Alaska Cruise with children

[Venice lover]

Which is the best Alaskan cruise line to take with children? Royal Carribean, Norwegian, Princess? Trying to decide for 2011.

[tamsocal]

Which is the best Alaskan cruise line to take with children? Royal Carribean, Norwegian, Princess? Trying to decide for 2011.

 

port calls would lead my decision on this. We have done HAL & Princess for Alaska-- both were great times. Glacier Bay & Hubbard calls would be my preference. Also price would factor in for me personally after port calls. If you have toddlers and want them to go to kids clubs-- would check to see if the age range differs on any of your 3 choices-- ie you have a 2yr old-- and one of your choices only takes 3yrs & up (I am not familiar w/ the 3 but someone else will likely post).

Traveling w/ kids RT from Vancouver was a bit easier for us vs our 2 cruises when we had to fly home form Anchorage-- just made for a long travel day but manageable.

RT from Seattle you don't get the inside passage cruising on majority (if not all) of the cruises-- so if this is a once in a lifetime possible experience I personally would choose a cruise that allowed for inside passage cruising (RT Vancouver or North or South). But we did have a great time on HAL Amsterdam RT seattle last year-- and it was fun seeing the new ports of call but was thankful that I previously had the inside passage experience and would not have wanted to miss out on it.

[epixx]

I agree with tamsocal. The kids will enjoy the trip regardless of the ship, but the itineraries differ significantly. We sailed NCL to Alaska, and the kids loved it, but this year we're trying HAL for the first time with the kids because the itinerary/price cannot be beaten. HAL has a 14 day RT Seattle cruise (also next year) that stops in 8 ports and includes Glacier Bay and Hubbard Bay. Best of all, the total price is nearly what we would have paid for a 7 day RT Seattle cruise, because the 3rd and 4th passengers in the cabin are FREE for the full 14 days!

[Keith1010]

I would recommend Princess for both the children, adults and the ports. Princess has been sailing Alaska for a very long time and this adds to the overall experieince.

 

Keith

[RoadTripFanatic]

We cruised with HAL when DD was 6. She had a blast. They had a great kids program. We really didn't do a lot on the ship because we were in port almost everyday!

[lmg1230]

We sailed the Diamond Princess to Alaska three years ago when our daughters where 10 and almost 4 - they loved it! Our cruise was a 7 day northbound out of Vancouver with stops in Ketchican, Juneau and Skagway and scenic cruising in Glacier Bay and College Fjord. We also did a 5 day cruise tour to Fairbanks.

 

Lisa

[smoothy]

We did a b2b last year on Celebrity. The kids had such a good time that we booked another b2b next year (3 cabins of in-laws coming along this time, with their kids). Our favourite stop was Icy Strait, very natural setting, no DI or Del Sol :) It didn't feel at all like the other stops, very non-commercial. Its a great spot for whale watching (saw 2 feeding from our balcony) and lots of free stuff for the kids to do- beach walk, forest walk, tour the cannery, watch the zip liners, walk to the town.

 

The kids club on Celebrity was wonderful, we had to drag the boys out (literally kicking and screaming sometimes) and the kid/counselor ratio was very low- IIRC, 5 counselors for 15 or so kids (not including the older kids groups who went off on their own for the most part) on the way up, 3 counselors for 8 kids on the way back down- it was near the end of the season so some staff contracts were up. They ended up combining the two younger groups (3-5, 6-8) as the numbers were so low.

[stsomewhere]

Which is the best Alaskan cruise line to take with children? Royal Carribean, Norwegian, Princess? Trying to decide for 2011.

 

We are sailing with Disney to Alaska in 2011. Some may argue that DCl does not have the best itinerary. But, for us the ship is the destination. We get to see some of Alaska and know that the kids are having a good time.

[c-cruise]

Which is the best Alaskan cruise line to take with children? Royal Carribean, Norwegian, Princess? Trying to decide for 2011.

 

What age are the kids? Different lines have different age requirements for the various children's programs.

 

Also, it knowing what type of itinerary you are looking for will help narrow the choices. Do you want a round trip out of Seattle or Vancouver or are your looking to do a one way itinerary and spend additional time in Alaska? Lots of choices for 2011 Alaska including Disney.

[gkrnjlr]

We just came back (6/13) from Alaska on the Pearl with our 2 year old daughter. NCL accepts ages 2 and up and they did a fantastic job with her. The ports we visited were Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay, and Victoria.

 

The kids program was great. They kept our daughter busy all the time and encouraged her to come play when we were there to "check her in" and she was a tad hesitant. They showed her the fun things that they were doing and she ended up wanting to be there! They did a great job! I did notice that the older kids had "discovery books" that were given to them by a Park Ranger that talked to them while in Glacier Bay.

[Onessa]

We've done two RCCI, a Princess and a Regency cruise with DD (when she was 7, 8, 10, and 12)

 

We too choose by itinerary -- for kids Juneau and Ketchikan are fun. I love Sitka. Skagway is really not my thing, but is still nice enough. Anchorage is just a big(ish) city - a one-way that includes Anchorage is really only useful if you are going to either rent a car and drive elsewhere or do an add on to Denali or somewhere.

 

Most of the standard cruise ports have good ops for hiking and other activities. In our experience, she thought the cruising by the glaciers were cool but after a few minutes, she'd end up wanting to go back to the kids club -- so the glacier "stops" on the itinerary to her were a lot like at sea days. We all really prefer ports -- the cruise "experience" is secondary.

[Davideb]

I'm glad to read this, because I just read on some other forum that Canadian regs don't allow non-toilet trained kids into kids' programs. We are traveling with a 2 year old who is only partially toilet trained. Asummedly no problem on NCL?

 

We just came back (6/13) from Alaska on the Pearl with our 2 year old daughter. NCL accepts ages 2 and up and they did a fantastic job with her. The ports we visited were Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay, and Victoria.

 

The kids program was great. They kept our daughter busy all the time and encouraged her to come play when we were there to "check her in" and she was a tad hesitant. They showed her the fun things that they were doing and she ended up wanting to be there! They did a great job! I did notice that the older kids had "discovery books" that were given to them by a Park Ranger that talked to them while in Glacier Bay.

[gkrnjlr]

I'm glad to read this, because I just read on some other forum that Canadian regs don't allow non-toilet trained kids into kids' programs. We are traveling with a 2 year old who is only partially toilet trained. Asummedly no problem on NCL?

 

 

We had no issues whatsoever! Our daughter is in the middle of potty training and they will take the children to use the bathroom (if they ask?) but if they need their diaper changed - they call you on the phone that is issued when you drop them off.

 

The reason I say "if they ask?" is because we went to pick our daughter up one visit and were told "oh, hold on! She's in the bathroom." She rarely asks - but apparently she did that time!

 

We went expecting them to call for every little sprinkle in the diaper but were happy to know that they weren't like that at all.

[Essiesmom]

NCL allows diapers in their program, but you have to come and change them. Carnival will change diapers. If you are sailing from Vancouver, that is your only Canadian stop. Sailing from elsewhere, usual stop is Victoria. Never heard of that Canadian reg. EM

[dlopiccolo]

We sailed on HAL's Ryndam last August with our 4 & 6 year old sons and 10, 13 & 17 year old nephews. They all had a blast. The kids club was small which fit our kids fine. They have tubs in every stateroom & a great kids menu avilable in the dining rooms. The scenery was amazing and ports were lots of fun. Honestly, I don't think you can really go wrong.

[MellowMel]

Pick the itinerary and/or cruise line you prefer and you should be happy.

 

Up until last month, my kids had only sailed Royal so I knew they'd love Adventure Ocean. Therefore, we chose Royal Caribbean and had a fantastic experience both with the ports, the service on the ship and the kids' club!

[mammel123]

We've just booked Alaska for next spring (june '11) with our 6 year old daughter (she'll be almost 7).

 

We've all been on Princess before, and while DH and I have been on other lines, we agree that Princess works out best for us when she's travelling with us.

 

She LOVES the kids club. It may not be as busy this time, as school won't be out yet, but her love of the kids club combined with the great itinerary out of Whittier (plus the price) had us choose Princess again. We get a mini-suite, and the price can't be beat compared to Celebrity (which we also would consider with her).

 

So we'll spend the time in between researching out great port stops and fun things to do for our little family.

 

Sue

[chipmaster]

Just got back from Alaska with Princess.

 

There were 190 teens on the ship, I don't know how much of the other groups. I suspect similar, it was a full/sold out ship. Two of my kids spent every available moment in the clubs, my 16 year old was there till 1am every morning. The clubs may not be for everyone as my 13 year old found less to his liking but even he enjoyed enough things that he spent many hours for certain activities.

 

I'd look hard at Princess, I think of the lines you mentioned Princess has the most options, ships etc. then the others.

 

 

Which is the best Alaskan cruise line to take with children? Royal Carribean, Norwegian, Princess? Trying to decide for 2011.