Has anyone done Alaska on DCL?

[krystee]

We just booked for September 2024 (yes, we are taking our kids out for a week just three weeks into school to save $3K….), and I think the boys are kind of bummed it’s not a big ship with the Aquaduck and mini golf and all of that. I was wondering if any of you have been with or without kids and what you thought. I think they will be obsessed with seeing whales, eagles, hopefully bears (from a distance), waterfalls, glaciers, etc.., and they’ll end up loving it. But we still have time to make it an adults only trip if we want to! If we did that, we’d probably switch to RCL and save some money. They will be 9 and 6.

[SusanBAnthony]

I haven't done Alaska on a cruise at all, just on land with a boat day trip. But many of the places we went were cruise ports.

My kids were 12 and 15 and although they enjoyed seeing the animals, they enjoyed it for about 5 minutes per animal for maybe a sum total of 1 hour over a week.

I would do adults only personally. Taking our kids was kind of a waste and they are generally good at and interested in hiking/scenic/outdoor stuff.

[dcrunnergirl52]

Apr 1, 2023 11:41:27 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

I haven't done Alaska on a cruise at all, just ob la d with a boat day trip. But many of the places we went were cruise ports.

My kids were 12 and 15 and although they enjoyed seeing the animals, they enjoyed it for about 5 minutes per animal for maybe a sum total of 1 hour over a week.

I would do adults only personally. Taking our kids was kind of a waste and they are generally good at and interested in hiking/scenic/outdoor stuff.

Where did you go in Alaska? I was thinking of doing a week in Alaska this summer, visiting Anchorage, Seward, Girdwood, etc. The kids would be 12, 12, 10, 5. But now you're making me nervous.

[SusanBAnthony]

Apr 1, 2023 12:15:01 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

Apr 1, 2023 11:41:27 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

I haven't done Alaska on a cruise at all, just ob la d with a boat day trip. But many of the places we went were cruise ports.

My kids were 12 and 15 and although they enjoyed seeing the animals, they enjoyed it for about 5 minutes per animal for maybe a sum total of 1 hour over a week.

I would do adults only personally. Taking our kids was kind of a waste and they are generally good at and interested in hiking/scenic/outdoor stuff.

Where did you go in Alaska? I was thinking of doing a week in Alaska this summer, visiting Anchorage, Seward, Girdwood, etc. The kids would be 12, 12, 10, 5. But now you're making me nervous.

Anchorage (saw moose at a city park)

Whittier (nice hike but the town is tiny and boring)

Train ride from Anchorage to Seward and back (drain was great, loved it. Town of Seward was meh. We did a boat ride to see kanai fjords national Park. It was cool to see a bunch of animals but the water was ROUGH and a lot of people were sick. Kids were like meh.)

Fly to katmai national Park (day trip, this was the best part, but the part the kids liked was flying in tiny plains, including getting to sit up front with the pilot and a water landing. Not the bears lolol.)

Denali (adults loved it, kids liked it fine. You take a bus into the park and the bus ride kind of sucks. Plus 2/3rd of the road is inaccessable. We saw a clear view of the mountain but 90% of the time you don't get a clear view and something like 1/2 the time you can't see the mountain at all.)

[SusanBAnthony]

Alaska was a bucket list trip for us but it was just really not great. It was fine. It was ok. I'm glad we went. I don't ever need to go back hahaha. I feel like we got a similar experience but better from places like Glacier national Park or Yellowstone/grand tetons.

[krystee]

I think we’re switching to Royal Caribbean….the kids have decided if they get bumper cars, a surf rider thing, an arcade and X-box area, PLUS wilderness excursions, it will be the best trip ever. The Wonder doesn’t excite them, which bums me out because I loved our recent Disney cruise so much, but I can do a larger balcony on RC during a summer month (no school missed, plus save on camp fees that week) for $2,800 less.

[sent]

We are heading to Alaska on Royal Caribbean this summer, my kids are 9 and 5. I was just researching our ports and the available excursions last night. I concluded that this trip is kind of a waste with DS at age 5. DD at age 9 can at least appreciate the nature, geography, and the significance of visiting a new state. She will be doing a glacier walk excursion with my husband. We are going because one of my husband’s friends invited us to come along on his wife’s family cruise. I’ve upgraded us to a grand suite because the thought of all those sea days with the 4 of us and DS not being super into the port days made me feel like I needed more room to survive the trip with my sanity. I’m not feeling any of the excursions either. They seem expensive to spend that much on DS when I really could just take him to the zoo or on a nature hike near us and get the same kind of reaction and appreciation at his level.

[lauren170]

We did Alaska on Norwegian and the kids loved every second of the ship, but they were bored by Glacier Bay, which is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. For us we were fine with Norwegian and saved at least $3k.

They did have an age minimum for the kids club… I think 5?

[dcrunnergirl52]

I just booked DCL Alaska for June b/c they had a great price. Anyone have any excursions that you recommend in Juneau, Icy Strait Point, or Ketchikan?

[lishie]

Apr 20, 2023 7:03:59 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

I just booked DCL Alaska for June b/c they had a great price. Anyone have any excursions that you recommend in Juneau, Icy Strait Point, or Ketchikan?

We did a private whale watching with Harv & Marv in Juneau when we did our DCL cruise on the Wonder. It was absolutely amazing. After they dropped us at the glacier and we checked that out on our own. 

[Deleted]

Apr 20, 2023 7:03:59 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

I just booked DCL Alaska for June b/c they had a great price. Anyone have any excursions that you recommend in Juneau, Icy Strait Point, or Ketchikan?

Ditto to this - we're coming up short. I wanted to do an ATV tour not through our boat (NCL) and it looks like the one provider doesn't operate anymore.

[dcrunnergirl52]

Apr 26, 2023 11:59:19 GMT -5 @rebeccawelton said:

Apr 20, 2023 7:03:59 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

I just booked DCL Alaska for June b/c they had a great price. Anyone have any excursions that you recommend in Juneau, Icy Strait Point, or Ketchikan?

Ditto to this - we're coming up short. I wanted to do an ATV tour not through our boat (NCL) and it looks like the one provider doesn't operate anymore.

I ended up booking a whale watching tour using Viator for ISP. For Juneau, we're renting a car on Turo and going to drive the glacier and the salmon hatchery. In Ketchikan, we're doing the Bering Sea Crab Boat Tour, which has awesome reviews. I booked this on Viator too.

[gretchenindisguise]

Apr 27, 2023 8:46:30 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

Apr 26, 2023 11:59:19 GMT -5 @rebeccawelton said:

Ditto to this - we're coming up short. I wanted to do an ATV tour not through our boat (NCL) and it looks like the one provider doesn't operate anymore.

I ended up booking a whale watching tour using Viator for ISP. For Juneau, we're renting a car on Turo and going to drive the glacier and the salmon hatchery. In Ketchikan, we're doing the Bering Sea Crab Boat Tour, which has awesome reviews. I booked this on Viator too.

We stayed in Ketchikan for 10 days last summer not on a cruise and did the Bering Sea Crab Boat Tour. It was fun, we got some amazing pics of eagles and the kids really enjoyed seeing/handling the sea creatures. We were supposed to do a different boat tour, but it was canceled. As was our kayak trip .

Our most favorite thing was a seaplane tour through Island Wings. It was the highlight of our trip, but pricey.

[abs]

Apr 1, 2023 14:10:04 GMT -5 krystee said:

I think we’re switching to Royal Caribbean….the kids have decided if they get bumper cars, a surf rider thing, an arcade and X-box area, PLUS wilderness excursions, it will be the best trip ever. The Wonder doesn’t excite them, which bums me out because I loved our recent Disney cruise so much, but I can do a larger balcony on RC during a summer month (no school missed, plus save on camp fees that week) for $2,800 less.

Which ship?  We did the Ovation last summer and my DD LOVED it.  She cannot wait to go back.  She spent the entire time in the Seaplex but she loved Alaska, too.

I will say the food pales in comparison to Disney though.  Like it was truly not edible some nights.  Highly recommend paying for the specialty dining.

[krystee]

abs we are on Ovation! Glad to hear your daughter loved it!

[dcrunnergirl52]

I just posted a trip report about our June DCL Alaska cruise if anyone is interested.