Alaska with younger kids - best ship/cruise line?

[NJfoodie]

My friends and I are planning a group trip for an Alaskan cruise and were trying to decide on which cruiseline will be the best balance between a good itinerary and family-friendly. We have 4 families in the group and possibly up to 3 generations between grandparents, parents, childless couples, and young kids (age ranges 2 to 6). If you've been on an Alaskan cruise with kids, which ship did you pick and why?

[6rugrats]

If you want to have the two year old use the kid's club, your first step would be eliminating cruiselines that don't take kids in the club until they are three.

[Keith1010]

In 2011 Disney will be sailing Alaska which would be a wonderful cruise line for the children.

 

Keith

[jam82]

We took our 3 year old on HAL this year. We had a great cruise, but the kids program was the pits. The advantage that HAL would have for your group is that all kids 3-7 would be in the same group for the kids club. I'm sure the kids would love Disney, but I don't feel that they have enough offerings for those who don't have kids with them. (Just my opinion.) If you want the 2 year old to be able to use the kids club, or if any of the other kids are not potty trained you would need to go with NCL or Carnival, but then the older kids may not be in the same group as the younger ones.

 

We didn't choose Carnival because they sailed Tuesday-Tuesday and that did not maximize our vacation time. We chose HAL over NCL because we wanted to try HAL and they had suites available for a price we were willing to pay.

[NJfoodie]

I have to admit we've been NCL fans in general for itineraries out of NYC but unfortunately, I don't feel they have good port times in Alaska. It's disappointing since they are a great choice with the little ones for the kids programs without being a kid-centric trip.

[jam82]

This last time we went from Seattle and the itinerary for both NCL and HAL are very close. HAL stopped in Sitka while NCL stops in Skagway. Having been to both, I prefer Skagway. If you are planning to leave from Vancouver then it's a different story, but it's still not all that different. HAL was awesome and we've been on all the big lines except for Princess (doing that in November). If the kids club is not a priority, then either HAL or Princess would be the way to go for Alaska.

[Fergus]

We went to AK with our kids on Carnival. It was a very different crowd than their typical Caribbean cruise - there were lots of people of ALL different generations, not a lot of partying, relaxed dress code......it was a great cruise. Our kids ended up not using any of the kids' club activities - there was plenty to do and see to keep them busy. They LOVED the excursions (whalewatching, kayaking, totem pole park, driving to Yukon). I would recommend it to anyone, with kids or without!

[stlcruise]

We just returned from our Alaska cruise on the Celebrity Infinity, r/t Seattle. Our son is 4 years old and LOVED the Fun Factory. They had excellent scheduled activities with 3 themes a day (morning, afternoon and evening) They had break times from 12-2 and 5-7 which kids could stay for lunch/dinner, port days had a $6 hour fee. They were also open from 10-1 at night for a $6/hr fee. The counselors were wonderful!!!! Our son also loved the Totem poles in Ketchikan. Hope this helps some. Good luck.

 

Kimberly