Family Friendly Alaska

[ChemistBabe]

I have two kids, a 10 year old and a teenager.  We have taken two Caribbean cruises on Disney and loved both of them.

We'd like to go to Alaska next.

 

Princess is HALF the price of Disney and includes Glacier Bay.

My concern:  in general, I know Princess has older passengers than Disney.

 

Does that apply to Alaska too, or are Princess Alaska cruises more family friendly???

 

(We are looking for family activities, lowest common denominator food for my difficult child, movies at the pool...  Basically, for there to be other families and family activities, not just older adults.)

 

Thank you!

[disneyochem]

We took our kids when they were younger on Disney cruises (including Alaska).  Going to Princess will be different than Disney but I'm sure you and your family will have a great time.  We took Princess to Alaska when our kids were older than yours (13 and 15) and they had a great time.  

 

Princess does a good job in their kids club as well as several enrichment programs for kids.  A US forest ranger boards the ship for the Glacier Bay day--lots of hands on exhibits as well as the opportunity to become a Junior Ranger.  Princess brings on sled dog puppies (usually in Juneau)--my kids loved that experience!  There will be family-friendly crafts on board, some kid appropriate trivia (Disney), movies for kids as well as pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers and ice cream by the pool!

 

We liked Disney cruises when our kids were younger because of their focus on family.  On a Princess cruise, you may or may not have the same wait staff (you don't rotate to a different restaurant), there is a casino, a smoking area and lots of bars!  The food is not as good as a Disney cruise but we do like Princess food.

 

Alaskan cruises, especially on Princess, are focused on intergenerational and family experiences.  I don't think you will regret choosing Princess.

 

(Are you a chemist?  Organic chemist here.)

[Kay S]

Princess is allowed to go into areas in Alaska that others can't.  You will only see Glacier Bay that way.  We have taken kids on Alaska cruises many times.  The kids' clubs are very good (or were back then) and ours loved the experience.  I have taken babies up to teenagers.  There will be gobs of kids on an Alaskan cruise, not just us oldies in our wheelchairs  🙂  With Alaska, the country is the attraction, not the stuff on board.  

[JimmyVWine]

18 minutes ago, ChemistBabe said:

(We are looking for family activities, lowest common denominator food for my difficult child, movies at the pool...  Basically, for there to be other families and family activities, not just older adults.)

Princess has all of this, and for Alaska cruises in the summer (don't do May or September), there will be lots of families on board.  Also, as I am sure you have figured out, Alaska is a very port intensive destination so 24/7 fun and activities on the ship aren't really needed.  You'll be off the ship from 8:00-5:00 many days, followed by dinner.  So the ship needs to provide far less distraction and entertainment for kids than a typical cruise in the Caribbean.  Even if price were not a consideration I would choose Princess over Disney in Alaska.  I've been on DCL and have no complaints.  But in AK, Princess reigns.  And, of course, price is a factor, so that moves the meter even further over, especially on a port intensive itinerary.  The Disney passengers who go on whale watching excursions in Juneau are boarding the same vessels as the Princess passengers. But they are just paying twice as much to arrive at the dock.    

[ChemistBabe]

Thank you!

 

This was exactly what I wanted to hear!

[disgirl]

I took my 11 year old nephew on an Alaska cruise in June (Celebrity).  He loved cruising and Alaska.  

 

Princess has great kids/teen clubs.  Participation will depend on the dates in summer you travel and how many kids are onboard.  I find a good mix of families on Princess.  

[SiliconCruiser]

4 hours ago, ChemistBabe said:

I have two kids, a 10 year old and a teenager.  We have taken two Caribbean cruises on Disney and loved both of them.

We'd like to go to Alaska next.

 

Princess is HALF the price of Disney and includes Glacier Bay.

My concern:  in general, I know Princess has older passengers than Disney.

 

Does that apply to Alaska too, or are Princess Alaska cruises more family friendly???

 

(We are looking for family activities, lowest common denominator food for my difficult child, movies at the pool...  Basically, for there to be other families and family activities, not just older adults.)

 

Thank you!

We were on an Alaskan cruise in the middle of summer break.  While Carnival's Princess and Holland America brands tend to focus their marketing towards an older (that they also presume to be more gullible)  demographic, we saw quite a few multi-generational families on this cruise. 
There was this Chinese-American family of 8 or 10 that sat at the table across from us every night.  With their menu selections, there was always a plate of white rice, along with a bottle of red wine and a glass of brown stuff (presumably cognac) for grandpa.  Something very strange about the setup though; in addition to additional gratuities that were provided to the wait staff, they started to buy drinks and share their wine with the wait-staff as well. I had to presume that they were told to accept and consume the drinks since they did so openly at the table while toasting their benefactors.  And at least on one night the head waiter also joined them.  Money talks!
Sorry for straying away from your question, but in the middle of summer in Alaska there are a number of younger families on board, which is probably a good alternative to Carnival's other brand Carnival, which tends to appeal to a younger 'party' crowd.

 

[cruzin4us]

I agree with what others posted above.   If you want to make sure there are more kids/families aboard, I would definitely suggest cruising mid June thru August.   In May, late August and September, there will be much fewer kids on board.

If you don't want a bunch of sea days, I also suggest the 7 day cruises out of Seattle or Vancouver.   

[StrawberryHill]

We took our two boys ( 16 and 13) on an Alaska cruise in July 2009.  They had there own room next to us.  We only saw them at dinner ( kids areas were closed for dinner ) and at night after the kids areas closed.  Our room steward knew more about their schedule than we did.  They are still social media friends with two or three others that they met in the kids club.  Princess has a great kids program.

[blizzard44ca]

We have mostly cruised Princess when our kids were younger (including Alaska), but have done one Disney cruise.  I think of the Disney cruise as the ship (and the private island) being the destination. There is so much to see and do, that doing an Alaskan itinerary on Disney seems to be a waste to me.

Our kids loved Princess for Alaska. There were lots of other kids, and the kids clubs were staffed by teachers on summer break.  We did a lot of family friendly excursions like kayaking and whale watching.

Love Disney, but prefer to do it in places where you don’t need to get off the ship.
 

[ChemistBabe]

Thanks!  I went ahead and booked it.  (Now we need to get over our concerns about COVID.)

[zyx2008]

We went on an Alaskan cruise this last July with our 9 (almost 10), 12 and 14 year old.  They all had a great time.  The kid's club was fantastic for our youngest.  Lots of activities, attention and kids.  Our two oldest didn't really enjoy the club this cruise, but they found plenty to do.  My 12 year old and her father attended every single ballroom dance session and fell in love - so much so that she is now taking ballroom lessons at home.  We also attended almost every line dancing class, game show and trivia.  The staff was amazing. 

 

There isn't a lot of diversity in the kid's food options, but my youngest was content with the offerings and my two older kids explored lots of new food options.   They also loved being able to order room service via the television (plus all the fun non-alcoholic drinks - we had Princess Plus).  

 

Note that the cabins are smaller on Princess than on Disney so we ended up booking an inside room across from our balcony room and my two older kids slept in there.  My husband and I had access to their room.  In the end, we preferred this setup as it would have been super crowded if all 5 of us were in one room.

 

 

[ChemistBabe]

Oh, I know about the rooms being smaller.  

I booked a mini-suite.

 

(We really need at least a little separation from the kids at night.)

 

I suspect we will really miss the split bathroom, though!

[roobug]

My boys who are teenagers now have done both Disney and Princess cruises they like them both for different reasons.  The friends they met on the Princess cruises they have stayed friends with, they also like the fact that they get a drink package on princess and can order fun mocktails.  They like Disney for the characters and the themed kids/teen areas.  For Alaska they actually requested princess as they didn't want to feel like they were missing out on the characters or activities on the ship to go to the different ports.