Best (not Disney) cruise line for Alaska with kids 5, 7 & 9

[yvr49]

We want to do a family Alaska cruise from Vancouver in September 2024.   RCI and NCL were recommended as best for families - however reviews are not good for the ships that go to Alaska at that time (RCI Radiance and Norwegian Jewel).  We are Platinum on Princess - has anyone had experience with Princess Kids Clubs and activities there, specifically for Alaska?  Any and all comments and feedback appreciated - thanks!

[1025cruise]

I wouldn't do Alaska in September. IMHO, too late.

[yvr49]

FWIW we did Alaska in September a few years ago and the weather was great.  No guarantees of course, but September is the only option that works for our large group anyway.    

[kitkat343]

Princess kids clubs were great for my kids, but we've only sailed Princess when my kids were younger.  Prior to covid, Princess would bring Huskys on board one day for everyone to play with.  I don't know if they still do that but you could check.  We sailed Princess to Alaska and they did a great job.  

 

My kids aged 11, 8 and 4 all really liked RC's kids clubs and we were happy with RC along with Princess.  We were also happy on Cunard and Hal but they have have less for kids, but if you find a great itinerary they might be worth considering also.  HAL traditionally does a really good job in Alaska like princess, but I'd take princess over HAL for a family cruise.

 

I don't know about sailing to Alaska in September because we went in the opposite shoulder season (late May) because I was pregnant and it worked out really well.  This doesn't affect the OP but anyone else reading please note the only important thing to note if you go in May is that the roads into Denali are seasonal, and you need to make sure they are open far enough for you to be happy if you are doing a land tour (Denali is currently under construction so you'd need to research that anyway).   If there are a few excursions you really want to do I'd just contact the providers and make sure they are still running when you want to sail in September.

 

Our first NCL cruise 10 years ago with kids went well, but our last one didn't.  My kids didn't go to the kids club very often on NCL because the kids clubs used electronics more instead of organizing sports games and arts and crafts for the children to play like RC.  In all fairness, if the kids actually stayed for a whole session on NCL,we did get at least one arts and craft thing back and most of the other children on the ship seemed really happy with the kids clubs, so your kids might be fine.

 

My bigger concern with NCL was that they changed our itinerary on our sailing after final payment for "environmental reasons" cancelling one port my kids really wanted (the Dominican Republic) and cancelling the morning of another (Antigua) which prevented us from seeing the giant toirteses because that's only open in the morning.  I called NCL and asked them to let me switch to the same cruise a few weeks later and they refused because they'd made the itinerary changes after final payment.  For an entire month, they continued to advertise the original itinerary on their website after the changes were made and even people who called NCL directly to book after the port was cancelled were not told  of the changes and weren't able to cancel either.

 

 

 

 

Other passengers were upset when NCL stopped serving alcohol to passengers who had purchased drink packages in the UK on some ships due to UK regulations (which was a bit confusing since other cruise lines sailing in the UK were able to serve alcohol at that time).  They initially were not going to refund passengers for the drink packages they'd paid for but after the passengers protested they refunded the drink package fees.  

 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2023 by kitkat343

[yvr49]

19 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

Princess kids clubs were great for my kids, but we've only sailed Princess when my kids were younger.  Prior to covid, Princess would bring Huskys on board one day for everyone to play with.  I don't know if they still do that but you could check.  We sailed Princess to Alaska and they did a great job.  

 

My kids aged 11, 8 and 4 all really liked RC's kids clubs and we were happy with RC along with Princess.  We were also happy on Cunard and Hal but they have have less for kids, but if you find a great itinerary they might be worth considering also.  HAL traditionally does a really good job in Alaska like princess, but I'd take princess over HAL for a family cruise.

 

I don't know about sailing to Alaska in September because we went in the opposite shoulder season (late May) because I was pregnant and it worked out really well.  This doesn't affect the OP but anyone else reading please note the only important thing to note if you go in May is that the roads into Denali are seasonal, and you need to make sure they are open far enough for you to be happy if you are doing a land tour (Denali is currently under construction so you'd need to research that anyway).   If there are a few excursions you really want to do I'd just contact the providers and make sure they are still running when you want to sail in September.

 

Our first NCL cruise 10 years ago with kids went well, but our last one didn't.  My kids didn't go to the kids club very often on NCL because the kids clubs used electronics more instead of organizing sports games and arts and crafts for the children to play like RC.  In all fairness, if the kids actually stayed for a whole session on NCL,we did get at least one arts and craft thing back and most of the other children on the ship seemed really happy with the kids clubs, so your kids might be fine.

 

My bigger concern with NCL was that they changed our itinerary on our sailing after final payment for "environmental reasons" cancelling one port my kids really wanted (the Dominican Republic) and cancelling the morning of another (Antigua) which prevented us from seeing the giant toirteses because that's only open in the morning.  I called NCL and asked them to let me switch to the same cruise a few weeks later and they refused because they'd made the itinerary changes after final payment.  For an entire month, they continued to advertise the original itinerary on their website after the changes were made and even people who called NCL directly to book after the port was cancelled were not told  of the changes and weren't able to cancel either.

 

 

 

 

Other passengers were upset when NCL stopped serving alcohol to passengers who had purchased drink packages in the UK on some ships due to UK regulations (which was a bit confusing since other cruise lines sailing in the UK were able to serve alcohol at that time).  They initially were not going to refund passengers for the drink packages they'd paid for but after the passengers protested they refunded the drink package fees.  

 

 

 

Thanks so much for all the info!  We are going to go with Princess, especially since they currently have a promo for 3rd and 4th passengers sailing free.

[kitkat343]

1 hour ago, yvr49 said:

Thanks so much for all the info!  We are going to go with Princess, especially since they currently have a promo for 3rd and 4th passengers sailing free.

Great - precovid Princess was our favorite cruise line.  We've only sailed out of Manhattan postcovid since we now have 3 kids, so we haven't had a chance to sail Princess with older children.  I hope it all works out and please let us know how Princess is with older kids.  They were great with my 2 year old but I know that's different than the older ones.

[yvr49]

our kids are 5, 7 and 9 so not that old 🙂  Roundtrip Vancouver works for us as it's our home.

[jbrinkm]

Royal's Ovation and Quantum also do Alaska, but round trip from Seattle. They are much more family friendly ships. 

[yummymummy11]

Just come back from 11 nights on Crown, Princess sailing Alaska in August. My nine-year-old daughter said the kids club was brilliant. If you look at my review on the site, there is a photo of the kids activity program in the 8 to 12 group.

[yvr49]

Thanks! We have booked the Crown fir August 2024.