Alaska cruise with toddlers

[Annjem]

My boys will be 4 and 5 when we plan on taking a cruise to Alaska.  After reading a few reviews, it sounds like Glacier Bay is a must see.  The 3 cruise lines that go there are Princess, Norwegian, and Holland America.  Out of the 3, which would be most enjoyable for my kids?

[1025cruise]

For Alaska, I would stick to Princess or Holland America. However, there might not be many activities for the kids on those lines.

[kitkat343]

Princess is great for small children.   They have an outstanding kids club and do a really good job in Alaska.  I’ve only sailed princess’ older ships (coral) which don’t have a lot of fancy water slides or amenities for kids, but my son was 2 and loved the kids club and wandering around the ship.   Hal has a kids club, but it’s hours are more restrictive and they didn’t do as many great activities as princess (we were on the Ryndam, on a cruise to Guatemala that didn’t attract many families so others on this forum had a higher opinion of the kids club on Hal.  I thought it was pretty good, but not great (most activities were of the drawing on paper plates kind, whearas they did a lot of great art projects on princess.  I don’t know if they still do this, but at one point princess had a naturalist come aboard and tell the kids all about the wildlife they’d see in Alaska in the kids club).  

 

I would recommend booking tours independently, as that saved us about 10 percent each and tours are pretty expensive in Alaska.  

 

One of our favorite tours was the Bering sea tour, where you learn about crab fishing in Alaska.  It was really interesting and interactive, although the minimum age is 5.  The boat is really calm and there is a space that sells food in the back so your kids don’t need to stay seated.  

 

the Helicopter to dogsled on a mountain excursion was incredible. The cruise lines subcontract this excursion to temsco, and they told me you should do this in Skagway, not Juneau since the weather is more stable there. Also book in the morning since they try to squeeze people in if possible later  if your original time slot is cancelled due to weather.  

 

There was also a nice tram called the mount Roberts tramway, which easily takes  you to the top of a mountain with beautiful views and easy hiking paths.  There’s a restaurant and areas to explore on top of the mountain.  

Edited January 28, 2019 by kitkat343

[kitkat343]

sorry - tried to edit my previous comment but it timed out.

 

I realized you also asked about NCL.  Generally, people recommend Princes and HAL for Alaska, since they've had a very strong presence there for many years, and they both have  Panamax ships that were designed to be narrower so they could fit through the original dimensions of the Panama Canal.  Because these ships are narrower, they can get closer to the glaciers in Glacier bay.  But at least on Princess, I believe the two Panamax ships (Coral and Island) generally do one way trips from Vancouver to Anchorage.  If you are doing a roundtrip from Vancouver or Seattle, there might not be as much of an advantage to be on Princess or HAL, although you might want to ask people in the Alaska forum their opinion on that.

 

NCL has an excellent kids club.  My son was 3.5 and he loved it - he got to be a little tiger on a show in the mainstage with all the kids club children, and they did face painting and lots of fun activities.  The only downside is that NCL kids clubs are closed from 12-2, and 5-7 on sea days and I believe they close from 5-7 when there is a short port day.  This makes dinner a little more challenging, since on Princess you can start eating at 5 or 5:30, drop off the kids as soon as they start to get whiny since their kids clubs reopen at 6, and then have a relaxing rest of your dinner without your kids.   On NCL you need to entertain your kids until 7, which is a little more challenging if you want to eat at a specialty restaurant and go early so you don't risk disturbing too many other customers.  We sailed on the NCL star, which is an older ship.   On the star, there were very few amenities for children, and the kids pool was really crowded during the 4 hour kids club closure.   There were long lines to check kids in when the kids club reopened.  On a newer NCL ship, it might be easier since there are more amenities for children, and the kids may be more spread out during a kids club closure.

 

 

[pettums]

We have done the disney wonder cruise twice. It was stunning. I would prioritize that over other cruise lines in Alaska for my first cruise. 

[thegoaliegirl]

My daughters were 5 and 7 on our last cruise and they loved the kids club on Princess. It was a short cruise, mainly because we wanted to do a trial run of how cramped we would be in a quad room before we go to Alaska this summer. They had a blast and did a LOT of art projects, saw a magic show, had lots of time to play, etc. Before they were even off the ship, they were begging to go on another cruise. We are going to Alaska on Princess in August. Hubby and I have done several Princess cruises, so it was nice to get their approval as well.

[Tapi]

Just for clarification, your title says “toddlers” but then you mention that your children are 4 and 5 years old. When you say “toddlers”, are you referring to them?  I’m asking because for the purpose of the kids club,  toddlers are normally 0-2.

 

That aside, I cruised to Alaska with my kids when they were 13 months old and 4 years old. We sailed on Holland America. One of my kids was too young to go to the kids club and the other one didn’t care about it. Unlike other cruises that we’ve taken on other cruise lines and regions, where we spend more time on the ships and were our kids spend a considerable amount of time at the kids club, on this cruise we didn’t miss it. We had long days ashore and usually, by the time we got back to the ship, all we cared about was to have dinner, sometimes go see a show, and go to bed. The kids were normally wiped out to do much more. 

 

Alaska is truly going to be about the itinerary, so do place emphasis on ports of call and time ashore before anything else. I recommend that you don’t sacrifice itinerary for the sake of a better kids club. 

 

We had an absolutely fantastic time on Holland America, and the itinerary was wonderful. For us, the highlights were Glacier Bay and Sitka. But if I had been selecting a cruise solely for kid activities, Holland America would’ve not been my first choice. Of all the cruise lines that we’ve sailed on with our kids (Princess, Royal, Carnival, MSC, Disney, Holland), we found them to be the most “adult oriented”. A handful of older, crotchety fellow cruisers (traveling without children or grandchildren) gave our kids the stink eye even when they were being perfectly still and quiet. 

 

You may be tempted to look at Disney, but respectfully, I wouldn’t pay the high premium prices that they charge, specially when their itinerary isn’t as good as on other cruise lines (and it skips Glacier Bay). Don’t get me wrong, we loved sailing on Disney in the Caribbean and my kids thoroughly enjoyed and participated on everything that Disney had to offer, but once again, the focus on Alaska is different. 

 

Now, to answer your question about which of those specific 3 cruise lines would probably be the best for young kids without taking anything else into consideration, I’d go with NCL, then Princess, then Holland America. No matter which cruise line you select, I’m sure the entire family will have an amazing time in Alaska. It’s truly a wonderful destination.