Trying to pick an Alaskan cruise for a 3-generation family trip.

[rexalite]

We will have 6 adults and two kids, aged 5 and 10. We would prefer a ship with lots of families with young children. It will be in July, so I'm not sure if all lines will have lots of children travelling. We are trying to decide between three seperate trips. One is Princess on the Golden Princess out of Seattle round trip. It is the least expensive. One is on Holland America Zuiderdam. It is round trip out of Vancouver. The third option is the most expensive, Celebrity on the Millenium. We have only cruised on Disney and Royal Caribbean so we are having a hard time deciding which way to go.

 

Most of our party lives in Vancouver so it is very convenient to leave from there. We wonder how much of a hassle the one way travel from Seward would be to get back to Vancouver. The cost of that will add more than $400 Pp to the trip cost.

 

What we are looking for is great food, with some variety, excellent kids' programs, and a good casino. We really like playing trivia and will play every chance we get. We are not as concerned with nightly shows, we can take those or leave them. Is Celebrity worth the extra money? Which cruise line would best serve our profile.

[sherryf]

You might want to do a bit of reading over on the Alaska Ports of Call board http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55 for help in planning your trip. Most people there recommend choosing by itinerary first, rather than specific ship or cruise line. Since most of your group lives in Vancouver, I'd look at a ship sailing out of Vancouver that includes Glacier Bay. If you do not have the time/money for land touring in interior Alaska, it's probably not worth the extra cost of doing a one-way sailing. I know that HAL does round-trip Vancouver sailings with Glacier Bay, so you might want to look at those.