Alaska with kids

[anditrilaw]

Has anyone ever done Alaska with kids? Ours will be 13 and 10 next summer. They have been on at least a dozen cruises before and are well behaved and enjoy it. We did Canada/New England on RCL last year and they loved it. Any suggestions of itineraries and/or ships would be appreciated.

 

Thanks:)

[kitty9]

Alaska is perfect for kids that age. They will love the tours and wildlife. Make sure to see the glaciers, if you can afford it, one of the flightseeing trips is well worth it, do a whale watching tour or the tour where you get to ride a real sled pulled by the sled dogs.

[Almagetty]

Alaska is an absolutely wonderful trip for your kids at this age! Our DD's and the kids from the other family traveling with us really enjoyed taking the tram up to Mt. Roberts in Juneau and hiking the trails up there. (We are definitely not the great outdoorsy type, so it wasn't really overly strenuous!). The absolute highlight of their trip was our helicopter/glacier trek, also in Juneau, which we arranged through NorthStar Trekking. We did the Level 2 Trek. It is very pricey, but so very worth it. It is probably the coolest thing we've ever done!!! Save your pennies, if need be and do this. We all loved our floatplane trip to Misty Fjords with Michelle from Island Wings in Ketchikan. It was our first port and our first shore tour in Alaska. I think if it had come after the glacier trek, it would have had a bit less of the "Wow" factor. Up in Seward we did the Kenai Fjords boat trip, which was beautiful and I would recommend. Alaska is breathtaking! Enjoy every minute . . .

[mjmalino]

We went to Alaska this year with our boys (9 and 8). They absolutely loved it! As was already mentioned, the helicopter/glacier trek was the highlight of the trip. My kids are really into totems, so in Ketchikan, we hired a cab for a couple hours and he took us to Totem Bight State Park and a rainforest. They kids really loved this as well. Whale watching was also cool, but one of my DS got a little impatient where there was nothing to see or when we were waiting for the whales to resurface, which could take up to 13 minutes.

[Kerry's Girls]

My family took my sister and I at around that age (wayyyyy before there were kids programs on Alaska cruises). I still treasure the memories of that trip - especially the rafting excursion we did together as a family. It's a perfect choice, and I hope to take my own kids next year, and every few years after that.

 

Have a great time!

 

Best,

Mia

[Keith1010]

When our kids were these ages we took them to Alaska. They had a wonderful time and we then went back the following year.

 

For those two years we took them on Celebrity Cruise Lines which provided a nice experience for the entire family. The have a nice chldren's programs.

 

For your first Alaska cruise if you do not want to stay up in Alaska then I would recommend an inside passage cruise from Vancouver. If you can, fly to Vancouver a couple of days prior to the cruise. It's a beautiful city with lots to do for everyone.

 

We took the children Whale Watching and they really enjoyed it. We also went Salmon Fishing and whether you have fished before or never done it the captains are very helpful. They usually put six people on the boat so if it is the four of you they will add to other people. You can even have the salmon sent back home. It was a nice family day as are all of the others when we cruise.

 

I highly recommend this trip.

 

Keith

[Onessa]

Splurge on some sort of a flight-seeing or glacier trek excursion. We flew to a dog camp on a glacier outside of Juneau and DD got to drive the sled -- she was not quite 9YO, and still rates this as one of the top five things she has ever done in her life (she's now 12YO and HAS done quite a few things that I consider REALLY cool).

 

We've done whale watching tours elsewhere, but I have heard AK's can be really great.

 

There are some really cool things to do that aren't expensive as well -- Jr. Ranger programs at the national parks in Sitka and Skagway, a really nice walking tour of native totum poles in Ketchikan. The cost of the ride up Mt Roberts in Junaeu is pretty small - and as others have suggested the hiking up there is really nice.

 

IMO - AK is one of the best cruise destinations for families. Have a great time!

[anditrilaw]

Thanks for all of the feedback! I think we are going to go for it! Anyone have an opinion on the following ships: Serenade of the Seas, Star Princess, Norwegian Pearl or Sun, Celebrity Mercury or Rhapsody of the Seas? I love RCL and am platinum so I am leaning toward them.

 

Andi

[Dengail]

I would suggest a ship itinerary that goes only one way thru the inside passage and then the train back. That way you get more port time, not just sea days for cruising. It's all about the port activities in Alaska. We got off the ship in Juneau and arranged our own heli trip- saved some money, and there are lots available. Thru RCC we took a crab excursion that was tremendous and a whale watch excursion that was exceptional, and the gold rush train up the mountains was fantastic too. Find the best excursions, read lots of posts here and anywhere else on line, do your homework and if you can afford it DO A BALCONY CABIN, there is so much scenery in Alaska and so much daylight. We just had an inside cabin so much of our time was spent up in the top lounge- wonderful, uncrowded best place for spotting wildlife and we saw A LOT. BRING BINOCULARS! and cameras with super zoom lenses. We took the most fantastic pics. Your kids will love the excursions especially.

[Almagetty]

Hi again Andi:

 

Of the ships you mention, I would highly recommend the Norwegian Pearl. We were on this ship last December and will be back onboard for Thanksgiving. The ship is not even a year old and it is wonderful. Freestyle dining works really well in Alaska, since it is so port intensive and there are so many hours of daylight where you could be looking at the beautiful landscape as you sail by. With Freestyle, if you will be cruising through a particularly beautiful place at a certain time, you don't have to worry about missing dinner if you linger too long.

 

More important than the ship, though, is to make sure that you are on an itinerary that includes Glacier Bay. They allow very few ships into Glacier Bay per day and it is, by far, the most spectacular glacier viewing that you will experience from a ship. Secondary to that, I would prefer a sailing out of Vancouver over a sailing out of Seattle, since some of the Seattle ships don't cruise through the Inside Passage.

 

I second the recommendation for a balcony stateroom, if possible.

 

Happy cruising!

[wa.mama]

Things my 11 and 13 yr old did on their alaskan cruise -

 

pan for gold

ride a dogsled

hike a glacier

rock climb (real rocks, not ship fake walls)

fish (caught one king salmon, two halibut)

bear-watched

whale-watched

Mt Roberts tram for hiking

Sealife park

 

Plus all the disco-dancing, video game playing, ice cream eating and movie watching they could ever want. It was great. They would go to Alaska over the Caribbean any time.

[Onessa]

Select your ship primarily by itinerary:

1) choose RT or one way. One-way lets you add time in AK. RT is very convenient and generally less costly.

2) research and select "must sees". We are planning a cruise for some of my DH's extended family. They are of Russian Orthodox heritage -- so Sitka (the Russian Capital of AK) is a must have for that cruise. Sitka is not on a whole lot of itineraries anymore so that cut down our options rather quickly!

3) use things like glacier preferences (Hubbard vs glacier bay), amount of time spent in port vs at sea and the like to narrow down further.

4) finally use line and/or ship preference. (I really like RCCI's Radiance class ships for this cruise because of all of the glass and great views)