Alaska family cruise for 50th anniversary

[sglenc]

Starting to plan for 50th anniversary event. DW & I in our 70's, two married children & their spouses in their 40's and three granddaughters who will be 13, 9 & 6 - in the summer of 2016. Did a Disney cruise last thanksgiving & it was great. Not looking to do Disney this time. DW & I did Alaska years ago w/o kids on Princess and loved that. My biggest concern are the kids. Would appreciate recommendations or warnings for Alaska cruise.

[Cheryl H]

Starting to plan for 50th anniversary event. DW & I in our 70's, two married children & their spouses in their 40's and three granddaughters who will be 13, 9 & 6 - in the summer of 2016. Did a Disney cruise last thanksgiving & it was great. Not looking to do Disney this time. DW & I did Alaska years ago w/o kids on Princess and loved that. My biggest concern are the kids. Would appreciate recommendations or warnings for Alaska cruise.

 

Happy Anniversary!!! How wonderful!

 

I can only speak to Royal Carribbean. We were on the Radiance of the Sea in 2011 with our 6 year old and he loved it. Whenever the Adventure Ocean was open, he wanted to be there. Plus some of the evenings, they even offered Adventure Dining in which the staff takes the kids to dinner and then on to the evening activities. The ship has an indoor pool (the solarium) and they had family swim hours twice per day there.

 

I would say our only mistake in planning the cruise was doing northbound. We were exhausted to fly home from Anchorage at the end of our cruise. Wish we had gotten that long flight over with first and worked our way south.

 

As far as shore excursions, our son went with us on our whale tour with FISHES in Icy Strait. In Juneau, we took a ship excursion to a gold mine. Skagway we did the train/bus combo with Chilkoot. We also took the Misty Fjord flight in Ketchikan. He did great on all the tours.

 

We are going again in a few short weeks. He's 10 years old now.

 

I don't really have any warnings for you. We did allow our son to bring his DS game (and headphones) so that if he grew tired on a tour, he could entertain himself quietly.

[mousecrazy]

I just replied to a similar question here. I'll add that you might consider applying the money you'll save by not doing DCL to excursions as the best tours (whale watching, glacier landings, Deadliest Catch tour, etc) are big bucks!

 

Good luck with your decision.

[~*Lou*~]

We did Radiance of the Seas northbound to Alaska last month with 2 children aged 5 yrs and nearly 8 yrs. I have a detailed trip review here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2221528

 

Hope it helps - feel free to ask me any questions.

Lou :)

[Coral]

Princess if fine with kids.

 

I personally was not impressed with RCCL in Alaska. They had no enrichment programs on the ship about Alaska. This is where Princess excels IMO. Plus, Princess can do GB where RCCL can not. Also, no naturalist on RCCL. I would not go to Alaska with RCCL again.

[Budget Queen]

I would not worry about the kids, they will have a great time in Alaska on any cruise. I instead suggest you might want to give preference to the adults and the itinerary. With a good look at what activities you are going to choose to occupy your time in ports. I would also suggest you NOT consider any "group" touring, as it is very likely to have many varied interests among your group. This is also the place for those parents to involve the kids in the selections.

 

In the initial cruise choice- look at ports, time in ports, glacier, price. I'm a firm advocate in not skimping on tours. :)

[Robinhill]

Starting to plan for 50th anniversary event. DW & I in our 70's, two married children & their spouses in their 40's and three granddaughters who will be 13, 9 & 6 - in the summer of 2016. Did a Disney cruise last thanksgiving & it was great. Not looking to do Disney this time. DW & I did Alaska years ago w/o kids on Princess and loved that. My biggest concern are the kids. Would appreciate recommendations or warnings for Alaska cruise.

 

No warnings- they will LOVE it! I took my then 6 year old grandson and we did a DIY 5 day land tour starting at Anchorage and working our way down to Talkeetna, Denali(for two days) then anchorage where we got on the train and took it to Seward and embarked on Royal Carribean Radiance of the Seas. He had the best time, we did a helicopter ride to the glacier and dog sledding there, did a whale watch excursion, saw moose on the road in Denali, Bears in Denali along with a wolf. He was amazed by it all. Royal Carribean also has a great kids play area called Adventure Ocean and they had great activities for the kids if i wanted a little break (as it was just him and I). He was not a bit bored. He was the same age as your youngest grandaughter and the older ones will love it too! Have a great time and congrats on your anniversary. We are going to do the same thing i did with my grandson in three more years this time with the entire family for my retirement! Can't wait.