Just off the Alaskan Dream July Family Cruise: full review

[pitstopsforkids]

I've seen some questions in the Alaska section on small ship cruises and particularly on Alaskan Dream Cruises with kids, so I'd love to share my recent experience.

 

I'll start by saying my kids are well-traveled (resorts and tour experiences as a well as big cruise ship and 'kid-focused' vacations) and when we disembarked after our 9 days with Alaskan Dream, all three kids told me, unprompted and separately, that this had been the best vacation they'd ever taken.

 

I have three boys, ages 8, 12, and 14, and we cruised on Alaskan Dream's 9-Day July Family Cruise on the Baranof Dream. While I'd encourage people to take well-behaved kids on ANY Alaskan Dream itinerary, the family cruise itinerary offers specific kid activities every day, other kids on-board (it sounds like most Alaskan Dream trips only have 1-2 per cruise), and a kid-friendly itinerary that doesn't sacrifice anything the adults could want.

 

On our cruise of 27 passengers, 11 were kids ranging in age from 7-14. (There were also a 16-year-old and 19-year-old who primarily opted for the adult activities but were awesome with the younger kids as well.) We had two Youth Expedition Leaders on-board (Jess and Sofia) in addition to the usual leaders: Scientific Expedition Leader (Emily) and Cultural Expedition Leader (our Tlingkit guide Koo Hook). All four were great with the kids, and Jess and Sofia shone as masters of kid-entertainment while still imparting many educations lessons along the way.

 

Our ports of call/itinerary highlights included an embarkation from Sitka, then Juneau, Orca Point Lodge, Hobart Bay, Petersburg, Sawyer Glacier, the native village of Kasaan, and Metlakatla on Annette Island before ending in Ketchikan. Each stop offered a family-friendly day. For instance, in Petersburg, we viewed a Norwegian dance troupe like most Alaskan Dream itineraries do, but the kids spent the rest of the morning geocaching with Jess and walking to a park with Sofia before we all met back up to bike ride. (Kids who didn't want to bike ride could participate in a photo scavenger hunt with the leaders.) This is simply an example of the way Alaskan Dream incorporated a kid-friendly but completely cultural and educational itinerary at every stop.

 

The kids were not under the supervision of the youth leaders at all times, but as adults, we did have plenty of alone time. It was clear to us when the kids would be with their leaders and when they were under our supervision (parents are still the primary supervisors!). On the ship, there was always an activity for the kids in the 'kids' corner' of the dining room, and all activities were engaging enough to keep even my 14-year-old interested. Every afternoon, the kids would have an art project themed around our current stop, and every evening, they'd learn from their leaders about the next day's location. They also worked daily on a travel journal (log) with maps and projects which they brought home as a souvenir. Leader Jess is a great artist, and the kids brought home truly spectacular watercolors that he'd helped them with. Sofia is a great musician, and added to all our experience with her fiddle-playing.

 

When there was downtime on the Baranof Dream, the kids played board games and cards together, learned how to tie knots from the bridge crew, and ordered sodas and snacks from the bar (though bartender John is great about 'cutting them off' if a parent asks!). The entire crew was accessible to the kids and very friendly: our son Tobias loved helping various crew members, and was always welcome.

 

Cultural guide Koo Hook (Howard) was especially wonderful with the kids; they followed him around on excursions like ducklings! Every moment on the cruise was an educational opportunity: Koo Hook would teach the kids which berries along our hike were edible, Jess would show them how to paint glaciers, and Emily would point out the characteristics of the many whales, bears, otters, seals, sea lions, and birds we encountered. The kids didn't realize how much they'd learned 'by accident' until we were in a museum in Ketchikan. Their Discovery Center is excellent, but we didn't 'need' it: we had either seen, touched, tasted, or experienced the subjects of all the exhibits while on the Baranof Dream! This trip was like 9 months of school in one week, and the kids LOVED every minute of it.

 

The dining stewards and galley team (including chef Eric and pastry chef Lemick) made the same gourmet meals other Alaskan Dream passengers have raved about, with kid-friendly staples on the side. Our kids ordered mostly off the adult menu, tried many new foods, and liked most of them.

 

We had two staterooms for our family of five: one was a three-person room (Lydonia) and the other a two-person. The cabins were very comfortable and there was plenty of storage space even though space was tight. We also loved that every evening, a letter with information geared to the kids would appear on the kids' beds (along with a treat or trinket) from the youth leaders in addition to the letters left for the adults from the expedition guides.

 

I want to emphasize that while the cruise made adjustments to accommodate the many kids onboard, at no time did we, as adults, feel we were on a 'kid cruise'. It was truly a 'family cruise' in the best way possible: with activities for ALL age groups. You'd definitely need to like kids though! All the passengers were family groups, ranging from many grandparents to parents and kids. Several of the grandparents had been on well-known small ship cruises previously, and preferred this one.

 

I'd be happy to answer any questions specific to the family cruise itineraries or the Alaskan Dream experience!

[New York mom]

Hi, my full (somewhat long) review of the June family cruise is at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=39295307#post39295307

 

I would just add to your comments that the other nice thing about doing the family cruise is that the demographic (i.e. ages) of the adults on the cruise is also more in the age range of 40's-50's, rather than the older range, that is often found on other cruises.