Alaska vs Caribbean??

We've been on about a 1/2 dozen cruises, all Caribbean. I'm sort of interested in seeing something different, i.e. Alaska, and am considering a CruiseTour, mid summer.

My DW loves cruising, but she likes the sun.

My questions are these:

1) Does RCCL - Serenade heat their outdoor pool? Is there any swimming available on the ship?

2) Besides the scenery, do the Ports of Call offer interesting things to do?Do they include any interesting shopping areas?

3) What are the demographics on an Alaskan cruise. I have this image in my head that everyone will be 50 - 70, I'm sure that has changed but need some reassurance if I have any chance of "selling" this to the DW.

4) Will our son - 14, find the cruise interesting. He's been on some of the others and does enjoy just relaxing or playing mini-golf, ping-pong, etc.

Any other tips, info, etc will be appreciated.

Thanks.

1. The pools are heated - how much swimming there is depends on the weather, which is variable in the extreme.

2. Interesting things to do - Skagway, as an example, has almost 90 excursions to choose from, surely some of interest. Shopping - every port has good Alaska shops as well as generic cruise-port shops like diamonds, tanzanite, DelSol etc)

3. The demographics depend on the line, but RCI had lots of younger folks including many kids/teens when I was on last May.

4. RCI has lots of kids' activities, including a great climbing wall on the Radiance.

Alaska isn't a "sun cruise" (at least you can't count on it) - it's a "scenic" and "experience" cruise, but very, very few people leave disappointed.

Murray

Stay away from lines like HAL and Celebrity and the average age of passengers will be younger.... focus on RCI first, the Radiance class ships are just gorgious, with lots of glass for viewing from everywhere... even the bank of elevators is all glass facing the sea on the port side. Alaska excursions can be the most exciting of any cruise, really... helicopter landings on glaciers with dogsled rides, and ziplines across a forest or kayaking in open ocean or a lake, just depends on how much you want to spend... my wife is a sun goddess as well so she is a bit concerned about weather too... you can still get 70 degree days in Alaska...we'll be on the Serenade in September.... go for it...:)

We've never been on a Caribbean cruise, and after cruising Alaska for our first cruise, I doubt we ever will. Alaska is that beautiful! We took the Carnival Spirit early June 2005 and are booked on Princess Sapphire for May 2006, with a week of rental RV independent touring post-cruise.

There is nothing to compare to the feeling of watching a huge glacier calve while hearing the thunderous sound as it breaks away and crashes into the sea. The mountains and glaciers are simply majestic...

There were several families on our cruise, not a lot, but we were early in the season. I imagine there are many more later in the summer. A good mix of ages, but many were probably close to retirement age, even on Carnival. My teenagers weren't constantly entertained by ship functions, but chose instead to purchase games at the first port, finding a window to see out while they played.

I don't think you would lack for anything to do while in port. If shopping is your (wifes) thing, you won't be disappointed. Multitudes (too,too many, in my opinion) of jewelry/trinket stores line the streets close to the ship docks. We always had a great excursion planned. Tours can be geared toward a variety of interests, from marine-life viewing, scenic viewing, horseback riding, flight-seeing, glacier-landing, dog-sledding, historic tours, train excursions, to gold-panning, and the already mentioned shopping.

I suppose shows and entertainment are similar on any cruise. We only made a couple on Carnival last year, and they were good, but we much preferred watching Alaska go by to people dancing around in swimsuits and feathers;)!

Alaska is unforgettable!!!

Alaska is not a "snow attire" cold cruise the whole time. :) Coldest day will be your glacier sailing, where you are best to include a knit hat and gloves. But there likely will be days shorts are worn and certainly many with just a light jacket.

Overall, there are way more kids sailing the Caribbean on any Alaska cruise. But I disagree to stay away from certain cruise lines because of the number of kids. Especially in Alaska, what is outside the ship is a priority for some people and it needs more attention, in my opinion. So consider looking at routes, ports, time in ports, ship naturalist, glacier, price. Budget fully for excursions, they will run quadruple the costs of the Caribbean, you get only half a trip without them in my opinion. :)

Kids will have a great time on just about any cruise, Alaska perhaps should be more considered for the adult priorities listed above?

I have sailed 5 lines to Alaska, passengers were similar on all with middle aged and above probably the majority, but all ages certainly sail there. :)

Take some time and look over the activites done in ports by posters, head to any cruiseline and see if a port excursion list is available, doesn't matter which line as they are port based. There will be choices enough for 10 trips. :) Shopping is plentiful but consider tours as well. :)

The more you know the better your choices will be for your group. Have family meetings, the key for your son's enjoyment will be the research and choosing of port activities.

We've been to the Caribbean twice, Hawaii once, and Alaska twice. We loved them all and hopefully will go back to all of them again, but our favorite hands downs is Alaska. I know there are people who really love the sun and the beach and would rather go south any day, but the scenery and awesomeness of Alaska can't be matched. If you decide to go I think you will be surprised at the varied number of activites there are. Plus the thing about the older crowd may have been that way in the past, but we cruised on Carnival and NCL and though it may be an older crowd than the caribbean there are plenty of families and younger people on board.

I have been on 3 cruises thus far: eastern and western Caribbean, and Scandinavia/Russia. After cruising in Europe, the destination has become much more important to me than the ship/cruise experience. I am looking forward to an Alaskan cruise in 2007, and hopefully a Mediterranean cruise in 2008. From the photos I've seen, nothing compares to Alaska. As far as I'm concerned, a Caribbean beach is a beach is a beach. :)

I have done 3 Caribbean cruises and 1 Alaska. It would be Alaska hands down. It just doesn't get any better than watching a Moose cross the road in front of you or watching a glaicer calfing. Although trying to get use to 22 hours of light per day in May was a challenge.

Our cruise was with Princess and I think they are the leader in Alaska cruise travel. We did a land/sea tour and it was amazing. If you have the chance, do as much land travel as possible.

Go to Alaska, you won't regret it!

We are booked on our first Alaska cruise in Sept 2006 and doing a B2B, we have done 9 prior cruises with a 10th in May all Caribbean and Mixican riviera, we are looking forward to Alaska.

I will be hitting the 40's in January and DH is 44 we have never had a problem on Princess with the age group.

I was on a RCCI ship in Hawaii, the ship goes to Alaska in the summer. They had a Solarium, an area surrounded by glass roof, that is considered indoors. This was a great place to swim in any weather. Check for a ship that has that. But even if not, you should visit Alaska, rather than worry too much about what is on the ship.

We are thinking of cruising Alaska in July on NCL, as our only other cruise was on the star to mexico, and we loved it.

We have two teenage boys, and although they loved the warm climate, we think we will enjoy the beauty of Alaska just as much or more.

From your experience in the summer will there be other children their age to hang out with on the cruise?

Hubby and I took our 15 yr old son with us on RC to Alaska this past June. all 3 of us had the best time. We have cruised 6 times and this was the best cruise yet! :)