Alaska Cruise with 2 year old

[cruise4Familyfun]

Hello,

 

We are thinking of going to Alaska cruise on Island Princess. Please share your prior experience if any? As there are not much activities for 2 year old (can not go to any of the camp with out the parent), we are still thinking to may be wait another year and go next year. But then we are not sure that he will go to these camps even then.

 

What kind of excursions we can do, Ship will be stopping at Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway.

 

Also we are thinking of staying in Anchorage for 3 days after the cruise. Again please suggest what can be done or should we skip the land part of the alaska. We were thinking of doing one of the glacier cruise, but those are usually long for 5-6 hours, not sure kid will be patient all that time.

 

Please suggest on all or any of the parts.

[boulders]

I sailed on Diamond Princess this past August with ds6. I would wait until your little one is 3 - based on the ship. There really isn't much to do if they can't go to the kids club

 

Alaska, though has lots of kid- friendly activities and is a great destination for kids. Whale watching is always a hit. This is best done in Juneau. Visiting Mendenhall glacier would be a good excursion too. In Ketchikan there's the lumberjack show or the totem poles. We went when ds was just turned 3 and we went on a kayak excursion, in a 3 person kayak with him in the middle. He loved it. In Skagway, we did a dogsled ride which was fabulous.

 

We took the 26 glacier cruise in Whittier. It was one of my favourite activities of the whole cruise and ds liked it a lot too. The time flew by.

[lmg1230]

I would also recommend waiting until your son is 3 - particularly on sea days it is nice to have someplace to go and play. Our family cruised to Alaska when my youngest daughter was almost 4 and had a fabulous time. We saw the Lumberjack Show in Ketchikan, went on a whale watching cruise and to the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau and went on a combination bus/White Pass Railway trip from Skagway. At one of our stops we were able to take a sled dog ride which so much fun. We also did a 5 day cruise tour after our cruise and went to Denali and Fairbanks. The highlights of the trip for both of my girls were definitely wildlife and sled dogs - particularly the sled dog puppies that we met at Jeff King's ranch in Denali. Alaska is a fantastic trip for kids!

 

Lisa

[williamsk]

Hi,

We did an Alaska cruise with DD at 2 years and she loved it. If you and DH are walkers I highly recommend a backpack that you can wear her with, it makes it easier to get around in areas that are not ideal for typical strollers.

 

Don't worry about activities on the ship, DH and I wore ourselves out in port anyway. A 2 yo will find an amazing number of fascinating things to do on a cruiseship. All the bells and whistles really aren't necessary at this age, JMHO.

 

Katie

[c-cruise]

We did the Island Princess to Alaska in 09 with out then 2yr old daughter. We had a great time - plenty of things to keep you busy. We were able to use the kids club, but one of us had to stay with her. They loved having her there and she came away with several stuffed animals as "prizes" from various activities. There is also an outdoor area at the back of the kids club that we used a lot. It had a playhouse, small slide, tri-cycles, etc. that we could use anytime.

 

We did a pre-cruise stay in Anchorage for a couple nights. We drove down to the Portage Glacier visitors center and also the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Took the Alaska railroad down to Whittier for the cruise which our daughter also enjoyed.

 

In the ports we researched local parks ahead of time and went to those so our daughter could run around and play. I remember there is one right in town in Skagway maybe 5 minutes from the ship. We had been to all the ports before so I don't think we did any ship excursions on that trip.

 

Oh, and I would recommend a balcony so you have an additional space to go if you son naps.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We did it it was great ......