Alaska with kids

[hawaii13]

My friend and I were planning on traveling together with our families. When we were single ladies we did the carribean thing. Now we both have families and children. Her kids will be 13 and 15 and mine are 11 and 12.

 

Is Alaska a great place to go with children of these ages?

 

My kids have never cruised before. Would this be a good first cruise experience? (hers have been to the carribean.)

 

I always envisioned that my first nice trip with my children would be to a warm carribean resort or cruise. I am surprised that I am so interested in the thought of Alaska.

 

We were thinking of flying out of Seattle because of cost savings (we live on the east coast)

 

We were also leaning toward NCL due to cost. Is Princess that much nicer?

 

Any thoughts on this are much appreciated. Thank you

[2ndguesser]

We did the NCL Pearl to Alaska from Seattle a few weeks ago. We had children much younger than yours - age 1 to 8. They had a blast and so did we. We loved the NCL Pearl.

 

I would think it would be a great trip for kids of your ages. There are so many excursions I wanted to do but my kids are too young - such as sea kayaking, hiking, glacier dog sledding ect.

 

As far as on board activities on the Pearl - there is a teen center with foosball and movies, computers ect. Rock climbing, many soccer and basketball tournaments. A pingpong tournament. I saw many teens participating in these activities.

[hawaii13]

Thank you so much for your input. We went to a cruise show last night and that was the ship we were interested in, the NCL Pearl. I went totally thinking about sunny vacations and my friend was sold on Alaska. I did a total 360 and am now very interested in Alaska. My kids have never been away like that so I think they are going to be awestruck just from being on the ship. I took my first cruise when I was 20 and I remember then how amazed I was. My oldest daughter is a serious animal lover and huge environmentalist. Alaska will have much for her. Thank you for providing details about what is available on the ship, I appreciate it.

[Yukon]

My oldest daughter is a serious animal lover and huge environmentalist. Alaska will have much for her.

 

I agree that Alaska is a great destination for kids of that age. Be careful, though, that unrealistic expectations aren't built up by the tourist brochures that show animals everywhere. Except for whales, your daughter will largely have to enjoy the fact that off in the endless wilderness she's passing are millions of animals of all kinds.

[hawaii13]

Yukon thank you for your post. We are in the research phase and have so much more to learn before we decide. I assume much of the wildlife, besides the whales, has to be done with onshore excursions - am I correct? I want to make sure the kids won't be bored. This will be different from all the warm places my husband and I have been to. The kids haven't been on any trip like this!

[Yukon]

Y I assume much of the wildlife, besides the whales, has to be done with onshore excursions - am I correct?

 

That's correct (except that the best whale-watching is by excursion too), but there are a lot of excursions that indicate that you'll see lots of wildlife while the actual odds of that happening on some of them are slim. The driest time of the cruise season (late May and early June) isn't good for wildlife anywhere (except marine wildlife), while air bear-viewing tours in late August and September can be exceptionally good (with prices to match - ka-ching$$$).

[hockeydancemom]

My husband and 4 children ages 16, 14, 12 and 9 cruised Alaska this past summer after 3 carribean cruises and are thinking of going back to Alaska again next time. The kids loved it because of the constantly changing scenery and watching for wildlife in the water. I also felt the trip was very educational and fun. They already have been able to share certain facts about Alaska in school this year. Although the climate isn't the greatest we really loved the cruise and I really would like to go back.

[98Charlie]

Hawaii13, DH & I just returned from the Alaska repo cruise on NCL Sun (Vancouver to SFO) and cruised to Alaska on NCL Star 2 years ago in Sept., roundtrip out of Seattle. On both cruises we saw many great excursions that were not only educational but a lot of fun for the children of the ages of you and your friend. Some of those excursions are ones you can do on your own much cheaper than ship excursions and will provide many hours of education for all ages.

 

The lumber jack show in Ketchican is one you can do on your own as well as the bus trip to Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.

 

In Ketchican, a trip to the salmon ladder in the recreated original portion of the city is a great educational experience and it is absolutely free. There are museums that teach the history of Alaska, the lifestyles of people who live there and about the wildlife found there (even if you never see a whale, a bear or an eagle, you can learn about while you sail the waters and visit the ports).

 

When I was about 7 years old I had a babysitter who was in her 60s. She and her husband had pulled house trailers to Alaska for years -- trailers to be used by the workers laying the pipelines back in the '50s. She showed me amazing pictures of their travels. The pics were all in black & white back then and were amazing.

 

I can still hear her voice from so many years ago as she told me I needed to see Alaska to appreciate its true beauty.

 

Took me about 50 years to get there via my first cruise to Alaska 2 years ago but as I disembarked the cruise ship at our first port of Juneau and stood amid the beauty and expanse of the Alaskan wilderness, I could hear my baby sitter's voice in my head -- you have to see it to believe it.

 

I'm a firm believer in taking your young children to as many places as you can while they are young so they can learn first hand how vast the US really is. Makes geography a whole lot easier and makes history classes mean more as they grow up. I think it also makes children aware of why we, as Americans, are so proud of our history as a nation.

 

DH & I enjoy cruising NCL on itinaries like Alaska as the freestyle dining option allows us to stay in port cities as long as we can to soak up all we can in port and not worry about a set dining time on ship. Works for us and can only think that it is good for families with young children so they can learn as much as they can while in port and not be rushed back to the ship to get ready for dinner.

 

Good luck in your cruise choice. No matter what ship or what month you decide to cruise to Alaska you will not be disappointed. You will all come back knowing much more about that great state than you know now.

 

Dianne

[muffy6445]

We did Alaska this summer with our kids, 7 and 10. They loved it! We were on the Sapphire Princess. I haven't sailed on the Pearl, but the kids activities on the Sapphire were great. I would highly recommend Alaska with kids! We added on a few days in Denali on our own via train and bus and that was where we saw a lot of wildlife.

[kenish]

My 15yo and I went to Alaska in July on HAL. Despite HAL's demographic and reputation, there were a lot of teens cruising with their families. My son had fun on board, and there seemed to be a lot of facilities for all ages. He liked it better than his experience on Carnival. Having said that, I'm sure NCL, Princess, or RCCL might have even more to offer kids. But keep in mind that Alaska is port and scenery-intensive and it's more about Alaska than the ship. HAL and Princess are the old incumbents who developed Alaska cruises and have the lion's share of Glacier Bay visits which are permit-limited. HAL uses midsize ships, and I liked the lack of crowds on board and not having to spend 15 minutes getting from one part of the ship to another.

 

It sounds like you're already aware that Alaska is more about the destination, versus the Caribbean which is mostly about the ship and onboard facilities. Read up on Alaska, then find out which cruise lines have the itenerary and prices that meet your needs.

 

The good news is you can't make a "wrong" choice!!

[VikkiGarcia]

My teens enjoyed their Alaska this summer just as much as any of our other cruises. Make sure you check the ages of the teen programs before commiting to a ship. They often are very strict about kids moving into other groups. If the kids just want to hang out together because they do not all fall into the same group, pick a ship with alot of on board activities. We loved the scenery but my 13 year old would look for a second then run off to find her new friends. On the NCL Sun the teen program this summer was 13-17. We saw some 12 year olds a bit upset that they had to go to the "kids club" which on our sailing was 6-12. I could understand them not wanting to be with 6 year olds.

[travelingirl70]

We're booked on the Pearl for August 2009 when my kids will be 13 and 10. I did a lot of research and found that the Pearl worked best for several reasons:

 

1) Round trip out of Seattle makes airfare easier and cheaper

2) Glacier Bay is a must see, so I have heard

3) Lots of fun stuff for the kids - bowing alley, rock climbing wall, Wii on the big screen

4) The cost of a penthouse suite (2 BRs, 2 Baths and a Living room) was just slightly more than 2 connecting cabins. (The price has gone up since we booked, but we got a great deal!) With the suite, we get perks like VIP boarding, butler service, etc.)

[hawaii13]

To Travlingirl70 - Its good to read that you were doing a lot of research too and booked on the Pearl. We were leaning that way due to the kids ages. We still have to research all of the pricing options but the penthouse sure sounds nice - more room for everyone.

 

VikkiGarcia- you bring up a good point too about the kids clubs ages. My 12 year old and even the 11 yr old would not want to be around the much younger kids. I will have to look into that as well. They are both very pre-teen right now!

 

I sincerely appreciate everyone's input. A trip like this takes a lot of research and hubby and I RESEARCH everything we do, almost to a fault. The cruise critic boards helped us tremendously when we planned our last trip so I know I can count on everyone here to help us again. Thank you so much for taking the time to post.

[TMLAalum]

Although we didn't have kids with us, a major reason for choosing the NCL Pearl when cruising w/ youngsters would be the ability to dine at the time you wanted every night, no matter which restaurant you choose (you may need to make reservations for some of the restaurants and pay a surcharge....).