Allie444 Posted May 11, 2015 #1 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I am thinking of booking a last minute Alaska cruise for my husband, myself and our son. Last year I did a little research and it seamed the NCL Pearl was the way to go. Now the reviews don't look as good. I know our excursions would be a flight plane tour, dog sledding and maybe fishing of some kind. We just cruised in April to the Bahamas and my son had a great time and loved the buffet and room service as much as the excursions. My husband will only stay in a room with a balcony which makes Disney pretty much un-affordable at close to $10,000. I would love some advice on which cruise has the most kids on board and a younger vibe in general (we our almost 50 but young at heart). I would also love excursion advice. Planning on going mid June of 2015. Thank you in advance for any and all advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamloops50 Posted May 11, 2015 #2 Share Posted May 11, 2015 (edited) I am thinking of booking a last minute Alaska cruise for my husband, myself and our son. Last year I did a little research and it seamed the NCL Pearl was the way to go. Now the reviews don't look as good. I know our excursions would be a flight plane tour, dog sledding and maybe fishing of some kind. We just cruised in April to the Bahamas and my son had a great time and loved the buffet and room service as much as the excursions. My husband will only stay in a room with a balcony which makes Disney pretty much un-affordable at close to $10,000. I would love some advice on which cruise has the most kids on board and a younger vibe in general (we our almost 50 but young at heart). I would also love excursion advice. Planning on going mid June of 2015. Thank you in advance for any and all advice. The availability of get the cabin you want for June 2015 are pretty slim. Many balcony cabins are already sold out or are very high priced. This late if your flying prices will be very high being that close to the sail date. If you want Alaska in June consider Princess from San Francisco . Will save a lot in airfare even including hotel and parking. Edited May 11, 2015 by Kamloops50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budget Queen Posted May 11, 2015 #3 Share Posted May 11, 2015 You don't have the demographic ranges of the Caribbean, that you may be assuming. No where near the numbers of kids sailing Alaska. Every cruise line will have some kids on board. But the bulk of passengers are middle aged and above on all lines. :) I'm never an advocate of selecting a cruise ship, based on kids in Alaska. You have already selected a round trip Seattle cruise? This is firm? If so, then you need to take a look at what sailings have balcony cabins left. I don't entirely agree- with the dire "slim' availability, above. There are some cabins available on several cruise ships. You need to firm up the cruise, before you get into any "excursion advice". I sailed on NCL Pearl last year, and they did a great job in Alaska. Not sure, what "negative" is important to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mapleleaves Posted May 11, 2015 #4 Share Posted May 11, 2015 You can find negative reviews about anything .... you really need to look at the details of the complaint to see if they're pertinent to your situation. There are several family trip reports for Carnival in the STICKY above. Parents are generally more critical and I don't recall any glaring complaints (about Carnival or any other line ). Here's one such report ....http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2076940 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryl H Posted May 12, 2015 #5 Share Posted May 12, 2015 I am thinking of booking a last minute Alaska cruise for my husband, myself and our son. Last year I did a little research and it seamed the NCL Pearl was the way to go. Now the reviews don't look as good. I know our excursions would be a flight plane tour, dog sledding and maybe fishing of some kind. We just cruised in April to the Bahamas and my son had a great time and loved the buffet and room service as much as the excursions. My husband will only stay in a room with a balcony which makes Disney pretty much un-affordable at close to $10,000. I would love some advice on which cruise has the most kids on board and a younger vibe in general (we our almost 50 but young at heart). I would also love excursion advice. Planning on going mid June of 2015. Thank you in advance for any and all advice. If you've not got your hearts set for June, there may be some balconies left on our cruise. We're 50 and we're bringing our 10 year old son. He loves Adventure Ocean. We're on the Radiance of the Seas September 4. It's a round trip Vancouver. It has stops at Ketchikan, Juneau, and Icy Strait....plus a cruise day of Tracy Arm. We take him on all our cruises. We did Alaska previously in 2011 with him. He was 6 then. He loved it. I couldn't really tell you if the vibe was young or not on the Radiance. We weren't really there to meet people, although we always meet some wonderful friends on cruises. To us, Alaska is more about adventures, tours, scenery, and wildlife....and seafood! Well, food in general. Ha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janerbg Posted May 12, 2015 #6 Share Posted May 12, 2015 We took our 9 year old last year on the Norwegian Sun (one way Vancouver to Whittier) and he had a great time. We thought that there was a nice amount of children...it was not really an issue...there were other kids but the ship was not overrun with them. We were choosing between Princess and NCL because we wanted to do Glacier Bay (it looked to me like the Holland American one way itineraries did not include a second Glacier day). We have been on Princess when he was 4 before but the NCL itinerary fit our vacation dates better. We were happy with the kids club...I thought they had some great activities (he loved the circus) and that they did a good job planning them around the scenic parts. And he takes getting his junior ranger badges seriously, which the rangers did in the kids club for Glacier Bay (I am pretty sure they do that on all lines that sail Glacier bay). So he was able to do excursions and some scenery watching with us but then go to the kids club for some "down" time. We did kayaking in Ketchikan (great fun), Mendenhall/Mt Roberts in Juneau and the Railroad up/bus down (dad did bike down) in Skagway, with plenty of time for hiking. We then did a land tour in which walking on the Glacier was his favorite part...so the dogsledding on the glacier sounds like fun (but a little higher than the budget that we are going for) Compared to Princess several years early the kids club was better on NCL but the included food had been much better on Princess, especially the main dining room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonandmick Posted May 12, 2015 #7 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Hi, Could you tell me more about the land tour where you walked on a Glacier? Was that out of Juneau? We are traveling with my 11 year old son to Alaska from SF on Princess in June. Trying to find a reasonably affordable excursion where we can spend time walking on a glacier, from either Skagway or Juneau. We plan to hike around Mendenhall, but I don't think you can get that close to the Glacier without a 6 hour hike/trek. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrappi Posted May 12, 2015 #8 Share Posted May 12, 2015 If you are flying out of Anchorage and have the time, we are using MICA guides on the Matanuska Glacier. Adults are $74 and kids (8-11) are $62 for a 3 hour glacier trek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budget Queen Posted May 12, 2015 #9 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Hi, Could you tell me more about the land tour where you walked on a Glacier? Was that out of Juneau? We are traveling with my 11 year old son to Alaska from SF on Princess in June. Trying to find a reasonably affordable excursion where we can spend time walking on a glacier, from either Skagway or Juneau. We plan to hike around Mendenhall, but I don't think you can get that close to the Glacier without a 6 hour hike/trek. Any ideas? A basic glacier helicopter landing, involves about a 30++ minute walk on a glacier, with a short scenic flight. It doesn't matter which location- Juneau or Skagway, or what glacier. Schedule this where it fits your time best. Compare prices and availability- there are 3 vendors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2red4u Posted May 12, 2015 #10 Share Posted May 12, 2015 We used temsco out of Skagway last year, we booked directly with them. I wouldn't say it is reasonable priced though. This is an expensive excursion but I would do it again, with no hesitation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonandmick Posted May 13, 2015 #11 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Thanks for the suggestions on a glacier flight/ expedition. We won't be in Anchorage on this journey. Would love to do the helicopter glacier walk, its just about the money. I saw that there are hikes out to a glacier in the Yukon, but again its a very, very long hike. Has anyone done the Glacier point Wilderness safari to Davidson Glacier. Its expensive, but affordable. It sounds like sometimes they get to walk on the glacier, but other times they are not able to do so. Wish I could just find something reasonably affordable, without a 6 hour hike, where we could walk on a glacier from Skagway or Juneau. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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