Children's activities - Jewel vs Pearl to Alaska

[GoldenRose]

We are planning a cruise to Alaska (for either 2015 or 2017, although I know things could change by 2017), and we have decided that we probably need to do roundtrip from Seattle since we will be traveling with a 4 (or 6) year old who so far doesn't fly particularly well. If we go with NCL, which is currently high on the list because the Haven looks wonderful, that means the Pearl or the Jewel.

 

It looks like the Jewel has Nickelodeon activities, and the Pearl does not. What I'm trying to figure out is, does that mean there are likely to be more children and more children's activities on the Jewel? Have those of you whose children have been on the Nick cruises really found the Nick characters to add something to your children's enjoyment? Did you get much interaction with the characters on the Jewel? I assume the Pearl still has a good kids club with lots of activities, right?

 

My kids like some of the Nick Jr characters, but they aren't huge fans. I think they'd enjoy the character interactions; they enjoy Disney characters. If the extra events are really special, it might tip the balance toward the Jewel.

[cruiserninja1]

I have yet to sail on the Jewel with kids but the Nick characters have meet and greets often ( they get a Norwegian Napkin with a stamp as the character autograph) ,they offer a pajama party with characters(for a fee that included breakfast) and they had slime time live shows but most of them were cancelled due to weather ( because ,Alaska) other than that I think the kids clubs would be the same on both ships .

[MADD DAWG]

My family and I just booked the Jewel to Alaska for June 2016. We were on the Gem in 2013 that had Nickelodeon and my son loved it, not so much for my daughter. She was afraid of the people in costumes. The only thing that I seen to be different between the two is Jewel has Nickelodeon and the Pearl has the bowling alley and rock wall.

[jenseib]

The Nick characters will be ending as of Jan of 2016, so this won't be a deal breaker or maker anymore for anyone.