Alaska Cruise w/Kids

[lisakay927]

Can anyone out there give me some tips or advice on the best Alaskan cruise to take with 11 year olds? We've cruised before (Carnival & Royal Caribbean) but never to Alaska. Planning on going sometime between June-August 2012. It was mentioned by another member that I'm booking "late". Not sure what that means because I've looked with a couple cruise liners and there seems to be plenty availability. Maybe they were referring to the excursions? Any information will be helpful and appreciated! Thanks! :)

[epixx]

I suggest you check HAL. Many of their itineraries are great, and they're having current specials where the 3rd and 4th passengers in a cabin sail free (or for extremely reduced rates). That makes the total cruise price very, very reasonable. An advantage to booking "late" is that some of the cruise prices have gone down. See a thread on this forum about Princess prices. I would look at both of those lines for a bargain. Good luck.

[born2cruize]

Can anyone out there give me some tips or advice on the best Alaskan cruise to take with 11 year olds? We've cruised before (Carnival & Royal Caribbean) but never to Alaska. Planning on going sometime between June-August 2012. It was mentioned by another member that I'm booking "late". Not sure what that means because I've looked with a couple cruise liners and there seems to be plenty availability. Maybe they were referring to the excursions? Any information will be helpful and appreciated! Thanks! :)

 

As was mentioned you are booking late. It doesn't mean you can't get some good deals but it's just what is currently available. Our cruise begins on June 25, 2012 and final payment was this week.

 

The big thing is that your room selection is limited to what is left which maybe just guarantee categories. If you like certain type of rooms/side of ship/decks they may not be available. Also after final payments for those that have booked, new prices for available rooms will be published which mean the prices could go up (if only a few rooms are left) or down (if there is a glut of rooms available). Good luck.

[Kamloops50]

Princess or HAL are the cruise lines that have the most experience in Alaska .

[bonvoyagie]

I would also not rule out NCL - all three do a good job in AK - I agree that HAL and Princess have been in AK longer. Most all cruise lines are family oriented these days. I like NCL because you have a wide range of dining options and none of them are at a fixed time with a fixed group of people. I think that Princess has a similar concept but not quite the same.

 

As for being too late - that depends on what kind of cabin you want. I cruse on June 24 and my final pmt is due in a couple of weeks. Now is when most of the inside cabins on the lower decks go on sale. As for excursions the most popular ones are probably filling up as people who planned way ahead are now finalizing their plans.

 

You can also book your excursions directly through independent providers such as Chillkoot, Harv and Marv, etc.

 

Good Luck

[chipmaster]

Late is only revelant if the ship/line/ports you want aren't available, if they are you available you aren't late for anything.

 

IMHO Alaska is all about selecting a ship that gets Glacier Bay. All the major lines ( Carnival, RCL, Princess, HAL, NCL ) that sail during summer will have lots of kids and activities to keep most kids and parents satisified. Pick the ship that gets the ports during summer and the rest is details, if you know what you like than try and get the line you want, but I'd not pick the line over ports especially in Alaska, pick one that does Glacier bay!

 

Can anyone out there give me some tips or advice on the best Alaskan cruise to take with 11 year olds? We've cruised before (Carnival & Royal Caribbean) but never to Alaska. Planning on going sometime between June-August 2012. It was mentioned by another member that I'm booking "late". Not sure what that means because I've looked with a couple cruise liners and there seems to be plenty availability. Maybe they were referring to the excursions? Any information will be helpful and appreciated! Thanks! :)

[JayinAZ]

I was in the same situation last year. My daughter was 10 years old. we really wanted to see Alaska and get out of the ridiculous Arizona heat. We chose NCL Pearl based on the itinerary (Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria, glacier bay)

The price, and amenities of the ship. Pearl has bowling, pool slide, arcade, big screen Wii, teppanyaki and all the regular cruise stuff. All that sealed the deal for us. We are going on the pearl again in July. There were lots of kids onboard and plenty to do. all the major cruise lines have their version of my time dining so it's nothing unique to NCL to eat anytime you want with whoever you want. It was a good plan for us and my daughter was just as happy as we were.

[abseas]

JayinAZ

 

We are thinking of booking the Pearl to Alaska in June or July. I noticed your post because you mention Arizona. We live in the Phoenix area. I also noticed that your daughter is around the same age as ours. It seems that our sons always have a ton of kids their age on our cruises but our daughter's groups are more scarce. We have mostly done Caribbean cruises so I was curious if the Alaska cruises attract many families. When are you cruising in July? Was there a lot of kids on board your last Alaskan cruise?

[JayinAZ]

We are leaving 7/29/12 on the Pearl. Last year we left on 7/24/11. There were a good amount of kids in 2011. I think since the Alaska cruise season is so short and it's in the summer when schools are out that there will always be kids. We just got back from a cruise on the Allure on RCCL in the Caribbean and I'm sure there is a greater proportion of kids on that type of cruise than Alaska. In Oct 2008 during fall break I went to Canada on Princess with my daughter and there was something like 8 kids in the 8-11 age group. Apparently Az fall break is different that the rest of the country. Anyway, from my 1 Alaska cruise, and from what I've read, there will be plenty of kids on Alaska summer cruises.

Lemme know if you have any questions about the cruise, I also have a lot of pics.

Take care,

Jay

 

 

JayinAZ

 

We are thinking of booking the Pearl to Alaska in June or July. I noticed your post because you mention Arizona. We live in the Phoenix area. I also noticed that your daughter is around the same age as ours. It seems that our sons always have a ton of kids their age on our cruises but our daughter's groups are more scarce. We have mostly done Caribbean cruises so I was curious if the Alaska cruises attract many families. When are you cruising in July? Was there a lot of kids on board your last Alaskan cruise?

[Putterdude]

While our children are now approaching 40:eek:, we have heard from parents and observed that Princess has a terrific children and tweens program.

[dancerwith4kids]

We are traveling in June with our 4 children on Princess. I booked based on the itenerary. Any cruise ship IMHO will be fun for kids. I hope anyway!:)

[TheCalicoCat]

1. I agree with anyone who recommends choosing a ship that sails into Glacier Bay.

2. We chose HAL's Volendam based on our own set of needs/wants. (smaller ship, sails east of Vancouver Island, round trip, the fact that it leaves Vancouver on Wednesday was just a bonus.)

3. We will be sailing with out 3.5 year old son.

[TwoSue]

We went with HAL because the 3rd and 4th passengers (our two kids, age 11 and 14) were only $99 each plus tax. What a bargain! As far as being "late", if you need a quad room, there aren't that many so they could be sold out. We're taking the Zaandam from Seward to Vancouver on July 29 after spending a week in Alaska in a rental RV.

[krispykreme97]

I went with Carnival because I am a past guest and I purchased a future cruise certificate on my last carnival cruise for $100. The certificate allowed me to receive a $100 off the already summer sale going on

and $100 OBC. My only other consideration was Disney which I was hoping that they ran a kids sale free promotion like they did last years as I would have qualified for 10% off and OBC but they did not so I booked a Mediterrean cruise with them for 2013.

[northwoods2]

We went on Princess when our kids were 10 and 13 and they loved it!

 

We did a one way northbound and added 1 week land tour on our own. If you have extra time do the interior of Alaska - on your own.

 

Excursions we did:

Ketchikan - fishing - caught some great Halibut

Juneau - whale watching and helicopter with glacier landing and hike (best excursion)

Skagway - train (kids were bored) and glacier kayak excursion