deblev

Planning a first trip for next summer. We have two weeks and need recommendations for great trip with kids 7 and 14. would like to cruise for part! Thanks.

akvisnet

Deb, between now and then, you will be getting a lot of good advice, as well as some bad......and some just really strange. My advice is that you always keep it local. That's good for the visitor who gets a better feel for Alaska, good for the vendor who gets to make a few dollars, and, good for the economy as the revenues don't sail away with the setting sun.

There are many vendors in Alaska who are here for only 4 short months while trying to represent themselves as "the real thing." Don't believe it, and don't let a tourist be your guide.

All of that said, you can probably glean many really great ideas from the existing forums going back as far as you can.

rubigayle

We are leaving next week for our trip- 2 weeks with two kids ages 9 and 11. I have been planning this for about 10 months. It has been quite a learning experience.I can suggest that for the land portion of this thing you check out the great alaskan toursaver- We are saving about 1600 using the book on hotels, flightseeing, kayaking, kenai fjords national park tour and more. Just book early and make sure they accept it before you book. Book costs about 100 but we bought 2, because there are four of us traveling. This is our itinerary

day 1 fly in anchorage- hawthorne suites using coupon(coupons for hotels are buy one night get next free)
day 2- drive to talkeetna for flightseeing with coupon(if we don't chicken out) overnight anchorage
day 3,4,5- homer alaska,booked halibut cove lunch cruise with coupon, probably do some fishing or other hiking activity.staying at lands end hotel.
Day 6,7,8-seward alaska
hotel edgewater (coupon), take kenai fjords national park tour(coupon), go kayaking, do sealife center(Coupons), exit glacier, etc.
Day 9 ,10- Valdez (Ferry from Whittier to Valdez- aspen hotel valdez(coupon)
Kayaking(coupon) and short whitewater rafting trip with keystone adventures or hiking and solomon gulch fish hatchery and pipeline
Day 11,12 Copper Center princess(coupon)
on day 12 we are flying into wrangell-st elias national park (Kennicott-McCarthy and we will take a private half day root glacier hike with St. Elias Alpine guides.
Day 13 and 14- This was a tough one- I wanted to stay on the Glenn highway, but my family outvoted me and wanted to go back to anchorage since we would not be spending any time there on the first round. Again we are staying at the Hawthorne suites with coupon and we will be doing a number of city activities since my kids will probably be natured out by then. We will probably do the palmer area as a day trip on the way back from Copper Center.
I will let you know how this works out!

tcapp

Do yourself a HUGE favor. Go to your local bookstore and ask for The Milepost. It is a thick travel book for Alaska and is the best money you'll ever spend. It runs about $25.00. Most big bookstore chains are very familiar with the book, and can order it for you if it's not in stock.

familyof4

We just returned from our first trip to Alaska. We have two children, ages 11 and 9. The trip was fabulous. It is not a place, however, to expect to be pampered(based on our experience). With children, we found the following to be quite enjoyable: At Denali: bus trip into Denali, horseback riding on a mountain, river rafting (class 1 and 2 rapids due to childrens ages); in Seward: kayaking, Kenai Fjords 7 hour tour, fishing, and dog sled tour/ride (Ididaride with the Seaveys). In Valdez, we enjoyed a stop at the salmon hatchery - it was the start if the salmon run as well as the Cultural Center Museum. My son still can't believe the size of the moose in the museum. We would not recommend the ferry - we took it from Valdez to Whittier. While we passed a sea lion colony, we saw so much more with Kenai Fjords tour. The gold mine(at the Crow Creek Mine), which my son was looking forward to, was not much of anything. The Ididarod Museum in Wasilla was a 1/2 hour stop, only worth it if on your way somewhere else, but it was free. Much more information from the Ididaride tour. We also stopped at the Musk Ox farm in Palmer which was also a quick stop. Not much to speak of, however when a baby musk ox licked my daughter's hand, she loved it. Our family had such a great time, we are planning to go back next summer. I hope this helps. Enjoy!

Aerowing

If you want to have fun, the best way to see Alaska is by renting a motorhome.No in and out of hotels everyday, the kids can sleep when they get tired, you'll save a lot of money by doing it this way as we have just come back from Alaska and rented a motorhome. Great Alaskan Holidays is where we rented from. They'll supply you with everything you need from sheets to pots and pans to lawn chairs, etc. You can see a lot more this way and it is not hard to drive or park or even hook up. Think about it, have fun.

enjoylife

Rather than a cruise, you may want to travel by way of the Alaska Marine Highway. It is a ferry boat system. You can set up a tent on the boat, sleep in lounge chairs or get a berth.
It is a wonderful adventure.

BudgetQueen

As you can see the jest of all of the above is to GO INDEPENDENT. You get far more "real Alaska". I am a many time visitor and always see and do many new things. As above get The MILEPOST, try your library or get a cheap couple year old copy. It is a necessary reference. Alaska is extremely easy to plan - few roads, just follow them and stop at interests along the way. Consider flights- my prefered tour. As for RV's, I actually prefer B&B's, I missed the contact with the inn keepers and the interaction with natives. You don't get that near as much in the RV. Also it pays to go mid to late August, campgrounds are empty and it's not necessary to get their early for good RV level spots. Certainly pros and cons and not necessarily cheaper.

alaska_traveler

You may want to consider a 7-day cruise to Alaska from Seattle. If you book early you can get a great rate and there are lots of fun things for kids on the ship. If you cruise one-way to Skagway, you can rent a motorhome in Skagway and then do a one-way "Alaska highway cruise" to Anchorage where the RV can be dropped off.

Gardyloo

One way cruises to/from Alaska on the major cruise lines use Vancouver as their southern terminus; the cruises from Seattle are all round-trips.

A typical itinerary including a cruise for 2 weeks would be to cruise one way between Vancouver and Alaska (either direction, 7 days) then stay an additional week in Alaska before/after the cruise. You can see Denali Park, the Kenai Peninsula, and possibly parts of Prince William Sound in that week, which will expose you to the main highlights of southcentral Alaska convenient to the road system. The later in the summer the better for the land-based portions.

Start loading up now on travel information, including the Milepost (as BQ says, a used copy is fine) and get your kids involved from the start. Happy planning!

fball

We are leaving for Alaska 8/1. We had palnned a 2 week land trip using an RV with our two children, 8 & 16. We began looking at cruises just for the heck of it. We were able to book a cruise from Vancouver to Seward for $560 each on Holland America, airfare leaving Anchorage $460 each. We will be camping in an RV which we are picking up in Seward for a $300 fee (steep but we save $200 on transportation to Anchorage & time getting back to Seward). We will be spending 3 days on the Kenai (not enough) & then heading up to Denali for 3 nights, staying at Savage River Campground. We will be returning to Anchorage for one night. We have booked all of this at the last minute, as we usually do. Our kids have always wanted to tour in an RV, so are very excited. I'll let you know how our trip works out.