Activities on ship in Alaska

[jb008]

You could also make up some "bingo" cards with lists of things to look for and add things to do and get checked off. Maybe add a little prize or two for achieving milestones as they work through the list. Viewing would work especially well with binoculars

 

Ex:

___ Sea Otter

___ Whale

___ Dolphin

___ Moose

___ Bear

___ Bald Eagle

___ Sled Dog (puppy)

___ Sled Dog (adult)

___ Captain (or Picture w/Captain, Cruise Director, or Senior Officer)

___ Chicken fingers in buffet

___ Eat an Alaskan food

___ Correctly pronounce Tlingit

[akb5k]

You will not be bored! We just finished an Alaskan cruise on the Star Princess and my 5 year old cried the last day because she wanted to live on the ship. My daughter loved the kids club and the ship also had an indoor pool. I liked all the naturalist talks and the Alaskan folk singer they brought on in Skagway. The evening shows were pretty lame, and they didn't have all the characters and family activities we were used to from Royal Caribbean's Oasis class, but we found plenty to do! With as busy as our port days were, I actually appreciated some time to just sit and read while my daughter went to kids club on sea days.

[JoRoy218]

We are taking an alaskan cruise in july heading north bound from Vancouver. I looked at an older princess patter and there honestly doesn't look like really any thing for kids or families to do. We will have kids from 8-13. Even for myself there doesn't look like much. I didn't book this cruise my mother in law is taking us. I am very thankful but worried that we are all going to be bored.

 

We just got off the Coral on Sat. There were two teenagers in our group and I was concerned about that very same thing. The teenagers stayed busier than the four adults did! They started early in the morning and continued all day until 9pm or so. I wouldn't worry about them being bored.

Of course not knowing your interests, hard to figure out what would appeal. Since you've already looked at Patters, you can tell the type of activities. Granted, the activities on port days are not as interesting as sea days and evenings. For example, we enjoyed the big production shows in the main theater, musicians in Wheelhouse Bar, comedians in the smaller lounges, "game show" type events (Marriage Match, Yes/No game, Liars Club), shops in the main Piazza area, Culinary Demo, tour of galley, puppies in the Plaza, on and on. Hopefully some of these things will interest you and if not, doing laps on the beautiful Promenade Deck might be your thing. If you've not been to Alaska before, you should remember it's not always about the ship but your surroundings and the most beautiful country you've ever seen. Enjoy your cruise! Your MIL was very generous to include you!

[sue gill]

we were on the emerald princess last week my 9 year old granddaughter loves the kids club so much to do.my 3 year old granddaughter also had a great time. they have a extra program for the 8 to12 year olds .for 25 dollars they get to do the jr chef program. they go in the kitchen and make a cake they get a little chef hat and apron and pictures and certificate to take home

[Travelbug1978]

Does anyone have the patter's for the 3-7 year old group.

[digger69]

We just returned from the 6/7 sailing of Grand Princess to Alaska from San Francisco. We took our 15 year old daughter with us. Hate to say it, but she was incredibly bored.

 

Yes, Alaska is cool and exciting. The port days and excursions were great. However keep in mind there are a lot of sea days on the trip out of SF.

 

It was announced there were 300 kids aboard of varying ages, and my daughter did meet some kids her age. They tried the Teen club and it was decided it was pretty lame. We asked my daughter and the other teens she'd met if they were watching any of the MUTS or other movies. The consensus was that they didn't come on a cruise to sit and watch movies. Touche.

 

Most of the guests were elderly and I'd say 90% of the activities on board were geared toward them. There was a paper airplane throwing contest and a beanbag toss. Really? That's all they could muster for the kids in the Piazza. The rest of the sea days were filled with Laurence Welk type music in the Piazza. I found this odd since Princess appears to be trying to pull off a coffee shop type atmosphere with the espresso bar and international cafe. You'd think they'd put out some cool jazz, etc. But then again, I don't think families & kids are the target demographic for Princess.

 

Of course as with any cruise, your mileage may vary.

[Coral]

We just returned from the 6/7 sailing of Grand Princess to Alaska from San Francisco. We took our 15 year old daughter with us. Hate to say it, but she was incredibly bored.

 

Yes, Alaska is cool and exciting. The port days and excursions were great. However keep in mind there are a lot of sea days on the trip out of SF.

 

 

I definitely think there would be more issues with RT SFO vs one way cruises. There is only 1 sea day (plus glacier days) on the one way. Your teen definitely had more sea days and if the CD doesn't have their act together, etc.... I also think many teens your teens age fine teens club "lame". I also think some of the port times are poor on the RT SFO cruises.

 

I am not sure if you are from CA - if you are, that makes sense to go out of SFO. For those who are not, I recommend they go directly to Vancouver and not go out SFO if they want to see Alaska because you don't see more of Alaska on the SFO cruises, you just get more sea days.

 

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I just saw you are from CA, so it makes sense why you did the trip you did.

[Travelbug1978]

We just returned from the 6/7 sailing of Grand Princess to Alaska from San Francisco. We took our 15 year old daughter with us. Hate to say it, but she was incredibly bored.

 

Yes, Alaska is cool and exciting. The port days and excursions were great. However keep in mind there are a lot of sea days on the trip out of SF.

 

It was announced there were 300 kids aboard of varying ages, and my daughter did meet some kids her age. They tried the Teen club and it was decided it was pretty lame. We asked my daughter and the other teens she'd met if they were watching any of the MUTS or other movies. The consensus was that they didn't come on a cruise to sit and watch movies. Touche.

 

Most of the guests were elderly and I'd say 90% of the activities on board were geared toward them. There was a paper airplane throwing contest and a beanbag toss. Really? That's all they could muster for the kids in the Piazza. The rest of the sea days were filled with Laurence Welk type music in the Piazza. I found this odd since Princess appears to be trying to pull off a coffee shop type atmosphere with the espresso bar and international cafe. You'd think they'd put out some cool jazz, etc. But then again, I don't think families & kids are the target demographic for Princess.

 

Of course as with any cruise, your mileage may vary.

 

This is the same way I feel. I looked at the latter's and it is very much geared to an older crowd. Things like how to get rid of wrinkles and how to help with back pain. The stuff we would be interested in is all scheduled for port days. Yes there are lots of things to see but we have a lot of sea days and you can only watch glaciers and look for animals for so long.

[Coral]

This is the same way I feel. I looked at the latter's and it is very much geared to an older crowd. Things like how to get rid of wrinkles and how to help with back pain. The stuff we would be interested in is all scheduled for port days. Yes there are lots of things to see but we have a lot of sea days and you can only watch glaciers and look for animals for so long.

 

You have quite a few less sea days then ships out of SFO. And you will be surprised at the 2 glacier days, how busy onboard you will be. On Glacier Bay day, Park Rangers come on board, etc... I think you will be fine on the North Bound routes out of Juneau.

 

I completely understand about the the cruise out of SFO and the teens being bored.