We are going to look into ANOTHER cruise line for Alaska

[MousseauMob]

I worry that with my eight year old won't have as much to do on another line in Alaska. Especially in sea days. A friend of mine went on NCL and said there were zero families with kids.

Throughts on cruisinf Alaska with younger kids on another line?

My kids were 14 and 7 on our first Alaska cruise on HAL. They both LOVED it. My daughter who was 7 at the time, begged to do it each year. We did the inaugural DCL Hawaii in 2012. September that year HAL offered 3rd and 4th passenger free, so we were fortunate enough to swing for it again, making it 3 years in a row. They used to rank the kids clubs in order of their favorites as; HAL, Celebrity, then DCL. I know.... shocking.... for the "older people" cruiseline". LOL!!! She likes DCL best now (by a smidge), but it has less to do with the kids club and more to do with she is allowed to have a wave phone, and she loves that. There aren't as many kids onboard, but we've always found that to be a positive, as less kids means better bonding, more individual attention, and more input into activities. Another benefit to Glacier Bay as I mentioned previously was the ranger coming onboard and the kids participating in their Jr. Ranger program and getting their badges. Don't get me wrong, we love DCL, but it's not the only cruiseline for families, you can have a great time on other lines also, even the ones considered - "old".

 

[NancyIL]

this is the opposite of your question, but in a related thread, someone said they prefer one-way trips and i asked why. they said it's because one-way allows the ship to go further and cover more ports.

something to think about.

A one-way cruise that begins or ends in Alaska (Seward or Whittier) also allows you to do a land trip. The cruise lines that offer one-way cruises usually offer cruise tours, but I planned my own land trips with a rental car.

 

[bcwife76]

Why is roundtrip important?

I live in Vancouver so for us it's super convenient to have a cruise that embarks and disembarks in our own city. Plus I have no interest in taking a train or whatever they do on the other end for a land tour. We don't even want to have to drive down to Seattle for a roundtrip Seattle cruise so this is why we are only considering DCL if we end up doing Alaska in 2016 (plus our children are quite young still so the kids club is a big appeal as is no-smoking/no casino).

 

[jiminyC_fan]

We loved our cruise in Alaska on HAL. I feel you get the best of Alaska by the Land/cruise tour that HAL and Princess offers. The train to Denali was nothing but spectacular. We saw a lot of wildlife on the train, also. The drive IN Denali was unbelievable. This is coming from someone who has mountains in her backyard in Colorado. Glacier Bay was stunning. You truly haven't seen Alaska if you don't experience both the glaciers and Denali.

 

[krisinparis]

We did an Alaskan cruise on Princess when our kids were 4 and 8. There were not TONS of kids on board, but I think there were about 100. My kid's liked the kid's programs because the counselors really got to know them and interacted with them a lot. We booked kind of last minute, so we had to go with the Anytime Dining, but it actually worked out well as we were in no hurry to go back on board. The food on our Alaskan cruise was the best of any of the 5 cruises that we have taken (2 on Princess, 2 on DCL, 1 CCL)-- lots of fresh seafood. We went to the cooking presentation and the chef said they buy all of their seafood in Alaska. The ship had a covered pool which was awesome. Cruising through Glacier Bay NP really shouldn't be missed on an Alaskan cruise IMHO.

 

[xlxo]

So Hal/princess has excursions that bring you to Tracy arm?
Looks like the princess one picks up and brings back to ship?
Or is it Juneau?
How does one know if these excursions are available?
This would be amazing if possible?

You can go to Tracy Arm from Juneau. I believe it's a 7 hour round trip excursion. This also means missing out on whale watches, Mendenhall Glacier and other Juneau opportunities.

Northbound HAL/Princess ships going to Juneau may offer a mid-ocean transfer to a smaller boat to take you deeper into the arm to meet Sawyer. The smaller boat will rejoin the mother cruise ship in Juneau. This saves you 50 miles or about 2 hours in your Juneau day. These mid-ocean transfers are very popular and do sell out before the ship leaves Vancouver.

• HAL Tracy arm excursions http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-destinations/ExcursionDetails.action?excursionCode=100030935
• Princess tracy arm excursions http://www.princess.com/excursion/exDetails.do?t=A&exType=S&tourCode=TA1-665
• NCL Juneau departure...
  http://www.ncl.com/excursions/searc...ht|0||p_Shorex_Title|0&Nu=p_Shorex_Package_Id#

 

[xlxo]

One other thing I noticed... Princess offered much more quad-occupancy rooms than HAL when I looking for rooms.

 

[xlxo]

Why is roundtrip important?

If you look at the price of a one-way ticket... it's nearly the same price as a 7 day cruise in an inside or oceanview room.

 

[bumbershoot]

The other issue for *us* is the lack of round trips from Vancouver on ships we would consider. I've been to Seattle several times and love it, however Vancouver completely won us over and it's easy to see why so many love it. I didn't mention this above.

Ours is Vancouver. You must be looking at next year? We are doing what seems to be the last Radiance round trip and it is a Vancouver cruise. 9/4/15.

Thats if we keep it. If we cancel we'll do Celebrity next year. Same no indoor smoking as Disney but wih a casino which will make DH happy.


Got my laptop (better than on my phone). I don't what went wrong with Royal, that they got rid of the r/ts from Vancouver next year. I keep hoping they'll add them back. I didn't even realize Explorer would be going out of Seattle. What an odd choice of a ship for Alaska.

 

[tekaye]

We ended up booking an Alaskan cruise on Norwegian!

 

[alldiz]

You can go to Tracy Arm from Juneau. I believe it's a 7 hour round trip excursion. This also means missing out on whale watches, Mendenhall Glacier and other Juneau opportunities.

Northbound HAL/Princess ships going to Juneau may offer a mid-ocean transfer to a smaller boat to take you deeper into the arm to meet Sawyer. The smaller boat will rejoin the mother cruise ship in Juneau. This saves you 50 miles or about 2 hours in your Juneau day. These mid-ocean transfers are very popular and do sell out before the ship leaves Vancouver.

• HAL Tracy arm excursions http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-destinations/ExcursionDetails.action?excursionCode=100030935
• Princess tracy arm excursions http://www.princess.com/excursion/exDetails.do?t=A&exType=S&tourCode=TA1-665
• NCL Juneau departure...
  http://www.ncl.com/excursions/search?N=4294934624+4294908777&Nao=24&Ne=8057&Ns=p_Shorex_Search_Weight|0||p_Shorex_Title|0&Nu=p_Shorex_Package_Id#

Thanks for the info. I will definately be in the lookout for this.
Hopefully when i am ready to book Alaska they will have glacier bay and Tracy arm viewing . Then I can do mendanhall as well
Kerri

 

[NancyIL]

Ours is Vancouver. You must be looking at next year? We are doing what seems to be the last Radiance round trip and it is a Vancouver cruise. 9/4/15.

Thats if we keep it. If we cancel we'll do Celebrity next year. Same no indoor smoking as Disney but wih a casino which will make DH happy.


Got my laptop (better than on my phone). I don't what went wrong with Royal, that they got rid of the r/ts from Vancouver next year. I keep hoping they'll add them back. I didn't even realize Explorer would be going out of Seattle. What an odd choice of a ship for Alaska.

I think Explorer of the Seas and a few others, such as Celebrity Solstice and Crown Princess, are too big for Alaska. I've been on all three and they're great ships, but multiple ships with that many people just overrun the small Alaskan ports.

I just booked the Star Princess from Whittier to Vancouver for September 2016. It isn't a sure thing, as it would precede a Pacific Coastal cruise on Celebrity, and there are other itineraries we could do precruise. If we go, it will be my 5th Alaska cruise but first southbound. (The others were 2 round trips from Seattle and two one ways from Vancouver.) I love it because it goes to Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. I would also plan to spend 7-10 days for the pre-cruise Alaska land trip with a rental car.

 

[xlxo]

Thanks for the info. I will definately be in the lookout for this.
Hopefully when i am ready to book Alaska they will have glacier bay and Tracy arm viewing . Then I can do mendanhall as well
Kerri

I wonder if there is time to catch the Mendenhall shuttles upon return from the Tracy arm viewing. Something for you to research.

 

[alldiz]

I wonder if there is time to catch the Mendenhall shuttles upon return from the Tracy arm viewing. Something for you to research.

Yes the research is half the fun
Kerri