Best Alaska cruise for a high energy and super out going 11 year old

[Allie444]

"It's all about the ports"

"It's all about the excursions"

"It's all about Alaska"

 

I get it and I 100% agree but when you are 10 years old it's about the ship too.

 

Our last cruise was about 6 months ago (Disney Fantasy) and we were seriously the first people off the ship and the last people back on on the ship at every port. But - we literally sleep 6 hours a night and want to do it all. We splurge on vacations and don't miss a thing so the shipboard activities, a great room, food, it's all important.

 

My son literally talks about the Disney Tween club vibe at least twice a week and it was the highlight of his life. A balcony room on Disney is $10,000 and I really want to see Glacier Bay. On the other hand my son is an only child and super social and wants to play with other kids. We are off the boat for 40 hours and on the boat for well over 100 hours so I want to make the right choice.

 

I feel like there are great excursions at every port and honestly other than Glacier BAy most ships go to the same ports….

 

So keeping in mind I will book super awesome all day excursions no matter what ship I am on. Which is the best ship for my super active 11 year old to socialize and feel comfortable on?

[Quilting_Cruiser]

All the major lines have kids' clubs so your child will be around other children on the ship if he attends. I couldn't blast my girl out of there when she was younger. By 11, she wanted to spend a little time in camp and the rest with me. If he needs more than the kids club to be entertained, I would look for a ship that has additional activities--rock climbing wall, etc.--if there are any that have those types of amenities and sail Alaska. I honestly don't know as that's not important to me, but I understand why it would be important to others. :D

[elaine5]

The kids club on RCCL is very good until 12. At 12, the clubs are only supervised in the pm and many activities revolve around sports. This does not work for my kids, but they loved RCCL til 12. Also, you can save a lot on DCL if you book an oceanview. If it were balcony on other vs. OV on DCL, I would book DCL. RCCL will have climbing wall, but it can be closed if windy/rainy, so don't count on it. We are having the same debate, but I have shy teens who love DCL and that is about the only teen club they will try. Note, he will be group with kids 9-11 on RCCL and 10-12 on NCL vs. a tween club on DCL, if that matters. My kids were going to be in the 12-14 age group on RCCL and they were almost 15 and in HS. They said no thanks.

Edited April 19, 2016 by elaine5

[cruisingwithcarrie]

We've done DCL to Alaska. We are about to do RCCL this summer with a VERY social girl who turns 10 on the trip). If I had the money, I'd do DCL again. Glacier Bay is amazing, but like you said, Juneau is Juneau, etc. We ended up in Endicott Arm, since Tracy Arm had too much ice. We enjoyed the glacier very much. My main though for kids like your son (and my daughter) is that the kids clubs on non-DCL seem to have shorter hours. I do like that RCCL has family hours at the inside pool, though. My daughter will definitely take advantage of that and I won't worry about inclement weather. Good luck in your choice.

[donaldsc]

He may think differently about AK. We took our 10 year old granddaughter on a 2 week trip including a week on one of the Princess ships and a 1 week DIY land trip. We picked Princess because it was alleged to have a good kids club. Our granddaughter took one look at the kids club and decided that the activities were stupid, she would prefer to dine in the dining room as opposed to eating pizza in the kids club and she was there to see AK and not be inside doing kids stuff.

 

She never went back to the kids club. I have one smart granddaughter.

 

DON

Edited April 20, 2016 by donaldsc

[creel5857]

just going by what we have observed with family and friend's and the children and grandchildren on cruises .......you need to read up on the kids programs for each of the major cruise lines and understand that none will be perfect and while they all have great activities most of them do not try to be Disney.....going to Alaska is totally different that many other vacations.....and even though he is 11 and only child, you might want to balance some of the high energy full blast socialization time with some quiet watch the scenery and wildlife time as Alaska really can be quite beautiful and educational.......there is certainly a lot to do but if you are constantly doing something every minute you miss some of the most important part of Alaska.....we have a high energy grandchild also so I say this from love and concern.....after researching this board and others I am sure you will make the right decision but just remember Alaska is not Disney