Small Alaska Cruises?

[CaLuCa]

We had planned on a DCL Med last summer, and I am very little hope it will work this summer. If international travel is not back but domestic travel is, we are looking at spending several weeks in Alaska. Are there smaller cruise lines that offer a more excursion-y type trip? Nature heavy, even more rustic than DCL? I'm not even sure I would call them cruise lines, but more like adventure companies? I am really unfamiliar with Alaska, but we very much enjoyed camping in Utah this summer and touring Yellowstone this fall.

Also, if you have highlights of things I should research, that would be great. I have a beautiful itinerary of Barcelona, Naples, Rome and Paris with elementary age kids that I have shelved till things are better.

 

[princessmommyx3]

Alaska Dream Cruises. Here is a good review, with a link to a day-by-day report:

https://kidtripster.com/stories/inside-passage-alaskan-dream-cruises-alaska/

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Are there smaller cruise lines that offer a more excursion-y type trip? Nature heavy, even more rustic than DCL? I'm not even sure I would call them cruise lines, but more like adventure companies?

Lindblad
Viking
Tauck
Discover Voyages
Travel Alaska
Adventure Life
Alaska Cruises & Vacations

to name a few.

 

[AquaDame]

My coworker went with this company and RAVED about it. They then went back with them for a Galapagos trip also.

https://www.uncruise.com/destinations/alaska-cruises
We do not have children, so I'll let other people answer that part!

 

[Cheburashka]

I am really unfamiliar with Alaska, but we very much enjoyed camping in Utah this summer and touring Yellowstone this fall.

Just as an fyi since you're unfamiliar, be aware that Alaska mosquitoes can be severe from mid-June through July.

 

[CaLuCa]

Just as an fyi since you're unfamiliar, be aware that Alaska mosquitoes can be severe from mid-June through July.

We have been told that. This is probably the one thing I do know about Alaska! Guess we'll bathe in bug spray.

Thanks for the companies. I'll research these and add it to my pile of researched trips that keep getting canceled.

 

[ngl]

We had planned on a DCL Med last summer, and I am very little hope it will work this summer. If international travel is not back but domestic travel is, we are looking at spending several weeks in Alaska. Are there smaller cruise lines that offer a more excursion-y type trip? Nature heavy, even more rustic than DCL? I'm not even sure I would call them cruise lines, but more like adventure companies? I am really unfamiliar with Alaska, but we very much enjoyed camping in Utah this summer and touring Yellowstone this fall.

Also, if you have highlights of things I should research, that would be great. I have a beautiful itinerary of Barcelona, Naples, Rome and Paris with elementary age kids that I have shelved till things are better.

We did the Tauck Bridges Alaska trip in July 2018. My kids were 10 & 8 then and we all loved it. We are DVC and when we do Disney cruises we do concierge and would say Tauck is the same type of service & experience. I feel like many US Adventures by Disney or Tauck trips you could replicate on your own and save some money but the issue with Alaska is that there are lot of travel options to arrange on your own. Not that it can't be done but more work of course (for instance, I took the ABD Wyoming Winter tour and booked all the same tours, hotels, etc on our own and saved a bunch!). With as expansive as Alaska is you travel by bus, train, flightseeing over Denali, etc. For that it was all worth it. Met some great people on the trip too. Of course, all pre-COVID times. Not sure how things are going to be arranged now. I feel many of the places you stay at are "rustic" and very neat! We thoroughly enjoyed it. As a fyi, we were in Alaska when they hit record highs daily. In the 80s. Did not experience any mosquitoes (and see you are a Floridian as well - our summer mosquitoes here were much worse than Alaska but again, we were there during a heat wave so not sure if that made a difference?) We were supposed to take our kids on their first trip to Europe last summer with a Tauck Bridges Italy tour and a few days in Disneyland Paris so completely understand your disappointment. Not confident Europe would be a go for summer 2021 so planned an Western National Parks trip (Zion, Grand Canyon, etc) but SO hoping 2022 puts us all in a better place for many, many, many reasons besides just travel, of course!