Cruising To The Heart of Alaska With Your Kids

Alaska is a place where we can be inspired and humbled by nature. Alaska will capture your imagination with its misty fjords, captivating wildlife, and rugged coastlines.

There are many ways for families of all abilities to enjoy the untamed natural beauty of Alaska. Still, cruising is the best mix of nature and creature comforts for this journey.

In this post, we will cover everything you need to know if you want to plan a cruise to Alaska with your family, and while many cruise lines sail to Alaska, to give you the most comprehensive guide possible, we will focus on Royal Caribbean.

When is the best time to cruise to Alaska with your kids?

Royal Caribbean offers Alaska sailings from May to September. Cruising earlier in the season can result in poor weather conditions requiring missing call ports. If you’re cruising later in the season, warmer weather can significantly erode the glaciers and snow-capped mountains that Alaska is famous for.

We recommend planning a cruise in early July to get the most out of your Alaskan cruise destinations while minimizing travel stress due to changing school start and end dates.

What are the best Royal Caribbean ships to book travel on when cruising to Alaska with kids?

Because of the weather, planning a cruise to Alaska differs significantly from cruising to most other destinations. It can be warm and sunny, or it can be cold, rainy, and windy.

It’s a safe bet that your family will be spending more time inside on this cruise than most other cruise itineraries. Because of that, it’s essential to pick the correct ship, the right room, and the right type of amenities to keep your whole family entertained.

Things to Do on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships vs. Quantum-class ships vs. Radiance-class ships

Royal Caribbean is sailing four ships for the 2023 season, Ovation of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, Brilliance of the Seas, and Radiance of the Seas. Radiance and Brilliance fall into the cruise line’s Radiance class category, while Ovation of the Seas is from the line’s Quantum class, and Oasis of the Seas is from the line’s Oasis class of ships.

All four ships share some common activities and amenities to please families with children.

• Rockclimbing walls
• A sports court where you can play table tennis, real tennis, and basketball
• Adventure Ocean – Royal Caribbean’s on-ship childcare offering
• A teen’s club where older kids can hang out, play games, and make new friends
• Arcades with classics such as pac-man and air hockey
• Kid-friendly productions and shows
• Pools with splash zones for the little ones

Suppose you’re lucky enough to get good weather throughout your journey. In that case, the smaller Radiance Class ships might best fit your family and your budget, but be warned – It’s not unheard of for the pools and outdoor activities to be closed on these sailings during lousy weather.

While Ovation and Oasis are technically two different classes of ship, they both offer significantly more onboard activities, but there are a few things that are special to both ships that I want to call out.

Kid-friendly Activities on Ovation of the Seas –

• Indoor Sea Plex – unlike the other ships, Ovation’s sporting facilities are indoors. So no matter the weather, the kids can always have some time to run around, shoot some hoops, and get that energy out on sea days.
• Bumper Cars – the indoor sports plex is also where you’ll find the only bumper cars at sea.
• Scrapbooking classes

Kid-friendly Activities on Oasis of the Seas –

• Scrapbooking and jewelry-making classes – for a nominal fee, you and the little ones can attend a scrapbooking or jewelry-making class and bring a fun souvenir home with you.
• Ice skating – when the entertainment crew isn’t practicing their routines for on-ice performances, Royal Caribbean opens studio B up to guests for ice skating.
• Puppet shows – gather the kiddos and grab a seat while Royal Caribbean’s master puppeteers put on a glow-in-the-dark show about space.
• Parades on the promenade – parades on the promenade were one of our favorite activities during our last cruise and are a hit with people of all ages. See the crew dance, sing, play swordfight, and take over the ship.
• The Ultimate Abyss – the tallest slide at sea is a dry slide that drops riders from deck 17 down to the boardwalk.
• The boardwalk carousel – Who will be the first to ride the carousel? This traditional carousel operates from 11 am onwards daily, and you can ride as many times as you like.
• Laser tag – team up as a family for some laser tag, or split up for a winner takes all family battle royal.
• Royal Escape Room – Does your family like solving riddles? Then the Royal Escape Room will be a must-do if you’re sailing on an Oasis Class ship.

If you are cruising to Alaska with kids on the younger side, I recommend booking on Oasis of the Seas. It is a little pricier than the others, but it offers far more assurance that the kids will have something to entertain them when it’s too cold to be outside.

Selecting a stateroom when cruising to Alaska with kids

Another consideration you’ll want to make when planning your cruise to Alaska is your stateroom category. If you’ve never been on a cruise before, or if you’ve never cruised with children – the standard rooms are tiny.

I sailed with my two children (7, 11) recently on another Oasis Class ship, Symphony of the Seas, and we had a hard time not tripping each other in a one-bedroom grand suite. If you’ll spend a lot of time inside your cabin with your family, splurge for one of the bigger rooms.

The good news, if you’re planning on sailing in the Radiance Class, is that the larger rooms there are much cheaper than on the Oasis and Quantum ships, though they lack the additional perks of Royal’s new Suite Program.

Family rooms we recommend if you’re cruising to Alaska with kids on Radiance or Brilliance of the Seas

• The Royal Suite – What I love most about the Royal Suite is the room’s ample seating “zones.” One person can be lounging on the sizeable l-shaped pull-out sofa watching a movie while the rest of the family plays a board game or a puzzle at the four-seat table.
  
  While the suite only has one bedroom and bathroom, with 1000 square feet of interior space available, no one will feel cramped staying in this room.
• 2 Bedroom Owner’s Suite – My runner-up room on a Radiance Class ship for families cruising to Alaska with kids is the 2 Bedroom Family Grand Suite. This two-bedroom, two-bathroom suite comes in at just over 500 square feet and claims to sleep 8, but for an Alaska itinerary, I would say the cap is 5.
  
  The smaller bedroom has two single beds and 2 Pullman pull-downs above those beds, but there isn’t much storage space for clothing and luggage, so I’d recommend no more than 2 in that bedroom.
  
  The primary bedroom is a good size, and the living area still has some separation between the seating areas but not nearly as much as the Grand Suites do.
• 2 Bedroom Family Oceanview Cabin – Moving further down on my list is the 2 Bedroom Family Oceanview. If you’re traveling with younger children, this will be a solid choice for your family. If your children are teens, you might find it a little too cramped or lacking privacy.
  

If you’re cruising to Alaska with kids, the weather can sometimes be variable. While I might otherwise recommend an interior room or a smaller junior suite for other itineraries, in this case, I wouldn’t go to a class below the ones above.

Family rooms we recommend if you’re cruising to Alaska with kids on Oasis or Ovation of the Seas

• The Ultimate Family Loft Suite – If you have the budget and want to create a genuinely once-in-a-lifetime cruise experience for your children, you can’t beat the Ultimate Family Loft Suite.
  
  Not only does the room come with the highest level of suite perks, including free gratuities, free internet for all devices, free specialty restaurant dining, and a butler (Royal Genie), but there’s a floor-to-ceiling Lego wall and an in-room slide from the second floor the first floor. Sigh, a girl can dream.
• Royal Loft Suite – While still quite expensive, an Owner’s Loft Suite or a Sky Loft Suite would be an excellent choice for families of 3 or 4, where an infant sleeps in a pack-and-play.
  
  In both cases, there’s a significant separation between sleeping spaces and “working” spaces, perfect for families with mixed-age children. There are two bathrooms in both suites, one upstairs and one downstairs, and the views from the floor-to-ceiling windows in these rooms allow your family to take all of those postcard-ready photos without braving the elements.
• The Owner’s Suite – Similar to the Radiance Class ships, the Owner’s Suites on Ovation and Oasis are single bedrooms averaging around 500 square feet. There are two bathrooms and tabletop seating for four, perfect for those nights when you want to have dinner in your room, but it will feel a little more cramped than one of the lofts.
• 2 Bedroom Family Grand Suite – This is genuinely the suite life of Oasis-class ships, and after having the opportunity to tour and book one of these rooms, I can say my whole crew is already counting down the days to our departure.
  
  The most significant selling point of these rooms is that they have two dedicated bedrooms with fully closing doors for complete privacy and noise reduction, a four-top table with ample room for indoor and outdoor dining options, two bathrooms, and plenty of space to stretch out.
  
  These rooms are competitive, and I heard that there are only a handful of them on Oasis Class ships, so if this is the right room for your family, I recommend booking well in advance of your sail date and directly through Royal Caribbean’s Next Cruise program or a licensed travel agent.
• 1 Bedroom Grand Suite – while this room states that it can hold up to 4 passengers, it’s three and tight with 3. If you’re traveling as a couple with one younger child, this can be a great fit, and the suite does come with a great set of perks, like free internet.
  
  I am widowed, and I travel alone with my children. On our last cruise, I had our attendant split the beds in the bedroom – one for me and one for my youngest. My oldest, who was 5ft tall at our sailing, slept on the pull out couch in the living room and barely fit. If I had a partner, this room wouldn’t have been big enough for us.
  
  While we did make the storage work, there was no place for the kids to kick off their shoes without them being in someone’s way, and it was a constant battle to get them to clean up and put things away enough to walk around.
  
  The single bathroom was also a problem, and if you know, you know. I wouldn’t book this cabin again for any itinerary where we’d be in our rooms at any length, and I don’t think it’s a good option for families where a pack-and-play is needed.
• Family Connected 3 Bedroom Junior Suite – While I have never personally sailed in this room category, this could be the best option if you have a larger family or older mixed-sex kids that demand their own space.
  
  These rooms have three full bedrooms, three full bathrooms, ample storage space, and plenty of storage space for everyone. What I don’t love about them for cruising to Alaska with kids is the lack of shared space, particularly a dining area.
  
  Again, if your kids are older and you always want to have your meals outside of your stateroom, this may not be a problem. Still, my children often wake up hours before the Windjammer is open, and we struggled on our last cruise to comfortably dine together in our suite.
• The Ultimate Panoramic Suite – what these suites lack in terms of connected living spaces, they make up for in space and unbeatable views from the master bedroom and bath.
  
  Like the Royal Suites in the Radiance Class, the Ultimate Panoramic Suites offer a huge l-shaped convertible bed in the primary living area. One will fit comfortably in this area if you have taller or older children. There’s ample space for a pack-and-play in the primary bedroom without too much clutter.
  
  I think these rooms again lack in-room dining spaces or table spaces. Everyone can sleep comfortably in this room, but it’s not a room you can “live in.”

A closer look at suite perks

In addition to more space, our room recommendations all come with specific perks for suite guests. These perks vary by ship class, but all suite guests get the following benefits.

• Priority check-in – Suite guests can board the ship earlier than others on embarkation day.
• Concierge services – Your concierge will connect with you roughly one week before sailing, and they can help you book specialty restaurants, VIP seats, and reservations to shows, and they can also help you book some shore excursions.
• Complimentary pressing service on a formal night – if you plan to participate in a formal night during your cruise, take advantage of the free pressing service, which is usually offered on the first or second day of sailing. Laundry service is expensive on the ship, which makes this a nice benefit.
• In-Room Dining from the Main Dining Room menu. This is that whole “one trick Royal Caribbean doesn’t want you to know about” perk, and you won’t find it advertised on the ship.
  
  All rooms can order room service to their cabin, but the default room service menu is relatively plain and somewhat overpriced. If you are on a sailing and ask about room service, you’ll likely be directed to the television’s default room service ordering flow, but that’s not what we want here.
  
  Instead, you want to order from the Main Dining Room, where you can have the traditional 3-course meal delivered to your stateroom. You’ll find the menu for each night’s dinner in the Royal Caribbean app you’ll use during your cruise.
  
  Once you know what you and your kids want for the night, you can call the room service number, and 30-45 minutes later, you’ll have a full spread delivered to your door.

Sky Class and Star Class Suite Perks

If you choose to sail on either Ovation or Oasis of the Seas, you’ll have additional perks to the ones I mentioned above based on your room category. You can find a full list of these perks on Royal Caribbean’s website, but I do want to call out a few that my family has gotten the most use from on our cruises.

Sky Class –

• Priority boarding, departure, and a dedicated check-in line at the cruise terminal – If you’re traveling with little ones, this perk isn’t to be missed because hell hath no fury like a toddler waiting in a long line. While others on our last cruise waited upwards of an hour to get through check-in and security, my crew and I were on the ship in 30 minutes.
• Free Voom internet. On our last cruise, Voom was roughly $15 a day per device, and if your kids are as connected to their devices as mine are, that cost adds up quickly on a seven-day cruise.

Star Class –

Star Class is Royal Caribbean’s highest suite tier and has some incredible perks.

• Complimentary gratuities – Royal Caribbean charges a gratuity fee per person daily for their sailings, like most cruise lines. At this writing, suite guests are charged 18.50 a day per person. Star Class guests don’t pay this fee.
• Complimentary beverage packages – Each guest in your room will receive a complimentary beverage package of the highest tier. That includes the unlimited drinks package for adults, so enjoy that extra glass of wine with dinner.
• Complimentary specialty dining – Enjoy any restaurant experience you want free of charge (the exception is Chef’s Table). Don’t get me wrong; I love the Main Dining Room’s food. It’s good, but the specialty restaurants are just a notch above. Take the kids to Izumi for a hibachi show, visit Wonderland for a culinary adventure, or indulge in some rustic Italian at Jamie’s.
• The Royal Genie – Have you ever dreamed of having a butler? Me neither, but Star Class guests get access to one. This concierge on steroids ensures you and your family have the time of your lives onboard. They can help you with any onboard need and have even been known to surprise guests with things they didn’t think they wanted. Go ahead, live it up.

Now that we’ve covered the range of ship amenities, stateroom categories, and perks currently available for sailings to Alaska with Royal Caribbean, it’s time to get packing!

What to pack when cruising to Alaska with kids

Packing for a cruise to Alaska is a little bit of art and a little bit of science. With such variable weather conditions, bringing enough layers is the key to a comfortable experience. While not a comprehensive list, this is a good starting point for your trip.

• Moisture-wicking base layers, our family loves Under Armor
• T-shirts, both short sleeve and long sleeve
• Jeans – be sure to pack some jeans or some hiking pants that you aren’t afraid to get dirty
• Waterproof hiking boots, rain jacket, puffer jacket or vest, and windbreaker
• Hats and gloves
• Extra socks. So many socks. I would add an extra pair of socks for every shore excursion day you have, just in case. No one likes wet feet.
• Sunblock and bug spray – yes, you can get sunburned in Alaska in the summer
• Travel emergency kit – be prepared to address illnesses, bumps, and bruises. While the ship does have a medical facility, it does cost money, and the gift shops have a limited selection of children’s medications.
• Formal wear (suit and tie for men, cocktail dresses for women) if you plan to attend dinner in the Main Dining Area on a formal night.

Some other items I recommend packing if you’re cruising to Alaska with kids are

• Board games and puzzles – just like summer camp, when the weather is terrible, the kids will demand you entertain them. Having one or two low-key board games or card games on hand will give everyone something to participate in together.
• A book or two for reading. One of the things about being at sea is that there are times when the ship doesn’t get great satellite reception, and with a limited movie selection on board (often for a fee), making sure everything has something to read can be a lifesaver.
• A Polaroid camera, a photo book, and some glue. One of my children’s favorite activities after a day of exploring is to look at the pictures we took. While most of them are on my phone or one of their digital cameras, I’ve also started carrying one of the tiny new Polaroid cameras with us.
  
  The boys love to have me take pictures and see them printed out in real-time, and then they stick them into the little photo books that I get them for each trip, often asking me to write out some interesting detail about the picture they had me take earlier that day.
  
  It’s a fun way for them to capture more detailed memories that matter to them on our trips and gives us a few extra precious minutes of bonding time before they realize they’re hanging out with Mom.

Picking out shore excursions when cruising to Alaska with kids

There are many different excursion types, lengths, physical fitness levels, and personal ability-specific excursions on every Royal Caribbean sailing. I find what one family loves, another will find disappointing, and I won’t make recommendations on specific excursions here. When you book a cruise, look at the available tours and see what works for your family.

I will offer up this: unless your family is highly active and has older kids (12+), don’t book a shore excursion every day. It will be too much, and everyone will be exhausted every day. Why?

Shore excursions usually begin in the morning, and some even require that you be ready to depart the ship by 7 AM before the Windjammer or Main Dining Room are open, so you’ll need to order room service in advance on those mornings, which can mean waking your crew up at 5 AM or earlier.

Most excursions come in 4, 6, 8, and 10-hour blocks. Still, those times don’t account for the time you’ll spend getting your excursion ticket and waiting for your excursion number to be called, nor do they account for the time you’ll spend getting back on the ship, where you’ll need to wait in line at the cruise terminal to go back through security.

On our last cruise, We had several excursions listed as 4 hours but took 7 when all was said and done. Our longest excursion, a 10-hour tour of Rome, ultimately ended up being 13 hours, with only one small break for lunch in the day’s schedule, and we missed our dining slot in the Main Dining Room that evening as well.

While cramming as much as possible into your cruise vacation is tempting if you’re traveling with kids, especially younger kids, it’s wise to bake in some downtime. If you’re taking a 7-day sailing, I recommend booking no more than three shore excursions so everyone has a few less chaotic days to recover and relax.

How to have a perfect family vacation when cruising to Alaska with kids

Remember when we talked about staterooms, and I kept going on-and-on about in-room dining and four-seater tables? I’ll tell you why that is now.

The best family vacation that you can have is the one that balances your adult desires to indulge in vacation luxuries with your children’s need for routine and structure.

Younger children need structure, routine, and rest to feel safe and happy. Traveling, especially if you’re flying somewhere, disrupts everything for them, leading to emotional dysregulation, lack of sleep, and eventual meltdowns when they become overstimulated.

At the same time, we, as adults, often want to participate as much as humanly possible while we’re on vacation, dining out every night, staying up late, doing shore excursions every day, and wringing the most out of that precious time off and money spent. And what do we end up with?

Tired, cranky kids who frustrate us and who are also frustrated with us for failing to attend to their needs. It doesn’t have to be this way if you’re cruising to Alaska with kids or cruising anywhere with your kids, for that matter.

You can recreate 90% of your child’s typical daily structure and routine by simply having dinner in your stateroom, and you can recreate 99% of it by having breakfast there as well.

When we’re at home, our children wake up. They have breakfast, brush their teeth, get dressed, wash their faces, make their beds, and get ready for the day. Depending on their age, they may go to school or daycare, or you may take them to the park.

Their morning routine doesn’t involve rushing out of the house to do those things with several hundred strangers, but that’s precisely what we try and make them do when we take them on vacation, and it’s alien and stressful for them.

Their routines are often the same at night. After a day of learning or exploring, they come home; we make them dinner, do our nightly rituals, get them ready for bed, and eventually send them off for a good night’s sleep, and that doesn’t usually involve restaurants and 90-minute fine dining establishments.

Instead of trekking everyone to the Main Dining Room or the Windjammer each night, pick one or two nights that your family will go for the full sit-down experience or the whole buffet experience, and have the rest of your meals in your stateroom.

If you’ve got a cranky, nibbler toddler, they can eat in their pajamas until they’re ready to sleep. If your slightly older kids have been overstimulated, the dinner table can be a place to unwind with their parents and talk about the day quietly.

You can easily transition from dinner to board games, a book, or something more familiar to their evening routine without waiting for dinner service to finish, going back through the ship, and you, as the parent, still get to enjoy the luxury of the food without the stress of trying to calm your child who is having a meltdown mid-dinner service.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and that it gives you some jumping-off points to consider. Cruising to Alaska with kids is a once-in-a-lifetime experience – where else will you see grizzly bears, orcas, seals, salmon, glaciers, and so much more?