slven

We are hoping to go to Alaska this summer - probably in August. Assuming we can make the time work, our plan is to do a short road trip through the Canadian rockies (I've done this part before so am pretty familiar with this part), cruise north from Vancouver, and then spend a few days in Denali. Our baby will be a year old, and we would like to bring her along instead of leaving her for 12+ nights home with my parents (though that is an option).

We are pretty active and usually ambitious when traveling, but obviously we know we have to make some concessions due to traveling with a baby. Has anyone done an Alaskan cruise and/or Denali with a baby around this age? Any advice? Or are we just crazy?!

nytraveler

Are you planning any tours? Many of them don;t allow children under the age of 10 or 12.

Frankly this is not the type of trip I would do with an infant. Do you know if you child will be seasick (many kids are)? What if the infant develops a minor health problem (ear infection or ?) while on the ship. At that age they tend to pick up minor problems fairly often.

Have you figured out what you will do on the various expeditions? Take turns staying on the boat with the child? Does the ship offer child sitting for infants?

I would look into this in detail before going ahead with plans.

vincenzo32951

Can't comment on the cruise part, but if you're going to Denali, I assume you want to do the wildlife bus tours. That's a long day with a 1-year-old on a less-than-luxurious bus.

janisj

I'd wait til the child is at least 6, and older would be even better - so the child can enjoy kids activities on the ship and be able to take the tours and have fun.

emalloy

The ship part should be ok, if you are willing to eat in your cabin when the little one gets fussy or needs to be in bed. The Denali part is more problematic in that you can't explore into the park except on a bus, and they look like the school bus I rode on 60 + years ago. If you go on the park service bus, you could get off when you wanted and get onto one returning, but you would miss a lot.

There were some babies on the ship we went on, and they were in family groups, but I saw none while in Denali. Would your parents be willing to go along with you so you and baby wouldn't have separation anxiety? You could swap baby duties and have a more enjoyable trip.


Fly to Anchorage, visit the Kenai peninsula, take some day trips on the water, train up to Denali spend a few days and train to Fairbanks and fly home.

gail

I would say Denali would be just under impossible. As mentioned, the only transportation is on old school buses. A crying baby would not be welcome and there is nothing that would possible interest a baby - so crying would be inevitable due to boredom and confinement, not bad parenting or anything related to your child.

Would you do Kenai instead? Or hold off for a few years - lots of places to go that are better suited to baby travel than Alaska.