Alaska Excursions

[jamakepahu]

I am planning a family trip summer of 2021 to Alaska with children 7 to 17 years old.  Looking at several cruise lines and wondering who has the best excursions for Alaska.

Thank you,

 

[thegoaliegirl]

All of the cruise lines will have basically the same excursions, so don't pick based on excursions. A lot of excursions  can be booked directly with the tour company as well. My kids are 6 and 8 and everyone in my family loves Princess and the kids especially love the kids club. They do a lot to entertain the kids but Princess doesn't have a lot of the extras (go carts, climbing walls, water slides, etc), so decide if that is a factor. Pick based on the cruiseline and itinerary (I prefer Glacier Bay and a Southbound voyage from Whittier/Seward to Vancouver so that you have 2 glacier days and can see more of Alaska pre-cruise.) 

[cb at sea]

I'd pick based on what you want to do and see in Alaska......after all, this trip is less about the ship than the destinations!

[kitkat343]

You want private excursions in Alaska - it will save you a little bit of money, and let you control the itinerary.

 

Your kids are old enough to do the Deadliest Catch tour (minimum age 5) and that was fascinating http://alaskacrabtour.com .

 

Also, http://temscoair.com is the subcontractor that provides the helicopter to dogsled  on top of a mountain excursion.  It's extremely expensive, but a wonderful experience.  You will save some money by booking directly with them but will need to research if everyone will be able to walk there, or if you should get a cab for transportation.

 

Princess lacks the laser tag/bumper cars/other exciting stuff your 17 year old might like, but does a really good job in Alaska and has a great kids club (that would be more appreciated by your younger ones).  They have really interesting on board experiences for alaska (including playing with puppies) that they explain here:  https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises/onboard-experience/

 

We did this cruise when I was pregnant with my first, so I didn't choose based upon kids but in general the consensus seemed to be Princess and HAL did the best job in Alaska, and my family has found Princess to be more kid friendly than HAL.  We did all independent excursions, and you can look at my signature line to see what we did.  You also might want to post on the Alaska board to get more ideas.

Edited January 24, 2020 by kitkat343

[M2LR]

Looking at itineraries I think Princess and HAL have the best (possibly some other luxury lines as well but those are out of the price range I've looked at) and I am someone who loves Carnival/Royal Carribean in the Caribbean, NCL in Hawaii. I agree that Princess is more kid friendly that HAL. We use Princess when I was a teen and was able to meet other kids my age and have a lot of fun, my FIL cruise HAL exclusively and has said there really aren't may kids at least when he goes maybe summer would be a little better. 21 years later what excursions do I remember the most from that first cruise to Alaska as a kid? I remember the puppies, lol, we visited a dog sled training camp and going fishing. From the land portion I remember the train ride which was amazing as well as staying a resort that had a McKinley view so take that with a grain of salt but that is what stuck with me.

[atobols]

All cruise lines have pretty much the same excursions.  I would choose which line based on what you want while on the ship and the itinerary which looks best to you. 

 

We cruised to Alaska last summer and we're going again this summer.  My kids are 11 and 13.  They are all about the water this year so we've booked all of our excursions privately rather than through the cruise line.  We're doing whale watching, canoeing to a glacier, and a rafting trip through an eagle sanctuary.  Last year we rented a car to drive up to the Yukon, went whale watching, hiked, and visited an eagle rehabilitation facility.  The whales and the eagles were the highlight of Alaska for them.  This year they wanted to focus on excursions where they would see more of them.

Edited February 16, 2020 by atobols