Traveling with a 2 year old in ALASKA! HELP!

[Kittikate]

We are taking the HAL Land & Sea Y5 Anchorage to Vancouver tour starting May 28, 2014. We will be with a huge group of family (10) which includes my 2 yr old son. We have never traveled this extensive with him before. He is normally a pretty easy going kid, but coming form NJ this will definitely be a challenging trip.

 

Wondering if anyone has had experience traveling with young toddlers on HAL or in general? Need some suggestions for the plane, train, bus and boat!! YIKES!!! Wish I could put my son in a temporary coma for our 12 hour flight there! haha

Also, HAL said they do not offer pack and plays on board (not safe) so we have ot set him up on the pull out couch. He is still in the crib now but we will have to get him used to that type of arrangement prior to trip.

 

Please help so I can enjoy this trip!!

[Heartfruit]

My DD was older then that when she first went on a cruise but we traveled with her extensively by other moods of transportation.

 

She was a 1.5 when we took a two week family trip to Florida. We'd booked hotels with cribs in them but may of the cribs looks questionable. Since she was a roller, most of the time we just made a nest for her on the floor out of blankets and that worked well. Be warned though, by the time we got back, there was no way she would sleep in that crib again so we had to go to a toddler bed.

 

Although I try to limit her screen time, a video player (or something like a ipad) can be a great vacation savor. It is a good compact way to keep them entertained on a flight or at a grownup dinner that is taking tooooooo long. Other standards like colouring books and crayons will help a lot too. Hunt down a pair of child earphones for them though because you won't want to listen along.

[Krazy Kruizers]

You may want to ask questions on the Alaskan board here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

 

Also there is a section Family Cruises here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

 

 

I don't know how many land days you have planned, but be warned -- some of them could be long days on the road.

[epixx]

Although it's a terrible waste of money, I suggest skipping the Tundra Wilderness Tour, which is the highlight of a visit to Denali. The bus is jam packed, and riders are expected to keep hushed as everyone looks for wildlife for hours on end. You would have a really hard time complying with a 2 year old. If you really want to see the the park, consider taking the Park Shuttle bus on your own. That way you could at least get off the bus and take a walk or run around while waiting for the next Shuttle if junior decides to make some noise.

[boulders]

My suggestions - take an early morning flight. Children that age don't like to sleep on airplanes, ime. Make sure he has something to suck on, expecially on descent - lollipops work well. Take his car seat as checked luggage. At 2 years old, he would be kicking the seatbacks if he's in his car seat. Using the regular seatbelt allows him to lie down on laps during the flight. Bring a blanket and whichever toy he might sleep with on the plane. Bring DVD's and a DVD player or choose an airline which has seatback individual video screens.

 

For the bus and train, bring the DVD player. Bring snacks. Bring the blanket and sleeping toy.

 

Allow him to run around in an empty area in the airport before takeoff or outside before a bus or train ride.

 

Bring more diapers and wipes than you think you'll need. Otherwise you'll run out. Diapers are ridiculously expensive on ships - if they have them. Bring all the medicines you could possibly need. You won't find infant formulations on the ship. Bring a thermometer too.

 

Choose early seating for dinner. Don't let others bully you into late seating. ;)

 

There are lots of very child friendly excursions in Alaska. Go see some sled dog puppies. :) Gold panning etc. Not the train in Skagway. Good luck.

[cruisinjudy]

Also, HAL said they do not offer pack and plays on board (not safe) so we have ot set him up on the pull out couch. He is still in the crib now but we will have to get him used to that type of arrangement prior to trip.

 

That must be new. We took a family cruise when the girls were just a year and they did have pack and plays. I suppose it is possible to bring your own.

[midwest 852]

Last cruise on the Oosterdam Sept. 2013 we had portable crib.

No way would I take a child on that train trip! I was so bored ill never do the train then bus again.

[Essiesmom]

Please, Alaska is not a third world country. Although they might not have a general store in Denali or McKinley, there are plenty of places to buy diapers and wipes in Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan. They even have a shuttle to WalMart in Juneau. Anchorage is a modern, if small, city. Vancouver is a big city. Don't load your luggage up with diapers. EM

[runnergirl71]

We are taking the HAL Land & Sea Y5 Anchorage to Vancouver tour starting May 28, 2014. We will be with a huge group of family (10) which includes my 2 yr old son. We have never traveled this extensive with him before. He is normally a pretty easy going kid, but coming form NJ this will definitely be a challenging trip.

 

Wondering if anyone has had experience traveling with young toddlers on HAL or in general? Need some suggestions for the plane, train, bus and boat!! YIKES!!! Wish I could put my son in a temporary coma for our 12 hour flight there! haha

Also, HAL said they do not offer pack and plays on board (not safe) so we have ot set him up on the pull out couch. He is still in the crib now but we will have to get him used to that type of arrangement prior to trip.

 

Please help so I can enjoy this trip!!

 

Are you flying east to get there? HOW is one flight taking 12 hours from NJ?

[Krazy Kruizers]

I wondered about that 12 hour flight as well. They are from NJ and have more direct flights than we do. Even with a layover we have we haven't been 12 hours flying from Pittsburgh to Seattle.

But I do see that they are going to Vancouver -- so that could mean a long layover somewhere.

[cruising_rocket_scientist]

On our last flight with a toddler, she was entertained for a long time with a pad of sticky notes. We took the triangle shape crayons so we weren't chasing them around everywhere. She would color for a minute on each piece, and then stick the note somewhere. On the ship, she was adored by all. Many of the crew have kids at home, and she was delighted by magic tricks, dolls made out of dining room napkins, games of peek a boo. During the day there is always an empty lounge or something that she could expel some extra energy. We had a wonderful trip. In Juneau we rented a car and that gave us the freedom to do whatever with our little one. We stopped at the Walmart for snacks and supplies and went for a drive up the coast. We went to a wildlife area, Eagle beach I think, and let her get out and run around for a while. We also went up to the Glacier to explore.