LuckyMamaInDE
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2004
I agree with the bolded----we chose to sail out of Vancouver for the true Inside Passage experience. We were also close to land/scenery for a good portion of the following morning. Dh and I got up really early on purpose to spend lots of time on a small forward deck on our ship.We went with DCL (yeah it's more expensive). The thing I looked at carefully is the route. The ships that leave Vancouver go between a large island and the mainland and it's really, really pretty. The ones that leave Seattle don't. So, for me, I'd want that part of the Inside Passage included in the cruise. If you look at the maps you can see that some swing right around it and there's nothing to see that day. I can't advise you on other cruise lines since I haven't sailed them. My mom and her sibs took Princess to Alaska a few times and loved it, but they were all retired so I don't know what it's like with kids.
ETA - we went the first year DCL went there, and got a "kids sale free" deal with Disney (do they even do that nowadays?) which was great, but it was still expensive.
I would also think about what your purpose for the cruise is-----wildlife? scenery? as many glaciers as possible? specific excursions? I really wanted to see lots of glaciers. We chose an itinerary that went into Glacier National Park (only a few lines and a few ships do) and the glaciers of Prince William Sound. We also were able to hike to, on, and under (!!) Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.
We sailed with Princess, a one-way north so that we could see more of the interior of Alaska.
We didn't travel with any kids that trip, so I can't help with kid stuff.