14 day cruise or land cruise tour with kids

[5bagspacked]

I am considering a cruise to Alaska for our family: 2 parents and 3 sons (10,12,14). I've read quite a bit about the different cruise options and I feel like the 7 night cruises might not be quite enough. This would be the first cruise with the kids.

 

Holland America has a 14 day cruise from Seattle roundtrip called the Great Land Explorer. It covers all the usual stops as well as a number of other ones like Anchorage, Juneau, Homer. This is attractive since we live in the Seattle area and it wouldn't require any flights and the variety of stops are appealing. On the other hand, I've read good things about the land/cruise tours. I was thinking of flying to Anchorage, doing an independent tour by land then taking one of the 7 day Southbound cruises ending in Vancouver. One thing that has worried me about Denali is they seem to involve all day long bus tours. I'm not sure how that would go over with my younger very active sons.

 

Just wondering if anyone could give me some further directions on things to consider in deciding between the two options.

[Osborn Cox]

I can't speak from experience because we haven't gone yet, but I can tell you that we made the choice to do our land portion of Alaska on our own for one main reason. Traveling with my 9 and 10 yr old sons and 5 and 7 y.o. Nieces would not work well with the very structured and bus ride intensive itineraries that the tours include. The trade-off is that we are not going to be able to cover as much ground and see as much, but going at our own pace and schedule is going to be better for everyone involved, including those who are on the tours that we are skipping. They dodged a bullet they didn't even know was coming :)

[4774Papa]

I don't know how you would do a one day tour of Denali from either Seward or Whittier.

 

It takes almost a full day just to get to Denali.

 

I would not want to do a roundtrip cruise, since we want to go to Denali.

[epixx]

I cannot help you with the land/cruise option, but I can tell you that you will love the HAL 14 day cruise, and so will your active boys.

 

We did this cruise twice with our active teen/preteen (albeit girls), once when they were 16 and 12 and again when they were 18 and 14. We did lots of hiking while in port and did lots of other active excursions such as kayaking, whale watching, a 7.5 hour round trip hike and glacier trek in Juneau, rock climbing and rappelling, dog musher's camp, bike riding in Anchorage, wildlife boat rides, and a boat ride/nature hike in Homer.

 

Feel free to ask additional questions.

[AKStafford]

One thing that has worried me about Denali is they seem to involve all day long bus tours. I'm not sure how that would go over with my younger very active sons.

 

If you use the shuttle buses at Denali (not a "tour"), you can get on and off as you like, or even catch a shuttle headed back out if you decided you are done.

http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm

I think the 14 day cruise is a good itinerary if you only want to cruise. But with Alaska being such a huge state, doing some DIY exploring in Southcentral Alaska on your own with a rental car will let you see a lot more variety.

[VacationCharlene]

Just have to toss my two cents in here....We LOVE Holland America's 14 day Alaska cruise rt out of Seattle and wish we lived in Seattle to save on airfare (lucky you). I would think the kids would love it too as there are so many ports with so many choices of things to do and see. Have a great time with whatever choice you take.

[oaktreerb]

I do not recommend the cruise tour offered by the cruiselines as they are too structured for the young ones in your group and they would be expensive for so many people.

 

I recommend the 14 day that goes to Kodiak, Homer, and up into the port of Anchorage. Lots of opportunities for everyone in your group to have a variety of great experiences.

 

If you want to do a 7 day land tour you may want to skip Denali and spend your time in the Turnagain Arm between Anchorage and Seward with Anchorage, Seward, Girdwood, Homer as the focus of your trip. There is plenty to see and do. The kids would probably enjoy this area.

 

Best and easiest option is the 14 day cruise on Holland America.

[Budget Queen]

HAL 14 day itinerary is raved about. Key would be to have your priority for activities where it takes you. Unfortunately - previous itineraries were superior, hopefully, they won't be making any more changes. :)

 

A one way cruise with an additional week for mainland touring is also an excellent choice. "Usual" choices are Denali Park but there is a whole lot more you can consider. I'll also give a lot of plus, to first hand reports, I see too much speculation and assumptions otherwise that aren't all accurate. So, I'd suggest taking time and reading trip reports on both this site and trip advisor.

 

I'd suggest, taking a look at various areas, read up on the available activities and tours. Make a list of your interests, and keep fine tuning your ideas. Involve everyone, it's amazing what you find out when you ask for input. :)

 

There are a lot of excellent guidebooks to review, also each area has a visitor web site.

 

IF you weren't to do Denali, some overall suggestions, to spend a few days at eeach Homer and Seward. Kenai fjords boat tours, Exit Glacier, Seavey's Sled dog, Center for Coastal Studies, ferry to Kachemak Bay, fish, hike Winner Trail, Portage Glacier Visitor Center, Gold Creek Mine, Alaska Wildlife Conservatory, Alaska Sealife Center etc etc etc http://www.kenaipeninsula.com

 

Hopefully find- you can make a lot of excellent plans with a priority to take car of any "active sons". :)

[janerbg]

I think that a lot of it depends on your travel style and why you want to see Alaska.

 

We took our son a couple of years ago when he was 8, and did Northbound Cruise and self-guided land, and we would not have wanted to do it any other way.

 

I looked up the itinerary and the shortcoming of the itinerary is the relative lack of Glaciers. We are coming from the East coast, so the travel to get there is greater, and glaciers are one of the things that are pretty unique to Alaska that we really wanted to see.

 

On our Northbound cruise we were able to see Glacier Bay and Hubbard as well as Mendenhall in Juneau. Following on that theme, we took a great hike near Girdwood to near Raven Glacier, Walked on Matanuska Glacier (https://micaguides.com/activities/alaska-glacier-tour/) (the highlight of the trip for my son) and saw the receding on Exit Glacier (and Samuel was able to actually pick up a ice ball in the stream/river that was flowing away from the Glacier. The weather was too bad for the Resurection Bay cruise out of Girdwood.

 

We felt the same way about Denali, although we did go and we did take the bus to Eilson (spelled incorrectly) (the mountain was out!) and we saw the dogs and the visitor center. While we like seeing Denali, I personally prefer the wildlife conservation center and getting close to the animals than the bus, but I know many people really like the bus. We did spend quite a bit of time at the visitor center and take the hike up to the ridge and we did enjoy the Alpenglow on the mountains in the evening. WE had a about 10 days land, and in retrospect if we had to cut something it would have been Denali. The bus trip in the park was not bad, but it is a long way there and back (and that scenery is not always very exciting) We also liked exploring in the old mine ruins up in Hatcher Pass State Park, and liked staying in the Tundra (although that Hatcher Pass cabins are not for everyone).

 

We flew rountrip to Seattle, drove to Vancouver (one way rental) and then flew Anchorage to Seattle, spent the night and flew home (we don't like red-eyes). We actually enjoyed the Anchorage to Seattle flight; the weather was finally clear and we had gorgeous views into Prince William Sound.

 

There are many things I like about cruises, but I would personally prefer the activities and flexibility of a land tour to that many sea days; we had some pretty bad weather from Hubbard Glacier to Whittier and so we could not see much (and my son got sea sick, which does not add to the trip :)).

 

The only other cruise we had done with my son is New England; he liked that one too. We like to cruise because we can get a feel of different places and see a lot a different places without packing/unpacking. We also like letting our son be silly in the kids club and being able to have an "adult" dinner while on vacation, but we were happy with only a week of cruise. But we also like to hike and explore without the constraint of getting back to the ship on time! I would personally never do a cruise land tour but other people love them.

 

Do your son's know what they want to to do? It is sometimes a little hard to get that out of boys, but if I ask carefully my son always has his priorities and those will probably affect the trip.

[TheCalicoCat]

I can't comment on the land choices, but I have chosen the 14-night cruise for my son & I. He will be 8.5 when we finally get to go.

 

Thanks to the other poster who said that her sone loved walking on Matanuska. That is in the back of my mind for us...

[Toliverair]

Thanks to all for the helpful information.

[rockdoctor]

Took a 14 day land tour followed by a 4 day cruise on HAL. Children on the tour (teens) were bored to the point of sleeping all day. Don't waste your money - wait a few years. Say the same kids on the ship later having a blast.

[rockdoctor]

Sorry, 10 day land with a 4 day cruise.

[JimAOk1945]

I'm glad to read so many good comments about the HAL cruise. We are booked on a 14 day HAL cruise and really excited about it.

 

We have done two 7 day Alaska cruises with two different cruise lines. The first was a 7 day round trip from Seattle on Princess. The second was a 7 day southbound from Seward to Vancouver on Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas. We enjoyed both although the second was better due to visiting Icy Strait Point.

 

Alaska is amazing. Can't ever get enough of it! :D