Has anyone NOT enjoyed their Alaska cruise?

[Cheburashka]

Do you think there are enough "adult-y" activities for these sea days? I am trying to convince DH we should book an Alaska cruise coming up but he's worried about being bored on those days

I've never participated in the adult activities on a cruise, so I can't say for sure. I know they do have adult games & shows, though.

 

[Jennx36]

My husband and I went on an Alaskan cruise with DCL in May of 2019 and had a great time, but it was different from the 4 night Bahama cruise we did prior to that on the Dream. There is a lot of down time that we filled with movies, champagne tastings, brunch, chocolate tastings, etc. We had a great time, but I really wish we had gone with my parents who would have appreciated the down time a little more. With it being just my husband and I and no kids, it felt a little strange to just relax and watch the beautiful scenery pass by. I remember thinking, "Surely there is something I am supposed to be doing right now, like folding laundry or picking up / dropping off a kid somewhere?" That is not a complaint, just an observation! I don't think I would take my kids until they are at least 8 or 9 as I would regret paying all that money only to hear complaints of being cold or wishing they could go to the beach!

 

[Geomom]

Do you think there are enough "adult-y" activities for these sea days? I am trying to convince DH we should book an Alaska cruise coming up but he's worried about being bored on those days

I attended naturalist talks on the sea days on our DCL Alaska cruise. You can also see recent Disney movies in the movie theater, sometimes you can see family entertainment in the regular theater during the day, go to the gym or book a spa appt. Trivia, alcohol tastings, crafts, etc. There is plenty to do. Check out some previous personal navigators that list all the activities.

 

[remlap]

for what it's worth, my parents didn't. To be fair, their dislikes were more of Sea Days than of "Alaska" and they loved the days in ports. Safe to say they haven't taken any cruises after.

 

[Skywalker]

Apparently our table mates didn't enjoy it...

We had a great time with them all week but then ran into them when we were all leaving. I asked them how they felt disembarking and the husband said "it was nice and all but - happy to be getting off, 7 days was too long". I think I did a triple-take at him because we were so SAD to have to get off lol.

No one can experience it for someone else.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

An Alaskan cruise wasn’t something I was super excited about. I booked it for my husband for our anniversary because I knew he really wanted to go. I absolutely loved it and would go again in a heartbeat.

I wasn’t looking forward to the cooler weather, but aside from Glacier Bay, it wasn’t that cold. And if you like scenery and/or wildlife, I can’t imagine you not having a good time.

 

[bethy]

My close friend who lives the Seattle area and grew up there went on a DCL Alaska cruise about 4 years go. Luckily, her in-laws paid the cruise fare because she didn't love it. For her, being from the PNW meant that Alaska didn't have the same degree of WOW factor as it would for someone from an entirely different part of the world.

 

[YohoAPiratesLife4Me]

We did the Adventures by Disney Alaska Trip and it was awesome. Group size limited to 30. Two excellent guides. You can read about on ABD website but I assure the description is not nearly as wonderful as the trip! We did coastal trip with American Cruise Lines and loved it. Boat with 90 people. Great ports. Dropped anchor and stayed the night in Glaicer Bay. Wonderful trip.

We have only ever cruised Disney. However, we are chomping at the bit to do an Alaska Cruise. We have been planning on it since 2018 :-( and of course ours last May was canceled with Disney. I looked at American cruise lines and it looked perfect but I was worried our young group wouldn’t like it. Can you tell me more? Food, etc?

 

[diablodancer]

Did an Alaska Cruise in 2005, not Disney (it was Norwegian) but replying as I was 15 at the time and so may still be relevant to the OPs question.

In summary, I hated it as did my mother who was in her 50s at the time. While part of this was having nothing to do on the ship and very low quality shore excursions through NCL (the highlight of one tour being told about a second grocery store in the small town so that if the first sold out, you could go there for milk), the ports were very small and there was next to nothing to do or see in the free time after an excursion. A lot of the excursions being nature themed (and I say that as someone who as a teenager loved animals) got a bit repetitive and boring for a teenager too. It was so bad that it put me of cruising until 2018 when I first tried DCL.

Having said all that, I think DCL is great in terms of always having something to do on board and the port excursions I have booked through them elsewhere have been great, so I am tempted to do a DCL cruise to Alaska at some point to have a better experience.

 

[DLgal]

I enjoyed my Alaska cruise on Princess. I would personally never drop $20k to cruise there on ANY line. That is ridiculous. It's not worth that much. Plenty of other lines cruise Alaska for much less. The scenery is all the same regardless of which ship you are on.

 

[CaLuCa]

We have only ever cruised Disney. However, we are chomping at the bit to do an Alaska Cruise. We have been planning on it since 2018 :-( and of course ours last May was canceled with Disney. I looked at American cruise lines and it looked perfect but I was worried our young group wouldn’t like it. Can you tell me more? Food, etc?

We are booked on a Alaskan Dreams Cruise for this summer. Also looked at UnCruise and Nat Geo. Totally different experience than a DCL or one of the big ones, but I wanted to go farther in and these smaller ships let us.

 

[MissMeidak]

I did the 9-night Alaskan cruise for part of my honeymoon with family and we absolutely loved it!! We live in a part of the UK which is notorious for rain and miserable weather so we were psychologically prepared for lots of rain and had packed accordingly. However, it turned out that they were actually having an unusual heatwave during our trip and we had lots of sunny weather. From our sea plane ride at Ketchikan to having brunch at Palo whilst the Wonder sailed through Icy Strait Point, going on the Mendenhall Glacier river float trip to taking photos with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Koda with Hubbard Glacier in the background... there were so many magical moments during our trip that felt like a once in a lifetime experience for us.

 

[Girl of the South]

Didn't go on a Disney cruise to Alaska, but the weather was not great when I went. Low cloud cover so you couldn't really appreciate the scenery. For me it's very weather dependent.