Icy Straights vs Skagway with young kids?

[sazzle12]

We are going on a Disney Alaska Cruise July 20, 2020 with our then 3.5 year old daughter and 22 month year old son. Our first Disney Cruise! We live in Vancouver and chose to do the Alaska Cruise not so much to see Alaska (although I know it’s going to be beautiful), but bc we don’t have to fly anywhere and the cruise provides child care so we can get a bit of a break! Plus my daughter is a Princess fanatic so she’s going to love it.

We chose the July 20th sailing bc of the Canadian Residents Offer, but didn’t realize this itinerary is the only one that goes to Icy Straights instead of Skagway. We can get the Canadian Residents Offer if we do the July 6th or July 13th departure instead (all 3 cruises are the same price for an interior room on deck 2) and go to Skagway instead. Thoughts?
Not sure it would make much diff to us. With our kids being so young I don’t know if they could handle a 3h train ride in Skagway or the 4-6h round trip drive to Emerald Lake anyway. I read all the excursions in Icy straights are geared towards the older crowd. Maybe Icy Straight Cruise will be slightly less busy since my understanding is this is a less desirable port? Was thinking maybe Icy Straights day could be a good day to stay on the boat with the kids to meet characters and do other activities?
Any considerations with weather/mosquitos late July vs early July departure? I read August is the rainiest month so worried July 20th is getting close to the rainier weather. Any thoughts or advice much appreciated!

 

[Ladybugx87]

I can only speak to Skagway but we did the train trip with our 9 month old and 5 year old and it was really enjoyable. Our little one napped on me for part of it, but that was OK.

We also were a little earlier in the season but didnt have any problems with mosquitoes.

Lastly - they usually don't have many characters out during time in port -you might catch some in the morning or towards all aboard time so you can catch some if you stay on the ship but not a ton. You can also catch some family activities and usually good open house time in the Kids Clubs so your little one could go too.

 

[owensamo]

I didn't sail Disney, but I did sail a cruise that went to both Skagway and Icy Straight Point. We had a teenager at the time, and we enjoyed both ports. There are plenty of excursions offered for all ages at both ports, so you can likely find something to do if you're wanting to get off the ship, and in both locations you can simply get off and wander and see some of the area for a little while quite easily.

ISP is pretty self-contained - it's got some walking trails, some shops and restaurants, and the start-off point for excursions as well as the end of a zip line. It's easily walkable and you could probably spend a couple of hours just wandering the trails and shops. If you do intend to venture further, the main town nearby is Hoonah. When we cruised, we took a tour of Hoonah that talked about the local culture and history, and then ended with a presentation of local dance at ISP. There were some younger kids on our tour. A plus to Icy Strait Point is only one ship per day can dock there, so it won't be as crowded. The dock is also close to nature, so there's a lot of opportunity to watch the wildlife from the ship.

At Skagway, we did a canoe trip to Davidson Glacier which did have a number of younger kids on it. Once we got back, we wandered into town. Skagway does support multiple ships per day, and it's rare that there's a single ship in port, so there will be crowds. The port area isn't terribly scenic, but it's not a very long walk into town. Skagway itself is bigger than Hoonah, so there's more to do in town and it's kind of got a wild west, gold rush theme to the town.

 

[Dug720]

I don’t have kids (and won’t by choice) but I would always pick Skagway over Ivy Straight Pointless as I call it. Hated that boring, obviously manufactured port.

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

We were on the July 22nd sailing and the weather was mostly good. It was rainy on the glacier day but we had great weather most of the rest of the time. We also didn't have issues with mosquitos. We brought bug spray but never used it.
We loved the tour we did in Skagway but if you are used to that kind of scenery I would just go with whichever dates are more convenient for you.

 

[seacruise]

Since it sounds like you are mostly just going for the cruise, I would stick with your current date to get the resident discount rate. The kids aren't really going to care much about the ports at that age, but either is fine for young kids and easily walkable from the ship. I would probably choose ISP anyway as it's something differnet than the typical Alaska ports. There's not a ton to do there if you don't take an excursion, but you can spend an enjoyable hour or two walking around.