Is a 5 year old too young for the Alaska cruise?

We're booked on the new Disney Cruise to Alaska, but a few people have said that our 5 year old grandson would have a better time on a cruise to warmer climates. HELP! Any opinions would be welcome. Thanks.

That's your decision to make. We are taking one in Aug and my kids will be 13 and 10, so old enough to have fun. One of the members of our party has an 8YO and they are dismayed that most of the fun excursions have an age limit of 10. The 5 yo will have a BLAST onboard, but it's on land that I think will be your problem. Also the weather might not be warm enough to use the pools depending on when you are sailing. I don't think it will be warm enough when we sail!!!!!

I wonder if Disney will even open the pools while they are cruising Alaska.

glad you asked, I was wondering the same thing for my 5 year old. I guess we will just have to wait and go somewhere else in the meantime

I have seen 3 year olds go to Alaska and have a blast, 5 is totally fine. All comes down to the excursions you choose, of which they can do most any.

We are sailing w/DCL to Alaska this May and my youngest will have just turned 5. I expect him to have a blast! Yes, the pools will be open and they will be heated.... I don't know that many adults will want to venture in since the outside air will be cooler, but I guarantee my kids will be in the pool;). We are going whale watching and taking the white pass railroad- I expect him to love both of these excursions! We are also going flight seeing, but only the adults.... I know it will be a great trip!

I took my 4 year old to Alaska last year. He had much more fun in Alaska than he did on any Caribbean cruise. The wildlife and natural surroundings were great. In the Caribbean, it seem that the main activities are swimming and shopping, which really aren't our style. The variety of shore excursions in Alaska are much more kid friendly IMO.

I wonder if Disney will even open the pools while they are cruising Alaska.

Ye s, they will be open. The pools will be heated. DCL has started installing heaters around the pool decks.

We're booked on the new Disney Cruise to Alaska, but a few people have said that our 5 year old grandson would have a better time on a cruise to warmer climates. HELP! Any opinions would be welcome. Thanks.

Your grandson will have a great time.

We are booked for an August cruise with a 13 and 10 yr olds. We choose to Disney to Alaska because we KNOW our kids will have a terrific time.

It is their favorite cruise line.

5 years ago we took our two kids, ages 6 1/2 and 9, on a cruise to Alaska -- it was a FABULOUS vacation! There was plenty for the kids to do, even for shore excursions. I would recommend looking up independent tour operators in the cities. A great resource is these cruise critic boards, under Alaska (ports of call). My kids particularly loved whale watching with Harv and Marv in Juneau.

We went back to Alaska on a cruise this year (ages 10 and 13), and that was great, too, but we all got so much out of that first trip that is definitely was worthwhile.

Enjoy!

When my DD was 4 years old, my DM tried to convince me to take her on a 10-day trip to Alaska on Princess. I'm glad I didn't because there really was very little to do on the ship on all those sea-days (and there were alot of sea days). I'm not saying this would be the case on all of their ships -- but it definitely was on the trip she was booked on.

DCL is pretty much the opposite. There is SO much to do on the ship -- I don't think your son will have a chance to be bored. Great kids clubs, pool slide (if it's not too cold), movies, shows, character meet & greets, etc. If you're not sure you can go online and check for a "Navigator" for other 7-day DCL cruises and see all of the activities that are offered. I showed it to my DM and now she's coming with us! ;)

Plus, there are fun excursions like train rides and shows that you can book.

If there is an excursion you are interested in, you can often do it with a younger child if you book it separately (not thru the cruise lines). I have friends who did that and they said the kids loved the trip.;)

I took my 4 year old to Alaska last year. He had much more fun in Alaska than he did on any Caribbean cruise. The wildlife and natural surroundings were great. In the Caribbean, it seem that the main activities are swimming and shopping, which really aren't our style. The variety of shore excursions in Alaska are much more kid friendly IMO.

What cruise liner did you use for your Alaskan cruise with your 4 year old?

Alaska is amazing. DCL has special kid oriented excursions available--mostly they are regular excursions with some character appearances, etc. attached....but incorporate things like story telling, movement, etc.

It has EVERYTHING to do with the excursions you choose. Do they want to ride on a dog sled? Pet puppies? See salmon swimming? See bears walking along the road? Whale watching? Even the museum at the glacier is worth seeing.

I don't have any problem with the thought of a 5 year old. As noted, the pools and kid programming will all be functioning. The pools are heated. I'd be in a hot tub, but the kids have no problem with the pools! Everything DCL is still happening, if you know what I mean.

Honestly, we did Princess and Celebrity as we had no little kids...for little people, there is an advantage to DCL. For older teens/adults, I can spend half the money on other lines. The real attraction for older ones is Alaska, rather than DCL. As to Alaska vs. Caribbean--we'd do Alaska again in a heartbeat. In the Caribbean, on a trans-Atlantic, or other similar situations, DCL has a lot to offer and there may well be a reason for that choice. In Alaska, the scenery, the excursions, etc. are the point of the cruise. We went for spending less on the ship and more on excursions.

But NO, 5 is not too young for Alaska, especially on DCL.

We took our child to Alaska the week before her 3rd birthday and then again the following year. She had a great time. We went whale watching, saw a lumberjack show, shopped around, saw glaciers etc. The following year wasn’t a cruise, it was a rail trip but she had a great time too. 5 years old is plenty old enough to go and have a great time.

We cruised the Inside Passage (one of the Alaska Itineraries) on a Princess ship when DD was 3y9m and DS was 6y3m. We had a blast. We did have to adjust our excursions because of the young ages of the kids, but what we did was still a ton of fun. In Juneau we went to Mendenhall Glacier where we enjoyed the glacier, visitors center, and even saw two black bears hanging out in the trees. Afterwards we went to the salmon bake which was fun. In Ketchikan we went to a village to learn about Native life, see Totem Poles, and then went to see a lumberjack show (that was lots of fun.) In Skagway we hired a private guide to meet us after our trip on the White Pass train- she took us up into the Yukon, we had a picnic by a beautiful lake, checked out the Carcross Desert, and saw some more bears. In Victoria we just walked around the city. (We had been there before, and didn't feel the need to do an excursion, but the Butchart Gardens are beautiful and the tea at the Empress hotel is my absolute favorite.)

Your grandson will have a great time.

We took our family including three grandchildren on a cruise (California Coastal) in May. Two of them were 2 and 1/2 and one was 5. A few people said how can you do this? They are too young. Well they had a great time as did their parents and we did too. The key was to plan what we would do in each port and that worked like a charm. Also your grandson will have a wonderful time on board.

I would not hesitate to do this.

Keith