Cruising to Alaska with a 10 m/o

[cruising_rocket_scientist]

We are considering a cruise to Alaska in May on HAL (round trip Seattle) and our DD will be 10 months and walking. We're trying to convince grandma to go for an extra set of hands. I'm not too worried about keeping her busy or anything, she can keep herself entertained, and exploring the ship will be plenty. My concern is the ports. DH and I have cruised to Alaska before, but grandma has not. What kind of adventures can you take a baby. Would we be best off just grabbing the stroller and exploring the towns? Maybe Mendenhall and Mt. Roberts? I would love to Whale watch, but with a 10 m/o? But once we start travelling about, we have to start worrying about a car seat. Any suggestions?

[boulders]

If you take one of the larger boats, a whale watch would be fine. The cabins are heated, and they are quite comfortable. There are excursions where you visit sled dogs or do gold panning, which would be fun for little ones.

[cruising_rocket_scientist]

Well, we did it! We booked baby's first cruise! We're headed to Alaska, and we convinced my mom to come with us to have an extra set of hands. It will be a fun adventure for all :). I'm thinking that in the ports we will just grab the stroller and/or the backpack and just head into town. We can hit some museums and shops. And if baby gets tired or too cranky we can just head back to the ship. (Or a lot of times she will just have a little nap in the stroller and wake up ready for more adventure). She loves being outside, so I'm hoping for decent weather!

[goose&mav]

Good luck!! Glad to hear you're taking the plunge!:)

[cruisingwith4]

Our kids were 3 and 1 when we cruised to Alaska. We took the Inside Passage trip. The kids had a blast!

 

We went to the Mendenhall Glacier outside of Juneau. Just for the fact the kids got to run around outside was worth it for them and the views were phenomenal!

 

In Skagway, we took the bus to the main town area. We grabbed a cup of hot chocolate and went shopping. Great town for souvenirs. We put our kids in strollers, covered them with a blanket and trekked back to the ship when we were done.

 

In Ketchikan, we did pretty much the same thing. We didn't want to take an excursion that would be away from the ship for hours. We wanted to stay close in case the kids got tired. But we still saw and learned a lot about the town and really enjoyed it. We even saw the Time Bandit from "Deadliest Catch" in port!

 

We were in Victoria during the evening. My MIL watched the kids while we went into town for a couple of hours.

 

Actually, my MIL watched the kids for us many nights on the cruise to allow for us to have some alone time. It was wonderful!

 

The landscape is breathtaking! Enjoy!

[cruising_rocket_scientist]

Thanks for your reply, Cruisingwith4. This is sort of what we are planning to do and its nice to hear from someone who has done it. A lot of people seem to think that we would be happier leaving DD and doing things on our own, but the whole point of a family vacation is to be together. Did you do a rain cover for the stroller? Did you use a backpack carrier at all? We're pretty sure she will be walking by then, so we'll try to stop somewhere she can be up and walking around for a while.

 

On the ship, was there plenty of options for your 1 yr old to eat? Did you have a crib in your room?

 

We plan on enjoying the ship and the scenery and the ports and making the best of this great adventure!