Thread: Please help us choose an Alaskan cruise

I am hoping that the wonderful contributors to this forum will kindly offer some expertise/opinions about choosing an appropriate cruise experience for our family. My husband and I will celebrate our 15th anniversary next summer and we'd like to take our boys (7 and 9) on an Alaskan cruise. So, here are the competing forces. We want a cruise line that welcomes children, but offers some amenities and luxury that feel special to us. We appreciate good food, good wine, but we don't need a lot of over the top entertainment to keep us happy We plan on getting a suite for added privacy and space. Our kids are active and playful but well-behaved and fairly seasoned travelers. We might use the kid camps or hire in-room sitting at night, but we plan on spending time with them during the day on shore and on ship. We are all looking forward to experiencing the beauty of Alaska, but wonder which cruise line would be best for us? Thanks for any and all help!

I'm sure you will get varied responses on your question.
Personally I have no experience with taking children on a cruise. But what I can tell you is that on our cruise to Alaska on Royal Caribbean, the children on that cruise seemed happy and looked to me like they were kept quite busy. As for adults, it was just fine...food and all!
From what I can gather I wouldn't take them on a Holland Cruise. I believe they cater mostly to an older crowd. I could be wrong here so I suggest you wait around for more answers.

Hanna, it actually depends on the ship. The larger ships (Zuiderdam, Westerdam, Noordam, and Oosterdam) have a far greater preponderance of kids than the smaller ships. And HAL does have excellent food and offers one of the best Alaska experiences.

I tend to agree with Hanna.

Royal Caribbean will provide a better family experience with lots of amenities on their ships for the kids. Princess has the 2nd biggest presence in Alaska and also offer some wonderful ships and itineraries for families.

Holland America has the biggest presence in Alaska and does it better than everyone else. While they cater to an older crowd, their newer larger ships are wonderful for children. Their food is the best of the three I've mentioned and their beds are the most comfortable. It's personally our favorite when we travel.

However, keep in mind that overall there will be far fewer kids onboard Alaskan cruises than there are for Caribbean cruises. When you combine that with Holland America, which has an older crowd anyway, there will be alot less than on other cruise lines. But at the same time, there were young children on our HAL Alaskan cruise and they loved it. So it really does depend on what you're looking for. All the cruise lines will offer a wonderful experience because, after all, Alaska is truly an amazing place.

You also need to decide whether you want to do a one-way or a roundtrip cruise. One-way cruises will offer you the opportunity to spend a couple of days in Alaska so you can see some of the interior; Denali for example.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Pete

Our only Alaska experience was on the Veendam in May 2005. It was early in the season so that may be why there were fewer kids. All I can say is it was outstanding! We did a cruise/tour starting in Fairbanks. If you do a cruise/tour I recommend you do the tour first. If you think HAL might not be that kid friendly check out Princess. We have never cruised them but they are the other major line for cruise/tours in Alaska.

Happy cruising!

Pete- I agree with you about Princess. Also, remember that the Veendam is the smallest HAL ship (and one with one of the oldest crowds, generally)

HAL has three of their newest and largest ships doing Alaska - any one of which would be great for a family; Zuiderdam, Oosterdam, and Westerdam, because they all do roundtrip cruises from either Seattle or Vancouver. We've sold quite a few of these to families and they have all come back and raved about the experience. In fact, this weekend I just booked a family with 6 cabins on the Westerdam for next July. After researching all the various cruise lines and ships, that's the one they settled on.

Pete

We went on the Sapphire Princess round trip out of Seattle to Alaska four years ago and unless things have changed, can definitely recommend Princess. Our cruise was in mid-August so there were plenty of kids onboard (as mentioned above May cruises, as well as September ones will have less kids as most schools are in session then).

What I liked about Princess for the kids is that there's a naturalist onboard during the glacier viewing, narrating what you're seeing. Also Princess tends to have itinerary-related activities of a science nature. Our girl was 7 on our cruise and her age group made models of glaciers and of the solar system, among other things. Princess doesn't have in-cabin kidsitting. But between 10pm (when the fun zone activities end for the night) and 1am, there's group kidsitting in the kids' area for a small fee.

Princess offers round trips out of Seattle and San Francisco and one ways between Whittier and Vancouver.

HAL's full Delux suites are very lovely (we always stay in them) and can acommondate 4 easily.

For 2009 the following ships will be in Alaska:

Vista class ships:
Westerdam -round trip from Seattle
Zuiderdam - round trip from Vancouver

R class ships:
Amsterdam - round trip from Seattle
Volendam - round trip from Vancouver
Zaandam - round trip from Seattle

S class ships:
Ryndam - Northbound from Vancouver & Southbound from Seward
Statendam - Northbound from Vancouver & Southbound from Seward
Veendam - Northbound from Vancouver & Southbound from Seward

This brings up a good point. You definitely want a balcony or veranda suite for Alaska