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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Holland America[/quote]

I can’t think of a line more likely to be filled with old people. [b] If you don’t want Disney[/b], OP, your next choice is Royal Caribbean.  [/quote]

At least as of last year, Disney ONLY did round-trip cruises to alaska, not one way.  The issue is that, because of the antiquated Jones Act, foreign-flagged or foreign-built boats (which all cruise ships are) cannot start from one U.S. port and end up at another U.S. port (unless they are on opposite coasts, like Ft Lauderdale to San Diego through the Panama Canal).  So the one-way boats all start from, or end in, Vancouver.  All the Disney cruises are from Seattle.
I recommend the Vancouver one-way cruises because you can see more on a 7 day trip if you are only going one-way.  Vancouver ends up getting a ton of American tourist business because of this dumb U.S. law.  It's the same law that caused a ton of problems for Puerto Rico after the hurricane, because it complicated the shipping of relief supplies.
Anyway, Disney is not a good option for Alaska.  I also wouldn't pay the Disney premium when you won't be spending that much time on the boat.
Princess, RCI, and HAL are all good choices for Alaska.  (Smaller boats might be even better for people without kids, but I think kids need the amenities of a larger boat.).  Just pick based on which boat has the kind of room you want for the week you want to go.  Alaska cruises book up much earlier than other cruises, because there is less capacity and because people tend to save up and go for big occasions (milestone birthdays and anniversaries).[/quote]

So how do Princess and HAL get around the law?  [/quote]

The other ships leave from Vancouver.  Disney doesn't have a ship that goes from Vancouver (at least as of this year/last year).  Disney is a pretty late entry to to the Alaska market.  HAL and Princess have been doing it forever and have pretty established relationships.  For years, they were the only ones with permits to go into the National Park (Glacier Bay), although in recent years, the NPS expanded the number of permits available and other lines have been able to get some.  But HAL and Princess ships tend to more reliably get to Glacier Bay.  Many of the other ships do Hubbard Glacier instead of Glacier Bay because of the limitation on permits.  (I think both are awesome.)
I'm not sure if Disney can't get into Vancouver because the slots are all taken, or if they just don't want to and prefer to go r/t from Seattle.  I think Disney only has one ship doing the Alaska route, so it doesn't have the flexibility that the other lines have.  (Most of them have 2-3 ships doing Alaska, so they might have one doing r/ts from Seattle, and some doing one-ways from Vancouver.  Some people prefer a r/t from Seattle because they don't need to get a passport or worry about open jaw airplane tickets or flying to/from Anchorage.  I personally think Anchorage is great and it's a real shame to miss it.  Nowadays it's pretty easy to do one-way tickets to Alaska.)[/quote]

Whoops!  PP is right -- Disney has now switched it up so that their ships are leaving out of Vancouver.  As of last year, I do not think that was not the case.

I'm still not sure I agree with PP's conclusion that HAL is bad for kids -- I've done both HAL and RCI, and I think both are fine for kids.  You should really look at the reviews on Cruise Critic, though.  Many people find that the HAL kids clubs are better because they are not crowded and the kids get more attention.  They can also do the junior ranger program through the NPS .  Disney apparently does NOT have the Glacier Bay permit, as none of their current itineraries go through Glacier Bay, so can't do the Junior Ranger program.  HAL also does some fun things like afternoon tea (including an Indonesian themed tea).  The shows tend to be more sedate -- we saw a great classical pianist, some wonderful naturalist talks, and they had a string quartet at every dinner.  (They also do a traditional Indonesian show on most cruises, but we missed that because it was reather late.)  Some kids might like that, some might not.  HAL was also really good about catering to my kids insane food requests, and basically letting them pick and choose across the menu and finding stuff that wasn't on the menu.  They are also good with allergies.  I can't remember if they have an arcade or not -- my kids did hit the arcade on RCI.  We also did some things like trivia contests and stuff on RCI--that kind of thing might be better than HAL.  But I don't think we went to any big shows or movies or anything on RCI -- we were just beat after a day of hiking, ziplining, dog-sledding, etc., and often didn't get back to the boat until late.

We've done a fair number of cruises, and I guess my point is that what makes a cruise "kid friendly" is very different on an Alaskan cruise, because generally: (1) you aren't in the pool so stuff like slides aren't important; (2) you aren't on the boat much at all.  So I would just pick the boat you want that has the itinerary you want.  When I do a Caribbean cruise, I think the boat is a lot more important and I prioritize that over the port stops.  None of the Alaskan boats are really tricked out, because the big ships can't get into the bay or some of the smaller ports (actually, that may be another reason why Disney doesn't go to Glacier Bay).

FYI, you should also look at the room setups.  One reason we didn't do Princess is that, for a four person cabin, you need to separate the double bed into twins in order to have the two drop down beds from the ceiling.  (so basically the only option is 4 single beds.)  That's a little unusual -- usually a four person room has a double bed, a sofa that functions as a bed, and a bed that drops from the ceiling above the sofa.  That's why we picked RCI over Princess.
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