Alaska or 2nd Western C - Help!

[Momof2inCT]

Help! We have a week off in August and two small kids (2 and 4). Do we take our second Western Caribbean cruise (but one new port) or do we go on the Alaska cruise?

- We have never sailed on the Wonder (or the Magic) and I'm a little worried that we will be disappointed in the smaller and older ship.
- We have never been to Alaska and I'm super excited about that, plus we are very nature-oriented and I think we'd all (including the 2 year old) love it.
- The colder weather and lack of pool might be a big minus for Alaska - are there any others I should be aware of, or pluses I'm not thinking of?

Thank you in advance for any help!

 

[jdb in AZ]

Help! We have a week off in August and two small kids (2 and 4). Do we take our second Western Caribbean cruise (but one new port) or do we go on the Alaska cruise?

- We have never sailed on the Wonder (or the Magic) and I'm a little worried that we will be disappointed in the smaller and older ship.
- We have never been to Alaska and I'm super excited about that, plus we are very nature-oriented and I think we'd all (including the 2 year old) love it.
- The colder weather and lack of pool might be a big minus for Alaska - are there any others I should be aware of, or pluses I'm not thinking of?

Thank you in advance for any help!

Lack of a pool? People swim in the Wonder pool on the Alaskan cruises. It may be a bit chilly(!) getting out of the water, but the pool is heated.

the cooler weather is much better than the heat/humidity of the Caribbean. JMHO.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Without question, I would go to Alaska. We sailed on Wonder for W Car in Oct and we loved the ship and the itin but I would pick Alaska over another WC all day long. Even our servers said it is the best cruise!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We did Alaska in Aug 2012 and I would vote Alaska but given your kids ages, I think they'd have a better time at the beach. My kids love nature & outdoors too but my youngest was 11 and could only sit and look out our balcony for so long, even on Tracy Arm day watching the glacier calve. To us it was breathtaking but he finally went back to Edge.
There's only so long a kid can sit looking at nature before getting bored. He did enjoy the train ride in Skagway & the helicopter ride to walk on the glacier.

Ds17, then 15.5 loved Alaska more than our recent Med cruise, and he loves history too, so that's really saying something.

We did the Misty Fjords sea plane too and shared it with a couple with young children but they let the kids stay in the clubs while on the excursion.

So your excursion choices would be limited, and you would be missing out on some incredible opportunities, or you would be doing the more adventurous ones without your kids. If you're ok with either scenario, I'd vote Alaska!

 

[NancyIL]

I would choose Alaska any day over cruising in the HOT Caribbean (or Mediterranean) during August!

 

[gojulia]

Alaska no question. My kids loved it. I'm really worried we are going to be bored on our upcoming Caribbean cruise. There aren't nearly as many excursions and seem to be way too many sea days! And FYI…. my daughter swam every single day in Alaska.