jenninlaca

We were on Harmony in August, our 3rd cruise on Oasis class (first since the pandemic). Ate 4 nights in MDR and found it to be very inconsistent. Short ribs were a stand out, soups good. Didn't like the escargot (very oily), some appetizers were plated poorly and were tiny (yes I know you can order more). So mixed bag up and down. Chops was delicious overall (a few sides were misses, most notably the cheese tater tots which were tasteless). Chef's table was AMAZING. We didn't love Wonderland even though I expected to love it. Pleasantly surprised with Windjammer offerings. Favorite breakfast was Solarium - everything delicious. Next cruise on Symphony we are thinking about getting the Unlimited dining package.Specialities are a bit step up, IMO, from MDR. 

We have the same situation - 2 adults and 3 kids cruising on Harmony in July. We booked one adult and one child in an outside balcony cabin and 1 adult and the other two children in a much cheaper inside cabin (promenade view, Deck 7) across the hall. 

Hi -

We are experienced family cruisers (Carnival, RCL, Disney, Celebrity) with two boys ages 10 and 6. I want to try NCL for a fairly last minute cruise the first week of January. Very excited for the boys to be able to try the water slides (their holy grail!) and the ships look fun. Embarkation on either 1/2 (Escape) or 1/3 (Getaway) works for us. Would you recommend one ship over the other and if so, why? I realize the itineraries are different but I am ok with either itinerary.

Thank you.

I agree that the unlimited package plus prints is worth it at this price. I just took a cruise on Celebrity and the unlimited digital photos were $250 ($50 discount the first few days of the cruise) and $100 more for all prints. We had a large family and they linked any photo to my sea pass that had why member of my family of 4 in it and even ended up linking some extras of other family members. We took advantage of photo opportunities every single day. I ended up walking off the ship with more than 100 prints plus the digital. Well worth it if you commit to taking a lot of photos and have fun with it.

Can you give me any information about Concierge Cabins? We are looking at 8076. The pictures that I'm seeing for this room are quite dated, such as blue & yellow bedspreads. I know when the ship went through the renovation process, aqua class cabins were added. They look great, but since they are located on deck 9, directly underneath the pool & activity deck, I'm leery of taking those. I know there are also Aqua cabins in the back of the ship on deck 11 as well.

 

Do you know if the concierge cabins have been redone as well?

 

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Hi, it is my understanding that ALL of the cabins were redone on Infinity. We had a regular balcony cabin on Deck 7 and it was very nice. My sister in law had an Aqua Class cabin aft on Deck 11 and liked it very much, it was updated. That was very convenient to the buffet and our Deck 7 cabins by the forward stairs could not have been more convenient to just about everything because Deck 7 was so easy to take the stairs everywhere on the ship, never too far up or down.

We have never been on a Celebrity cruise. We are doing Alaska next May, from Vancouver RT. And I have so many questions. I apologize in advance for all the questions! LOL!!

-Can you tell me the approx. prices of the Martinis, and if you had any frozen cocktails too. We have the standard drink pkg. included but we were debating weather or not to upgrade to the Premium pkg. Was it worth it?

-Did you try any of the specialty coffees at Café al Bacio & Gelateria?

-It seems like most of the restaurants have an extra charge. Are the MDR, buffet and room service the only free restaurants? And can you get food other than room service later on at night?

-Are there shops on board where you can purchase Celebrity merchandise and duty free alcohol?

-do they have a drink of the day, and do they have souvenir glasses?

-it says that the drink pkgs. can be used in all restaurants. Do they have someone coming around in the buffet to take drink orders?

That's it for now. LOL!!! Again, sorry to bombard you with questions, but it's nice to hear of someone from the same ship and places we are going!:)

Hi - sorry it took me so long to respond, been on the road for work this past week.

So the martinis were really a highlight of the cruise and I loved the all-martini menu at the Martini Bar which is located on Deck 4 right in the middle between the Rendezvous lounge and the casino. We spent a lot of time there. The bartenders were very attentive and they put on a show with tons of bottle flipping tricks, pouring 3 drinks at once, etc. The martinis on that menu are all $13 I think, and they have a lot of top shelf alcohol at that bar, things like Grey Goose La Poire, Effen Black Cherry vodka, etc. that I love. Seeing that menu and bar on the first day is what convinced me to upgrade my drink package to the premium. For only an extra $7 per day that was well worth it for us because you could not get any of the martinis on the regular package. At dinner there also were several nice wines by the glass that were around $10 or $11 per glass that I would not have been able to get with the standard package. Generally I think if you are just going to order standard well drinks or inexpensive wine you are fine with the regular package, otherwise definitely upgrade!

My other favorite place on the ship was Cafe al Bacio. There were a lot of tables where you could get coffee or tea service with pastries, or you could get it to go. There was never a long line when I went and the coffees were excellent. All of the speciality stuff was included in my premium drink package and non-alcoholic coffees seemed to be included in the regular package. I did not have the gelato. It looked good but there was free gelato all day in the buffet.

In terms of late night food, after midnight I think it is just room service. Yes, the MDR, room service and buffet are the only included options. The other options are SS United States ($45 charge) QSine ($40) and the crepe place which was $10 and had a really interesting menu. We ate at Qsine and had a wonderful meal, very long (about 3 hours for a big group with tons of courses).

***TIP - wait until you board the ship to make your speciality restaurant reservation. The first and second days they were offering 20% off all of the upcharges and they also had a deal where it was $85 to get SS United States, QSine and the Crepe place which was a good deal if you wanted to eat at all 3. There also offered lunches on sea days with lower upcharges.

Re Celebrity merchandise and duty free alcohol, YES, there are many shops located on Deck 4 midship that have jewelry, watches, Celebrity merchandise, makeup, purses and duty free goods including alcohol. The usual cruise ship items. On the last day there was the typical fire sale with tons of stuff offered at big discounts.

Yes, there are drinks of the day each day advertised on the cruise compass but I did not see them really being pushed. Occasionally on deck I saw waiters with souvenir glasses and on Hubbard Glacier day they were offering hot chocolate with Baileys shots in souvenir coffee mugs. But souvenir glasses on deck did not seem to be as big of a thing on this ship as on my prior Caribbean cruises, probably because it is chilly on deck and not that many people are out drinking and at the pool.

In the buffet they do have servers who will take drink orders but they don't come around that often. You can use your drink package for sure, anywhere you can order alcohol they will take your drink package, including all restaurants. if we were going to the buffet I often stopped and got a martini first and then took the elevator right up there.

Ask any other questions you have, happy to respond. Hope you have a great trip!

Thanks! I should have added that embarkation at Canada Place was not too hard although we waited in line for about 30 minutes to check in and the there are multiple passport and customs / security checks before you are on the ship. Not as quick as our Caribbean cruises from Florida. It wasn't chaotic, just took some time. We arrived at the port by taxi around 1115 and which we thought was very early but not early enough to avoid a substantial line. It took us about an hour to get on the ship from arrival.

By contrast the debarkation was unbelievably quick. We just walked off, in group 5 at 815 am. Nobody checked out passport just collected the immigration form. We were off the ship and had our bags less than 10 minutes from when they called our debarkation number on the ship. We had a 1 pm flight and were at the airport by 920 am.

Hi -

I am the designated planner for a Harmony Med. cruise in July 2016 with an extended family group of 20, including children, parents and grandparents. With that many people I am wondering what we should do about dining. Do you know:

1. What is the largest table available in the MDR for traditional dining? (on other ships it has been 12). We could split 10/10 or 8/12

2. Do you think we should even consider My Time Dining? I don't think it is realistic that all 20 of us will be eating together every night anyway and I prefer the My Time dining for flexibility but I am just not sure how we would handle it with such a group.

Thanks for any tips!

Hi -

We are just back from the Celebrity Infinity July 12-19 RT out of Vancouver. I have done a short trip report below and please let me know if you have questions. I got great information on this Board over the past year planning for Alaska for 11 extended family members ranging from age 5-80. Thank you to all who post here and make the planning process fun and easy.

We had a great time on this trip and it was good for all of the ages. I would love to go back to Alaska some day, although we missed the warm weather of a Caribbean cruise! We thought Infinity offered a great itinerary with afternoon ports in Icy Straight and Ketchikan and all day in Juneau. This meant we never had to get up early which was nice. We chose this cruise primarily because we wanted to go RT from Vancouver and also see Hubbard and Celebrity seemed to have the best offerings for a variety of ages as well. We had a stunning Hubbard Glacier "drive by" (10 a.m. to noon, plenty of time for everyone to see from all angles) and 2 beautiful days in the inside passage. Sail away from Vancouver is so beautiful. Seas were very gentle throughout the cruise.

At Icy Strait Point we booked a private whale watching tour which was fantastic. We used Alaska Galore Tours. The Infinity is only in port at Icy Strait from 2:45 to 8:30 or so but there was plenty of time for this excursion as it was only about 3 hours total. I strongly recommend lining up very early for a tender ticket. We got there at 2:45 for a 3 p.m. arrival (which we were told was a good time to arrive) and got tender ticket #15 and it moved very slowly. We would have missed our 4 p.m. meet up with the tour operator if we had not talked our way onto an earlier tender. For the trip we had captain Russell who was great and the boat was beautiful. It was only the 4 of us but there would have been room for at least 2 more people. There was a slight snafu at the meeting time because after booking online we had mistakenly received the instructions for meet ups in Juneau not Icy Strait. But that was resolved and we were on our way, slightly behind the other boats that went out (from various companies). That ended up working out to our advantage because we came upon 2 pods of orcas that the other boats had passed on their way to the humpbacks. The orcas were much more fun to watch than the humpbacks and we were very lucky to see them because often the boats only see humpbacks. The humpbacks were feeding on a shallow food source so they were not really diving deep, meaning no tail shots. But it was great to see them, too.

In Juneau we took the bus to Mendenhall Glacier and hiked to Nugget Falls which was really nice and so easy. This is also a very affordable option unlike most Alaska tours. We bought the $20 tickets right outside in the port for the Blue bus and it arrived every 30 minutes on the hour / half hour. We got a nice narrated tour on the way. The visitors center had a nice film and gift shop and great views, but the best was the 25 minute walk down to the falls. I would have been very disappointed if we had been on one of the ship tours where you stop at the Visitor Center but don't have enough time to go anywhere else. We spent a lot of time down by the falls, our boys loved it. After returning to town we went to the Red Dog Saloon because so many people had mentioned it when we were trip planning. It was packed and an old salty piano player was doing a show that ended up being highly inappropriate for kids but we all just laughed about it. Fortunately the worst parts went over their heads. The food was OK. It was a fun experience but not sure I would feel the need to go back. Juneau had a few large and very inexpensive t-shirt shops so I got the boys matching Alaska shirts and sweatshirts. Would have been a great place to buy a fleece jacket or waterproof jacket if you were in need.

In Ketchikan we shopped in the town and took a seaplane tour to Misty Fjords through Island Wings. Spectacular and definitely worth the money. The weather was touch and go all day but luckily it cleared up in the mid afternoon and we could see perfectly. It got a little questionable again as we were coming back to Ketchikan so if we had been a later tour we may have been cancelled. The town of Ketchikan is absolutely charming - I would like to go there again. We met people who had flown there on Alaska Airlines from Seattle. We had a nice lunch at the Alaska Fish House overlooking the marina. Yummy blackened tacos. We wanted to see the lumberjack show but the times were 2:45 and 4:45 so it didn't happen (2:45 was before we were completely off the plane and our Misty Fjords tour was at 5 p.m.)

Re the ship (Infinity), overall it was good. I have taken 4 other cruises (Carnival, RCI x 2, and Disney) and this was our first on Celebrity. We have two boys ages 10 and 6. They really enjoyed the kids club on this cruise and the staff was wonderful. I liked the ship but I found the quality of the food to be very hit or miss both in the main dining room and buffet and the service in the MDR (second seating) was very slow and at times not at all attentive. For example, on a couple of nights we never saw the sommelier for wine orders until well into the dinner (meaning 45 minutes or more after we had been seated). The drink ordering was strict - the head waiter would not take a drink order. Cocktails had to be ordered through his assistant, who we seldom saw, and all wine/champagne from the sommelier. It was considerably faster to get up and walk to the rendezvous lounge right behind the Trellis (MDR) and get a drink there. We had the premium package. Our server was friendly enough but he often did not take our order until close to 9 p.m. and we were not getting entrees until close to 10 p.m. (after 10 on the first night). We had to skip dessert to make our 10:30 show time. Some of the food was pretty good but much of it was very mediocre. Standouts were the lobster plate (second formal night) and the Branzino, and French Onion Soup (available every day).

Aside from food everything was good. Not to be missed on the ship was Milos, the naturalist/science guy. His talks were really funny and extremely informative, like a college class that you could not wait to attend every week. High level information that he made accessible to everyone. The broadway-style shows (2 of them) were good quality.

We did not find the deck chairs to be hard to get. Probably harder in the solarium since it is covered then out on deck. On deck it is pretty chilly on Hubbard Glacier day. But on the Infinity there are TONS of places to sit and have wonderful views, including the Martini Bar on deck 4, the Rendez Vous lounge on Deck 4, and the wine bar on Deck 5. So many places on the ship have nice views.

I bought the unlimited photo package CD - $250 (which is $50 off the normal $300 if you bought on the first few days) and I paid an extra $100 for all of the prints. I must have left the ship with at least 50 photos of our group (12 in all and they put all of the group shots on my CD even though a few were smaller shots of others in the party, not one of my immediate family of 4 in every one). I more than got my money's worth on this. The photographers were out everywhere and not just on formal nights. It was a treasure trove of family photo opportunities if you took advantage.

We bought the unlimited internet package for $299. It worked OK. I was very disappointed that there was no option to add a second device, like on Royal Caribbean. A huge draw of the packages should be that two adults in the same party can text each other on the ship via wifi. It is ridiculous to pay $299 and have to log the other person out each time (we paid it because we needed the access every day but thought it was too expensive for just one device). By contrast on Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas we have paid $229 for two devices unlimited.

We upgraded our "free" drink package to the premium, mostly because of the outstanding martini bar. That was my favorite place on the ship, just lovely place to sit and look out and get drinks, and it was always lively but not too packed. Great drinks and fast service. Definitely would upgrade again on this ship, also to get the good quality wines.

Let me know if you have questions!

I ask this nearly every time because I just cannot remember. What options are there for pillows on the Infinity. I do remember the beds were definitely ok but should I bring my own pillow? We are also in an inside cabin so probably won't get the pillow menu.

 

Are there any soft or feather pillows that you know of? Just haven't sailed on the Infinity in the last few years.... thanks in advance

Hi - I don't recall being offered options for pillows but I did not ask. We got two pillows each. One was softer than the other so then may have given us two different kinds. One felt like foam and one was softer. I used only the softer one and it was ok.

I get why there is not a discount. They are not trying to encourage everyone with toddlers (under 3) onboard because there is very very little for them to do. Once kids are 3 and up (if potty trained) they get all day access to the kids' club which is a huge benefit, essentially free babysitting and activities throughout the cruise, so that makes up in cruise fare what your child may not eat (compared to an adult).

We have cruised with our kids 5 times now. If anyone asked my advice I would tell them not to take a 20 month old on a cruise, to wait one more year until age 3 when they could get use out of the kids' club. Even a baby is easier on a cruise than 20 months where they want to be active and walk all over the place. You cannot use any of the pools at that age so the child is limited to just the splash area and the few times per day that the play room is open for younger kids (during which the parents have to be there). Not that you could not have a good time but cruising with kids who are slightly older is much better and you get more bang for your buck (both the child and the parents).

So many questions I have!

 

How were the seas? Was it fairly calm?

 

Did you do any excursions at ISP?

 

Are the deck chairs really full during cruising? We are staying in an inside cabin and will want to hang out by a window during the day.

 

Julie

Hi Julie -

Seas were very gentle. Sailing the Inside Passage you are protected, and much of the waters in Southeast Alaska are similar in terms of the protection from the open ocean.

At Icy Strait Point we booked a private whale watching tour which was fantastic. We used Alaska Galore Tours. We had a private boat (for 4) and saw tons of orcas and some humpbacks. Good experience. About 3 hours in length. The Infinity is only in port at Icy Strait from 2:45 to 8:30 or so but there was plenty of time for this excursion. In Juneau we took the bus to Mendenhall Glacier and hiked to Nugget Falls which was really nice. In Ketchikan we shopped in the town and took a seaplane tour to Misty Fjords through Island Wings. Spectacular and definitely worth the money.

We did not find the deck chairs to be hard to get. Probably harder in the solarium since it is covered then out on deck. On deck it is pretty chilly on Hubbard Glacier day. But on the Infinity there are TONS of places to sit and have wonderful views, including the Martini Bar on deck 4, the Rendez Vous lounge on Deck 4, and the wine bar on Deck 5. So many places on the ship have nice views so I don't think you will have an issue.

We just returned from an extended family trip to Canada and Alaska. Several different family units on the trip had purchased some versions of international plans (to work in Canada), and ATT at Sea data plans. We kept our data (of course including roaming) completely turned off and relied on ship wifi only (yes it costs money but there are no hidden charges). Without fail everyone in our group who had these various plans ended up with massive charges they were not expecting. I am not saying that this was the company's fault, in most cases I think my family members did not understand what they had purchased and what all of the hidden charges were. My FIL thought he was covered by his ATT at Sea plan that he paid a lot for and he ended up with $800 in roaming charges because apparently roaming still should have been turned off. Bottom line was that I did not feel any of these plans were a good value, they caused a lot of confusion and problems and the AT&T at Sea did not work well anyway. I will stick with ship Wifi and not make calls unless absolutely necessary.

I always thought you could call the US while in St. Thomas without incurring extra charges, though.

I think you need to consider what you would do on each island. If you do not want to spend time at the beaches, which is a major (probably THE major) attraction on most islands, think about what else you would enjoy doing on each island. They all have different things to offer including interesting sightseeing, activities like horseback riding, diving, etc., boat trips, nice shopping on some islands, etc. Or would you be happy just hanging out on the ship during some port days and relaxing on your balcony, doing activities on the ship?

Hi -

If you have any questions about Infinity's Alaska cruise let me know. Overall the trip was good. I have taken 4 other cruises (Carnival, RCI x 2, and Disney) and this was our first on Celebrity and first in Alaska. We have two boys ages 10 and 6. They really enjoyed the kids club on this cruise and the staff was wonderful. I liked the ship but I found the quality of the food to be very hit or miss both in the main dining room and buffet and the service in the MDR (second seating) was very slow and at times not at all attentive. For example, on a couple of nights we never saw the sommelier for wine orders until well into the dinner (meaning 45 minutes or more after we had been seated). The drink ordering was strict - the head waiter would not take a drink order. Cocktails had to be ordered through his assistant, who we seldom saw, and all wine/champagne from the sommelier. It was considerably faster to get up and walk to the rendezvous lounge right behind the Trellis (MDR) and get a drink there. We had the premium package. Our server was friendly enough but he often did not take our order until close to 9 p.m. and we were not getting entrees until close to 10 p.m. (after 10 on the first night). We had to skip dessert to make our 10:30 show time. Some of the food was pretty good but much of it was very mediocre. Standouts were the lobster plate (second formal night) and the Branzino, and French Onion Soup (available every day).

Aside from food everything was good. Great itinerary with afternoon ports (all day in Juneau), stunning Hubbard Glacier "drive by" (10 a.m. to noon, plenty of time for everyone to see from all angles) and 2 days in the inside passage. Sail away from Vancouver is so beautiful.

Not to be missed on the ship was Milos, the naturalist/science guy. His talks were really funny and extremely informative, like a college class that you could not wait to attend every week. High level information that he made accessible to everyone. The broadway-style shows (2 of them) were good quality.

I bought the unlimited photo package CD - $250 (which is $50 off the normal $300 if you bought on the first few days) and I paid an extra $100 for all of the prints. I must have left the ship with at least 50 photos of our group (12 in all and they put all of the group shots on my CD even though a few were smaller shots of others in the party, not one of my immediate family of 4 in every one). I more than got my money's worth on this. The photographers were out everywhere and not just on formal nights. It was a treasure trove of family photo opportunities if you took advantage.

We bought the unlimited internet package for $299. It worked OK. I was very disappointed that there was no option to add a second device, like on Royal Caribbean. A huge draw of the packages should be that two adults in the same party can text each other on the ship via wifi. It is ridiculous to pay $299 and have to log the other person out each time (we paid it because we needed the access every day but thought it was too expensive for just one device). By contrast on Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas we have paid $229 for two devices unlimited.

We upgraded our "free" drink package to the premium, mostly because of the outstanding martini bar. That was my favorite place on the ship, just lovely place to sit and look out and get drinks, and it was always lively but not too packed. Great drinks and fast service. Definitely would upgrade again on this ship, also to get the good quality wines.

Formal nights were nights 2 and 6.

Thanks!

I have read that Celebrity 7-night cruises usually have formal nights on nights 2 and 6, but I was not sure if this applied to the Hubbard Glacier Vancouver RT.

Thanks

We did a wonderful 3 generation trip last year on Norwegian Pearl, Round trip out of Seattle. It was our 9th trip to Alaska. I chose this ship because it included Glacier Bay and big savings on 8 people flying round trip Seattle instead of Vancouver.We've done every combination of Alaska travel in previous years but for our large family group this was perfect combination of reasonable airfare and great itinerary.

Thanks. We do not want to go out of Seattle but now we are considering the Norwegian Sun Southbound. What do you think of Norwegian as compared to other cruise lines in Alaska?

Thank you so much for all of the responses. A lot to consider. One concern I have about the Northbound is that the ship docks very early and I have heard that the flights from Anchorage all depart around midnight so with young kids we would be looking at an all day layover (albeit with a scenic transfer) followed by an overnight flight. Sounds really daunting and exhausting with younger kids.

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Thanks for the responses. Can't decide if it's worth the extra travel of a 1 way in order to get the slightly better itinerary on Millenium

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I am planning a July 2015 Alaska trip for a multigenerational group (active grandparents, two sets of 40-something kids, and 4 children ages 6-12). I posted before and after doing a lot of research, we have narrowed to 4 options"

CELEBRITY - Hubbard Glacier and Icy Straight Point itineraries

Infinity RT from Vancouver

Millennium Southbound 1-way ending in Vancouver

(Note that Infinity misses Skagway and has only 3-10 p.m in Icy Straight Point)

PRINCESS

Grand Princess Southbound - Hubbard Glacier AND Glacier Bay

Star Princess Northbound - Glacier Bay and College Fjord

Despite doing a lot of research, I am now stumped as to how to choose between these 4 options. All fit our travel dates and the pricing is pretty similar, although the Grand Princess is a bit more $$. I want to choose the best itinerary and ideally the best ship experience for our kids and the rest of the family. I have been on 4 cruises but never been on Celebrity or Princess.

Thanks for the advice! If you could let me know your reasoning behind your recommendation, that would really help me.

Hello -

I am planning a July 2015 Alaska trip for a multigenerational group (active grandparents, two sets of 40-something kids, and 4 children ages 6-12). We are considering either the Infinity RT from Vancouver or the Millennium Southbound 1-way ending in Vancouver. The ports are the same other than the Infinity missing Skagway, and the Infinity having less time in Icy Straight. Is there any reason to consider one of these ships over the other (I realize that the 1-way cruise may involve more airfare cost)? Any special considerations in terms of best cabin locations on either?

Thanks so much! I have taken 4 cruises but never been on Celebrity.

How long was hand train ride from Anchorage to Seward and was it scenic? If you don't mind my asking, how much were your 1-way flights from LAX? We are thinking about this exact cruise next year and live in LA.

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I appreciate everyone's responses - thank you! A lot to think about. I am pricing out some different options including Princess, Celebrity and Disney. Glacier Bay sounds wonderful so I will make sure to price at least one cruise that includes that.

One more question - is going out of Seattle a disadvantage in terms of the itineraries? I know that it can be an advantage for travel costs. I noticed that all of the roundtrip Princess itineraries were out of Seattle, not Vancouver.

We chose Princess for our grandparent/parents/kids group (ages 77 down to 7) this past June, Vancouver NB. We liked their itinerary (including Glacier Bay access) and their long experience in AK. Our kids (11 and 7) LOVED their kids' program and participated in a lot of activities there (including the "junior ranger" educational program on Glacier Bay day, but also a pastry chef class and lots of other fun, dancing, video games, crafts, karaoke, etc). They made friends from literally all over the world -- Australia, UK, Canada, all over US, and went swimming and other things with them outside of kids' program. If you go mid-June or later (when kids are out of school) I think you'll find lots of kids onboard Princess. Their childcare staff on the Island Princess was great.

 

We booked all of our excursions privately, but included things both our kids and the grandparents would enjoy (wildlife, some flying, whale watching). We spent another week+ after the cruise enjoying Alaska on our own. If you can, I highly recommend the 4-5 hour glacier tour on Major Marine the day you dock in Whittier and of course, Denali Natl. Park. We did the 8 hr bus trip to Eileson and the day flew by, my kids and parents did just fine and loved all the animals (grizzly bear!) and going to see the park's working dogsled team. I second Mapleleaves that doing some research (and involving everyone in choosing best shore excursions for your family's interests/abilities) is key. But we'd highly recommend the Island Princess as a great ship for multi-generational families.

Great info, thanks. When did you take that trip? I don't see the Island Princess as an option in 2015 summer but there are other Princess ships of course.