best ship for alaska w/ kids under 5?

[NJfoodie]

A friend is organizing a group trip for an alaskan cruise for 2011 and she was looking for feedback from those of us that were interested in going to pick a ship and itinerary. It looks like we'll have several families ranging from couples to families w/ young kids to grandparents of some of the young kids. The families w/ kids (including mine) will have kids in the age ranges of 2 to 5. Can anyone recommend a cruise line that will have activities and features that would be friendly to small children but also be fun for the adults? Personally, as my child is the youngest at age 2, I would love to stay with a cruise line that allows 2 yr olds who may not yet be potty trained into the kids club or have babysitting for them. The friend who is organizing may have an infant who will be under 2 as well by 2011 so babysitting options for them would be great too. I think that limits us to NCL, Carnival or Disney but I'd like to see what suggestions anyone may have.

[A&Jfamily]

A friend is organizing a group trip for an alaskan cruise for 2011 and she was looking for feedback from those of us that were interested in going to pick a ship and itinerary. It looks like we'll have several families ranging from couples to families w/ young kids to grandparents of some of the young kids. The families w/ kids (including mine) will have kids in the age ranges of 2 to 5. Can anyone recommend a cruise line that will have activities and features that would be friendly to small children but also be fun for the adults? Personally, as my child is the youngest at age 2, I would love to stay with a cruise line that allows 2 yr olds who may not yet be potty trained into the kids club or have babysitting for them. The friend who is organizing may have an infant who will be under 2 as well by 2011 so babysitting options for them would be great too. I think that limits us to NCL, Carnival or Disney but I'd like to see what suggestions anyone may have.

 

Though I have not done it, I would think that Disney would be fabulous for kids that age - but I hear from friends there isn't much for the adults at night. Also, they are pricey. I am a Carnival fan, and they take kids that are 2, potty trained or not, and handle them well. They do offer limited babysitting - check the website for details.

[cb at sea]

Yeah---Disney and Carnival are about the only ones that take 2 yr olds, and unpotty-trained kids....

[boulders]

RCCL and Celebrity have in cabin babysitting for children aged 1 and up, plus Adventure Ocean for aged 3 and up (potty trained). They also have parent-child playgroups for ages 6-36 months. Carnival allows 2 year olds with diapers as does NCL, but only Carnival will change diapers. Disney has Flounders nursery for 6 months and up.

 

I would not make the availability of child care the determining factor in AK. It can be at odds with the quality of the itinerary. The best itinerary for 2010 is Princess' southbound itinerary. They have no childcare for 2 year olds. The worst itinerary is Disney's 2011. NCL has the worst port times.

[alise007]

RCCL and Celebrity have in cabin babysitting for children aged 1 and up, plus Adventure Ocean for aged 3 and up (potty trained). They also have parent-child playgroups for ages 6-36 months. Carnival allows 2 year olds with diapers as does NCL, but only Carnival will change diapers. Disney has Flounders nursery for 6 months and up.

 

I would not make the availability of child care the determining factor in AK. It can be at odds with the quality of the itinerary. The best itinerary for 2010 is Princess' southbound itinerary. They have no childcare for 2 year olds. The worst itinerary is Disney's 2011. NCL has the worst port times.

 

Would you please expand upon your best itinerary/port times? We are doing the AK again in May 2011 and our kids will be 3 and 5 at time of cruise. Or can you point me to a thread that has this broken down?

 

Hadn't considered Port Times (though we are looking for NB or SB vs RT because we have already done that out of Vancouver on the Radiance a few years ago).

 

Don't mean to hijack the thread so to speak but I too am more interested in onboard activities and kid features for AK since they seem to be severely lacking assuming that most cruisers are 55+

 

The RC Radiance had the most non swimming pool related activities--pool tables, rock climbing wall and putt putt because we were bored by the "entertainers" and shows they had. So I figured if I need to self entertain while not in port I needed younger activities!

[boulders]

Princess and HAL have been sailing Alaska the longest. They have the best port times and itinerary, because they have "lock" on certain things. Here's the Sapphire Princess itinarary out of Seattle:

 

1 Seattle, Washington --- 4:00 p.m.

2 At Sea --- ---

3 Ketchikan, Alaska 6:30 a.m. 4:00 p.m.

4 Cruise Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska 6:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m.

4 Juneau, Alaska 2:00 p.m. 10:00 p.m.

5 Skagway, Alaska 6:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m.

6 At Sea --- ---

7 Victoria, British Columbia 7:00 p.m. 11:59 p.m.

8 Seattle, Washington 7:00 a.m. ---

 

NCL in particular has poor port times. For example, on the Star out of Seattle, here is its itinerary:

1 Seattle, Washington --- 4:00 p.m.

2 Cruise Inside Passage, Alaska --- ---

3 Ketchikan, Alaska 7:00 a.m. 3:00 p.m.

4 Juneau, Alaska 7:00 a.m. 1:30 p.m.

4 Cruise Sawyer Glacier --- ---

5 Skagway, Alaska 7:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m.

6 Prince Rupert, British Columbia 4:00 p.m. 10:00 p.m.

7 At Sea --- ---

8 Seattle, Washington 8:00 a.m. ---

 

Princess' itinerary has longer port times than does NCL. I wouldn't want to visit a port where the ship leaves at 1:30, like NCL does in Juneau.

 

Here's the Disney itinerary:

 

Day Port Ashore Onboard

Tuesday Vancouver, Canada — 3:00 p.m.

Wednesday At Sea — —

Thursday Tracy Arm, Alaska — —

Friday Skagway, Alaska 7:15 a.m. 7:30 p.m.

Saturday Juneau, Alaska 7:45 a.m. 4:30 p.m.

Sunday Ketchikan, Alaska ** 7:30 p.m.

Monday At Sea — —

Tuesday Vancouver, Canada 8:00 a.m. —

 

Disney leaves on Tuesdays. Not so great if you have to take off work. Although the times in ports look good, Disney only has 3 ports. They also do a "reverse" itinerary, beginning with the more northerly ports and then coming further south.

 

The Alaska boards under Ports of Call have a wealth of info.

[NJLatinlady]

A friend is organizing a group trip for an alaskan cruise for 2011 and she was looking for feedback from those of us that were interested in going to pick a ship and itinerary. It looks like we'll have several families ranging from couples to families w/ young kids to grandparents of some of the young kids. The families w/ kids (including mine) will have kids in the age ranges of 2 to 5. Can anyone recommend a cruise line that will have activities and features that would be friendly to small children but also be fun for the adults? Personally, as my child is the youngest at age 2, I would love to stay with a cruise line that allows 2 yr olds who may not yet be potty trained into the kids club or have babysitting for them. The friend who is organizing may have an infant who will be under 2 as well by 2011 so babysitting options for them would be great too. I think that limits us to NCL, Carnival or Disney but I'd like to see what suggestions anyone may have.

 

We are thinking of taking an AK cruise summer of 2011 too. Our boys will be 5 (or 4 depending on the actual date) and 6 at that time. I would love to hear which line you finally decide on. Who knows, maybe we can even join your group!

[stsomewhere]

We are taking our kids 9 and 11 to Alaska in 2011.

After much debate, we choose Disney . Why? Because this is what we felt would be best for our family and it made us sad to think about cruising another line.

 

Our kids love DCl. We knew they would not be bored.

We enjoy sea days.

We consider the cruise ship the destination. We are excited to see new ports.

 

We have sailed on Carnival, NCL, Royal Caribbean and HAL, also. But, when we went on our first DCL cruise in FEb. 2009, we were hooked. We booked another on board for AUg. 2010.