Did your 18-22yos enjoy Alaska?

[Carrie in AZ]

For those of you who have sailed Alaska with young adults, did they enjoy the experience? We are considering a summer Alaska sailing with our daughters, ages 18 and 22, and are wondering if they would enjoy it and if there is enough to do. We would probably only be able to do 1-2 excursions, so there would be lots of time spent onboard. We have sailed DCL three times previously but it was when they were able to go to Edge and Vibe.

I would love to hear from you! Thanks.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

My young adults were this age when we did Alaska. They absolutely loved it!

 

[mgcharleston]

My daughter was 18 when we did Alaska on the Wonder. She loved it! We did the Taku Lodge flightseeing expedition in Juneau and she got to ride shotgun beside the pilot. It was one of her top experiences to date! We also did the "very cheesy" lumberjack show in Skagway. Let me just say the teenage girl enjoyed it more than the parents did LOL

 

[iloveeeyore]

Mine were 23 and 21 when we did Alaska (HAL not DCL). They describe it as awe-inspiring and life-changing.

 

[tvguy]

My kids were 11 and 15 on our first HAL Alaska cruise. They were 21 and 25 on our second HAL Alaska cruise, and yes, they loved every minute. Second cruise was different for me.......thanks to their bar tabs!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

For those of you who have sailed Alaska with young adults, did they enjoy the experience? We are considering a summer Alaska sailing with our daughters, ages 18 and 22, and are wondering if they would enjoy it and if there is enough to do. We would probably only be able to do 1-2 excursions, so there would be lots of time spent onboard. We have sailed DCL three times previously but it was when they were able to go to Edge and Vibe.

I would love to hear from you! Thanks.

The good news with Alaska and the ages of your family is that you can explore the ports on your own. And most of the ports are right in town (other than Juneau) so you don't need to go far to see the sites. You could do creek street in ketchikan on your own and the tram in Juneau with the free shuttle into town and skagway is very walkable to see some sights in town on your own as well

 

[tidefan]

Yep. She enjoyed both of our Alaska cruises (1 DCL and 1 Princess)

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Mine were 23 and 21 when we did Alaska (HAL not DCL). They describe it as awe-inspiring and life-changing.

Wow! That is terrific!

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Yep. She enjoyed both of our Alaska cruises (1 DCL and 1 Princess)

What sorts of things did she do while onboard?

 

[tidefan]

What sorts of things did she do while onboard?

Well, the DCL cruise was a DVC Member Cruise back in 2015, so she was still in Edge and loved hanging out there.

On Emerald Princess, she had a great group of kids in the teen club (Princess called it "The Beach House", I think) and she really enjoyed it. Said she got to know the other teens really well on Princess (also, Princess brings on Iditarod dogs onto the ship and lets the kids interact with them and she loved that...)

 

[bigAWL]

We're going to cruise Alaska this June with an 18 y.o. and a 20 y.o. for the first time. They have been cruising DCL since they were 5 and 3, and they are excited to be able to try Palo and some of the other 18+ entertainment. DCL typically schedules a few meet ups for the 18-20 crowd throughout the cruise, so I'm hoping they will also meet some new "kids" to hang out with.

 

[tmg4612]

Mine were 23 and 21 when we did Alaska (HAL not DCL). They describe it as awe-inspiring and life-changing.

My kids are similar ages - was HAL fun for them? I heard it’s an older crowd, but also has the best food. I’m also considering NCL, which may have a better nightlife for them. But do we need that on an Alaskan cruise? TIA

 

[Gilland18]

It will depend on the young adult. We cruised Alaska with DCL when my niece was 19 and my nephew was 18. She spent most of the week in the cabin using room service and racking a up a huge internet bill communicating with her boyfriend. He was out and about the ship and experienced everything he could.

 

[lilsonicfan]

My kids were 11 and 15 on our first HAL Alaska cruise. They were 21 and 25 on our second HAL Alaska cruise, and yes, they loved every minute. Second cruise was different for me.......thanks to their bar tabs!

Similar question to tmg4612 - mine will be 13, 10, 9 and we are taking a HAL Alaska cruise this summer. The price is literally 1/3 of the cost of DCL... anyway. Can I ask how your kids enjoyed HAL at the younger age?

 

[tvguy]

Similar question to tmg4612 - mine will be 13, 10, 9 and we are taking a HAL Alaska cruise this summer. The price is literally 1/3 of the cost of DCL... anyway. Can I ask how your kids enjoyed HAL at the younger age?

They loved it. However, to be clear, we cruised WITH our kids to spend time WITH our kids 24/7. They had no interest in kids clubs. and with an Alaska cruise, so much of the time when you are cruising the scenery is amazing, so we spent a lot of time on the top decking looking left, then right trying to spot wildlife. They were exciting at Hubbard Glacier when they discovered the dark spots on chunks of ice were sea lions. We cruised HAL and they had huge pots of piping hot split pea soup set up on the top deck, and blankets for those wanting them. However, we were there during a "Heat Wave", several days it was in the 70's. I have a great picture my wife took, framed perfectly, the kids and I in the pool, steaming rising, and the Hubbard Glacier in the background.

 

[iloveeeyore]

My kids are similar ages - was HAL fun for them? I heard it’s an older crowd, but also has the best food. I’m also considering NCL, which may have a better nightlife for them. But do we need that on an Alaskan cruise? TIA

Yes it is an older crowd. My kids saw lots of people their own age in the gym the first morning and thought to themselves "hey, there are tons of our own people on this ship," and later that night, realized they were all performers for the cruiseline LOL. There were many multigeneraltional families with large tables in the dining room and on deck. But overall, DH and I were some of the younger people on the ship, and we are in our 50s.

Food was good, I don't know about "the best." There were some hits and some misses, I would not say any of the included dining stood out as great. We did have some delicious specialty meals.

In terms of having fun on the ship, this is so subjective and depends very much upon individual needs and expectations. Honestly, we were there to spend the week together as a family. We all loved it! We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam, which has a BB King's Blues club, which we swung by almost every night for some live music and some cocktails. We went to the headliner shows each night and found them at least somewhat entertaining (not going to compare with DCL). We are also people who entertain ourselves, so we enjoy simple pleasures like doing puzzles in the lounge on the upper deck, and watching the wildlife and scenery from our verandah. We booked excursions that appealed to all of us and they were amazing, but we booked those independently, so you can do that regardless of cruiseline.

Bottom line is, we don't regret having chosen HAL and would do it again in a heartbeat. Honestly, our only regret is that we didn't book a land/sea cruise starting in Fairbanks and embarking in Anchorage. We didn't have the time or money at the time to do that, and now I don't know when we will have an opportunity to go back.

All that said, I understand your worry about the older crowd. Princess might be a nice option for your family. We were going back and forth between Princess and HAL. We chose HAL based on a small boat glacier viewing excursion they offered in Juneau. (We ended up not doing that excursion after all, as we found a more active excursion that was more appealing to the kids.)

 

[tidefan]

Yes it is an older crowd. My kids saw lots of people their own age in the gym the first morning and thought to themselves "hey, there are tons of our own people on this ship," and later that night, realized they were all performers for the cruiseline LOL. There were many multigeneraltional families with large tables in the dining room and on deck. But overall, DH and I were some of the younger people on the ship, and we are in our 50s.

Food was good, I don't know about "the best." There were some hits and some misses, I would not say any of the included dining stood out as great. We did have some delicious specialty meals.

In terms of having fun on the ship, this is so subjective and depends very much upon individual needs and expectations. Honestly, we were there to spend the week together as a family. We all loved it! We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam, which has a BB King's Blues club, which we swung by almost every night for some live music and some cocktails. We went to the headliner shows each night and found them at least somewhat entertaining (not going to compare with DCL). We are also people who entertain ourselves, so we enjoy simple pleasures like doing puzzles in the lounge on the upper deck, and watching the wildlife and scenery from our verandah. We booked excursions that appealed to all of us and they were amazing, but we booked those independently, so you can do that regardless of cruiseline.

Bottom line is, we don't regret having chosen HAL and would do it again in a heartbeat. Honestly, our only regret is that we didn't book a land/sea cruise starting in Fairbanks and embarking in Anchorage. We didn't have the time or money at the time to do that, and now I don't know when we will have an opportunity to go back.

All that said, I understand your worry about the older crowd. Princess might be a nice option for your family. We were going back and forth between Princess and HAL. We chose HAL based on a small boat glacier viewing excursion they offered in Juneau. (We ended up not doing that excursion after all, as we found a more active excursion that was more appealing to the kids.)

Yes, Princess would be similar, but tend to have a younger crowd than HAL.