Which cruise line for Alaska?

[tcufrog99]

I could use some advice regarding which cruise line to choose for a cruise to Alaska next summer. My husband and I have two boys who will be 5 and 9. They love nature and the outdoors and know more about nature than the average kids their age.

 

We've only cruised once, Disney to the Bahamas. The kids loved the Oceaneers Club and being able to eat dinner early and go to the club. My older son loved that he could order off of the adult menu since he's quite an epicurean. I liked the high level of customer service and how clean the boat was. We also really liked the suite we chose. It had two bathrooms plus a separate bedroom for the adults and a very comfortable sofa bed for the kids in the living room. There was also table so we could eat in the room and a balcony. We aren't really into Disney and the kids don't really know the characters so the shows and meet and greets were sort of lost on them. My husband and I would have liked activities for us and for there to have been the option of in room babysitting so we could go out at least one night after the kids had gone to bed. On this cruise we'd love to attend some enriching talks about the nature and culture of Alaska.

 

What cruise lines would you recommend for us?

Edited July 21, 2015 by tcufrog99

[gi_pam]

They're all a bit different. My Alaska experience is 3 years old already, and I only have NCL to comment on in Alaska. My kids have also been on 2 Royal Caribbean cruises, just not in Alaska.

 

We did Alaska on the NCL Pearl. My kids were 9 and 11 at the time. The kids programming was really good. I don't remember how the age groups broke down exactly, but one of the reasons we picked NCL was because of the breakdown. My nephews were 7 and 9, and on NCL at least the 3 younger ones (nephews and my daughter) were in the same group. My son (11) was in the older group. But there were times during the day when the groups were together.

 

They did a circus theme all week, where they learned circus tricks and put on a show at the end of the week. The staff were a lot of fun.

 

There was late night care after about 10 or 10:30 in the kids centre for a fee. Up to that time, the centre was open for free. We didn't use in room babysitting, but I'm sure it was available.

 

The day we were in Glacier Bay, NCL brings park staff onto the ship to give talks about the park. There were talks in the theatre, plus they had child-specific stuff going on in the kids' centre, at their level. That's a Glacier Bay thing, I don't know that they'd have the park staff on the ship if the ship doesn't go to Glacier Bay.

 

The excursions available will be similar for all cruise lines. We did a whale watching and rain forest hike excursion in Juneau that was fabulous, sounds like it would be right up your kids' alley!

 

The rooms on NCL are smaller than Disney. The inside room my sister and her family had was teeny! We had a balcony and with the pullman pulled down and the little sofa pulled out, it was very crowded. But they make it up during the day and it was fine.

 

But the "suite life" on NCL is pretty awesome. My parents (on the same cruise) were in a suite. The Haven is also available - a whole separate area of the ship with a private pool and a bunch of extra services.

 

Disney is expensive but you get a bit more (bigger rooms with the split bath, don't have to pay for soda, etc. Not sure what else). Disney also charges more because they don't have a casino to bring in revenue. If your kids aren't excited by Disney, I'd do a different line. NCL or Royal Caribbean do a great job for kids. I just can't comment on kids' programming on RC in Alaska. It was good on our Caribbean and Asia cruises, I'd assume it would be good in Alaska too. The port talks were amazing on our Asia cruise!

[Keith1010]

As you know Disney is very special so whatever line you sail will not compare to Disney. Also you will find many more children on Disney.

 

I would take a look at Celebrity. Their only downside will be that they are prohibited from sailing Glacier Bay.

 

Take a look at Princess as well.

 

Think through the itinerary. If you want to do a pre or post land package then Princess and Holland America Lines are great for that.

 

Keith

[tcufrog99]

Thanks so much for the advice.

 

gi_pam...

The circus theme sounds fun. I hope you got photos of the circus tricks. I really like the idea of talks from park staff. The whale watching and rain forest hikes sound perfect for us. How strenuous was the hike? I want to make sure my youngest can keep up. How much time did you actually spend on the water between ports? If we're going to spend a lot of time on the boat them I'm afraid my husband and I will get bored on a Disney boat. There wasn't a lot of programming that we found interesting. I don't see us spending a lot of time gambling either though.

 

Keith1010...

Thanks for mentioning that Celebrity doesn't sail Glacier Bay. I think I will cross that one off my list then. You brought up a very good point with mentioning the pre and post land packages. We're just at the beginning of planning so I need to discuss that with my husband. He owns his own business so we need to discuss how much time he can get away for this trip.

 

How far in advance do Alaska cruises fill up? My husband isn't one for planning ahead but I know that some cruises need to be planned far ahead.

Edited July 21, 2015 by tcufrog99

[chipmaster]

My 2cents got to pick a line that does Glacier Bay. Disney is great, a huge premium, but got to search deep and ask what the priority of the cruise and Alaska is. If nature / scenery than got to go with the line that has the scenic you want and right value.

 

I've done Princess a few times to Alaska and while they are no Disney experience in the summer they have enough to keep the kids occupied and the scenics sailing is spectacular, not that Tracy Arm isn't nice, it ain't no national park :D

[kitkat343]

We sailed to Alaska on Princess when I was pregnant with my first. They have an excellent itinerary to Alaska (as does HAL), especially on the Panamax ships (Island and Coral for Princess) that travel between Vancouver and Anchorage and visit Glacier Bay. The kids clubs on Princess are excellent, with very dedicated counselors and really good hours (much better than HAL and NCL). They close only an hour a day at lunch and dinner.

 

The north and southbound cruises are better itinerary wise than the roundtrip from Seattle, but it might be much easier in terms of flights to do the roundtrip with children.

 

We booked about 6 weeks in advance, and the Coral Princess was filling up really fast at that point. The land tours were sold out, which wasn't a problem since we were able to plan an independent land tour to Denali that was cheaper than the cruise land tour (my signature line has a link to a review where I explain how you can plan an independent tour to Denali if you are interested).

 

If you want to go to Denali, just please be careful with the dates since the park is open before the buses to the wildlife run, and if you want to see animals you need to make sure you are there when the buses are running. They slowly roll out longer routes between May 20th and June. The Denali bus schedule is available at http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm . Those are really long bus rides over unpaved roads, so you may not need the longer routes but I'd want you to know your options prior to planning your trip.

Edited July 21, 2015 by kitkat343

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I've been to Alaska eight times on various lines and my most memorable (and most recent) cruise has been Princess Vancouver to Whittier with stops in Glacier Bay and College Fjords. It was fantastic. The kids will love it. In Skagway do the Musher's Camp experience. In Juneau take the shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier. I recommend this cruise highly. It was the most scenic of all the Alaska cruises I have done. Best time to go if you can is early June when the whales are migrating North. You'll see lots of spouting.

Edited July 22, 2015 by rebeccalouiseagain

[OCruisers]

Either Princess or HAL would be the only one we would consider for Alaska! :)

Of those two Princess has the better children's program (VERY good) ... yet, HAL's children's program is way better than you might expect. :)

LuLu

[gi_pam]

Thanks so much for the advice.

 

gi_pam...

The circus theme sounds fun. I hope you got photos of the circus tricks. I really like the idea of talks from park staff. The whale watching and rain forest hikes sound perfect for us. How strenuous was the hike? I want to make sure my youngest can keep up. How much time did you actually spend on the water between ports? If we're going to spend a lot of time on the boat them I'm afraid my husband and I will get bored on a Disney boat. There wasn't a lot of programming that we found interesting. I don't see us spending a lot of time gambling either though.

 

 

NCL had just revamped their kids' programming and the circus thing was throughout the fleet. I don't know what they're doing now. This is my daughter and two of the youth staff, she was juggling scarves.

 

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And my son and nephew on stilts.

 

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The rainforest hike was not strenuous. Anyone moderately active could handle it. My parents (in their 70s) didn't go on that excursion, but there were younger kids than mine on it.

 

I don't remember the exact schedule, but something like this:

 

Sunday - depart Seattle

Monday - sea day

Tuesday - Juneau

Wednesday - Skagway

Thursday - Glacier Bay (you don't get off the ship, it spends most of the day slowly moving around the bay, park rangers on board talking about the area)

Friday - Ketchikan

Saturday - Victoria (but a late stop, 6 pm-midnight, so almost a sea day)

Sunday - back to Seattle

 

There were lots of excursions at each port. Too much choice! We wanted to do a zip line, but my nephew was too young. We did the "Whales and Rainforest Tales" in Juneau, did the White Pass railway to the Yukon with a stop at Liarsville to pan for gold in Skagway and saw the very touristy lumberjack show in Ketchikan.

 

The shows on the ship were pretty good. More variety, I imagine, than Disney. They had the production shows 2 nights, I think. A magician, I think a comedian. They had a 50s style singing group that was really good. I forget what else...we don't gamble either, but we weren't bored. One thing we did do, DH and I got spa passes, so we spent time relaxing in the spa on sea days.

 

If you spend some time on the boards for the specific lines, people post the dailies from their cruise. You can see what kind of activities are offered on the Alaska itineraries. Since it's summer now, people will be posting the Alaska ones.

 

We booked our cruise in January. There was lots of choice still at that point. But some do book a year out.