Alaska Cruises Review -- Roundtrip from Seattle

[shealea]

Before I go on with my review on another Alaska Cruise Port, I wanted to give some of my thoughts on our two cruises that we had kids with us. One cruise was with two older teenagers. They were both 17 ½ at the time. It was my son and his best friend, who was a female. They had been best friends for several years. I knew it was best not to bring my son on a cruise without having a friend along. So we paid for him to bring a friend with us. Worked out great!

Cruising with the two older teenagers: I just wasn’t sure how these two older teenagers would take to cruising to Alaska. I sort of thought they may be bored. I could picture them having more fun with a warm-weather cruise …… like to Mexico or the Caribbean. Where you can hang out at the pool or the beach. Snorkeling or Parasailing. I was worried there would not be enough for them to do. And I kind of thought they would think the Teen Center Club on the ship was lame. So I was starting to be nervous about how this cruise would go with them along.

But, they loved it! They did go to the teen center at the beginning of the cruise. They gave it a shot, but it just was not for them. Maybe because they were older teens and close to being more of an adult age??? Not sure. But, they found so much to do on their own.

They really liked doing the ship activities and participated in many. They especially enjoyed karaoke. They loved the main evening shows. They even got a kick out of dressing for dinner and eating in the main dining rooms. They kept the Freestyle Daily with them to find exciting things for them to do. I was really even kind of surprised that they got so “into it”. Always keeping the Freestyle Daily with them and checking it to be certain they didn’t miss out on anything they may want to do. They were on the go, go, go the entire cruise. Stayed up late, got up early. They really took full advantage of this wonderful cruise they were on! I was so relieved after the first day ….. to see that they would be happy and not bored and bugging me that they were bored!!! YES!!!

The four of us in a room worked out better than I expected. We had an inside room. They pretty much did their own thing, so we were not really in the inside cabin all together at the same time. They dined on their own most of the time, so even when we changed for dinner, it was not a problem. We weren’t all getting ready and needing the bathroom or shower at the same time.

The sleeping was a bit odd, as I’ve told about previously in my review. But even that made us laugh, and it worked out just fine. We are easy and are able to go with just about anything!

One of my worries was that they would not make it to the ship on time for sailing away from port. I would feel myself starting to feel panic with worry. So make sure your older kids have a way for you to contact them if that is a concern for you. It really eased my mind that I could call them about an hour before sail away from each port to be certain they knew it was time to head back to the ship.

There are a couple of time changes in Alaska, and that had me worried that they would have the incorrect time. But, they had cell phones. I called before leaving each port, and they were okay with that. They know I’m a worrier. They did excellent! They were onboard well before leaving each Port. They told me, Of course we watch the time. Do you think we want to get stuck in Port as the ship sails away!!!!???????

I also was worried I would get stuck with huge cell phone bills from these two. As teens always seem to need to stay connected with their friends and all. But they did really well with keeping their cell phones off except for in Port. I did not have any unexpected charges. I am not up on technology at all, but I think maybe there’s a way to have your cell phones on in airplane mode or something???? Not sure.

But, that is one thing to keep in mind …….. make sure your kids all have a way to be able to tell the time on the cruise. Especially if they will be out on their own enjoying activities. And especially so they know what time it is if you are all going to have meeting times.

Dh and I also always are certain to bring watches, as we don’t know about how to have our cell phones on and not getting charges for high onboard charges from Verizon or from using the ship’s tower. I do not understand that at all, so we just keep our cell phones off at all times. In Port we turn our cell phones on. So, if you don’t leave your phones on, make sure you have a watch or whatever so you can tell time on the ship. And make sure you change your watches when there are time changes as you head up North!!

I was also worried these two teens would make a big bill on their room cards, but they did not. Thank goodness! Since that first cruise, I’ve learned that you can set up the cards so they don’t have any charging privileges. But I didn’t know that when I had the teens along.

I also worried (I did say that I’m a worrier … didn’t I?? he,he) that these two teens would get into the alcohol that was in the refrigerator in the cabin. So right away I called down to the desk and had them remove all contents. No more worries about that! Lol!

Okay….. On to our cruise travels with our grandkids. Let’s see ….. I think they were about 11 and 14 at the time. We really didn’t have the money to pay the prices for the bigger shore excursions for all four of us. And I really don’t think the kids wanted to do that sort of thing anyway. They were all about just walking around each Port. They loved to walk, look around, hang out. Our grandkids really think dh and I are fun, wild, and they really do have fun being with us. We are kind of goofy and like to have a fun time. So they were just fine and okay hanging with us!!! Ha!

So, we really did whatever the two grandkids wanted to do. This cruise was all about them! They loved shopping, and they had lots of $$ to spend. It worked out great. For a couple of months before the cruise, they did chores for us to earn money. Instead of us handing out $$$’s each time they were interested in doing something, wanting a snack, or to buy a souvenir, they had to use their own money. It was really a good learning experience for them also. They knew they had to pay for anything they wanted to do or buy. They really put a lot of thought into each purchase they made, since they had to use their own money. They also had to be certain they budgeted and spread out their $$$$$ for the entire cruise so they would have enough money to have fun shopping in each port.

Register your kids At the kids Center on embarkation day. It’s a little busy and hectic at the kid’s center, and it requires patience!! Ha! And each person that may pick the child up from the teen center will need to register with the Center, so keep that in mind.

Also, be thinking about this: You can allow your child in-and-out privileges. If you don’t allow this, your child can’t leave the Center at all. We allowed in-and-out privileges for our granddaughter. We did not at first, but she made some girlfriends. They all would leave the center to go eat at the buffet. They ate and then went right back to the center. Our granddaughter knew that was the only time she could leave the Center. And we were good at spying on her! he, he!!

Make sure that your older kids go to the Teen Center on the first evening. They really need to “connect” with the other teens on this first event night. Our grandson went to the Teen Center a few times the first day or two and got to know some other teens that he connected with. After the first few times, these kids didn’t really do the ship planned teen activities. They just hung out on their own. That worked out really well for our grandson.

Him and I did go to find a couple of the teen activities that were planned around the ship. But either no one showed up for them, or we were in the wrong place, or something. Not sure.

Also, if you have teen boys, a way to get them involved in something they might like is to go to the Sports Court. Often throughout the day we would see groups of guys playing basketball. We sat on the bleachers and watched. We could tell it wasn’t an organized sort of thing. Guys just hung out. Playing basketball together. They did have a certain amount of guys on each team. They really didn’t keep score or anything like that. The guys that wanted to play just hung out down by the court. When someone quit, then one of the guys waiting would take their spot. They were really having a lot of fun!

Our grandson would run into his friends throughout the day, and then he would leave us and go to do something with them. They often hung out for long periods of time in the hot tub. Worked out great! Usually in the evening, our grandson would go to the big evening show with his friends instead of going with us. If he went with us, he would see his friends at the show. Then after the show, they would decide to hang out together. Or if our grandson didn’t run into them at the show, he knew that he could go to the hot tub after the show and they would be there.

He had a good time going to dine with his friends. Our grandson is a really good kid, so I didn’t feel a need to worry that he would not be polite when dining without us. We had been around the group of kids a lot and saw them at the shows. The kids were fun kids, but we could see that they were nice and polite, so we didn’t feel a need to worry that they would be running wild. We often ran into our grandson and his friends, and we snuck and spied on him where he was. Ha! They were always having a nice time, but behaving!!!!

Our granddaughter loved the Center. The program for the younger kids we thought was excellent. Our granddaughter was not bored there at all! There were such fun activities all throughout the day. Really fun things for them!!! The counselors that we had were lively, sweet to the kids, really tried hard to connect with them and learn what they liked.

They have a big show that the kids do at the end of the cruise for all to come and watch. I think it was even in the big showroom on stage. Can’t remember for sure. Anyway, the kids are learning circus skills all throughout the cruise. They perform a show. They learn what they can for circus skills, according to what they can do. So all kids perform something at their level of comfort! They dress up and all that.

We often saw the kids in a line parading around the ship on their way to do an activity. And boy, oh, boy were the kids happy and smiling and having such a great time!!!! NCL does a good job in our opinion and with the opinion of our granddaughter.

We found out what worked best for us and our granddaughter. We would drop her off. We did not leave her there for long periods of time. She loved the Center, but she also loved hanging out with us. She loved doing the ship activities with us and dining with us. So, we would drop her off at the Center and we would go back and check with her about every 1 ½ hours. Sometimes she wanted to stay at the Center longer, and sometimes she wanted to leave and hang with us. It worked out great that way. She did not want to be dropped off there and feel like she would be stuck there when she was ready to get out of there and do something else! She felt better when we assured her that we would be back in 1 ½ hours to check and see what she would like to do. Our granddaughter got a kick out of going to ship activities with us, and she worried that we would do something super fun without her!

At 10:30 on (can’t remember the end time), the Kids Center has a fee for your child being there. Twice we took advantage of this so that we could go to late night activities. I think we only left our granddaughter there for 1 ½ hours. She really didn’t like that, and I think she even felt a little uncomfortable there after the regular hours. It was because she was only there with a couple of other kids, so I think she was bored with not much to do. Maybe it’s just supposed to be quiet time???? Not sure. But on our particular cruise, not many folks took advantage of this paying feature for after hours. Probably most parents want to get their kids to bed because of having to get up early to get to Port for excursions. We thought the fee they charged was reasonable.

Also, if you have kids that love to swim, make sure to go to the pool the very first day. The Sail Away party would be perfect for this. That is how our granddaughter really got connected with kids and became very good friends for the cruise. They would swim and visit and laugh, and they had so much fun together throughout the cruise. It was great! I noticed that when the younger kids were in the pool they laughed together and really started talking and becoming cruise friends as they hung out swimming.

Your kids will love the Sail Away Part on the Pool Deck! Don’t miss out on this. On the Jewel, Sponge Bob and his friends will be there. There will be the band playing, dancing. They work hard to get the crowd up and dancing and having fun! So it is really very lively, and kids have a super good time! They film the whole thing, and kids love the fact that it’s played over and over on the tv in the cabins. They think it’s great watching themselves on tv. There is also a barbecue on deck, if I remember right.

It was just precious because our granddaughter and her girlfriends would meet for breakfast and luncheon dates! They planned these events all on their own. I was kind of surprised the first time my granddaughter said, “Nana, I have to be downstairs at 9 a.m. tomorrow for a breakfast with my friends”! Okay????? Well, I sure wasn’t going to let her go running off on her own without checking this out. So on her dates with her girlfriends I would accompany her to the buffet. The first time, I was skeptical that any other girls would really show up. But, we walked down to the buffet, and there they all were …. A bunch of young girls! The girls would all sit together and dine. Just like women do! They ate and visited and giggled and had the best time ever! I would sit away from them at a different table.

So if you have girls on the cruise around the 10, 11, year old age, maybe suggest this. They thought it was so “grown up”! They even dressed kind of nice for their luncheons! So very cute!

I really got to know a couple of families of the girls my granddaughter hung out with. Really nice families!! A couple of times the girls got dressed up all fancy in their nicest clothes and had in-cabin dining. They had a party and ordered room service!! So much fun for them!!!!

Then one time in the middle of the day the girls all got their jammies on and had in-cabin dining with room service. For some reason they thought it was so very funny to wear their jammies in the middle of the day and order room service for a party in our cabin!! These girls just had the best time ever!!!!

Also, bring lots of $1 bills for tipping for room service. My grandson would order room service when we were not there. I made sure to explain to him about tipping the person. We kept the $1 bills in the top drawer, and he knew where to get them to tip. Our grandkids thought it was so special and fancy that we could order room service. They loved it when we did it!!!!!

The kids loved playing ping pong with their Papa (grandfather). They begged him often to do that. It got tricky playing when the ship was underway, as the ball seemed to have a mind of its own! How that could be FUN, gosh, I don’t know….. But they thought it was HILARIOUS!!! What a goofy bunch!! I just watched as they tried to play ping-pong in the wind!!!!

There’s a GIANT chess game on deck that kids love. It was busy with players often! There is a game room …. As in board games. But, it was kind of hard to find a game that had all of the pieces. This place was often busy with kids playing games. And busy with families having a great time. I would suggest bringing your own games maybe????? That’s what dh and I did on our next cruises to Alaska. We brought backgammon and our own cards. It was frustrating to be get a game out, only to can’t being able to play because of missing pieces. Maybe bring some of your kids favorite games in travel sized?? There are big windows, lots of table and chair sets. It’s really a nice time in the game room!!!

Then, of course, there is a video game room. And there is a GIANT, GIANT screen in the atrium. The grandkids joined in with playing wii games on this huge screen. They had fun playing, and it was a good time watching others play wii!!! Check the Freestyle Daily for the times for this.

Well, I guess that’s all I can think of from our cruises with the different kids. Hopefully, some of you will find a bit of information that will be useful for your cruises with your children or grandchildren.

[shealea]

Sorry I haven't finished my Alaska cruises review yet. I got sidetracked with doing my Taxes. And also doing some home projects.

 

But, I will be continuing on with my review later today.

[g35girl]

Sorry I haven't finished my Alaska cruises review yet. I got sidetracked with doing my Taxes. And also doing some home projects.

 

But, I will be continuing on with my review later today.

 

Thanks for coming back! I'm looking forward to it!

[shealea]

KETCHIKAN - On our first cruise to Alaska, we did not do a planned shore excursion. My husband and I left the ship, and right after you disembark, there are private tour operators offering you tours. We decided to go on a tour of Ketchikan. It was in a large tour van. A woman that was local to the area. Her and her son ran the family business. There was just another couple and us, if I remember right. I think the cost was $20.

It was a really an interesting tour, with the tour operator narrating what we were seeing along the way. We drove around through town, to some areas just outside of town, along the waterfront. She gave us some interesting details of the way folks here live year round, interesting facts about the town and its history. She brought us to a place on the water’s edge where a lot of bald eagles like to hang out. The tour was probably 45 minutes to an hour? We thought it was worth it!

After our tour, we walked around town, exploring in some of the shops. We walked up along Creek Street. At the start of Creek Street, there were many spawning salmon, with a few sea otter. Walking along Creek Street is a real treat. It’s a wooden boardwalk. There is a lot of history behind this Street, so learn what you can. Dolly’s House is there, which is an old brothel! You can pay for a tour. We didn’t do this, but I would like to another time. You can follow the side streets along the Creek up quite aways. It’s such a pretty area. Stop and take a rest and enjoy!!!!

On our visit to this town with our grandchildren, we mainly walked around exploring, mostly hitting the shops so that they could spend their $$$’s on treasures. We did take a ride up the hill on the venicular/ tram thing. There is a trail you can take up to the top! Very nice view, and we enjoyed it. It used to be free, but now there is a smallish charge. Our two grandchildren loved going off the ship in each Port, and it was a treat for them and not to be missed, that is for sure!! But they really were always anxious to get back onboard. They thoroughly loved the dining, the shows, the activities, just hanging out!!!!

I had read about Totem Bight Park here on Cruise Critic, and it sounded like a wonderful place for dh and I to visit. So we did just that on our third Alaska cruise. We made the visit with dh’s cousin and his wife. After leaving the ship, we proceeded to the Visitor/Information Center right in town. If you are on the Jewel, it was right off the ship, to the left. They told us where to catch the bus to the Park. It was just up about a block and a half. Gosh, I think it was only $1??? Maybe $2? Each way. It’s the city bus, and makes a few stops along the way. One stop is WalMart, so if you need to purchase anything, you could get off, make your purchase, and then get back on when another bus goes through. We enjoyed meeting and visiting with the locals. Very nice folks!! At many times, the bus travels along the water.

We sure enjoyed Totem Bight State Park. After we got off of the bus, we got a guide to the Park. You can follow along in the guide and read the history behind each of the totem poles you walk by. It’s a very beautiful walk through the trees. There is a Long House you can enter. There is the beach. Looking out over the water at the scenery is wonderful.

My cousin and I walked along with a large group. We thought the group was being led by a Park employee, narrating along the way. Gosh, was it ever interesting! Towards the end, we realized we had joined up with PAID EXCURSION!!! Oh, My! We were embarrassed and quickly walked away. But we did learn a lot of fascinating facts! We told our husbands that they should have stuck with us! He,he!

On our bus ride back to town, the cousins and us enjoyed visiting with a local boy. Such a nice kid! Probably about 14 or so. He was taking the bus into town to meet up with his friends. A lot of kids this age probably wouldn’t want to talk so much to us “old folks”, but he was so nice to us and friendly. He told us so much about living in the area, and about everything we were passing. He told us a lot about how folks up there take the ferries around to visit other places in Alaska. It’s really common. He told us about the big buildings and factories we passed.

We got off the bus and walked around town. We ran into this kid again. He was on the pier in town. Him and 3 friends. They were jumping over and over from the pier into the water. It was a pretty nice day, but …….. Brrrr…………….. They were having a blast!!!!! Like I said, this kid was just so nice and so friendly to us on the bus! We stopped and say, Hi to him. He hardly acknowledged us now that he was with his guy friends. We thought that was cute and we chuckled and moved on!! I think he didn’t want us to embarrass him in front of his buddies!

On our cruise last summer, dh and I decided to take the bus again to Totem Bight Park, since we enjoyed it so much the year prior. We decided to do a bit more exploring this time around. If you go up past the parking lot, there is another Totem Pole Park, Potlatch Park. Walk up past the parking lot, and you will see a Totem Trading Store on the right. Check it out! What a neat place! It’s a souvenir store that has so many, many interesting and unique things! Your kids will love it! There are some artifact items. Also some stuffed Creatures! It’s a neat place to visit!!

Then right near the Trading Post is the other Potlatch Park. There’s a totem pole carver, and you can watch him work. We didn’t visit that Park, as dh wanted to catch the next bus back to town, that was soon to be there. We had a nice day and got back on the ship to eat and enjoy the rest of the day!

You can visit this Port and not spend a lot of $$$’s, and have a nice time. We took the bus to the Totem Pole parks. No cost involved besides the bus fare. Walking up and around Creek Street is free. It’s a nice walk along the waterfront, exploring and looking at the boats in the marina. At the Visitor/Information Center, you can pick up a Walking Tour Map. Walk around and learn about the history of the buildings and city. The venicular/tram is very inexpensive. There is a museum and also another Center (can’t think of the name). Prices are not a whole lot. There are a lot of shops with offerings from local artists. We enjoyed seeing all of the art from locals! Such a treat!

[shealea]

Tomorrow I will be posting my thoughts on our visits to Skagway. What an amazing Port, filled with so much history!!! See you tomorrow .......

[CruzLover80]

Thank you soo much!! This is getting me really excited for my upcoming Jewel Alaskan cruise!! All my previous cruising was in the Caribbean and this will be my first time flying west of the Mississippi, LOL. So I'm extremely excited!

[shealea]

Cruzlover80 - Oh my gosh, you will love Alaska! So beautiful!

 

I really loved the Sawyer Glacier. Make sure you view the entire trip in to the glacier. Dh and I were on deck, oh..... I would say about an hour before we turned off to head into the glacier. I told dh we should get a spot for viewing now before everyone starts to get in place. And I think we got the best spot!!! We have an inside cabin so we couldn't view from a cabin balcony.

 

We were up, I think, one deck from the pool deck. At the very front of the ship. We pulled up chairs to sit right in front, up against the plexi-glass. So, we were right up front, in the middle of the ship. And what a great view!!!

 

If you are not going to be on your cabin balcony, get your place on deck pretty early. As the crowds will fill in.

 

They do open the very far forward deck. I think it's the crew deck. Or the Haven pool. Not sure. But, although it's a spot that is way, way up front on the ship, you do have to stand the entire time. The crowds fill in, so unless you are right up front, you will have a lot of people to look around for viewing.

 

That is why I liked our spot so much!! We were right up front, but we could sit in our chairs. I would have had a hard time standing for so long, as it is a long trip.

 

Also, they served salmon chowder in the buffet on Glacier Day. So dh went and got us some. It was really good and warmed us up!! It is cold on glacier day. So dress warm.

 

And you will love The Jewel. I love the size, as it's not so huge as some of the ships coming out!!!!

[CruzLover80]

Cruzlover80 - Oh my gosh, you will love Alaska! So beautiful!

 

I really loved the Sawyer Glacier. Make sure you view the entire trip in to the glacier. Dh and I were on deck, oh..... I would say about an hour before we turned off to head into the glacier. I told dh we should get a spot for viewing now before everyone starts to get in place. And I think we got the best spot!!! We have an inside cabin so we couldn't view from a cabin balcony.

 

We were up, I think, one deck from the pool deck. At the very front of the ship. We pulled up chairs to sit right in front, up against the plexi-glass. So, we were right up front, in the middle of the ship. And what a great view!!!

 

If you are not going to be on your cabin balcony, get your place on deck pretty early. As the crowds will fill in.

 

They do open the very far forward deck. I think it's the crew deck. Or the Haven pool. Not sure. But, although it's a spot that is way, way up front on the ship, you do have to stand the entire time. The crowds fill in, so unless you are right up front, you will have a lot of people to look around for viewing.

 

That is why I liked our spot so much!! We were right up front, but we could sit in our chairs. I would have had a hard time standing for so long, as it is a long trip.

 

Also, they served salmon chowder in the buffet on Glacier Day. So dh went and got us some. It was really good and warmed us up!! It is cold on glacier day. So dress warm.

 

And you will love The Jewel. I love the size, as it's not so huge as some of the ships coming out!!!!

 

Was your spot Aft? Like the adult only area? We are booked on a inside cabin as well. I would love to have a balcony but it was double the price we paid and with flight, hotel and additional expenses we decided to stay on an inside.

[a4ofspades]

I'm thinking Spinnaker Lounge???

[shealea]

Sorry I didn't answer sooner. Our spot we sat at for viewing on Sawyer Glacier Day was right up front OUTSIDE. I forget the deck number, but it was one deck up from the Lido/Pool deck.

 

I think we had the best spot on the whole ship, considering we had an inside room and no balcony for viewing.

 

They do open the deck that is furthest forward on the ship. I think maybe it's the crew deck? Not sure. But you do have to stand the entire time. Unless you are in the very front or the sides of that front deck, you will have a wall of people in front of you. Plus, there is no way I could even stand for the hours it takes to cruise the path into the glacier.

 

If you want to be where we were -- sitting right up front on the deck we were on -- get there early. I think we got there an hour before heading into the fjord to the glacier. We got chairs and sat right down and kept our spot. We were right center of the ship in the front of that deck. Outstanding spot!!!

 

There is plexi-glass, with about a 4" gap on the bottom. My legs got really cold, because the wind whipped up through that gap. And it was COLD. My dh went and got me a pool towel to put over my legs, as I had on cropped pants. That really helped.

 

It does get cold going into the glacier. We didn't bring huge, thick winter coats. But we did pretty good with what we had on. I would bring a jacket with a hood, or a hat, and some lightweight gloves.

 

My dh went to the buffet, as they were serving salmon chowder. He brought us each a cup of that. So yummy and sure warmed me up.

 

You are sure in for a special treat with this Sawyer Glacier cruise. Dh and I even prefer the Sawyer Glacier over Glacier Bay cruise. We have been on both TWICE! We live near Seattle, so we cruise to Alaska often the last few years. I could go back EVERY summer and never, ever tire of it!

[ChristieDPT]

I had to come back and re-read your review...AGAIN. We (DH and I) sail on the Pearl to Alaska in 3 weeks for our first cruise together. I'm so excited and am hating the wait, so reviews and details like this are keeping me from going crazy with anticipation. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences in such detail!

[nancydow]

You mentioned cell service. Did you have cell service in every port? What about on-board WiFi? (I'm sure I can find that info somewhere else, but your review was just so wonderful and complete!)