Alaskan Cruise Guide for Seattle Families

Over seven days on an Alaskan cruise, I spotted orcas from a hot tub, watched massive chunks of glacier crash into the frigid ocean below from my bed and squealed as the ship casually floated by a bald eagle perched atop an iceberg.

I was previously a cruise skeptic, but the easy days on board a Princess ship convinced me to see the light at sea.

Leaving for a Princess cruise from Seattle

As I ducked out of the Uber and rolled my suitcase directly up the Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91 in Seattle (a 15-minute drive from my house), I channeled my best Kate Winslet boarding the Titanic: Someone follow me with my trunk, I can grab the hatbox.

The food writer Fuchsia Dunlop describes certain Chinese foods as having “high grapple factor,” and I’m stealing that to describe my vacation style. My trips usually end up with four hotel switches in as many nights or me dragging my kids up the 17th switchback of what I’d promised would be a short walk. I’ve always tossed “easy” to the sharks, focusing on finding the best experiences without busting my budget – first as a backpacker, then with confidence that my kids could hang on the subways of Mexico City or bite into street food tours in Thessaloniki.

This trip, for once, I reversed course, sailing north armed with full-sized bottles of sunscreen and conditioner, thriving with unlimited allowances of liquids and luggage.

What to pack for an Alaskan cruise

Princess cruises run from late spring to early fall, and the temperatures can range depending on the time of year you go. Pack comfortable activewear and different layers so you can adjust your wardrobe as needed. Early summer in Alaska can be chilly with a little bit of rain (especially the first port in Juneau, when it poured most of the day on my trip). While the mid-50s temperatures and wind kept us from using the pools more, it felt appropriate for Alaska.

Accessories like a hat, sunglasses and gloves should also be on the packing list. And keep in mind your cruise may have formal dinners with a dress code — think cocktail dresses for women and suits for men.

Nature enthusiasts wanting to take advantage of excursions and scenic hikes will likely want to bring along a backpack, collapsible hiking poles and rain cover.

Whether you’re watching glaciers from your room’s balcony or out on an excursion, you’ll also want a camera at the ready.

Alaskan cruise food and other surprises

Once on board the cruise ship, certain parts of the journey met my expectations precisely – the food sadly fit the cruise-ship-buffet stereotype and the ‘80s themed dance parties were just as delightfully absurd as hoped.

Other parts absolutely blew me away. The comfortable bed gently swaying in the waves obliterated my insomnia. I listened raptly to the naturalist and, following his advice, spotted seemingly endless numbers of whales. But most surprising of all was the freedom and excitement the ship set-up offered kids, which showed me what other parents clearly figured out long before that there is an easier way to do this.

While I eyed the food dubiously, I watched kids attack the pan-loads of chicken nuggets and slabs of macaroni and cheese with ferocity. Not only did the buffet offer unlimited quantities of kid favorites, my personal favorite eatery on the ship also appealed to them: Swirls, where soft serve ice cream snaked out in unlimited quantities, its pace unfettered by rain and chilly temperatures. While I’m hopeful one of the 500 kids on our ship ate a vegetable at some point in the week, I can’t be confident.

Alaskan Princess cruise kids clubs and activities

Beyond the low-hanging fruit of kid-foods (and I do think I saw one eat some fruit!), the youth of the ship found similar freedom in other facets of the ship. “I’m going to the kids club,” a 12-year-old girl said to her mother on our second afternoon. Her mom smiled her approval, then turned to me and added, “She can’t wander the streets of Austin alone, but here, she can just take off.”

Not only does the ship limit how far away her daughter could get, the quarter-sized “medallions” that act as room key and payment device have a location tracker that adults can turn on and off, but kids can’t. “It’s amazing,” said the mom of the freedom this offered both her and her daughter.

By the second day, most of the kids on board had transferred their medallions to the beaded lanyard necklaces they crafted in one of the ship’s three kids clubs. The first club, for 3- to 7-year-olds, required parents to sign children in and out and take a pager that allowed staff to contact them if needed. A second room for 8- to 12-year-olds was home to some wildly ferocious PlayStation battles. There, parents could choose if the child was allowed to sign themselves in and out. The third room, complete with DJ station, was as much a clubhouse as a care facility.

More than once I saw teenagers sitting in the hallway, impatiently waiting for it to open up so they could play skee-ball or air hockey with their friends. The kids clubs mostly run between meals. “We found families want to eat together,” explained the ship’s entertainment director. On the other hand, one of the girls quickly made a friend and the pair seized their newfound freedom to hit the on-board Irish pub one evening, allowing their mom to have an adult dinner.

Alaskan cruise on-board activities for families

While I heard many kids checking in with their parents before slipping off to teen dance parties, the on-board activities often appealed across generations — none more so than “Puppies in the Piazza.” The interview with an Iditarod racer and introduction of 6-week-old future sled dog puppies was certainly the highlight of my week, even if sweet Ruby slept through the whole thing, so we never got to see the mismatched eyes her minder described.

“Can you keep the puppies?” a 7-year-old girl asked her mom. She and her family also took an excursion to see sled dogs when the ship stopped in Skagway, during which one of the adorable pups peed on her brother’s jacket. When I asked her 10-year-old brother his favorite part of the trip, he immediately responded that it was still the puppies. And, again, things are easy here: Each deck of the ship has its own self-service laundromat, where they could clean the jacket up quickly.

The kids' activities allowed for breaks and a generous amount of space for the family of four otherwise squished into a single stateroom – their mom admitted to hitting her head a few times on the kids’ bunk beds, which pulled down from the ceiling.

Alaska cruise excursions

In addition to on-board activities, I also went on a number of excursions, some better than others. I really enjoyed my float through the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, which I did from Skagway. The wildlife safari with a beach barbecue in Ketchikan was amazing because — though this wasn't in the description — the barbecue was hosted by residents of the small island, who casually chatted with me about their lives.

Benefits and drawbacks of an Alaskan cruise for families

It’s helpful that the kids clubs are completely free to all families on board, because the biggest downside of the cruise, for me, was the constant attempts to separate guests from their money. Cruising makes everything easy, as long as thinking about how much you’re paying for everything doesn’t make you too uncomfortable.

We would go to a show, and it would turn out to be a pitch for an excursion at a later port. The best food on board, Gigi’s Pizzeria, has a small upcharge, the “fancy” ice creams a slightly larger one. Even with the “Princess Premier” package, which included both of those, along with all the internet we could want, crew gratuities, endless drinks, and a slew of other benefits, it felt like a constant battle to avoid accidentally agreeing to an additional expense.

Which is too bad, because the aside from the ease of traveling straight from home, best parts of the trip cost absolutely nothing extra: sharing the excitement of a whale’s splash with everyone on the top deck, admiring the adorable otters floating by on their backs from a window seat in the dining room, and marveling at the majestic glaciers glinting in the northern sun while cozied into a blanket on my balcony.

Editor’s note: This trip was hosted by Princess Cruises, but all opinions expressed here belong to the writer.