What to do in Alaska

[dianelevene]

We are planning a cruise to Alaska this summer. We have two daughters who will be 5 and almost 6 by the time we cruise. I would like to know if anybody else has taken their kids on an Alaskan cruise and how they enjoyed it. Also, what excursions would you recommend for families? I am considering doing the whale watching tour in one of the ports. Has anybody done this? I would love some advice so I can plan our trip so that we can all enjoy it.

 

Also, my older daughter will be celebrating her birthday during the cruise. I am planning to pack a couple of small gifts for her to open but of course we will do her birthday party before we take our trip. Does anybody know if NCL will provide a birthday cake for her on her actual birthday?

 

Thanks!

[kitty9]

I think Alaska is one of the best cruises for families. There are tons of things to do like whale watching, walking on glaciers, biking, hiking, taking the White Railway Pass train ride, boat tours that look for seals and sea otters, and many other great things.

 

You can tell your waiter that it's your daughter's birthday and they will have a cake prepared for her, and the waiters will sing happy birthday.

 

If you take presents, remember not to wrap them, as the security people at the airport will open the suitcases and unwrap the gifts to inspect them.

[merela]

We are planning a cruise to Alaska this summer. We have two daughters who will be 5 and almost 6 by the time we cruise. I would like to know if anybody else has taken their kids on an Alaskan cruise and how they enjoyed it. Also, what excursions would you recommend for families? I am considering doing the whale watching tour in one of the ports. Has anybody done this? I would love some advice so I can plan our trip so that we can all enjoy it.

 

We didn't do any paid shore excursions. We did some research on the internet (and this board) ahead of time and just did our own walking excursions.

 

I would suggest the adults do the whale watching excursions and leave the children behind at the kids' club on board.

 

My 5YO DD went with us to Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria, but decided that she wanted to stay on board in the kid's club the day we went to Ketchikan.

 

We found one of the buses and talked to the driver to let the kids on for free and went to the Mendenhall Glacier. We didn't buy a roundtrip bus ticket because we wanted to be on the first bus that came by when we stand at the bus stop. Again, we talked to the bus driver and paid him instead of at the booth.

 

Skagway was fun because the town was very cute. The Skagway train is a long ride (3hours), so we didn't do it. But the Park Ranger there gives free talks and tours the town at 10am, then at 11am which we took advantage of. We also went shopping at the Alaskan T-shirt Co. which was tons of fun since it was at the end of the season and we got lots of stuff at 50% off.

 

We also walked around Ketchikan and followed a river upstream and saw tons of salmons trying to jump upstream.

 

I didn't go to Victoria because I've been there several times already, but DH took my 5YO with him and just walked around downtown Victoria.

 

My kids don't really have memory of the places we visit, but the older child got a great geography lesson by looking at the State of Alaska.

 

HTH.

 

 

 

 

We are planning a cruise to Alaska this summer. We have two daughters who will be 5 and almost 6 by the time we cruise. I would like to know if anybody else has taken their kids on an Alaskan cruise and how they enjoyed it. Also, what excursions would you recommend for families? I am considering doing the whale watching tour in one of the ports. Has anybody done this? I would love some advice so I can plan our trip so that we can all enjoy it.

 

Also, my older daughter will be celebrating her birthday during the cruise. I am planning to pack a couple of small gifts for her to open but of course we will do her birthday party before we take our trip. Does anybody know if NCL will provide a birthday cake for her on her actual birthday?

 

Thanks!

[Kaylas Mom]

We first went to Alaska when our daughter was 7 and she loved it. For her, the highlights were gold panning in Juneau and visiting the Seavey's dog camp in Seward. She also enjoyed the aquarium and the Kenai Fjords boat trip in Seward. In Ketchican, she loved taking the funicular up to see the totem poles and we did a tiny bit of fishing off the dock. In Sitka, she liked seeing the eagles and did most of her shopping there (I think it was Woolworths)

 

We went to Alaska with RCCI and I thought the kids club was excellent. In our humble opinion, we didn't think much of NCL's kids' club on our cruise with them in Hawaii on the Star. The counselors didn't put forth much effort and just parked the kids in front of videos. I hope you have better luck!

[dianelevene]

Thanks for all the information. I am so overwhelmed by all the choices of things to do in Alaska that I don't know how to start choosing what we want to do. I think my DH and I will take a helicopter or flightseeing trip but I don't know if we will take our girls. It is such an expensive excursion and I am not sure they will remember it. I think my girls would love the whale watching tour in Juneau and I think they would like to see the eagles. They both really like animals and nature. I also think we will make sure to see the totem poles. I am not sure what else we will do.

[NCmom]

My DD loved the whale watching excursion we took. Sge was 10 and the only child on the boat, so she got lots of attention. We saw lots of activity and wildlife.

 

In Ketchikan, we went to the Lumberjack show--campy, but fun. I saw younger children really getting into the show.

[kitty9]

The only negative about the whale watching is how rough the ride can be on the small boats. Don't let the little ones go outside on the deck, and it would probably be a good idea if they sat the entire time. I know it's tough to keep kids sitting when they're so excited, but a number of people fell down on our boat, and the water can be very rough, depending on how far they go out to see the whales.

[dianelevene]

My DD loved the whale watching excursion we took. Sge was 10 and the only child on the boat, so she got lots of attention. We saw lots of activity and wildlife.

 

 

Which port did you go whale watching from and which company did you use? I am considering going with Orca Enterprises (Capt. Larry) in Juneau.

 

In Ketchikan, we went to the Lumberjack show--campy, but fun. I saw younger children really getting into the show.

I am pretty sure we will go to the Lumberjack show too. I think my girls will love it.

[dianelevene]

My DD loved the whale watching excursion we took. Sge was 10 and the only child on the boat, so she got lots of attention. We saw lots of activity and wildlife.

 

In Ketchikan, we went to the Lumberjack show--campy, but fun. I saw younger children really getting into the show.

 

Which port did you go whale watching from and which company did you use? We are thinking about doing Orca Enterprises with Capt. Larry in Juneau. Thanks!