Alaska - Kids onboard?

[coffee39]

We just booked the Sapphire for a SB Anchorage to Vancouver on July 5, 2008. Will there be lots of kids onboard or do families tend not to do the Alaska SB cruises?

 

I love kids but our daughter just graduated and left home. This is our first holiday with just the two of us. All too often I have seen parents who think that because they are on vacation they don't have to exert the energy to watch and/or discipline their children. (I have a sister like that). I can not stand to see a child left unattended and therefore I have spent more than one holiday not only looking after my child but several others as well.

[NancyIL]

If you want to come across fewer kids, you need to book early or late in the season. You picked PRIME family cruising time - even to Alaska.

[lthomas]

We did that same week this year in July. I took our 14 year old daughter. She was bored to death the entire time. There were not that many kids onboard that I saw....... At least not any causing attention to themselves etc. While there are more kids going to Alaska now, I don't think it was overwhelming at all like the Caribbean etc.

[Warrior1]

If you want less kids, you need to go by the middle of June. We cruised out of Seattle(June 8th - June 15th) and there were not many kids, but most in that part of the country were in school until the third week of June. If you don't go early, you need to wait until the end of August. My guess is that a July 5th cruise will have lots of kids, but I'm sure others that went around that time will share experiences.

[ggprincess2004]

There will definitely be kids aboard. The good news is Princess has really great kids programs, so a lot of them will be happily occupied during sea days and evenings. And - to go to Alaska and not go ashore - I think not. On port days, parents are likely to have the kids with in family vacation mode.

You know, I am really not a big fan of other people's kids unless they are extremely well behaved, and I have to say that even on summer cruises, holiday cruises and spring break cruises, we have not had a cruise ruined in any way by the kids on board. In fact, we were so pleasantly surprised with a cruise over New Year's that was full of kids, esp. teenagers - we met some really nice kids, and found them entirely engaging.

Perhaps we have been lucky, but we have yet to have a really bad "kid" experience while cruising. Oh sure, a few little incidents from time to time, but nothing at all that is really a result of parental inattention or indifference. Just a few kids will be kids moments that were quite fleeting.:p

 

Honest, you two will be "in your own little world" reveling in couplehood once again. I don't think that your trip is likely to be marred by the kids aboard. (And, trust me, when my nieces were young they qualified as obnoxious brats in my book, no matter how doting an auntie I was or am - they are delightful individuals now!) Just remember to smile and enjoy the fact that you have been there - done that - and those kids are someone else's problem and joy!

Have a fantastic trip - Alaska is awesome.:)

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I think ggprincess stated it well--there will definitely be children on board, but that doesn't mean they will impact your vacation. Yes, there will always be people who take a vacation from parenting, but our experiences have been similar to those of ggprincess.

 

If I were concerned about children on a cruise, I wouldn't be cruising during a holiday week! One of the nice things about being an empty nester is cruising during times when the children are in school--I would cruise either May or September to Alaska if I were so concerned about children on the cruise. Kids in our area get out of school the second week of June and don't go back until Labor Day week. Of course, it varies throughout the country. We did an August 15 sailing and I have no idea how many children were on board and I'm happy to say we had only one incident (a kid banged on our door in the middle of the night). There were plenty of kids for our 12-year-old DD to hang out with.

 

Just curious, why would you think families would favor southbound over northbound?

 

Jayne

[Warrior1]

The more that I thought about this--there are many more obnoxious adults that I have encountered on my travels compared to my two kids. I'm sure many of you would agree!!

[Happyladi]

I was on the Princess Sapphire the week of August 18th to the 25th. I was told that there were 700 kids on board but it didn't seem like that much. There were a fair number of families but the kids never caused any trouble.

[ggprincess2004]

The more that I thought about this--there are many more obnoxious adults that I have encountered on my travels compared to my two kids. I'm sure many of you would agree!!

 

 

Well said, and I do heartily agree!

[fti]

The Celebrity Summit had something like 300 kids on board last week and I was surprised it was that many. I didn't see that many kids around. I think generally Celebrity has fewer kids on board than other lines. Last year I cruised Princess the first week of July. I noticed more kids than on Celebrity the end of August but they were never bothersome. The cruise lines have good programs for kids since they know how important it is to be competitive in this area.

 

John

[gazingm42]

Our kids get out of School in Mid/late May. Were on the June trip to Alaska this

year. The last time to Alaska there were very few kids. Nothing like cruising

out of Florida, etc. etc.

 

My kids love the outdoors and wildlife etc. So Alaska is right up thier

idea of a great trip. However we also make sure we make the Alaska trip,

as well as all vacations/cruises a learning experiences. We make them involved

in the day trips we will be doing. We help them with the research and history

of what they will be seeing first hand. They really enjoy learning on what

they are seeing on cruises. Our value of the trip to us has a great factor on

what the kids can learn from it.

[GORDONCHICK]

Typically, if there are children that are a problem, it's usually kids in their teens. They aren't usually that into the organized programs and just sort of roam freely on board.

 

But I would agree that cruising will school is in session will lessen the number on board for the most part. Here, our schools get out in late May, but restart about mid to late August. I know on the east coast, the kids usually go at least half if not most of June, but don't restart until after Labor Day. That means that May and September would be the best months for Alaska and avoiding the highest number of kids possible.

[PLHag]

We're sailing right now on the 9/1/07 Sapphire. There are less than 40 kids onboard. I understand your situation and quite frankly, this is one of the main reasons we decided to cruise late in the season.

[knorrisb07]

If you want to come across fewer kids, you need to book early or late in the season. You picked PRIME family cruising time - even to Alaska.

 

Yes, when school is out, you will start seeing more kids

[Langley Cruisers]

If you want to come across fewer kids, you need to book early or late in the season. You picked PRIME family cruising time - even to Alaska.

 

Yep, I agree. The summer months have more children onboard, regardless of the itinerary.

 

If it's going to bother you, then I would suggest changing the booking. On our cruise last week to the Caribbean, we had 1,300 kids onboard. That was almost 1/3 of the entire passenger list!

 

Have fun - Alaska is beautiful.

[LisaH]

We just booked the Sapphire for a SB Anchorage to Vancouver on July 5, 2008. Will there be lots of kids onboard or do families tend not to do the Alaska SB cruises?

 

I love kids but our daughter just graduated and left home. This is our first holiday with just the two of us. All too often I have seen parents who think that because they are on vacation they don't have to exert the energy to watch and/or discipline their children. (I have a sister like that). I can not stand to see a child left unattended and therefore I have spent more than one holiday not only looking after my child but several others as well.

 

We normally try to cruise so as not to have a lot of kids onboard. Since Alaska cruising is done in summer, there will be some kids. We had several and they were fine. The only problem was when we were trying to relax in the indoor pool on the Island Princess and the noise of kids screaming echoes really badly. Other than that we hardly noticed them.

[kellywhitehills]

I think ggprincess stated it well--there will definitely be children on board, but that doesn't mean they will impact your vacation. Yes, there will always be people who take a vacation from parenting, but our experiences have been similar to those of ggprincess.

 

If I were concerned about children on a cruise, I wouldn't be cruising during a holiday week! One of the nice things about being an empty nester is cruising during times when the children are in school--I would cruise either May or September to Alaska if I were so concerned about children on the cruise. Kids in our area get out of school the second week of June and don't go back until Labor Day week. Of course, it varies throughout the country. We did an August 15 sailing and I have no idea how many children were on board and I'm happy to say we had only one incident (a kid banged on our door in the middle of the night). There were plenty of kids for our 12-year-old DD to hang out with.

 

Just curious, why would you think families would favor southbound over northbound?

 

Jayne

 

I am guessing a shorter flight home??

[coffee39]

Just curious, why would you think families would favor southbound over northbound?

 

Jayne

 

We are flying to Anchorage and doing a land tour prior to sailing back to Vancouver. I am in no way suggesting families would favor southbound over northbound.