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After checking out various cruises in Alaska, we are now curious about the ferry lines that travel in and about Alaska. They cater to local commuters as well as more adventurous travellers. Apparently you can book cabins (we are a group of five children ages 4 -12 and two adults) and you can also ''tent'' camp on deck. Has anyone out there ever done this trip? Is it feasible with kids in our age range? We would then take day trips, possibly renting a car, and do some exploring on our own. Any Alaska travel tips for a trip like this would be greatly welcome. Many thanks. Melissa
In my opinion, you're better off flying to the (few) towns that are worth visiting and have remotely enough to do. Juneau and Ketchikan might rate as two of those. Anchorage has over half the population of the entire state, and even though it's kind of grim (and where I grew up), you should probably see it.
Fairbanks doesn't have much, but it's got the 2nd biggest population and just barely gets the midnight sun on the longest day of the year, so that can be interesting. Homer is a great little town on a spit that has tons of halibut fishing and HUGE amount of bald eagles that nest there. It's very pretty there and has become a B&B type destination. Mt. McKinley (Denali now) is a good area to camp - Talkeetna is a cute town to have lunch in while you're in the area. A boat ride in the Kenai Fjords is also fun (though quite cold, even in summer), and you'll see a ton of wildlife - breeching whales, puffins, dall sheep, etc, just from the deck.
All that said, time of year is massively important as to when you go, especially if you're going to be doing the ferry thing. Late July is probably your best bet. Exploring on your own is brave, but I think you might get more out of some hosted tour groups. -- Been there, lived that
I went 100 yrs ago - like 1985. My Mom, Dad, & high school aged sister had gone the previous summer, they camped on the deck and had a great time. I was on a bicyle trip and jumped on with a friend in B.C. We went in August and it was just before the State Fair and many of our fellow passengers were going to that. Many of them had musical instruments and there were spontaneous big circle dances. We saw whales breaching and beautiful scenery.
We claimed lounge chairs at some point in the evening and slept on those. (There were lots of the pool-side-type lounge chairs) At the various stops, there was enough time for us to jump on our bikes and look around a little bit.
So as a person in their early 20s and sans enfants I had a great experience. I would consider it as a good option for my kids but kids/water/boats - safety stuff - would definitely be something to consider. from a person who likes the Alaska Marine Highway
ferries are comfy and accomodating. The scenery along the inland passage is to die for. You can also get out and stay in the towns and take the next ferry if you don't have room reservations.
I did camp on deck but I was in my 20's at the time and I would NEVER do that now. There were lots of people partying all night. Sleep was not going to happen. I'd suggest getting a room or sleeping in your car. I agree that July is probably the best time to go as far as good whether.
Another good way to go to Alaska is to fly to Anchorage and rent a car and drive south to Kenai, Seward etc. The Kenai Fjords boat trip is gorgeous...all day. We took our then 4 yr old on that and brought stuff for him to do. He loved it...LOTS of wildlife. If you do that, I''d then suggest taking the train up to Denali park and staying a few days there. More wildlife adn hiking. You can also take the train to Fairbanks. Beautiful ride....green, lush, lots of moose and birds to see. There is TONS to do in Fairbanks, but i't not a big exciting city. Population is about 60,000. There is a fun County Fair in late July (check dates on Fbx city commerce website).
The University of ALaska in Fairbanks has a big farm....HUGE cabbages, lots of hands on exhibits, animals, including reindeer. Starting on July 15th is the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. A 2 week music festival filled iwth classes and performances. Not really a kid event but at the end are some of the ice skating shows and dance shows. Another attraction in Fbx is the Musk Ox Farm which offers tours. It is light out all the time in Fbx in the mid summer. True the more north you go the lighter it is. In Fbx on June 21st the sun goes 3% below the horizon which gives you a few hours of ''sunset''. At 11 PM you sometimes have to remember to go to bed cause it's still light out. The people of Fairbanks (and Alaskans in general) are the friendliest, warmest people I've ever met.
You could rent a car in Fbx too and drive around...drive up the pipeline road or up to the Circle Hot Springs just above the Arctic Circle. Ferry or plane/train/car, Alaska is a huge gorgeous state. My brother lives in Fbx. I went to college there and go back every summer (and sometimes inthe winter) for the music festival and to visit. Have a blast love alaska
I would like to take my two daughters, ages 8 and 10, to Alaska this summer for a week or so. My girls are too young for kayaking or true backpacking but would probably like something more active than travel on a massive cruise ship. Any recommendations for a family vacation? I've checked the archives and did not find much. Thanks, fellow travelers! sarah
You can fly to Fairbanks...rent a car for a few days. Fairbanks is a beautiful, friendly town (60,000 pop) with lots of sites to see. The University of Alaska Museum will take several hours, FABULOUS gardens and farm on campus,The Musk Ox Farm nearby does great tours. There are gorgeous roads and roads and roads to drive in Fbx, You can drive up the pipeline road and camp if you have a few extra days. Circle Hot Springs is a few hours north (above the Arctic Circle)...great hot spring, inn and restaurant and the drive is to die for (dirt road though).
Then, you can take the ALaska Railroad down to Denali Park. You can get a ''package trip''...take the train (really fun ride...watch moose in the rivers on the way down) and spend a few days at the park. You can't drive in to the park very far so you take the bus. You can arrange a tour to go x amount of miles into the park. There are many motels/lodges, etc. just outside the park, or you can arrange to stay at one of the lodges in the park. This is a REALLY fun trip. Could be rainy so bring rain gear.
Then you can continue down to Anchorage on the train. Rent a car again and tour around Anchorage...drive down the Kenai Peninsula for a few days....take the Kenai Fjords day boat trip to amazing glaciers, see THOUSANDS of birds, whales, dolphins.... OR....You can fly to Anchorage and rent a car and just tour around the above area I just mentioned...or take the train from Anchorage to Denali and back, or up to Fbx. Many possibilities.
If you do go to Fairbanks in late July, check out the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival at the University. It's a 2 week amazing music/arts festival...classes, performances,It's in it's 25th year this summer.
My brother lives in Fairbanks, I went to college there (forever ago) and go back every year for the FSAF (FSAF.org). Our family has been there many times to visit and we've done the various trips I mentioned above. My husband and 11 yo son just came back the other day from ''Winter Festival'' in Fbx...lots of dog sled races, ice sculpture contests and winter events. Alaska is BIG and GORGEOUS and filled with the friendliest people you could ever want to meet.
One of the cool things about Alaska in the summer is that it's light out all the time (esp. the more north you go). So, you kind of forget that it's time to go to sleep, even though it's 11 PM.
I could go on and on but i''ll stop here. Have a blast. If you want to talk more please e-mail me. June
We're planning to take a week-long cruise to Alaska next June, and would like advice on family-friendly cruises (our son will be 15 months old then, and his grandparents will be coming too). There seem to be so many cruise ship options - how to narrow them down? Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with any particular cruise lines? Also, any tips to on making travel easier would be welcome. Thanks! looking for a good cruise
We are going on a 10 day cruise to Alaska on Celebrity cruises, leaving Vancouver on Sept. 3 and returning in to SF on Sept. 13. I would love to get some good feedback and recommendations from others on ports/shore excursions/general helpful info. Details: This is a family cruise with my hubby, me, our 2 daughters, age 3.5 and 1 year. We'll also have Grandma (a moderately active 68, but extended standing/walking not good), Uncle (generally wheelchair bound, with limited cane walking ability/good upper body strength) and Aunt (good health). Our ports are: Juneau, Sitka, Skagway, Ketchikan and Icy Strait Point. Has anyone taken this exact cruise w/kids and have suggestions or rec's on the shore excursions? There are a ton of choices and they're all fairly expensive, so I'm wary to book anything without getting some opinions/recs. We don't need to do all things w/the kids, as there are babysitting opportunities w/in our group. And-we don't need to get out in all the ports either. What shouldn't we miss? If you did take kids on any of your shore excursions, which did you try and how did you find the experience? Did you try whale watching and did you see any this time of year? Has anyone done any of the offered excursions either disabled yourself, or with someone who was? What worked/didn't work? We can't decide whether to bring the double stroller (one in front, one in back) or the single stroller(peg perego aria)? Should we just get an umbrella stroller? Will we even need a stroller? Baby backpack for the 1YO? Any other general helpful tips with this group would be welcome. You can email off list or on. Thanks! Renee
We got off the ship at every port and mostly walked around and shopped, but we found that the ports had little to offer close to the cruise ship terminals. Several cruise ships disgorge thousands of passengers daily at these ports, overpowering the local population and making it very touristy.
Most excurions did not work for us, as it was too difficult to hike, raft, fish, etc. with 2 small kids. The only excursion we did was a helicopter ride to a glacier. It was expensive given our budget, but unlike anything I have ever experienced, making it worthwhile. Given the expense, danger (a not carefully monitored small child could fall into a crevasse), and the likelihood that our kids would not remember it, we left them on the ship with their grandparents Susan
Shore excursions: we didn't book anything through our cruise, but we took advantage of every opportunity to be on shore. If you're open to putting things together yourself on the spot and want to contain costs I'd skip the packages they offer and do it yourself. Here's what we did:
Sitka: it's easy to entertain kids and limited mobility adults in Sitka - from the dock, head right (south?) to the National Park Service museum a few blocks away (presumably you could wheel your wheelchair person there? but ask about sidewalks). They had a great museum with lots of things of interest to small kids and adults, including local people doing traditional crafts, a beautiful outdoor forested area, and a fun junior ranger leaflet and badge for kids. On the way you'll pass a small (free) fish hatchery that is part of some college and it has a large and wonderful touch tank, plus some tanks just for display, good for entertaining all ages. We did their little tour and learned out they raise the fish - it was low key and fairly short. But the touch tank was the best.
Juneau - We did a wonderful hike near Mendenhall glacier by hiring a couple of cabs to take us out there at the dock. To me this was the only time I felt like I really was in Alaska, hiking for a few hours in the forest. There's a visitors center there too on the other side of the lake that we didn't go to, but I think some of the package tours will take you there.
Ketchikan- By the time we got here all I cared about was going somewhere my boys could romp and be loud without disturbing others. We had fun asking locals for directions to the nearby park and enjoying tossing rocks in the water and stretching our legs. Near this park there is some sort of an eagle rehab center (??) and also some native culture museum that some members of our group enjoyed but I didn't take our boys there. We did enjoy the ride in the little cable railcar up the hillside.
As for strollers, I'd bring whatever you prefer for airports because the waiting in line, checking id as you pass, etc, will be similar. We just brought the pack which kept our little one close and gave him a good view. But on shore, I mainly wanted them to RUN and get their wiggles out so the pack was useful for the getting on/off the ship part and otherwise was a way to carry our extra gear. If your older daughter is at all active, I recommend bringing really good rain gear and warm clothes (hats, gloves) for at least one parent and her so that you can enjoy running around shore or up on deck even if the weather isn't great. On a trip like this you're bound to get some less than ideal weather, but don't let it confine you indoors - in my opinion, Alaska is about outdoors! - Charis
Hi. Does anyone have any information/recommendations about cruises (with kids - 8 yrs old) to Alaska? Thanks Betty
Our kids were too young for the kids club, but their older cousins who are into puzzles/books/crafts liked it but the more rowdy ones did not. The kids club didn't seem to have much to offer a very active kid (no ball pit, climbing wall, etc.) Burning off steam mostly happened in the pool or the outdoor sports deck - those seemed to be the only places it was ok to run/shout/etc and sometimes it was too cold or wet to be on the sports deck.
It was like being with my kids in a restaurant every waking moment for a week. The only break was to hang out in our cabin, which had no windows, making it boring for the adults (though the kids loved watching espn from the bunk bed). Obviously an 8 year old will probably find it a lot easier to be on ''company manners'' for such an extended period, and a quiet child of any age would too. The staff were incredibly sweet to the kids, even when they weren't on best behavior. That said, the wildlife and glaciers were amazing and abundant. The shore days were really nice - we made sure to include lots of physical activity for those. Sitka has a great museum a few blocks from the dock, and on the way there's a fishery with a big touch pool. Prepare for rain every day and then the occasional sunny day is a treat. - Charis
Hi- We're booked for a family reunion in the form of a Holland American cruise to Alaska out of Seattle. We have never been on a cruise and are more the backpacking type... we have two boys who will be almost 2 and almost 5 when we go in June. Our boys are looking forward to being with their cousins, ages 6 to 16. I looked on the websites (parents list and Holland Am.) but I still have questions. I know I probably need to ask someone at Holland America these questions but I don't have a contact who might know kid details there and I'm hoping for tips from experienced travellers!
- Pools: Will my not yet potty trained toddler be allowed in the
pool? I'm expecting this is where the kids will want to spend
most of their time.
- Kid zone: They have some free kids play area for age 5 and up -
I'm hoping they'll let my almost 5 year old join in because his
cousins will certainly be there. Will my two year old be allowed
to play too if we're present?
- noise: Are the rooms fairly soundproof, or will I need to worry
that if my toddler peeps in the night it will wake others nearby?
- crib: Do I need to request a crib in advance, or can I just
wait and see if we end up needing it?
- baby monitors: Is it possible to use a baby monitor to listen
in on the sleeping kids while we have adult conversation in a
nearby room? Or is this impossible or a bad thing?
- dining: My kids are *fairly* well behaved at table, but the
reality of eating three meals a day in public is a little
daunting, what with the dinner dress code and all. Is this going
to be torture? Are there separate dining areas for kids?
- extra costs: How little can we budget for extra costs that are
not included in the base fare? (port fees? etc.?)
Any tips to make this a fun trip? I'm looking forward to seeing the extended family and seeing a bit of Alaska, but I can't help wishing they'd chosen to stay at a lodge in the rockies instead! Charis
I don't remember for certain, but suspect that diapers in the pool would be an issue.
They do have a kid zone on the uppermost deck. Our experience was there was very limited ''programming'' and what there was was pretty lackluster - I think this traditionally hasn't been a big families-with-kids destination. That said, they will let you bring a child younger than 5 if you accompany them. Also, we found that the space wasn't used much for organized activities, so it was just a great place to convene with kids and let them just be noisy and run around - the room was left unlocked all day. Perhaps they are running a more structured kid's program on this cruise now...
We found the rooms to be pretty well sound-proofed. I don't know about the cribs...at night they turned the little love seat into a bed for our 3-year-old and we just put pillows near it - he did fall out one night! Re baby monitors, I think if you are in a room nearby that it should be fine from a safety standpoint, but my (ham radio) husband says you probably have to ask permission from the ship to transmit and that they may not work between metal decks.
Re dining: I too was daunted by the prospect and am again since we're taking our now-5-yr-old on a cruise with his grandparents...there is a more casual dining room on the ship and if you need a few nights not to feel quite so pressured - it's a nice break. Also, if you're interested, you can arrange babysitting while on the ship if you want to do the most formal nights as adults only - we did that and it worked fine.
In general my tips...my son loved afternoon tea in the lounge. Also, we found that the ship's library had some kid's books and we made sure to have a little late afternoon quiet time reading books and having tea in the lounge. My son enjoyed the shore excursions - especially Sitka which is very compact, making it easy to walk and see a temperate rainforest and nature museum. We also just walked the ship a lot.
I found that the staff were very helpful and welcoming to children - and tipped accordingly those who made my son feel particularly welcome and who made our lives easier. Not all the passengers were as welcoming - there are still a lot of older people taking cruises who are not thrilled to be vacationing with rambunctious children. I tried to allow my son to be a child as long as he was behaving appropriately for the venue. (Some shushing on the Lido deck seemed unnecessary, but we certainly tried to strive for appropriate decorum during more formal dining.
It wasn't our first choice for a vacation and it presented challenges, but on the balance - we had a good time. Have fun!
Valerie
We found the following site very helpful to us in planning our cruise and finding out about booking excursions outside of the ship (which can save a lot of $$):
http://www.cruisecritic.com/
The only other cruise I would ever consider doing is an Alaskan one, and yes, I would even look into the Holland American cruise line again. We found the staff wonderful and the ship was kept spotlessly clean, so I give them high marks in that regard. Yes, the age of the crowd was definitely older, but most of them LOVED my son and no one ever made him feel unwelcome, even when he was splashing and running around the pool. Actually, they were quite sweet with him (most of them commented that he reminded them of their own grandchildren).
Have a great time. Susan
My husband and I and our 10-year-old son are thinking of taking a cruise to Alaska for a week this August...inside passage or otherwise. Can anyone who has done this make a recommendation or provide any tips? We hear it is easier customs-wise leaving from Seattle or San Francisco, rather than Vancouver...Looking for advice. Many thanks.
We want to buy an Alaskan cruise tour (part cruise, part train and motorcoach touring) for my retired parents for their anniversary. Does anyone have experience (pos or neg) with this type of vacation?
Does anyone have recommendations on what to do or where to go in Alaska? Specifically in Juneau, Glacier Bay, Haines, and Skagway. Thanks! Nils
1. Juneau is a hiker's paradise, so if you are into hiking you and your kids will love it, you just have to be prepared for rainy weather, which is true all over Southeast. The trails range from easy to challenging; you should have no trouble finding several that are your speed. There are several great trails that you could walk to from downtown, and a few more that are out a bit further.
2. Juneau has the Mendenhall glacier. There are tons of glaciers in Alaska, but this is one of the few you can get fairly close to. I remember a great and relatively easy hike that takes you up above the side of it, of course by now it might have receded past that point! You also can see it without taking the hike.
In general fishing is very popular up there, so you could also arrange that--the salmon and halibut you eat there will spoil you for life. You can also do kayaking, probably in all the towns.
The towns are all fairly similar, each with its own specialty of course, so you might want to pick one as a base, and just explore the others on day trips. Skagway has its gold rush history, and Haines has an old, old army base--it's better known as one of the only Southeast towns that has a road out--I'm not sure if it's worth a special trip, but someone will correct me if I'm wrong. You could get on the road and see more of the area. Sitka has Russian history as its strong point, and it's in a lovely setting; I'd probably pick it over Haines myself. And Glacier Bay doesn't really have a town--it's just the gorgeous, icy scenery, but well worth seeing. Have a fantastic trip--it's an amazing place. Suzanne
2. Juneau has the Mendenhall glacier. There are tons of glaciers in Alaska, but this is one of the few you can get fairly close to. I remember a great and relatively easy hike that takes you up above the side of it, of course by now it might have receded past that point! You also can see it without taking the hike.
In general fishing is very popular up there, so you could also arrange that--the salmon and halibut you eat there will spoil you for life. You can also do kayaking, probably in all the towns.
The towns are all fairly similar, each with its own specialty of course, so you might want to pick one as a base, and just explore the others on day trips. Skagway has its gold rush history, and Haines has an old, old army base--it's better known as one of the only Southeast towns that has a road out--I'm not sure if it's worth a special trip, but someone will correct me if I'm wrong. You could get on the road and see more of the area. Sitka has Russian history as its strong point, and it's in a lovely setting; I'd probably pick it over Haines myself. And Glacier Bay doesn't really have a town--it's just the gorgeous, icy scenery, but well worth seeing. Have a fantastic trip--it's an amazing place. Suzanne
I suggest taking a ferry on the Price William Sound. Cordova is a lovely little fishing village, and I think the ferry goes there. Or to nearby Valdez. My main advice is: Get out of town. Alaska is all about the outdoors. There's a glacier near Cordova. You can walk on it, but be careful. Because the area is so large, see if you can find someone to point you to some good hiking areas or scenic drives. Take lots of film. Lots of wildlife, and the views are spectacular. Everything is just unbelievable BIG. I wasn't long in Anchorage, so maybe it has some charms I didn't see. Linda
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