise and cruise back down.

I wish we'd packed an alarm clock instead of using smart phone.....stupid alarm went off at 2:30 and we got ready in the middle of the night.

I wish we would have packed fewer jeans and sent a couple jeans down to the ship's laundry instead. In fact, we could have left half of what we packed at home.

I'm glad we left our warm layer at home and so we purchased Alaska fleece jackets for under our rain coats.

I'm glad we had nice waterproof rain coats, but we did not end up needing the windpants or the waterproof sneakers.

I wish I had not bothered to pack 3 pairs of binoculars....we forgot to use them because of constantly taking pictures.

I'm glad we booked F.I.S.H.E.S. whale watch at Icy Strait. Best tour all week.

Just wondering if anyone has ever gone on an Alaskan cruise with a 1 year old? I'm hoping we're not crazy in booking this trip, but we love to cruise and have never been to Alaska.

 

Any tour recommendations?

 

Thanks for your help! We're planning to go next May.

We took our 1 year old on a week long trip to Disney, but he was more like 18 months old. I think it would be do-able. Even if you didn't do any tours, if you had a room with a balcony, then at least you could enjoy your balcony during your child's afternoon nap. I think our son really enjoyed riding buses at 18 months old. I would probably steer clear of long excursions. You didn't list what ports are included with your cruise. Does your cruise line offer nursery care?

As far as tours, maybe for Juneau, you could just wait and take one of the shuttle buses out to Mendenhall Glacier. They have a visitor center, or you can walk back to the falls. In Ketchikan, there's a funicular you can ride up to Cape Fox Lodge and then walk back down the Married Man trail. Theses are both spur of the moment examples of tours that could be skipped if your child was not inclined to want to tour that day. Icy Strait has a beach trail and a nature trail.

It seems like at Disney, our son was happy go lucky at about everything we did. Even climbing on park benches was fun at that age. It was really our vacation. He just got to come along for the ride.

You may get more responses to this question on the family board.

Alava's (fish and chips) in Ketchikan. A small "shack" for lack of a better word, right near the docks across from Burger Queen. Ate there back-to-back days on our ill-fated first cruising attempt on the Millennium last summer and will be back next Sunday on our "redo" Alaska cruise!

We were told about a fish shack that took cash only....and I was thinking that might be the Ketchikan Fish Shack right on the dock. Is Alava's close to the dock too? I'm not too familiar with where Burger Queen is. I'm up for suggestions for Ketchikan. Last time we ate at the Cape Fox Lodge and it was just okay.

By the way, for Juneau, we loved the Twisted Fish in the Taku building. They brought us the yummiest cheesey bread. Then we followed up with fish and chips after that. For that trip, it was the tastiest fish and chips we had all week.