Alaskan Cruise recommendations

[Anonymous]

MIL is planning a family Alaskan cruise this summer. There
will be kids from 8-18. She said her travel agent recommended
Holland America, which I've heard skews very elderly. Anyone
have any experience on one of these cruises?

[Anonymous]

I think most Alaskan cruises are geared towards "older crowds".

We took an Alaskan cruise in 2002 (Norwegian Sun - freestyle) and we were the youngest ones there (mid-20s).

We did lots of excursions that took a whole day (whale watching, glacier hiking) and just wanted to relax at the end of the day so we didn't do much of the night scene. I do remember a cirque show that we have seen, but can't remember any kids activities...but then again we weren't looking for any.

[Anonymous]

DH and I went on a Princess one pre-kids and loved it. There are definitely a lot of older people. From what we could tell in port, HA had more older people than Princess. You will have so much fun!

[Anonymous]

I think Holland America used to skew more elderly (and may still skew older than some lines) but they've made an effort to attract more families.

[Anonymous]

We did a princess land sea cruise and train thing. It was great because you got to spend some time off the boat. There was a decent mix of people.

[Anonymous]

We did an Alaskan cruise last year with Norwegian. We didn't have kids then, but there were a lot of families with kids. A lot of the shore excursions seemed like they would be good for kids in your age range. I think the ship had some kind of kids club. It did have an outdoor pool/hottub complex that was popular with kids and teens, but the weather was too cold for me to want to go in. I did join the teens for the rock climbing wall on the ship. One thing I liked about Norwegian that is different from most other cruise lines is having flexibility about when you are going to eat and not having an assigned dinner time and assigned tables. It also has a buffet that's open all the time that seemed popular with kids. Norwegian's dress guidelines were also a lot less formal than other cruise lines we looked at, which I liked.

I ended up buying a guide book specific to Alaskan cruises (can't remember the name) that was handy for picking a cruise line and to get ideas for what to do in the different ports. You'll also want to consider how important it is to you to see Glacier Bay--not all cruise itineraries include it.

[ThatSmileyFaceGuy]

Disney is also doing Alaska cruises now

[Anonymous]

Also, I think a lot of cruise lines let you book the land tour that the Princess Cruise poster mentioned.

SE Alaska and central Alaska (Anchorage and Denali NP) are not connected to each other by roads, but if you want to have more freedom to explore than you do with a tour group, it was really easy to drive in Central Alaska. We didn't go on any remote gravel roads. The highways were well-maintained, and we never had a traffic jam.

[Anonymous]

Holland America skews old. Try Norweigan Cruise Lines or Royal Caribbean. And if you can try and spend a few days in Vancouver; it's a great place for a family visit.