Considering HAL for Alaska multi-generational cruise

[DukeASUGirl]

Carnival has the best prices for the time period we're looking at (late June 2019 or July 2019), but HAL's are only like $40 more per person and have a better timing (departures on weekends instead of midweek).

 

My kids will be 9 and 7, and we'd also be traveling with their just-graduated-from-high-school cousins and both sets of grandparents (mine are mid-70s and his are late-70s/early 80s).

 

I'm hesitant to do Carnival bc of the grandparents, but will my kids be bored on HAL with its staid retiree reputation? What about the soon-to-be college kids?

[bra1nchild]

There were 8 of us in the summer of 2016, ranging in age from 3 to 73. Our grandchildren had a great time. Because there were so many port days, they didn't really have a chance to get bored. Club HAL was available but they didn't participate. The highlight of the day was getting together for drinks and dinner since that was frequently the only time we saw them all day.

[Essiesmom]

None of Carnival Legend's cruises in June/July 2019 visit Glacier Bay. Find a HAL/Princess/NCL cruise that does. EM

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glacier Bay is must see.

Your younger children will be fine on HAL.

College bound children will have to amuse themselves on any cruise line as there isn't any program just for them.

[DukeASUGirl]

Yes, Glacier Bay is a reason why I'm leaning towards HAL. I did Glacier Bay as a 9-yr-old myself and I remember it being so magical. DH and I did Tracy Arm Fjord about 11 years ago and while it was beautiful, it wasn't anything like Glacier Bay.

[RMLincoln]

Did Alaksa with the grandkids - we all loved it. The kids has Club HAL and used it some but mostly the cry was, "When can we go swimming grandma?" The roof was closed most of the trip and the pool was fun for them just sloshing around in the ship's motion. The mid-ship pool with the cover is open to all ages.

College age is hard to predict - it depends so much on what they are interested in and how they may choose to entertain themselves. Note that it can be expensive to use cell phones on board. But there are activities, classes including food demos and computer classes which may include photography, and movies. Mostly an Alaska cruise is more about what's outside the ship during the daylight hours. m--

[petepie]

Just got off the Westerdam to Alaska with a multi generation group. We all loved it. Ship is beautiful and Glacier bay was fantastic. Overall crowd was much younger than I’ve heard typical HAL shops with 160 kids on board, lots of people in 40’s and 50’s. Yes, there were people in their 60’s-80’s but It looked like the same crowd to me as we had on a celebrity southern Caribbean cruise. Only Downside was that there was no top 40 music venue. I think HALs excellent rates for 3rd and 4th passengers are drawing a lot of families. Lots of kids on ping pong tables and in the pools and hot tubs but not overrun. We had 70-80 degree weather so outdoor pool was used too - it’s heated. Teenager with us liked the loft and the tween with us liked club Hal. (top age for club Hal is 12 and the tween group is 7-12).

[petepie]

I should gave added that the boat quiets down around 11pm and the daytime activities aren’t so great for younger people (lots of art auctions, windows demos, spa sales etc), but if you can get by with pool, reading, basketball, trivia, and board games as well as scenery, you will be good.

[mommasaurus]

We took our kids on a 14 day collector cruise to Alaska. They were 11 and 13 at the time. At our first stop in Ketchikan I rented fishing poles for them. It was a good time because the salmon were running. They loved fishing and we ended up buying them fishing gear at a Walmart in Juneau and they fished at every port (catch and release). They enjoyed Alaska and all that it had to offer. I liked that HAL had a retractable roof for their pool as it made it very useable and enjoyable. There was not a lot for the kids to do on the ship but because it was a port intensive cruise, by the time you had dinner and maybe went for a swim or a hot tub, all they wanted to do was go back to the cabin and watch a movie.