Ryndam Alaska for Teen and a Tween?

[Netta7]

We are thinking of taking the Ryndam 7 day cruise from Vancouver to Seward, Alaska in August and will be traveling with 2 boys ages 11 and 15. What is there for the boys to do during this itinerary? As far as I can tell a fair bit of the itinerary is spent on board checking out the view. Will there be many other boys their age?

We have taken 2 large ship cruises in the past - Disney and Caribbean Princess 9 day. The boys opted out of the kids programs. On the Princess ship the boys just played basketball, which is what ALL the boys that age on board did, as the tween program was very unpopular that cruise. Although they had fun, I am sort of hoping for something other than just basketball this time. Of course, I guess I should be asking if there is at LEAST basketball too :)

Advice on HAL, the Ryndam, the kids program, and this Alaska itinerary most appreciated.

With thanks,

Netta7

Disney 1999
Windjammer Legacy Costa Rica 2007
Caribbean Princess 2008

[exBFF]

both time on the Veendam, including the base itinerary you're going to be on. Don't worry at all about them having stuff to do. The alaska trip was just incredible. it's so far beyond anything I'd seen in movies or on tv. It's seriously breath-taking.

A couple of really cool things:


you'll be amazed by the sealife. whales right off ofthe ship just about every day (which my son always loved). Tha captain is always great about letting you know where the sightings are.
They often bring naturalists on board for awesome presentations. They may sound kind of boring based on titles, but they were really quite good.
The two we went on did a lot of "family" activities, including trivia competitions..which were much more fun than they sound.
Seeing massive icebergs calf is just incredible.
But, even more than any other cruise we went on, the shore excursions in Alaska are just so much fun...especially for kids.
For instance, in Juneau, we did dogsledding. Took a helicopter up to a glacier. Met the dogs. Toured the camp and got to go on a dogsled ride. In the middle of July! Talk about a once in a lifetime activity.
My son and I went fly-fishing (i don't fish...I did a lot of wading and just enjoying my son having the time of his life).
If you stop in ketchikan, see the logger's show. It's extremely kid/teen friendly and VERY entertaining.
The trainride in Skagway is fun, but quite long. It was nice for adults, but the kids who were on ours got kind of bored.

and, on the two holland america ships we were on, both had basketball courts...and often, the teens scheduled their own tournaments.

There's seriously so much to do...not to mention the teen areas/activities. Your sons will have an absolute blast.

david

[Krazy Kruizers]

We did your cruise a few years ago -- and there were a lot of teens on the Ryndam.

They should definitely go to Club HAL at the beginning of the cruise to just meet some new friends and determine if they want to do the program or just be on their own with new friends.

[Netta7]

Thanks all. We have had good experiences cruising, just needed confirmation on HAL and teens/tweens.

[doctork]

We went on a 7 day Alaska cruise on the Zaandam with our 16 year old son and he had a blast! There were probably about a dozen other kids in the 15 - 17 year age range so he had plenty of friends his own age to hang out with. One of the other teens was from Victoria, BC, so a whole group of them went over to her home during the Victoria stop.

I agree with the poster who noted the shore excursions are especially great for kids in Alaska. All of us went together on the float plane over the glaciers to Taku Lodge for salmon BBQ (and bear sighting!), my son went on the zip line with his friends, and with his dad on one of the bike road excursions, and with me o one of the wildlife-viewing boat trips. He loved all of them. Though we did not take part, we did hear great reviews for the dog-sledding excursion.