I am about to start planning an cruise. I was thinking about Alaska. My question is, what cruise line do you recommend for a family (two small children). I do not want a bunch of druken college kids, but I dont want a cruise without children aboard either. Thank you!

Please see the thread called: Suggestions for a First Cruise. I posted a message there with my experience. I have boys 13 & 16 who have been cruising happily for the last 3 years. I am happy to give you any more info about our cruises.

Hi: We've been on seven cruises on several lines and I offer you the following info: Holland America is an older crowd, the dress more formal, and the mood subdued! Carnival attracts lots of young college age and honeymooner people who are loud, rude, etc. In fact they have recently changed their passenger policies to try and improve their image. My preference would be Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines: they have good service, good food, lots of young people, a good youg people's program, and the beauty of a cruise is that in MOST cases, you have the option of leaving the ship for the day in each port and exploring or staying on the ship and lolling around. There are movie theaters, discos, casinos, etc. Lots to do. My one important suggestion would be DO NOT purchase tours from the cruise line. They are very overpriced. If you go to the Caribbean, there are van drivers in each port who will negotiate a price with you to sightsee, usually around $15.00 pp for the day. Hope this helps.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by fixthed*mnthing.com:
I am about to start planning an cruise. I was thinking about Alaska. My question is, what cruise line do you recommend for a family (two small children). I do not want a bunch of druken college kids, but I dont want a cruise without children aboard either. Thank you!</font>

It also depends on what you consider small children, a couple years old, young teenagers, etc.

Alaska, in general, is an older crowd, but there may still be some kids on board. If your travel agent specalizes in cruises they may be able to get the information from the cruise like as to how many kids are onboard (or booked so far) on the trips you are looking at. It also very much depends on the dates you select, if you choose Alaska in May or June many kids are still in school, but August is a different story.

Alaska is a fantastic place, and cruise prices are so low it's a great deal. We sailed Princess to Alaska in early August of 94, there were a few kids on board, but really not that many at all.

Just returned from an Alaska cruise. Since the summer is prime Alaska cruise season and it coincides with school vacations, there were a variety of ages represented on the cruise- from babies to grandparents- there were few 18-25 year olds, I would say and there were many large family groups- but there were about 100 13-18 teens and about thirty 12 year olds.

------------------

I agree with marysunshine completely. Royal Caribbean probably has the best children's program on the Alaska run. I actually work in the cruise industry and usually recommend Holland America to older folks (55+), Carnival to 20-30something single types and Royal Caribbean to families. Princess might also be a reasonal option with children, but I'd avoid Holland America and Carnival if I was travelling with kids.

No I don't work for any of the cruise lines but I do get to visit most of the ships and have a fairly good feel for their target markets.

Personally, Holland America is one of favourites, but they cater to a much older crowd.

edited for grammar & spelling

[This message has been edited by mpc1 (edited 08-06-2001).]

It's not Alaska, but my husband and I loved the Disney Cruise.

They totally cater to families, but have MANY opportunities for the parents to get away on their own too.

They have 2 different clubs, based upon age. You can drop your children off as early as 8am I believe, and pick them up as late as 10pm. Of course you can drop them off and pick them off, as often as you like through out each day of the trip.

The kids clubs are like a day camp atmosphere. The age range is 3 - 12. I think the younger group was 3-6 and then the older group was 7-12.

The younger group have snacks, playtime, crafts, meet disney character, movie time in the theater, etc.

The older group is similar to a science day camp. The do fun experiments, computer lessons, and they have movie times.

Children older than 12 can do just about anything except hang at the adult pool.

The kid pool is kind of scary.. REALLY PACKED IN TIGHT.

WE LOVED THIS TRIP!!! Check it out!

Oh, also, the Disney Cruise doesn't have gambling.

And the only time I saw someone drunk was at 1am in the late night comedy club, which is adults only after 9pm.

Good family atmosphere, and fun things for teens to do too.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mpc1:
I agree with marysunshine completely. Royal Caribbean probably has the best children's program on the Alaska run. I actually work in the cruise industry and usually recommend Holland America to older folks (55+), Carnival to 20-30something single types and Royal Caribbean to families. Princess might also be a reasonal option with children, but I'd avoid Holland America and Carnival if I was travelling with kids.


Personally, Holland America is one of favourites, but they cater to a much older crowd. </font>

On our Holland America cruise to Alaska in 1998 there were lots of kids. Then this summer on the Rotterdam (HAL from Istanbul to Venice) there were about 150 kids. I was told by crew that there were to be over 300 aboard for the very next sailing. HAL did a fine job with the children.

In 1999 we did a Scandinavian Cruise on RCCL with lots of kids. Then in 2000 we cruised the British Isles with RCCL and plenty of kids. I was a little nervous about choosing the HAL European cruise this summer for fear there would not be enough kids aboard. It turned out to not be a problem at all.

I think it is true that HAL has an older crowd. But, with the growing popularity of cruising for families I think HAL is getting a good share these days. I would not count HAL out if you are looking for other young families.

We sailed Princess to Alaska and there were very few children, mostly seriously old people. One guy died the first night out. I would think of taking them on a school holiday time, like Christmas or spring break (obviously not to Alaska) because those times of year have the most kids and most cruise lines make sure they have a kids program. You cannot depend on the cruise line to tell you the avg age BUT if they have a kids' director and program, you can expect you have the right ship. I would also try Celebrity - they seem to attract a younger crowd AND have the best food afloat. Princess has the worst.

I would like to thank everyone for their suggestions and input. Now I have a direction, I am going to do the leg work now w/ the travel agent http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

Thanks!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Karen2:
One guy died the first night out. </font>

When we were on our Alaska cruise we lucked out and had the ships doctor at our table for the formal nights. He told us they average one person who dies on each cruise, with several being hospitalized in each port. When yo uthink of hte amount of people on board, the age of some of them, etc, guess it makes some sense.