Norwegian Sun to Alaksa with 1 and 4.5 year old

Hi there,

I have been on DCL, Princess and Carnival. We have never cruised NCL and I have some hesitation as the Sun is an older ship. However, when I price out NCL Sun vs. Disney Wonder to Alaska, I can get a balcony on NCL and have a few thousand left over when compared to the same cruise on DCL!

Looking to make the case to my hubby to book with NCL! Advice, tips and comments on programs/activities for kids? How are the balcony rooms on NCL? How will the staff treat my 1 year old? What activities available for my 4.5 year old?

Thanks thanks!

The staff LOVES babies! No worries! I don't know what NCL's kids club does with kids that young...there may not be a program for 1 year olds.... But, the 4.5 year old will have a blast! Most kids prefer the other cruise lines to disney's club.....Disney is less structured and kids tend to "fall thru the cracks" as far as having a counselor pay attention to them.

I think, for the price difference, you can't go wrong! Enjoy!

Since Alaska is about the ports and scenery, I would definitely book with NCL, even though they're not my favorite, mostly because I enjoy traditional dining. But I still always include NCL in my search and just know that if we do cruise with them again, I would include in the budget enough for the specialty restaurants each evening.

As cb said - I've never seen a baby or toddler treated like anything less than royalty on any of the ships we've been on.

All the best,

Mia

My 3.5 year old loved the kids clubs on NCL. The biggest difference would be the fact that on newer Royal ships and Disney ships you can use the nursery for your one year old. If you need a drop off nursery, I'd limit a search to those two lines. Princess will also allow your 1 year old to use the kids club under your supervision, and their Alaska programs are excellent.

Otherwise, Alaska is an amazing destination and children will love it no matter which line you choose. The staff on NCL was very accommodating to families - on our Baltic cruise they let families go in a special embarkation line that was shorter, and the service was excellent. The food was a bit below our hopes in the main dining room, but we were fine with that since we had just factored in the price for specialty dining prior to booking the cruise, and NCL was still much cheaper so it seemed pretty reasonable that they don't serve as strong meals. Moderno was our favorite specialty restaurant on the Star if they have it on your ship.

Following since I am doing this in a few weeks on that ship!

Staff was wonderful in June when we went with out 1 1/2 year old- balconies were pretty standard, the iron rails make me nervous but i watch him like a hawk anyways. They had a play room we could use which was great- not a ton of toys but I always pack a bunch so no big deal. They had at least 1 major 'activity' for the tiny ones every day- painting, stamp art, etc with yucky fruits and veggie paint (colors and texture were icky but he still had fun) and the staff was great with kiddos. Actually the staff in general was amazing. Typically we cruise royal but i was quite impressed with the staff on the sun. The ship layout was weird, but thats typical for an older ship. It was a great trip and lots of fun!