Alaska with non Disney cruise line

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He LOVES pools so he must be able to swim every day. His first cruise (on the Wonder) was last fall and he spent very little time in the kids clubs. He prefers to explore and do his own thing. He loved the foosball table and basketball court, as well as the Mickey slide and pool...

Keep in mind that with an Alaskan cruise, some days it may be quite cold outside..or often cool and raining. I believe the pool in the Wonder is heated and I imagine other cruise lines also heat their pools, but getting in and out of them can be quite cold. When we did our Alaskan cruise a few years back, there wasn't much action in the pools once we got further north...but on warmer sunny days, some were in....mostly kids.
 
We went all the way in for HAL. I would be surprised if they stopped doing it. HAL and Princess have been in Alaska longer than any cruise line. Both of them have several different itineraries.
If Tracy Arm is the only glacier area, the HAL ship will go in. When they also go to Giacier Bay, the ship makes a "service call" (noted by "SC" on the itinerary) at the entrance to Tracy Arm to drop-off people going on the small boat excursion. The ship then continues to Juneau. Those who do the Tracy Arm excursion are dropped off in Juneau when their TA excursion ends, and they have a much shorter port time there.

Here is an example of what Im talking about: http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-...Name=ItineraryDetails&fromSearchVacation=true
 
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We sailed on HAL in Alaska in 2012 -- did Glacier Bay and the usual ports, but I'm sorry I don't know anything about the kids clubs as my daughter is an adult. We loved the ship, the food and ambiance, but HAL is known for a lot of older passengers, although we saw a lot of families on board that sailing (even though it was in May).
 
We went all the way in for HAL. I would be surprised if they stopped doing it. HAL and Princess have been in Alaska longer than any cruise line. Both of them have several different itineraries.
When did you do the HAL cruise? As I said, we went all the way in. But, after that post, I went and checked a couple of cruises in 2017 (July) for HAL and Tracy Arm was a "service call" "shore excursion only" stop. Maybe there are other cruises that go all the way in, so that's something to keep an eye on.

Possibly HAL has figured out that they can get into the arm more often (and further) by using the smaller boat option. Plus, they make more money that way.
 

If Tracy Arm is the only glacier area, the HAL ship will go in.
Our cruise we had both Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay. Both places we went in. Tracy Arm all the way to the glacier at the end (not much to see, however).
 
We are going to Alaska on RCCL this June. My kids are 11, 13 and did not use the kids club on Disney at all last summer. They are super excited about the rock wall, flow rider and ice/inline skating options on RCCL. We wanted to leave out of Seattle--my brother is joining us and he lived there for several years and wanted to visit friends, plus we just love Seattle and wanted to introduce the kids to it. We are also excited to get to spend a day in Victoria, another favorite. This is our first trip to Alaska so I guess itinerary was not a huge issue for us--we haven't seen anything so everything will be new and exciting. Plus it will give us good reason to go back again if we love places we don't get to see enough of this trip:)
 
I would say that Holland America Line (HAL) would be worth considering. They do have plenty of kids on board for the summer Alaska cruises, and they do have a kids club. The main pool has a sliding roof over it so you can use it even if it gets cold or rainy, which is really common in Alaska. HAL has the most ships going to Alaska each year, and they are one of the few lines that goes to Glacier Bay (though not on every trip). Some of their cruises actually have the whole ship going into Tracy Arm and some just drop people off for a separate excursion, but all of their Alaska cruises go to a major glacier, either Glacier Bay, Tracy Arm or Hubbard. They do a lot of cruises out of Vancouver, BC, which uses a more scenic route with calmer waters, up the inside of Vancouver Island.

One area where they're lacking compared to Disney is family activities. They really don't offer activities for the whole family per se. They have a variety of kids activities divided into age groups, through the Club HAL program, and separate activities for adults. Kids are welcome to come to pretty much any adult activity if they're interested, but how many kids want to learn to fold towel animals or watch a cooking demonstration? I felt basically the same way about RCCL; on the ship we took (Enchantment OTS) they had kids activities and adult activities, but no real family activities like family trivia, family bingo, family game shows, etc.

When we last went on a HAL cruise, our kids were teenagers, and they basically went to a few activities with us, but otherwise did their own thing. Mostly they read or watched movies on the interactive TV system.
 
Gosh guys, it's been a few years now. I'm really not sure when we cruised. Maybe I'm confused. I know we also sailed College Fjord or some name like that.
 
Gosh guys, it's been a few years now. I'm really not sure when we cruised. Maybe I'm confused. I know we also sailed College Fjord or some name like that.
HAL's one-way cruises used to go to both Glacier Bay and College Fjord, but the latter was dropped a few years ago. I don't think HAL's one-ways went to Tracy Arm.
 
Our cruise we had both Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay. Both places we went in. Tracy Arm all the way to the glacier at the end (not much to see, however).
HAL used to sail into Tracy Arm on the same day they went to Juneau - on their Vancouver roundtrips. Now they drop off passengers, who board a small boat to see Tracy Arm, then continue to Juneau.
 
HAL used to sail into Tracy Arm on the same day they went to Juneau - on their Vancouver roundtrips. Now they drop off passengers, who board a small boat to see Tracy Arm, then continue to Juneau.
We were definitely one way. Started in Fairbanks. Picked up the ship in Seward. Ended in Vancouver.

We definitely went to Glacier Bay.
 
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One of our eight year olds has autism. We are going to take a crown princess cruise out of Seattle to Alaska this summer. We choose princess because they go to glacier bay and seem to have a fair number of families on the Alaska cruises. Plus they have a junior ranger program on the ship which our boys love our one with Autism loves animals and princess also has a program about an endangered animal that the kids learn about then get a stuffed animal when they finish the talk.

We have already been in contact with guest services from the crown princess. They are helping us with when to board and how to go about the muster drill. Plus they asked about food he likes to eat and if he needs any specific foods. I was really impressed with the questions they asked for how they can help us when on board. They are actually more engaged then disney cruise line has been with us in the past.

I do know that the crown does not have any covered pools which can be hard in for swimming in Alaska but the pools are heated so hopefully he can get in the pool a few times at least. The grand which goes out of San Francisco to alaska has a covered pool. There may be a few other princess ships that have covered pools that service Alaska but we were kind of set that we wanted to leave from Seattle and go to Glacier Bay so that limited us.
 
Our extended family took a Princess cruise to Alaska in July. All together 6 adults, 6 children ages 8 through 18. They loved the experience. Having a covered indoor pool was very nice in Alaska.
 

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