Help please! Alaska with 6 & 2 year-old boys... Glacier bay?!

Hello! In 2019, my husband will celebrate his 40th birthday and we would like to go on an Alaska cruise for that special occasion. We want to go as a family with our two sons (2 and 6 at the time of travel). I'm a teacher, so I can only travel during the summer holiday.

We plan to do a round-trip cruise (flights to Anchorage from Montréal seem too complicated with young kids .... and expensive) from Vancouver (maybe Seattle).

We will book a balcony (for the naps, earlier bedtime for the boys and sights).

We first planned to go with Disney, but their prices are so high and we want to do some excursions.

The inside passage seem very interesting and I keep reading that Glacier Bay National Park is a must.

My sons's first language is French. My oldest understands English, but he is not bilingual, so I'm not sure he would like to be dropped-off at a kids club if I can't stay with him or at least stay nearby. Therefore, the kids club is not a top priority, but it would be nice to be able to enjoy the installations with them.

For now, it seems that only HAL have that combination: Vancouver - inside passage - Glacier bay during the summer months. Am I mistaken? Should I consider an other option in your opinion? Hubbard Glacier?

We are avid travellers (my youngest had a plane ticket with his name on it before he was born), but it will only be our second cruise, the first one was with Royal Caribbean.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions!

Glacier Bay is visited most often by HAL and Princess, but the Norwegian Bliss appears to offer a round-trip from Seattle that includes Glacier Bay in 2019. I also found this website that lists all cruises that visit Glacier Bay:

http://www.cleancruising.com.au/port.asp?port=USGLB

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Princess has a huge foot print in Alaska. They sail to Glacier Bay from Seattle and also have Camp Discovery.

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I applaud you for taking your young boys. I traveled with my boys as a single Dad when they were slightly older (4,7) and they rarely went to the kid's clubs and we had a great time. As for the cruise line, we have been on Disney, it is very nice but I agree it is not better than the others in my opinion, and you pay a premium. Honestly, I think the main lines are so much more similar than different. I would be looking at destinations, dates, prices, etc. We only saw Hubbard on our Alaska cruise so I can't compare to Glacier Bay. Hubbard was beautiful.

Have fun.....

At ages 2 and 6, I'd do either Glacier Bay or Hubbard. They won't remember much. Hubbard looks really nice too and is a fine second option.

I love Disney, but couldn't pay their prices during summer vacation.

If you book the Bliss, book as EARLY as you can. As it's a brand new ship, it seems to follow Disney pricing, in that it's cheapest when the schedule is first released for booking and just gets more expensive over time.

I would say you should also check on the Family Cruising forum here for child-specific info

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

For now, it seems that only HAL have that combination: Vancouver - inside passage - Glacier bay during the summer months. Am I mistaken? Should I consider an other option in your opinion? Hubbard Glacier?

I've been to both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. In Glacier Bay the ship usually gets quite close to Margerie Glacier, and spends a lot of time there. Often you will hear and see calving (we are 100% success for seeing and hearing calving there). Glacier Bay is pretty much a full day and there is a good chance to see wildlife. Hubbard is in Yakutat Bay which is a lovely sail-in, if the weather cooperates but we have never gotten close enough to Hubbard to see calving. Others have, of course :)

For both ease of flying, and gorgeous scenery, I'd say RT Vancouver (y)

Did you check to see if Carnival has any Glacier Bay sailings that work for your date? I haven't kept up with their itineraries the last couple of years, but they used to have some sailings go to GB from Vancouver.

Still on topic - we would also like to sail Glacier Bay with a 4 year old and 2 year old. We are torn btw Princess and Holland. it is easier for us to leave from Seattle. We have sailed this itinerary once and know it is port intensive. We are worried about keeping the kids entertained at night. Has anyone sailed both with kids? How does HAL kids club stack up and is it rare to see kids on HA?

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