Alaska - help me decide

[woodynjessiesmomma]

I booked a place holder on my first cruise and we are looking at going June 2018 (my family of 5 and possibly my parents). My oldest loves animals and nature and I have always dreamed of an Alaskan cruise.
My question was going to be :
1. port or starboard side? We have limited experience and mom and I think opposite sides.
2. and any suggestions for excursions that are good for all ages (3, 6, 9, and adults) and doable for a "pooh" sized man?

Then we talked to family that did a RC Alaskan this summer and hated it. They felt the ports were fake and overall would not do it again or recommend it. They have previously enjoyed warm weather cruises on a few different lines and loved DCL, but their complaints were vague and not about RC, more about the destinations. They did love the White Pass train. So now I'm wanting other opinions on Alaskan cruises... I've read a few trip reports and it seems amazing!
If you have negatives I do want to hear it, but mostly I'm hoping to be reassured that we'd love it.

 

[xavier2001]

I've only been on 2 DCL trips but Alaska was by FAR my favorite! The other was the Caribbean on the Fantasy. The towns themselves are small but there are a lot of great port adeventures. We skipped the train b/c we figured our kids would be too antsy to sit through it. I blogged about our adventure if you want to read about it. https://disneyalaska2016.wordpress.com

 

[COASTIEandMATE]

We have been to Alaska three times on the Wonder starting with the Inaugural May 2011 and this last May 2016!! We loved it every time and I must say with Disney it does not matter too much which side you are on. The Captain makes sure that you see a lot. When you go into Tracey Arm the ship does a full 360 degrees so that every one gets a front row seat to the glaciers! I was in the gift shop when someone said "the bears are playing together on the mountainside!" everyone left the gift shop and stood on deck 4 watching the bears tousle!! There is so much to see from everywhere!! Do not stress about where your cabin is, just bring some extra money for the great excursions! We did the Yukon Railroad every trip and loved the photo ops like Dead Horse Gulch and going thru the tunnels!! Have fun and you may do this cruise more than once!! Aloha, Karen and Ron

 

[COASTIEandMATE]

I've only been on 2 DCL trips but Alaska was by FAR my favorite! The other was the Caribbean on the Fantasy. The towns themselves are small but there are a lot of great port adeventures. We skipped the train b/c we figured our kids would be too antsy to sit through it. I blogged about our adventure if you want to read about it. https://disneyalaska2016.wordpress.com

I loved your trip report! Lovely pictures!! Thank you for this!!! Aloha, KAREN

 

[KristiMc]

Either side is great on a Alaskan cruise. We did the Alaskan in June 2015 and it was great. Out of 6 DCL cruises this has been my favorite. Our favorite excursion was the Takshanuk Mountain Trail 4x4 during our Skagway day.

 

[cruisehopeful]

The ports are pretty typical of all cruise lines. There are some that stop in other ports, but the 3 that DCL go to are the ones that all the other lines mostly go to. There is plenty of tourist trap type stuff in all the ports, but it is also very easy to avoid those things if you get out of the town and do some excursions or exploring.

Side of ship does not matter. You spend most of the time in the inside passage which has beautiful scenery on both sides as you can see in the picture above my post.

The excursions are endless. So, it will depend on what you like/want to do. I did enjoy the train in Skagway and didn't see kids getting bored, although some fell asleep. Several families bought sandwiches in town and ate them on the train. In Juneau, I like visiting Mendenhall Glacier. I've read reports from others who have rented a car and went out and did their own exploring, which sounds pretty nice. To me, Ketchikan was the biggest the tourist trap, but I booked a hike with a private vendor a few months in advance and I appreciated the basically private tour of a couple areas. If you stay in town in Ketchikan, there are tons of vendors standing around trying to sell you tours. So, you'll be able to choose something on the fly.

Edit to add: I did see many veteran DCL cruisers on the cruise who did not enjoy the cruise because they are used to the warm weather tropical cruises. Alaska is cold and those who love to sit on the balcony and read with a drink during a cruise don't get to do much of that.

 

[OKW Lover]

A few comments from somebody who has cruised Alaska on RCL, and is doing it again in 2017. The ports that RCL and DCL stop at are pretty much the exact same ones. They are no more "fake" if you arrive via an RCL ship or on DCL.

The side of the ship your cabin is on doesn't really matter for a couple of reasons.

1. You can always go on deck (which many do) and cross from side to side to see the sights as you cruise.
2. The ship will turn around and go the other way when leaving ports so you'll see everything between your arrival at the port or your departure.

 

[anricat]

It doesn't really matter what side you're on. It's effectively an out and back trip so you get the opposite views on the way back.

For excursion ideas, I would recommend reading trip reports. That really helped me get an idea of the kinds of things we wanted to do. There are a lot of reports from a variety of people with different family sizes and ages. In Juneau, we had a great time whale watching. I think everyone would love that. In Skagway, the rail is fun. We did bus up, rail back and had different views for each, which breaks it up a bit. For Ketchikan we did sea kayaking and it was amazing, though, it's probably not as good for a 3 year old, but there's a lot of fun things in Ketchikan. The lumberjack show is pretty popular. We did one in Vancouver at Grouse Mountain the day before the cruise so we didn't do that, but it would be good for the whole family.

 

[xlxo]

I vote for port side....

• in Vancouver, you get privacy as the starboard side has an elevated public walkway where people take pictures of your cabin..... creepy.
• in Tracy Arm.... people on the port side got twice the exposure time
• in Ketchikan.... you get a nice view of the town.

I got starboard on my trip and wished I was port side.

 

[xavier2001]

I vote for port side....

• in Vancouver, you get privacy as the starboard side has an elevated public walkway where people take pictures of your cabin..... creepy.
• in Tracy Arm.... people on the port side got twice the exposure time
• in Ketchikan.... you get a nice view of the town.

I got starboard on my trip and wished I was port side.

In the 2016 Season instead of Tracy Arm Disney went to Endicott Arm the entire season, the starboard side got a MUCH longer view than port. That said I think both sides of the ship are beautiful for Alaska, going North on the Inside passage Starboard gets the mainland, coming back South it gets the island side of the passage. Breathtaking.

 

[Geomom]

We did our first ever cruise this past August, Disney Wonder to Alaska. Loved it! If you're just getting off the boat to shop--it will feel touristy (fake.) But, really, going to Alaska, you should be doing more than just getting off the boat to shop--you want to see nature, visit glaciers, go to the Yukon--go dog sledding or do a dog cart ride--and visit puppies, go gold panning, go hiking, visit the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park in Skagway and have the kids earn junior ranger badges (you can also print them out at home and work on them from the website ahead of time) or go to the Mendenhall Glacier and work on the Tongass National Forest junior ranger badge, see totem poles, go to the Lumberjack show--it is kitschy, but fun. I agree that you should read trip reports--put 'Alaska' in your search and see what comes up. I know a lot of us in this thread have written reports.

Side of the boat does not matter and for Tracy or Endicott Arm, it seems to vary--maybe it depends on the Captain for that cruise or where the various ice chunks are located--while PP had starboard side with a much longer view, on our 8/8 cruise port side had a longer view.

Take the Alaskan cruise and enjoy it!

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Thank you all for easing my fears! This is definitely right for my family.
I typed out a response with quotes but the page keeps saying error.
Thank you everyone!

 

[Kaleea]

Also, if you have kids I recommend a State Parks Passport Book. My kids love it and it is cool to see all the places you can get stamps.

ALASKA: Alagnak WR—King Salmon Aleutian World War II NHA—Unalaska Aniakchak NM & PRES—King Salmon Bering Land Bridge N PRES—Kotz, Nome, Kotzebue Cape Krusenstern NM—Kotzebue Denali NP—Talkeetna, Denali NP, Denali Park Gates of the Arctic NP & PRES—Bettles Field, Coldfoot, Anaktuvuk Pass, Fairbanks Glacier Bay NP & PRES—Gustavus, Dry Bay Ranger Station Inupiat Heritage Center—Barrow Katmai NP & PRES—Brooks Camp, King Salmon, Homer Kenai Fjords NP—Seward, Exit Glacier, Exit Glacier Nature Center Klondike Gold Rush NHP—Skagway Kobuk Valley NP—Kotzebue Lake Clark NP & PRES—Port Alsworth, Twin Lakes, Silver Salmon Creek, Homer, Anchorage, Alaska Noatak N PRES—Kotzebue Sitka NHP—Sitka-99835, Centennial 1910 - 2010 Western Arctic National Parklands— Kotzebue, Nome Wrangell-St. Elias NP & PRES—Kennecott, Copper Center, Slana, Yakutat, Chitina Yukon-Charley Rivers N PRES—Fairbanks, Eagle, Coal Creek, Slaven’s Roadhouse

 

[gotomu212]

We LOVED Alaska. That said there was some big time sticker shock when we looked at excursions. We knew we really wanted to get out of the ports and explore so we did a lot of research and booked thing privately (we typically go through Disney for excursions) and that helped. We talked to a lot of people that skipped excursions due to the price and they really did not like the ports and had a negative experience.

I think Alaska is one destination where you really want a plan instead of a more laid back walk around the port and just poke into shops. My only advise is to factor in excursion prices in your budget (and you can get an idea of types and costs through disneys port adventures on the website and then compare with private companies in trip reports).

 

[xlxo]

• I agree excursions is often an price shock afterthought after seeing the great prices for a 7 day cabin.
• the boat does get kinda lonely when in port...
• it's amazing how many people want to abandon ship after a few sea days
• I agree with checking the cruise websites for prices to plan ahead
• Juneau's AJ dock is a significant walking distance (1 mile) to town. Not pleasant on rainy days as tour buses splash water on you driving by.
• look for combo excursions to save time and money. These excursions will have multiple activities that can be combined together as

 

[Geomom]

• I agree excursions is often an price shock afterthought after seeing the great prices for a 7 day cabin.
• the boat does get kinda lonely when in port...
• it's amazing how many people want to abandon ship after a few sea days
• I agree with checking the cruise websites for prices to plan ahead
• Juneau's AJ dock is a significant walking distance (1 mile) to town. Not pleasant on rainy days as tour buses splash water on you driving by.
• look for combo excursions to save time and money. These excursions will have multiple activities that can be combined together as

For Juneau, Disney has a free shuttle bus that runs from the dock to the start of town--where you can find all the private tour kiosks, the start of the shopping district, and the Mt Roberts tramway. The free shuttle buses ran about every 10-15 minutes. There was a covered area to wait for the shuttle bus back to the ship, so you don't need to wait out in the rain.

 

[Rambler5678]

When and where do you see the characters dressed in their Alaska outfits?

 

[Geomom]

When and where do you see the characters dressed in their Alaska outfits?

I believe it was Tracy Arm, Skagway and Juneau days. Mickey and Minnie were only together at certain times, we used the app to find out when we'd be able to see them--we did the Juneau day, 8:30AM, got them together in their Alaskan outfits. We did Goofy and Chip/Dale on Tracy Arm day, in the atrium at whatever set times they had to meet, I think one was mid afternoon, 1 shortly before main dinner seating. Daisy and Donald we saw during the Frozen party (Skagway day for us), on deck 10--not a meet and greet, but they were dancing with us. We did get a pic with Alaskan Daisy out on Deck 4 on Tracy Arm day, it wasn't listed anywhere, we just came across her.

 

[tnshsms]

When and where do you see the characters dressed in their Alaska outfits?

As stated before its Tracey Arm day then maybe a day or two after...I was a little disappointed that they weren't out more actually. You got plenty of character times but very few of those times were in Alaskan gear. We knew that going in so we were sure to get them all but our tablemates didn't heed our advice and missed a lot of them. By the time they got around to it they were back in cruise gear. Just an FYI.

 

[tnshsms]

I booked a place holder on my first cruise and we are looking at going June 2018 (my family of 5 and possibly my parents). My oldest loves animals and nature and I have always dreamed of an Alaskan cruise.
My question was going to be :
1. port or starboard side? We have limited experience and mom and I think opposite sides.
2. and any suggestions for excursions that are good for all ages (3, 6, 9, and adults) and doable for a "pooh" sized man?

Then we talked to family that did a RC Alaskan this summer and hated it. They felt the ports were fake and overall would not do it again or recommend it. They have previously enjoyed warm weather cruises on a few different lines and loved DCL, but their complaints were vague and not about RC, more about the destinations. They did love the White Pass train. So now I'm wanting other opinions on Alaskan cruises... I've read a few trip reports and it seems amazing!
If you have negatives I do want to hear it, but mostly I'm hoping to be reassured that we'd love it.

I don't think ship side matters either but that's always just my opinion. We did 2 great excursions with our 8 yo and one just so so but I also agree with the person who wrote to read trip reports. I think that is what helped me the most. My 8 yo was only interested in seeing a moose and that is extremely hard to find in southern Alaska. But we were very fortunate to see not only a moose but a mom and 2 babies in Haines (an excursion from Skagway). I wrote a trip report about all of it on here.