Alaskan cruise with two kids (6, 8), need help with last minute decision

[ottawa_traveler]

I kept hearing about how low cruise prices were going this summer, so I decided to check into an Alaskan cruise. Due to other commitments, there is only one cruise that fits our schedule: HAL Volendam (Inside passage) in July. We've got a quote for a great price including air, and I'd like to make a decision quickly as spots at that price may get filled. I'm completely overwhelmed by all the information on CC! I don't know how I could properly research everything in less than a week. So, here are the facts:

 

1) first time cruisers

2) kids are 6 and 8

3) purpose of trip is to see a bit of Alaska in a low-stress manner (someone else is doing the driving and preparing the meals)

4) we want a nice ship, but the trip is not meant to be about the ship, it's about the destinations

5) we want to do active/adventure excursions at each port, weather permitting

 

With these facts in mind, what do I really need to focus on to determine if this trip will work for us? We could wait until next summer when we might be able to choose from a few different ships/sailings, but if we want to go this year, it's Volendam or bust!

 

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

[Kim4]

I kept hearing about how low cruise prices were going this summer, so I decided to check into an Alaskan cruise. Due to other commitments, there is only one cruise that fits our schedule: HAL Volendam (Inside passage) in July. We've got a quote for a great price including air, and I'd like to make a decision quickly as spots at that price may get filled. I'm completely overwhelmed by all the information on CC! I don't know how I could properly research everything in less than a week. So, here are the facts:

 

1) first time cruisers

2) kids are 6 and 8

3) purpose of trip is to see a bit of Alaska in a low-stress manner (someone else is doing the driving and preparing the meals)

4) we want a nice ship, but the trip is not meant to be about the ship, it's about the destinations

5) we want to do active/adventure excursions at each port, weather permitting

 

With these facts in mind, what do I really need to focus on to determine if this trip will work for us? We could wait until next summer when we might be able to choose from a few different ships/sailings, but if we want to go this year, it's Volendam or bust!

 

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

I can't answer your questions directly, but I can steer you in the right direction. It seems like you are wondering if the Volendam is right for you with younger kids.

 

First, I would research the Volendam -- use HAL's site, and do a search here on the family boards for Holland America and the Volendam. Find out how kid-friendly the ship is. Find out if there is a kids club and what it is like. Try to find out if your kids would be in the same age grouping. Here is a quote from HAL's site about their kids program:

On Holland America ships, we provide a wide variety of exciting youth- and teen- friendly activities and facilities for guests ages 3 to 17. With supervised fun for our younger guests, the entire family can have the cruise vacation of their dreams.

Safe and Managed Supervision

You can feel at ease knowing that your child's onboard experience is safe and well-managed. All Club HAL® activities are supervised by permanent, full-time staff, and are designed to be kid friendly and age appropriate. Youth Staff hold degrees in education, childhood development, recreation, leisure studies or related fields.

Programs Available

Club HAL® — Kids*: Children, ages 3-7, can participate in such activities as story telling, fabric painting, indoor games, arts and crafts, drawing contests, ice-cream sundae parties, puzzles, bingo, pirate treasure hunts or a farewell pizza party. Children in the Kid's age group must be toilet trained. Children in pull-ups or diapers are not allowed in the youth facilities, due to mandates from US Public Health. Exceptions to this rule cannot be made.

Club HAL® — Tweens*: Tweens, ages 8-12 might learn golf putting, have disco parties and theme parties, participate in the award-winning National Park Service Jr. Ranger Program on Alaska cruises, compete in on-deck sports events, compete in scavenger hunts or simply play Ping-Pong with a friend.

The Loft and The Oasis*: Teens, ages 13-17 will especially enjoy the teen disco, karaoke sessions, video games, teen sports tournaments, card games, trivia contests, bingo, movies and videos. When there are more than 100 children on board, a HAL Talent Show is offered. (The Oasis is not available on all Vista-class ships)

 

*On the ms Prinsendam, youth activities are offered for ages 5-17. All other ships offer youth activities for ages 3-17.

Daily Programs

Times vary based on age group, number of children on board and staffing:

Sea Day — Morning, Afternoon and Evening Activities

Port Day — Morning, Afternoon and Evening Activities

 

Extended Hours

Club HAL® After Hours is available on all ships (except the ms Prinsendam) from 10:00pm - 12:00am. The fee is US$5.00 per child, per hour. Parents must pick up their children on time or a late fee is charged. For babysitting outside of the hours offered in Club HAL, guests may check at the Front Office to schedule this service provided by staff on a voluntary/limited basis only.

Kids & Teens Culinary Arts Center Program

HAL Kids Culinary Workshops now offer children a unique and fun learning experience. Kids will learn basic cooking techniques, kitchen safety, new ingredients and how to follow recipe instructions. Aside from the fun involved, cooking encourages kids to think about numbers and measuring, cleanliness, safety and time management. All the workshops are hands-on where questions are encouraged and having fun is a must!

HAL Kids Culinary Workshops are geared toward two age groups; ages three to seven and ages eight and up. Teenagers 15 and up may participate in the adult classes.

The menus range from simple to teen gourmet

Classes are usually limited to fifteen students unless otherwise noted

All classes are hands-on

Each student receives copies of the recipes prepared in class

All classes are complimentary and last approximately one hour

 

Additional Family Services

Holland America Line is dedicated to making your family's cruise vacation memorable and happy for each member of your family. We serve a wide variety of kid-pleasing food, including special sandwiches, tacos, hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza. Baby food, high chairs and booster seats may be requested in advance of boarding. Babysitting services are available for a small surcharge. Special kid-friendly birthday parties can also be arranged with advance notice.

Special Needs

HAL Youth Programs recognize that some children may have special needs. Special needs children are invited to attend activities based on their chronological age. HAL Youth Programs have many staff trained to work with special needs children. Guests should make HAL aware of this when booking their reservation.

Important Notes

A limited number of high chairs, booster seats and cribs are available at no charge. These must be reserved in advance at the time of booking. An international children's menu is offered at dinner and includes a variety of appetizers, salads and soups, and standard items such as hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and chicken, plus chef's specials like beef tacos, grilled cheese, fish and chips or spaghetti.

 

I'd spend some time on the Alaska Port of call board and read about the excursions that may interest you.

 

I'd spend a little bit of time on the Holland America boards, to see what the general idea of a HAL cruise is like.

 

 

That'd probably be the order of my research if I didn't have much time. All in all, I'd say, if you have a great price, go for it.

[cb at sea]

You willl have a fabulous time, no matter what! 1st cruises are special, and you have nothing to compare it too....what other "research" do you need? If the ship is going where you want to go, Ride it, Cowboy!!!!!

 

Seems the only research you NEED to do will be on your excursions....the port of call board can be really helpful, or a guidebook from the library will be helpful.

 

Your kids are a decent age for this trip, the ship is fine (and you don't care about that anyway) and it's going where you want to go! There--you're done!

Just find out more about Alaska and what there is to do there...

See, not as hard as you thought!

[ottawa_traveler]

I should have stated that I spent about 3 hours on the CC and HAL websites last night before I posted. My eyes were aching and my fingers were cramping up! I saw the various flame wars over whether kids should sail on HAL or not. There were mixed opinions, but my general conclusion was that while HAL isn't the most kid-oriented cruise, there's no reason to not sail with them.

 

Thank you for these replies. cb_at_sea, I'm glad to hear that not everyone thinks I'm crazy to just jump in and book something on the spur of the moment!

 

Kim4, thank you for all of your details from HAL. Unfortunately our kids will fall into different age categories, and I don't think my 6-yr old will be too happy if he's doing crafts while his big brother is doing the Junior ranger program.

 

I have an excursion picked out for Ketchikan, and a few options for Juneau. The only one I'm not sure about yet is Skagway.

[sdfamily]

I think that's a great choice.

 

We did Alaska last summer with our boys 9, 6, and 1 1/2. Our kids never set foot in the kids club as we were so busy.

 

I like that itinerary as it goes in and out of Vancouver. The scenery from Vancouver to Ketchikan is spectacular and you will LOVE Glacier Bay.

 

We were so busy on the port days (including Glacier Bay), that on the two sea days, we found PLENTY to do as a family. I'm sure if your kids went to the kids' club, they would like it. But, my point is, with an Alaskan cruise, I would say it's not a major factor in picking the cruise.

 

I would say I 'over researched' our trip. IMHO - if the time and $$ works for you, I would book it. You won't be disappointed. It looks like a great itinerary and your kids will love every minute not matter what ship they are on.

 

BTW - we chose the Coral Princess s/b from Whittier to Vancouver. It was also our first cruise and we also chose mainly because it fit the date we needed. If you have questions about our excursions, I'd be happy to answer.

[lmg1230]

Go for it - your family will have a great time! We cruised to Alaska on Princess two years ago when our daughters were 10 and almost 4. They had a great time and still talk about some of things they did or saw on that trip. This past March Break we sailed in the Caribbean on Holland America's Eurodam and very much enjoyed our cruise. We did not come across any kid-bashers and never felt like anyone was unhappy that there were children on board. In fact, we found that a lot of older cruisers on their own seemed to enjoy chatting up the girls. Both of my girls spent some time in the kids club on sea days and after dinner on port days and quite enjoyed themselves.

Lisa

[ottawa_traveler]

sdfamily, i would LOVE to hear about your excursions! my boys are both active and independent, quite agile and fearless (i spend a lot of time patching the knees of pants). i want to do active, exciting excursions. i've already contacted the SouthEast Kayaks about doing a tour out of Ketchican, but i haven't picked out anything for Skagway or Juneau yet. i'd like to do a whale watching trip, but the one in Juneau seems really long.

[sdfamily]

Skagway

The family took the train to Fraser and I picked them up (I rented a car from Sourdough) and we drove back stopping at Carcross for lunch (I had picked up sandwiches in town) and ice cream. Then we did a walking tour of Skagway (I think I picked up a map at the National Parks office).

 

I we were to go back again or I did not have a toddler with me, I would take the train to Laughton or Denver glacier stop and then do a hike (http://www.wpyr.com/hikers.html). You can either do this independently or there are companies that can do a guided hike.

 

Juneau

We were here on the 4th of July so our options were kind of limited. We rented a car from Rent-a-Wreck and drove over to Douglas Island and did a short hike around an old mine area (not really that interesting). We then watched the 4th of July Parade (saw Sara Palin). We then did the walking tour of downtown Juneau and saw the Governor's mansion and capitol. It was fairly interesting. Then we drove out to see the Mendenhall glacier. We had done a 9-night RV trip around Alaska prior to the cruise and also seen Glacier Bay, so although it was pretty cool, not the best glacier we had seen.

 

If I were back in Juneau, I would definitely do a whale watching cruise. Another thing we looked into was kayaking on Mendenhall Lake closer to the glacier.

 

Ketchikan

We walked around town in the pouring rain waiting for the weather to clear. While waiting we also hit the Lumberjack show (not worth it). Finally, the weather cleared an we took a seaplane into Misty Fjords with Island Wings. It was spectacular. One of the highlights of the trip. We had planed to to a tour with Ketchikan Taxi Tours, but we ran out of time. They will customize a trip for you.

 

Hope that helps!

[nothriver]

Alaska in the summer, all ships will have lots of kids, you'll be fine. Prices this summer are great, I'd go now, I bet it will cost a lot more next summer. Book the cruise then spend your time researching excursions and how to maxamize your experience on the ship you booked. :)

 

The Alaska board is wonderful - you can search the old threads and find so much information!

 

Good luck and have a great cruise!

[cantw8togo]

I think we are on the same trip in June with our two kids, aged 5 and 8.

 

We have booked a whale watching tour with Orca Ent. in Juneau, and although 3 hours seems like a long time, the marina is about 30 minutes away from the cruise dock, so in the end, the boat tour is more like 2 hours. If the weather is cooperating, taking the tram to the top of Mount Roberts and then hiking around might satisfy your kids need for adventure. There are great hiking trails in each port that can be found through a search engine.

 

There is a great book for kids about the history of the gold rush called Gold Rush Fever: a story of the Klondike, 1898, written by Barbara *********, and published by Kids Can Press. It gives a good appreciation of what the gold seekers went through as they passed through Skagway and Dyea.

 

We are arriving in Vancouver the day before we sail, and plan on going to either the Vancouver Aquarium, (so that the kids can learn about some of the wildlife that we may see on the cruise); or the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The Lynn Canyon Bridge, which is free, is another option. And then there is also Grouse Mountain if the weather is good.

 

We booked our trip in March and found it cheaper to book the flight seperately. Our West Jet was about $450 cdn, whereas HAL quoted us almost $1000 pp for the flight.

 

We have booked this trip this far in advance because we are travelling with my MIL and SIL, but our last two cruises were booked within two or three weeks of sailing! Great deals can be had the closer you are to leaving; so no, you are not crazy for booking your trip when you did.

 

Have a great time on your trip! :)

[ottawa_traveler]

Thank you to everyone who replied. We are booked! I booked air myself to ensure direct flights, and have already booked our first excursion for Ketchikan. I also got a great rate at the Pan Pacific for the night before, so everything is falling into place nicely. I'm so excited about the trip, I can't believe we are really going to do it!

 

cantw8togo, thank you for the book recommendations, I am planning to take the boys to the library next weekend to get some Alaska books, so we'll look for that one. We are doing our time in Vancouver after our cruise, and I'm sure we'll be hitting the aquarium as well. We'll also try to get to see whatever we can of the Olympic sites that are ready.

 

Thanks again to everyone for being so encouraging with your "go for it" attitudes!