We are thinking of taking our daughters (ages 13 and 17 at cruise time) on an Alaska cruise next year (July, 2017). We are looking for recommendations based on:

1. Departure from Seattle
2. Fun excursions for the whole family (not looking for swimming pools or rock climbing on board...it's Alaska after all!)
3. Comfort
4. Affordable Price

Any suggestions for us?

Go to vacations.com. It is a great website. On the upper left, put in July 2017, Seattle and Alaska.
All ships going then will be listed. Pull up that ship's itinerary. Google excursions for that cruise.

Also, join cruisecritic.com. Under reviews, look up your ship and that itinerary. There will be discussions of excursions.

On this forum, go down to the post by Eschew, titled Alska Shore Excursion on the Cheap.

With teens, I would generally prefer Norwegian, Royal Caribbean or Princess over Celebrity or Hal.

In the search box here, put in Alaska.

Vacationstogo.com also lists prices.

Almost all of the mass market ships would be my answer. However, when comparing price, beware that those who sail and scenic cruise Glacier Bay National Park charges more, and Glacier Bay IMHO is a must see for Alaskan cruise, especially for those who have not cruise through there before.

Glacier Bay National Park charges cruise ships a fee and they have quotas that cruise lines bid on annually. They place a limit of number of ships allowed to cruise through the National Park. That's why ships that goes to Glacier Bay have to charge more to cover their cost.

All of the mass market ships offered teen clubs where they have lots of activities for them. However, there are much to do, and much to see and much to learn on an Alaskan cruise that why waste time in the teen club?

Family time, educational seminars from the naturalists just to name some activities that young teens might enjoy.

And Sass, thanks for the endorsement. That was probably my single longest running post, and still remains current, active and relevant (maybe except for some prices). It seems to resurface every year in the spring and summer and people who still posting questions and commenting.

Alaska is beautiful anytime of the year, and not only during cruise season.

This one . . . http://www.fodors.com/community/crui...-the-cheap.cfm

A cruise line you may want to consider is Princess Cruise line. They have kids clubs by age groups on a permanent basis and are one of the what I think are the 2 best for Alaska. They offer cruises from Seattle and have itineraries that include Glacier Bay. Princess fits what Eschew says above pretty well.

Hello,

I would HIGHLY recommend an Alaska cruise for your family. We did this last summer and our boys were similar ages (now 18, 17, 15, and 9). This was one of our all time favorite vacations. We flew up to Anchorage and did a few days in Denali National Park before we drove down to Whittier and took a 7-day cruise to Vancouver on Princess. Princess is one of the 'veteran' cruise lines in Alaska which means they get some of the better port / pier assignments and access to Glacier Bay (which is limited to 1 cruise ship at a time).

I wrote several pages with pictures on our website. Check out the link in my bio.

I hope this helps. You'll love this trip - it's a perfect family vacation!

- Mike