Which ship should I choose for our first Alaska Cruise (2019)?

This will be our very first Alaska cruise. We will be traveling with our three children 7, 9, 12 at the time of travel. All three kids travel well and love port adventures. I am having a hard time deciding which ship and itinerary to pick. We are looking for a great itinerary and an impressive ship. What do you recommend?

This will be our very first Alaska cruise. We will be traveling with our three children 7, 9, 12 at the time of travel. All three kids travel well and love port adventures. I am having a hard time deciding which ship and itinerary to pick. We are looking for a great itinerary and an impressive ship. What do you recommend?

You might consider RCI Radiance northbound itinerary. This is a great ship, itinerary and your kids will find plenty to do onboard.

Welcome to Cruise Critic and enjoy whatever you decide will work out best for your family.

Would you pick Radiance over Ovation?

You might consider RCI Radiance northbound itinerary. This is a great ship, itinerary and your kids will find plenty to do onboard.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic and enjoy whatever you decide will work out best for your family.

Would you pick Radiance over Ovation? The Ovation of the Seas will be there in 2019.

Would you pick Radiance over Ovation? The Ovation of the Seas will be there in 2019.

Personally I would...not a fan of the Quantum class at all (but it will have more to do on it for your kids) however the Ovation will be sailing roundtrip Seattle...not a great itinerary imo.

NCL Pearl could be an option too. Sails out of a Seattle but stops at great ports. NCL Bliss will be fabulous for your kids but is also out of Seattle.

This will be our very first Alaska cruise. We will be traveling with our three children 7, 9, 12 at the time of travel. All three kids travel well and love port adventures. I am having a hard time deciding which ship and itinerary to pick. We are looking for a great itinerary and an impressive ship. What do you recommend?

We sailed on the Radiance in May on the first sailing of the season and loved it. We picked it primarily for the itinerary. It was 9 days and visited 6 ports plus Hubbard Glacier. We spent 2 days in Vancouver prior to sailing and toured Kenai Fjords in Seward before transferring to Anchorage for our flight home.

My recommendation for Alaska is to research the ports and excursions and find what interests your family. There is great information here, on Trip Advisor and the cruise line websites regarding shore excursions. Once you decide on what you want to do, then find an itinerary that spends the most time in the ports you are interested in.

To me, the port times and itinerary are more important than the cruise line or specific ship. Due to the number of port days, longer daylight hours, beautiful scenery, etc., many people find they are only using the ship as a place to sleep, eat breakfast and dinner and as transportation between ports.

As a general rule, one way trips offer more ports and time in ports than round-trip itineraries. Also, if you want to add a land tour before or after your cruise, a one way is what you need.

If glaciers are important, you should also look at itineraries that include Glacier Bay. It is usually accessible by cruise ships while Hubbard and Sawyer ( Tracy Arm) can be skipped by the large ships due to ice and / or fog. There is a great thread on this Board comparing the main glacier options.

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Ditto JT - we chose ports and itinerary first and then decided on what line/ship. We sailed the HAL Eurodam this past September and loved it but it was just my wife and I

Queen Elizabeth is doing a couple of really nice 10 day cruises in 2019 with Tracy Arm and Hubbard Glacier but not Glacier Bay.

I say look for a ship that includes Glacier Bay for your first Alaskan visit.

If your ship includes Vancouver.... plan for a few extra days to take in all the activities. Vancouver ships include the South inside passage.

Also think about which month you are travelling. I like June and July. August starts to get wet before the September storms.

Personally I would...not a fan of the Quantum class at all (but it will have more to do on it for your kids) however the Ovation will be sailing roundtrip Seattle...not a great itinerary imo.

What do you not like about the Quantum class? I agree roundtrip is not ideal.

Queen Elizabeth is doing a couple of really nice 10 day cruises in 2019 with Tracy Arm and Hubbard Glacier but not Glacier Bay.

Wow, the Queen Elizabeth itinerary is fabulous. I took a Mediterranean cruise on the Queen Victoria and absolutely loved it. I really like Cunard, but it is too formal for my kids.

Take the Bliss! Looks like a fantastic family trip.

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NCL Pearl could be an option too. Sails out of a Seattle but stops at great ports. NCL Bliss will be fabulous for your kids but is also out of Seattle.

I've never been on NCL. How does the food on NCL compare to Royal Caribbean specialty restaurants and main dining room? Have you been on NCL Bliss? I think my kids would love the race track.

I say look for a ship that includes Glacier Bay for your first Alaskan visit.

 

If your ship includes Vancouver.... plan for a few extra days to take in all the activities. Vancouver ships include the South inside passage.

 

Also think about which month you are travelling. I like June and July. August starts to get wet before the September storms.

Thank you so much for the tips!

Take the Bliss! Looks like a fantastic family trip.

 

 

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Have you ever sailed on the Bliss? How were the accommodations, food, and service?

Take the Bliss! Looks like a fantastic family trip.

 

 

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Have you ever sailed on the NCL? How were the accommodations, food, and service?

 

 

 

We haven’t sailed on the Bliss yet, but it looks so cool we’ve been considering an Alaska cruise on it, despite the fact that we Live in Alaska. We are headed on our first NCL cruise on the Breakaway next week. I can follow up with thoughts between the two lines when we return, but as many have said before food and entertainment are pretty subjective. I suggest the Bliss because our kids are very close in age, and I know mine would enjoy a bigger ship like the Bliss compared with most of the ships that come to Alaska.

 

 

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Have you ever sailed on the Bliss?

 

No one has. The Bliss is making its maiden voyage in April.

 

My family hated the Quantum class so much that I can't get any of them to go on Oasis with me! IMO NCL's food was better, but obviously that's subjective.

 

No one has. The Bliss is making its maiden voyage in April.

 

My family hated the Quantum class so much that I can't get any of them to go on Oasis with me! IMO NCL's food was better, but obviously that's subjective.

 

Yeah, the Bliss is still being built actually. No one's been on it yet.

 

Interesting that you thought NCL's food was better. Everyone I know who's tried both said RCL was clearly better. It's all subjective though.

We sailed on the Radiance in May on the first sailing of the season and loved it. We picked it primarily for the itinerary. It was 9 days and visited 6 ports plus Hubbard Glacier. We spent 2 days in Vancouver prior to sailing and toured Kenai Fjords in Seward before transferring to Anchorage for our flight home.

 

My recommendation for Alaska is to research the ports and excursions and find what interests your family. There is great information here, on Trip Advisor and the cruise line websites regarding shore excursions. Once you decide on what you want to do, then find an itinerary that spends the most time in the ports you are interested in.

 

To me, the port times and itinerary are more important than the cruise line or specific ship. Due to the number of port days, longer daylight hours, beautiful scenery, etc., many people find they are only using the ship as a place to sleep, eat breakfast and dinner and as transportation between ports.

 

As a general rule, one way trips offer more ports and time in ports than round-trip itineraries. Also, if you want to add a land tour before or after your cruise, a one way is what you need.

 

If glaciers are important, you should also look at itineraries that include Glacier Bay. It is usually accessible by cruise ships while Hubbard and Sawyer ( Tracy Arm) can be skipped by the large ships due to ice and / or fog. There is a great thread on this Board comparing the main glacier options.

 

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Your suggestions are very helpful! I am also just beginning to research for our first Alaska cruise! Thank you!

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Your suggestions are very helpful! I am also just beginning to research for our first Alaska cruise! Thank you!

 

 

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Thanks.

One thing I would also add is that if you have primarily cruised in the Caribbean, be prepared for "sticker shock", especially on excursions. There is very little, if any, savings between the ship and independent pricing. What you usually gain with the independents is a smaller group and potentially more time on the excursion.

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Thanks.

 

One thing I would also add is that if you have primarily cruised in the Caribbean, be prepared for "sticker shock", especially on excursions. There is very little, if any, savings between the ship and independent pricing. What you usually gain with the independents is a smaller group and potentially more time on the excursion.

 

 

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That is so true even with the price of the cruise. Which excursions in Alaska are your favorite? I'm looking at the Royal Princess southbound itinerary.

That is so true even with the price of the cruise. Which excursions in Alaska are your favorite? I'm looking at the Royal Princess southbound itinerary.

Alaska is definitely not cheap, but it is an amazing place. My first trip I skipped a few things I really wanted to do because of price, and regretted it later. I realized that it cost too much in both time and money to just get to / from Alaska to worry about saving a few hundred dollars by giving up an experience I would remember the rest of my life.

Here are excursions we did and enjoyed:

Anchorage

If you have a chance to get to Anchorage at least 2 days ahead of time, I recommend taking the Alaska Railroad to Seward and doing a Kenai Fjords cruise. I would recommend a minimum of the 6 hour tour and preferably the 7.5 tour. You can take the train or bus back to Anchorage.

We booked a transfer from Anchorage to Whittier with a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Refuge on the day the ship departed.

Skagway

Our favorite excursion here was a Bus / Train Combo trip to Emerald Lake with Chilkoot Tours. We did the bus first and added the dog cart ride at Caribou Crossing.

Juneau

Our favorite here was the Tracy Arm excursion with Adventure Bound. You may be tight on getting back before your ship leaves, based on the schedule I saw (6:30am - 5:00pm). You may see if your ship offers a Tracy Arm excursion, then you have no issues since they will wait for you.

If timing doesn’t allow Tracy Arm, book a whale watching trip on one of the smaller independent boats. A visit to Mendenhall Glacier and Mt. Roberts Tram are also good options that can all be done with your port times.

Ketchikan

We did a kayak tour with Southeast Kayaks and then walked Creek Street, Married Man’s Trail and saw the fish ladder. Ketchikan is a good place to do shopping for souvenirs as well.

Vancouver

If you have the time (and budget) spend at least an extra night or two in Vancouver. We enjoyed the Hop-On-Hop-Off tour that included Stanley Park, downtown and other areas. We also took a combo tour of Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

Whale watching is still my favorite excursion out of all I've ever done (haven't done any cool helicopters or dog sledding on glaciers or anything super expensive like that). I've been whale watching in many different areas. The Alaska trip was still the best.

Trying to figure out how to do it again (round trip cruise this time so planning due to short time at port is making things harder).