GoldenRose

I've put a hold on a Haven 2 bedroom suite for the Jewel, since it looks like the Jewel has Nickelodeon activities that the Pearl does not. I know our daughter would like anything Dora related. (Not as much as she likes anything Disney princess related, but we're doing a Disney cruise next December, and she won't see Alaska if she spends the entire cruise in the kids club the way she wants to on DCL.)

We're in the category of needing to sail while the kids are out of school right now. The school our son was at until this year didn't care, and we used to pull him out a couple of weeks a year to travel. (We've been very frustrated this year about our inability to pull him out for travel this year.)

We're definitely restricted to between the first week of June and mid August, and right now we're looking at July since our son already has trips planned in both June and August. His trips planned with grandparents are the reason we were originally thinking we wouldn't do Alaska until next year.

I hadn't thought about booking through a travel agent, or a certain bigbox store beginning in c... we are members, I just always book my own travel so I can control my own reservation. What do you get if you book through them?

Thanks for the info!

The Haven looks really beautiful in the pictures. I have no idea what a reasonable price for a Haven suite is on an Alaska cruise is. We only decided to take this trip this week, so I have just started to price compare. I know the current promo of $300 room credit, plus drink packages, plus specialty dining package looks enticing, but I sort of wonder how much they raised the prices to offer the promo. Does anyone know if the prices and promos right now are particularly good or bad?

We are planning an Alaska cruise this summer, and I haven't sailed NCL in almost a dozen years. We did not like NCL a dozen years ago, and said never again, but we keep hearing that they take good care of their suite guests. We also want to sail out of Seattle. So NCL made it on our short list. We are looking at the Jewel and the Pearl.

If we sail with NCL, we would only sail in a suite. It looks like there are two kinds of suites now, Haven, and regular suites. Is the only difference access to the Haven?

Is the Haven courtyard with pool even usable in Alaska? Is the pool heated warm enough to use? Is the area covered? Are kids welcome in the private pool area? How deep is the pool?

Do Haven and suite guests get simplified embarkation and debarkation in Seattle?

Do they get any sort of reserved seating at shows? Are you pretty much guaranteed any reservations at the specialty restaurants that you want?

Oh, and not a haven question. Can our kids eat with us at various specialty restaurants, or if not, is the kids club open through dinner time and able to feed the kids?

So I voiced my concerns about cruising so early in the season, and going one way north and having to fly back with the 4 year old... And one of the family members suggested that if I have a better suggestion, that she would go with us. On any cruise I want.

So I'm thinking that for traveling with a 4 year old, in and out of Seattle is probably easiest. And we should wait to do the land tour until the littler kid is older.

But all of a sudden, a world of options are available. Which is both good and bad. We strongly prefer suites, and there aren't any suites available on any of the DCL sailings we would be interested in. (Yes, I checked them first. Route aside, with a 4 year old, they are our first choice.)

I'm sort of feeling like "back to the drawing board", but I am more optimistic about doing the trip. I'm researching frantically, and wondering if we ought to look at NCL since people rave about their suite amenities.

Thanks for the links to trip reports!

The route we're looking at is Northbound. (Which, sadly, is also not what I'd prefer to do if I were the trip organizer. I would rather tour first, then cruise, because I find that more relaxing.)

I've been to Alaska, but not in about 25 years (yikes, that makes me feel old), when I was a teenager traveling with, now that I think about it, family and friends. It was a good trip, and one that I still have a lot of stories and memories from. Most of the children on that particular ship and route were the ones traveling in our party, but cruises have changed a great deal since them. Even with not many kids, I had an amazing time.

I know that our 10 year old son will have a fantastic time if we do it. He doesn't care about other kids much on the ship; he adores spending time with family. He also loves photography and wildlife, and whale watching is something he's done and loved and is hoping to do again. He really wants to go to Alaska.

I'm moderately concerned about taking our 4 year old daughter. The 2 cruises she remembers were with DCL, although she has cruised with RCCL as well. She thinks cruise ships comes with lots of children and princesses. And ice cream. She is my kid who would stay in kids club all day every day, if we let her. I assume that there would be a least a few other kids onboard, but the week we're looking at is fairly early in the season. This trip isn't for her, but we would try to help her have as good a time as possible.

I've looked at the shore excursions, and see many, many things that the 10 year old would love doing and be able to do. There are fewer things that the 4 year old can do, and we might have to have one parent take each child on different excursions a time or two.

I hadn't really been thinking about the fact that the destinations in Alaska are that far apart, and that you spend a fair amount of time in a bus. When we did the trip years ago, we rented a car and drove up to Denali, and then we drove to Homer and went deep sea fishing. Both kids are used to road trips (we're from Texas; we do 5 hour drives for long weekends), but we've never done any trips on buses or trains with them. I honestly don't know how they would do.

It's a lot to think about. It isn't the cruise I would plan, if I were just taking my immediate family into consideration. However, there is something to be said for going with friends. If we are going this summer, this is the trip we're doing. I'm just not sure if we should just wait another year or two.

We have the opportunity to take our kids, who will be 4 and 10, to Alaska with RCCL on the Radiance of the Seas. Some friends and family will be on this cruise, and are really encouraging us to join them.

We have been thinking about Alaska for a while, but were planning on waiting until the 4 year old was a little older. We'd also been thinking about doing it with either Princess (who we think does Alaska really well) or DCL (which is our kids' favorite line.)

We think it would be fun to travel with the family and friends who are presently booked on this cruise. However, if we do this, this is the only trip we're likely to make to Alaska in the next several years.

So, would you go ahead and take a 4 year old and a 10 year old to Alaska on Royal Caribbean? We like RCCL, we've cruised with them a fair amount, but they weren't our top choice for this particular route. How is the northbound Radiance route really? We would also try to spend a little time in Alaska, either booking one of the cruisetours through the line or doing it on our own. Are there many kids on the cruisetours, or would everyone in our group look at our kids with horror?

Thanks for the responses! Our school age son will be 10 by the time by the time of the cruise. He is a serious animals, nature, and wildlife fan, and is begging us to do the cruise. He fly fishes, he reads science and nature books for fun, and the highlight of his summer this year was a whale watch day cruise out of Boston. He doesn't care if there are other children around; he wants to see wildlife.

Our daughter will be 4.5, and we are hoping there will be other kids on the ship for her to play with. She is a kids club junkie. (She will be disappointed there are no princesses on the ship, but we're doing another Disney cruise later in the year, and we like the Radiance's route (and the fact that it has an indoor pool), although we are still slightly considering the Disney Wonder Alaska cruise.) As long as there are a few kids her age, she will be happy. We hope she will have a great time, and we plan to do everything in our power to help her have a great time, but this trip isn't designed for her, if that makes sense. (She is the reason we've considered doing a Disney Cruise to Alaska, but that would mean we would miss doing a land tour.)

We want to do this while my mother is still able to really enjoy it and participate. (She's coming with us, as well.) We were planning to wait until our daughter was old enough to do a lot of the activities, but many of them have an 8 year age limit, and I don't know how much my mother would be able to do 4 years from now.

We are definitely planning on Denali if we do this trip. The best memory of my teenage Alaska trip was seeing more than a dozen grizzly bears in Denali, including one with triplet cubs.

Those pictures of Icy Straight Point are gorgeous. Looking at shore excursions for it, there aren't many our little one could do. She could do a whale watching one, but not much else. Is it a good port to just wander around in, or do you really need to take an excursion?

We are seriously considering booking a cruise on the Radiance to Alaska for next summer. We had planned to wait until our daughter was a little older, but some friends of ours are going next summer and we are tempted to join them. I have never been on the Radiance, although we've been on many RCCL ships. (I have done one inside passage cruise from Alaska 25 years ago, when I was a teen, but I only remember a few highlights.) We'd be traveling with our kids, ages 4 and 10. I have a handful of questions.

1. Is the Solarium pool on the Radiance heated, or at least warm enough to swim in, during Alaska cruises, and do they permit children in the area at times since it is the only indoor pool? I can't imagine the outdoor pools would be very pleasant in June while one is cruising Alaska, although if I'm wrong, please feel free to enlighten me.

2. I know there are now specialty dining venues around the ship. Are these adults only?

3. How does RCCL do with naturalists on board and talks about the region and the wildlife? Do they have any, and are they any good?

4. Do people take many (any?) young children on the one way sailings that the Radiance does? Would my kids be just about the only kids on the sailing? (Our son wouldn't care. Our daughter loves having other kids to play with.) I assume they still have a decent number of kids club activities even with very few children onboard...

5. What is Icy Straight Point port? ?

I actually got the Premium Non Alcoholic Package on our cruise, and it was wonderful. I drink a lot of bottled water, I love smoothies, I adore fancy coffees, and while I prefer alcoholic cocktails, I am content with the non-alcoholic versions. I still drank a fair amount of wine, but we just paid out of pocket for it. My husband did not get a drink package, and really wished he had. As much wine as he drank, we might have saved money with a package, and he might have indulged in and enjoyed a few more drinks.

We're definitely going to get some version of the drink packages next time we sail with Celebrity.