Ship recommendations for one-way cruise with teens

[jbrinkm]

We have typically been a RCI family for our cruises, but I'm stumped with Alaska and willing to branch out if there is a better option. RCI offers old, small ships that do one way tours, but I think my teens will be bored after day 3 (we've only done Freedom and Oasis class with them so that is what they are used to). The new, fun ships do round trips from Seattle, but we'd love to add a few days to see Denali National Park, so we'd really like to find a one way cruise.

 

Is there a ship from another cruise line that you would recommend that does one-way trips and also has a few bells & whistles on the ship for the teens?

[Ashland]

RCI Ovation & Quantum have some one way Seattle to Vancouver itineraries.

[1025cruise]

In all honesty, picking an Alaskan cruise based on the bells and whistles of the ship is the wrong way to do it. Find the itinerary you like, then find which ship makes the most sense.

[jbrinkm]

17 hours ago, Ashland said:

RCI Ovation & Quantum have some one way Seattle to Vancouver itineraries.

 

Unfortunately, not during the summer dates when we are available. That would have been the perfect solution!

[arpie05]

I think the larger ships can't do the One Way.  We did NCL Joy in 2019 and it had all the kid extra stuff. But it was round trip out of Seattle.  One option would be to add a flight to see Denali. 

[jbrinkm]

1 hour ago, arpie05 said:

I think the larger ships can't do the One Way.  We did NCL Joy in 2019 and it had all the kid extra stuff. But it was round trip out of Seattle.  One option would be to add a flight to see Denali. 

 

Thanks, we'll consider it. 

[wolfie11]

1 hour ago, arpie05 said:

I think the larger ships can't do the One Way.  We did NCL Joy in 2019 and it had all the kid extra stuff. But it was round trip out of Seattle.  One option would be to add a flight to see Denali. 

Almost all the one-ways depart from Vancouver and the big ships can't get under the Lion's Gate Bridge.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Can you do the land portion of the trip first, then the cruise?  At least the kids, if they are bored on the ship, will know that they will be back home with their friends at the end of the week.

 

For what it's worth, your family vacation destination is pretty awesome, and not inexpensive.  Don't give into your kids' current lack of appreciation - I am betting that they will look back and recall this family time together in Alaska with much fondness.

[CCJack]

12 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

For what it's worth, your family vacation destination is pretty awesome, and not inexpensive.  Don't give into your kids' current lack of appreciation - I am betting that they will look back and recall this family time together in Alaska with much fondness.

Great point....  I cruised a lot with my kids when they were teens.   For whatever reason - teens sometimes think it is cool to act bored, even though I now know for a fact they were not bored, and enjoyed the trips very much. 

 

We have sailed on Oasis class several times and love those ships, however our RCCL Alaska cruise was fantastic on a medium sized ship.   Very pleased with the condition of the ship.   Also don't forget you may not want 5,000 people getting off of your ship with you  in some of these Alaska ports.   We also went on the RCCL cruise tour and enjoyed that as well.

 

I do like the idea of cruise tour first, but I also like the idea of 1 or 2 nights in Vancouver before you leave (which is what we did) which means a Northbound cruise before the cruisetour.  I think teens would love Vancouver. 

 

Have fun!