Alaska - HAL or Princess ~ best for kids?

[bewitchedwitch]

We are planning a cruise to Alaska for next June 2008. The two cruise lines we are considering are HAL and Princess. Our girls will be 23 months old and 5years old at the time.

 

Which cruise line would be better for the girls?

[rice5899]

Are you sure you really want to do a cruise like that with your kids so little. Alaska I am sure would have so many excursions that would be wonderful to take, but most you would not be able to take young ones

[mom2sz]

We went on an Alaska cruise aboard HAL when my daughter was 6 months old almost 4 years ago. There weren't that many kids on board and it was during 4th of July. We didn't visit their kids club at that time. We've cruised Princess 3X and like them a lot. They have a great kids' program and their kids' club are very well-equipped. They would also allow you to stay in the kids' area and play with all the toys with your 23-month old as long as you stay with your child. Overall, Princess seems to also have more activities onboard during sea days than HAL.

 

We've also found it a lot easier to get ready and eat with 2 toddlers when we're on an Anytime Dining option (Princess) compared to traditional seating at a specific time (HAL). We were in the Alaska ports for most of the day and we missed the dinner a few times on HAL. Their buffet was open at weird, inconvenient hours compared to Princess' 24 hour buffet.

 

There are many excursions you can take your kids in Alaska. (glacier sightseeing or tram ride in Juneau, train ride in Skagway, totem poles in Ketchikan, etc.) The towns are also great to walk around. They would also love seeing all the different animals throughout the cruise.

 

We're also planning an Alaska cruise summer 2008 with friends. There will be a total of at least 8 kids in our group so far. I hope this helps you a bit. Good luck with your trip planning.

[helenb]

We did Alaska with our (then) 3 y.o. and 5 y.o. on RCCL, so I can't comment on the HAL or Princess ships, but I can comment on excursions. Our kids enjoyed everything we did, except the bus tour we took in Victoria, which was just a bit too long for them, so they napped through the second half of it. But they loved the Mendenhall Glacier, the White Pass Railway, Icy Strait Point, and Craigdarroch Castle (in Victoria). We had also planned on doing the Bug Museum in Victoria (which I *know* they would have adored) but we ran out of time in port.

 

So I think they will have a great time, and so will you!

[merela]

with 6M, 20M, 3YO, 4YO, and 5YO (not all my children) to Alaska and as can be expected, any cruises you take when your child is 3YO and up is more enjoyable because you can send them to the kids' club.

 

Princess allow children under 3YO in their kids' club area if accompanied by a parent. I know RCCL and Carnival are very strict, even with parents present, they don't allow the under 3 crowd into the kids club.

 

On Princess, you, as a parent, can spend as much time with your under 3YO child in the Kids' Club as long as you want and join in the activities catered for the 3-6 set, but you probably don't want to do that.

 

Because you have a 23M old with you, you will have to watch this child, unless you bring a babysitter along with you. Princess does not offer in-cabin babysitting service. They do offer after-hour (until 1am, I think) group babysitting in the Kids' Club, so you'll have to be over 3 to enjoy this service.

 

Your 5YO will enjoy kids club tremendously because the 3-6 club caters to the median age, which is 5. Mind you, your child needs to have preschool experience first for them to enjoy kids' club on board. I've posted Kids' patters for our Princess cruises, so do a search and find that post. All Princess kids' club activities are similar. Only the theme changes. Ice and polar bears for Alaskan cruises and sand and sun for Mexican itinerary.

 

If you want to do serious sightseeing in Alaska, you don't have to bring your 5YO because the child can stay on board in the kids' club. They'll babysit the child for you, but you'll have to bring your 23M old child along to go ashore.

 

But it's not hard to do a walkabout in these Alaskan ports of call. You can still enjoy Alaskan scenery by using strollers. Strap your child in the stroller and just walk around town. Pray for a sunny weather. It's harder to do a walkabout if it's raining really hard. My 2YO fell asleep in the stroller while we were walking around in Skagway. I think Skagway has a free city tour every day around noon. Check Skagway's city website for the correct time. After the city tour, I shopped. I did most of my shopping there. We didn't do the Train since it would be too restless for a 2YO to coup up in a train for 2 hours.

 

My BIL strapped his 6M old in a backpack-style seat and we went to Mendenhall glacier in Juneau and we did a walkabout in Skagway. After 2 days, his shoulders and back was killing him. So stroller is definitely the way to go.

 

My 5YO DD got fed up with walking around sightseeing (in her mind, doing nothing) so she decided to stay on board when we arrived in Ketchikan. She stayed in the kids' Club and did beading and made bracelets and necklaces. It was a short port of call and it drizzled, so it was just as well that she didn't go. My 2YO was in a stroller and we let him run around an area when we came upon a totem pole park. But it started to drizzle, so we quickly went back to the ship in case it downpours.

 

We went to Alaska at the end of August, so the weather was balmy by Alaskan standards. In Skagway, the temperature hovered around 65F, but that's rare. Most of the time, during summer months, I think the temp. is around 45F-55F. So to keep kids warm while not moving (because they are sitting in a stroller) is difficult.

 

We also brought along snacks from the ship. We would get extra breakfast cereals (Kelloggs frosted flakes, fruit loops, and rice krispies) at the breakfast buffet and put them in our backpacks so the kids can snack while we walked around town. I got extra sippy cups and fill them up with apple juice/orange juice (you can dilute them if you want) during breakfast. You can get extra small cartons of milk if your kids are milk drinkers. It'll be hard (not to mention pricey) to find a grocery store at these Alaskan towns if your child wants juice or milk. Bring extra diapers, wipes, and extra change of clothes (including socks) and be prepared to cut your excursion short to accommodate your child's nap time.

 

I wouldn't recommend organized excursions because kids are too unpredictable.

 

Another thing I liked about Princess cruises is that they have self-service laundry. Just bring quarters ($1 for washer and $0.75 for dryer) and laundry detergent in ziploc bags and you don't have to pack that much clothes. Just do 1 load in the middle of your cruise and you have reduced your luggage space by 1/2. My experience is that once in the dryer doesn't dry the clothes properly, so I simply hang them up around the cabin (if you have bunk beds) and turn up the thermostat while you are at dinner and the clothes will be dried completely when you finish your dinner. I bring kids' plastic hangers (those from Target and TRU) and left them in my cabin when I disembark. The wooden hangers in our cabins are nice, but they are usually too big for my kids' clothes.

 

I've never been on a HAL cruise, so I can't comment on the kids' activities on board. I would imagine it's not too different from Princess.

 

I can only speak for Princess cruises because I've been on 4 Princess cruises. Post questions if you have any.

[merela]

I also like the anytime dining system on Princess because you just never know when your child will be up from the mid-afternoon nap. But although we have PC dining, we always make reservations for 6pm because kids always get hungry easily. But Princess' 24H buffet is great because any time your child is hungry, just go up to the buffet area and pick up something to eat. We ate with our small children in the dining room every night. Princess offers kids' menu. My kids adore their alphabet soup and chicken fingers (fries).

 

Princess' pools only allow children over 3 (and potty-trained). I would suggest that you take your 5YO for a swim when the 23M is napping, so the 23M old wouldn't feel left out of swimming. The pizzas, hamburgers, and hotdogs poolside are very popular with my kids.

 

All things being equal, cruising is the easiest vacation for parents with young children. You don't have to worry where and what you are going to eat every night. I don't have to be a short-order cook. If your child doesn't like something, your waiter will bring something else for him/her. If there is nothing on the menu that your child like, if you can describe the dish your child enjoys, the chef will make it to order. It's just amazing to try all those food. This way, your child will expose to different foods that they will not normally partake. My 5YO (now 7) learned to love creme brulee and knows what escargots are. Each night, the dessert they bring out just make my daughter's eyes shine! It's priceless! Great sorbets and ice creams to be enjoyed by all!

 

At least there is entertainment on board. Unless you travel with a babysitter or other family members, it's likely that you and your SO would have to take turn watching the shows if your children have fallen asleep. Once DH fell asleep with the kids, so I went to a late-night movie by myself. It was fun! But if my children weren't asleep when a show starts, I would get them into PJs and take them to the theatre to see broadway-style production show. We would sit near the entrance and aisle seat. As soon as any of my children make a sound I can't control, I leave. My principal is that I will control my children so their behavior do not affect the comfort of other cruisers. But most of the time, they would fall asleep in my arm and I was able to watch the entire show. Princess have great stage shows/musicals.

 

We are booked on the Celebrity this summer again for Alaska and from what I've seen on this board, I'm already missing Princess and what it offers my children.

[helenb]

I just want to say something in favor of traditional dining. Everyone says 'do anytime dining' with small kids, but we find the opposite is true, for us. For us, early traditional dining is a must.

 

I have heard too many stories with anytime dining where people have to wait for tables. Not so with traditional dining. When the kids see the dining room, they are ready to sit down! No waiting for us!

 

I also love having the same waiters every night. After the first night, they know to have milks ready for the kids when they sit down, they know to have the kids' menus ready, and they know to bring the kids' entrees with the adults' appetizers. They understand that we might take a break between our entrees and dessert so one parent can run the kids up to the kids' club for the evening session (usually begins around 7 pm). I find that these little things really make dining much easier for us.

 

Now, suppose your kids are hungrier earlier, or later, than your dining time? No problem! As everyone has mentioned, there are many other places to eat: the buffet, the poolside ht dogs, hamburgers and pizza, etc. There is ALWAYS something for your child to eat.

 

JMHO!

[rebeccalouise]

We are planning a cruise to Alaska for next June 2008. The two cruise lines we are considering are HAL and Princess. Our girls will be 23 months old and 5years old at the time.

 

Which cruise line would be better for the girls?

 

I have sailed Princess but not HAL in recent year (did the Veendam and Volendam in 1980 and 1981- so doesn't count).

 

You will have a nice time on Princess don't worry. I know that Holland America has a nice teen program but haven't heard any raves about the youth program for the younger kids.

 

Another option is Celebrity- my favorite line. Your five year old could go to the Fun Factory and will LOVE it! And you can get incabin babysitting for all of the kids or just the younger ones for a fee. In Cabin babysitting starts at 6:30 PM.

 

As for Alaska- best destination you can think of. Make sure the 23 month olds are potty trained by the cruise- that way they can swim in the pool and hot tubs. You will love Alaska. I have been there four times. Twice on Princess and twice on NCL. The ports are easy to navigate and you will feel safe. There is plenty of opportunity for the kids to run around and the air is clean- no humidity. Just fantastic.

 

You MUST have a balcony. Because every morning, while the kids are watching cartoons- you can be out there just soaking up the scenery. You will love Alaska!!!:) :) :)

 

Whatever line you choose you will have a wonderful time.

[lexxity]

Keep the advice and review coming please! We are doing Alaska in 2009 (out 10th wedding anniversary) and our little man will be two months off four by then. Having never sailed any other line than Cunard we need all the advice we can get.

 

I know it's a long way off, but I like to stat thinking about these things early. Brochures will be out before we know it.:p :D

[Studebaker59]

Merela- Please answer my question on the River Cruises thread you posted about your parents' trip. I'd like to meet them. Thanks!

[mpb43]

It's great to find this thread in the family forum! Our family is also hoping to cruise to Alaska in 2009. My youngest will be 6 at the time and our older two will be 11 and 13.

I've been lurking on the Princess and Celebrity boards for the past couple of months trying to decide on a ship. Princess certainly has lots of ships and many nice itineraries in Alaska.

 

To the OP, my close friend took her family on HAL to Alaska last year and said that it was not particulary kid-friendly. The passengers were generally older and not very tolerant of her twin 5 year old boys. ;)

 

Rebeccalouise,

I have been intrigued by Celebrity and was looking carefully at their cruise to Alaska on Infinity. I must say that the Celebrity boards are so negative to children. My husband and I are slightly older parents (my youngest was my 40th birthday present). My children have taken many land vacations and are great travelers. I'm reluctant to book a vacation where other passengers will be glaring at my kids, or feel that they should stay in the kid's club the entire trip.

 

It sounds like your experience on Celebrity has been positive. Are the boards just a skewed population?

[bewitchedwitch]

Wow, this is the first time I came back to check the responses and I'm so excited to see all of the positive feedback I have gotten from all of you.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the great advice!!!

 

If anyone has any other great advice etc. please post it as well!

[merela]

Rebeccalouise,

I have been intrigued by Celebrity and was looking carefully at their cruise to Alaska on Infinity. I must say that the Celebrity boards are so negative to children.

 

It sounds like your experience on Celebrity has been positive. Are the boards just a skewed population?

 

Generally speaking, there are always tons of kids on summer cruises. Also, the more expensive the cruise, the less likely there will be kids. For some reason (I read this on other boards) the Alaska itinerary is not selling well this summer, so 7-day Princess cruises to Alaska (one-way) with airfare was going for $699 ($349 cruise only). That's unheard of prices in recent years!

 

But we are booked on the Infinity's July sailing to Alaska because my sister's family will be on and there is a conference on board that her husband is attending. I've done some research on the Celebrity board and I think the kids' club there is good enough, but children is not allowed to swim in the indoor pool on the Infinity. I doubt the weather will be warm enough to swim in the outdoor pool even if the pool is heated.

 

Because we booked so late, only late dinner seating is available. I'm a little worried with that because my kids would definitely be famished by 8:30pm. Sure, they can eat something around 6pm to tie them over, but eating is not a big event for the age 5-7 set, so making them eat 2 meals within a period of 4 hours would be torture. I wish Celebrity has anytime dining, but we'll just have to try to switch to first seating and see what happens.

 

The women in my family like to go up to the buffet area (to have coffee and tea) and talk after the kids are asleep (the men are watching them) and the shows are over (generally around 11pm). I don't think buffet is open that late on the Infinity. But Princess is great, their buffet area is opened 24 hours and around 11pm, you can see dancers and entertainers come up and eat their dinner in the buffet area.

 

We are in our 40s too, so we are looking to see what the dining room experience is like on a Celebrity ship as compared to the Princess ships. Even with the 4 Princess cruises ships we have been on, the quality was uneven. Our best Princess food experience was on the Diamond to Alaska August 2004. I believe Diamond was only in service for a couple of months then and everything was great! The restaurant food was as good as any 4* restaurants in LA. DH and I are foodies, so we are eager to try cruises such as Crystal and other upscale cruises once the kids don't want to travel with us anymore. It's not really too much fun right now to see our kids turn their noses up on great food!

 

If you want to book Princess cruises and you have kids, the best cabins are cabins in front of the AFT elevators, between the mid-ship and AFT elevators. The reason being access to the kids' club and the buffet area is through the AFT elevators, so I can't tell how convenient it is to get a cabin a few doors down from the AFT elevators. But don't book cabins at the rear of the AFT elevators. Vibrations are terrible in the back.

 

Not sure if Infinity has self-laundry, but that could be an issue, but not a big one.

 

But we are keeping an open mind and not to expect too much from the Infinity. We'll just chalk it off as a different cruising experience with kids than the Princess.

 

For those of you who are interested in kids' patters on the Princess, here is the link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=250207

 

Princess kids' menu:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=79028

 

When we asked for the kids' menu on the Star, they didn't have the printed version, but we had it memorized, so it wasn't a problem. I believe on the Diamond and Sapphire, there are kids' menu available (just like those from Denny's or Friday's). There are activities on the back for the kids to write on, but Princess didn't provide pencils or crayons (kind of silly), so we either bring our own or we would go to the library in the atrium area and get small golf pencils and let the kids write on the Kids' menus.

 

I think other passengers will only glare at kids if they misbehave. I think if your children are experienced travellers, then you'll be OK. Little kids don't really bother me because parents are always with them. It's the pre-teen set (and teen sets during spring break) that can be a problem. It's frustrating to go into an elevator after a bunch of pre-teens and see that the button on every floor had been pushed. I'm sure this is an isolated incidence, but I think with proper parental supervision, things will go smoothly. Princess have kids' patrol on board during spring break and summer months, but the ship is pretty big, these patrols can't be everywhere at the same time. So I always think the responsibility is on the parents to place behavior guidelines on their children before they board the ship.

 

Others and I have posted extensively on what to pack and what to expect on cruises with kids, so do a search and you'll find tons of information.

 

Post specific questions if you have any.

[CrusinAgain]

Definitely Princess over HAL due to the age factor. Princess has a variety of ages and HAL is a line for the older folks to relax. People in their 50's have taken HAL thinking they would fit in fine only to find out they were the young ones. Our first cruise was to Alaska 13 years ago and our kids were young but had a great time on the original Star Princess.

[mpb43]

Merela,

Thanks for the input. I hope to hear about your trip on Celebrity on your return, and how you think it compares to Princess.

As you can tell, I'm a newbie to cruising (booked on my first cruise in the Mediterrannean in July...can't wait!).

Enjoy your trip!

[Cruisin' Chick]

We went on our Alaskan cruise when our girl was 7 (just a few days after her birthday so the waiter gave her a little cake). It was on the Sapphire Princess so much of what Merela said fits that ship. If you go from mid-June on through the end of August, there should be plenty of kids onboard. Some of the Princess ships have a covered pool which is great for Alaska. Sometimes the weather can get into the 80s there, but for us it was in the 60s and mostly rainy or foggy.

 

The Princess kids program has a partnership with the California Science center so many of the activities have a science bent to it, relevant to your itineary. Princess also has the self-service laundries, some HAL ships do too, but not Celebrity.

 

Our girl decided she would rather stay aboard the ship so we signed her up for in-port kidsitting (free, but you need to sign up by the day before). Even though, we think she would have enjoyed the Miniatures Museum in Victoria.

[rebeccalouise]

It's great to find this thread in the family forum! Our family is also hoping to cruise to Alaska in 2009. My youngest will be 6 at the time and our older two will be 11 and 13.

I've been lurking on the Princess and Celebrity boards for the past couple of months trying to decide on a ship. Princess certainly has lots of ships and many nice itineraries in Alaska.

 

To the OP, my close friend took her family on HAL to Alaska last year and said that it was not particulary kid-friendly. The passengers were generally older and not very tolerant of her twin 5 year old boys. ;)

 

Rebeccalouise,

I have been intrigued by Celebrity and was looking carefully at their cruise to Alaska on Infinity. I must say that the Celebrity boards are so negative to children. My husband and I are slightly older parents (my youngest was my 40th birthday present). My children have taken many land vacations and are great travelers. I'm reluctant to book a vacation where other passengers will be glaring at my kids, or feel that they should stay in the kid's club the entire trip.

 

It sounds like your experience on Celebrity has been positive. Are the boards just a skewed population?

 

Absolutely do not be put off Celebrity because of some of the anti-kid posters on the Celebrity boards. I have cruised with my kids (ages 6 and 19) for the past 11 years. I have done all the lines. I have enjoyed them all- some more than others. Each cruise line offers different things. I have happily settled on Celebrity (5 cruises/2 more booked on Millenium). It is a great line. The youth program is fantastic. Because there aren't 500 kids on board (more like 100)- they get more individual attention.

 

I don't think that anyone is going to glare at your kids on board. No one glared at my son. The only reason anyone would glare at kids is if they are misbehaving- and I'd probably be one of those people.

 

I always tell my son that there is no running in the hall or jumping on the beds etc. He knows this. It hasn't been a problem. The crew adores kids! They would much rather see a happy, enthusiastic child than a grumpy, obnoxious adult.

[mpb43]

Absolutely do not be put off Celebrity because of some of the anti-kid posters on the Celebrity boards. I have cruised with my kids (ages 6 and 19) for the past 11 years. I have done all the lines. I have enjoyed them all- some more than others. Each cruise line offers different things. I have happily settled on Celebrity (5 cruises/2 more booked on Millenium). It is a great line. The youth program is fantastic. Because there aren't 500 kids on board (more like 100)- they get more individual attention.

 

I don't think that anyone is going to glare at your kids on board. No one glared at my son. The only reason anyone would glare at kids is if they are misbehaving- and I'd probably be one of those people.

 

I always tell my son that there is no running in the hall or jumping on the beds etc. He knows this. It hasn't been a problem. The crew adores kids! They would much rather see a happy, enthusiastic child than a grumpy, obnoxious adult.

 

Rebeccalouise,

Thanks for your insight. Thankfully, my guys do pretty well in restaurants and understand rules of public behavior. I don't think I would have been able to travel with them as much as I do if that were not true.

Celebrity looks interesting! I'll really consider them for Alaska.