Want to go with the family. Two children, girl is 17, boy is 13. This is a factor. Need some teenage activities on board.

Also, want great food and wine. This will be our only trip to Alaska, probably, so would like to see as much as possible in 7 or 8 days. Don't want to spend a fortune, but want it nice.

Is there a cruise line out there for us???

Heavens

FOr Alaska, the best ships are Holland America and Princess..Of those 2, I would go with Princess for their kids program is better...

Make sure you get a balcony cabin as the scenery will be awesome..

DO Inside Passage with views of Glacier Bay...

Thanks for your response.

What about Celebrity?

And, about how much does a 7 day cruise cost in July or August?

Yes, will try and book a balcony, thanks.

Where else should we go? I know nothing about this, as you can see. Don't know costs, itinerary, or anything about Alaska. We have been on a cruise before, to the Caribean. About five times. But never to Alaska. Thought it might be a good family vacation. Kids have never been on a cruise. I was hoping they would think that is cool.

Thanks,
Heavens

Type in discount cruises and review your choices. Check land tours for the various ships, you can reserve in advance.

Princess has the longest history of cruising to Alaska, and arguably the best land tour arrangements if you want to extend your stay (before or after a one-way cruise to/from Vancouver to/from Seward); however with 7 or 8 days total you won't have time for more than a 7-day cruise.

Our experience with Celebrity is that kids are not their prime audience, but of course Alaska cruises are so port-intensive it might not matter that much.

Look at the Alaska forum (under "ports of call") at the cruisecritic.com message boards - lots of info.

We consistently get the best quotes from cruisequick.com for fares. Note itinerary is a critical consideration, so start researching now.

The Alaska cruise price changes about every 3 weeks in the summer, with late May/late Sept the cheapest, peaking in the middle of the summer. So if you are flexible with your dates, you'll save alot of $.

We took Holland America...it was top notch, but wouldn't recommend for teenagers...there were next to none on our cruise.

Do a one-way - you'll see more!
P.S. Do a search for Alaska on the cruise forum, also check out cruisecritic.com, you'll get much more info...

We've taken Holland America for four cruises, the latest Mexican Riviera Christmas cruise ending on Dec. 29th. The same ship, Ryndam, is in Alaska for the summer. I cannot imagine how more beautiful a ship could be and the friendly, cheerful, efficient staff is just exceptional. The menus had a huge selection for every meal and was just sensational. We took our family which included a 14 and 8 year old grandsons. We did not see them, except at meals...they are both quiet, somewhat reserve and they just lost themselves in the fun...the 14 year old was coming back to the room at 1:30a.m. He had a ball. The Alaska HA cruise/land tour we took was number one(at that time)...It was three nights on the ship and off at Skagway and inland for eight days. We were glad we went inland, as the weather while on the ship, was overcast/rainy and cold and inland it was warm, dry and also interesting.

I like Celebrity. Great food and classy ships. Princess and Royal Caribbean are both good as well.

All three will offer great kid activities.

As for cost, consider late August if your kids aren't yet in school.

We took RCCL to Alaska a couple of years ago. Cruise was great, food was mediocre, but I have found after 8 cruises that the same line can have extreme differences in food quality on different trips. We enjoyed the trip thoroughly and the scenery was outstanding!

We took our kids on HAL Amsterdam to Alaska to/from Seattle at the end of June 2003. Daughter was 16, son 13. I was concerned there wouldn't be a lot of kids on board and called the cruise line before our trip to find out how many teens would be on board. I relaxed when they said seventy.

Our kids made friends near the beginning of the cruise at some teen activities organized by HAL. After that, they occasionally participated in HAL programming, but mostly did things with their friends. Our son loved listening to music at the lounge at the top of the ship and knew all the performers by the end of the cruise. About the only time we were together was an occasional dinner and when we went on excursions, which we did as a family (though the cruise had excursions just for teens).

There are so many different types of activities and alternative places to eat. I don't think you have to worry about your kids having a great time, no matter which cruise you go on.

We took the Sun Princess to Alaska in summer 2002. Had 13 & 11 year old boys. The older boy qualified for the teen program and had a great time. He kept busy with their activities.

The younger boy didn't qualify for the teen program , but that was ok since he isn't much of a joiner and had fun on his own

Heavens-
we just got off the GOLDEN Princess in the Caribbean..and I would definitely recommend PRINCESS for those with teens . It had a good program and lots of things for teens to do..

The food on Princess was GREAT..and I have been doing nothing but Celebrity for the last 5 years ( with one RCL thrown in and I hated RCL- food was the pits)...

Alaska will have great excursions your teens will like- from kayaking, to rafting, to salmon fishing, to wilderness trips...ALL for active people and teens...

We did Personal Choice on Princess and are NEW CONVERTS to that vs traditional dining of either a set time of 615pm or 830pm for dinner.. we were always able to get reservations for dinner at 8pm and the service was WONDERFUL...

Both Princess and Holland America have been doing ALASKA the longest and get guarenteed access to Glacier Bay ....the other ships have to bid on entering and sometimes cannot get in.. Glacier Bay is a national park with iceburgs that you drift by...

SO , if it were me, I would definitely do PRINCESS with kids....