Why We Chose Alaska For Our Three Generation Cruise

The answer to why we chose Alaska for our three generation cruise is actually a pretty simple answer.  All of us wanted to go to Alaska and of the 7 of us only two had been before.  But that only scratches the surface of why we thought an Alaska cruise was the right answer for our group of travelers.  We all love to travel and enjoy nature.  Four of us are frequent cruisers while three had not yet sailed but were interested in trying it out.  Perhaps most appealing was the opportunity to stay in one of the largest suites at sea.  The suite meant that even if we chose to do different excursions or eat at different times and/or in different venues we would have lots of time and space to be together in our suite.

Who was sailing with us?

My wife’s twin sister, her husband, and 7th grade son took one cabin.  Her mother and step-father took the other.  And we took the third cabin.  Yes!  There are three cabins in side the suite each with its own bathroom and balcony area.  My wife’s parents had been to Alaska before, but many years prior and were excited to return and hopeful that the weather would be a bit better than the rains they experienced on their last cruise.  My sister-in-law’s family were excited to do adventurous excursions and our nephew was curious to check out the teen club on board.

The bigger question of who was sailing with us was a lot of groups just like us.  There were lots of multi-generational families on board.  There were also friend and multiple family groupings travelling together.  In other words tables for 6-10 were extremely popular.  The broad appeal of this cruise was shown in the broad ages and nationalities of our fellow guests with quite a few travelers from Asia and Europe joining a lot of Americans and Canadians on board.

Was Alaska the right destination?

Before I address Alaska as a cruise destination it might be helpful to provide a bit of background on our cruising background.  We generally have sailed on small upscale ships in Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean.  Beyond these cruises our one foray into expedition cruising was in the Galapagos Islands.  We typically enjoy a mixture of nature and culture on our cruises.  For this reason our Caribbean cruises often leave us hankering for a bit more on the cultural side and our European cruises have left us looking for a bit more time out of cities and in more wilderness areas.  We suspected that Alaska would be a bit light on culture but extremely rich in nature and we certainly were not disappointed by the vastness of the wilderness and the wildlife we were able to see.

Each of the three households were looking for different experiences and we were all satisfied with the choices available and the experiences we were able to have.  For some the highlight was a helicopter ride up to a glacier, while for me it was the Deadliest Catch Alaska Adventure that came so highly recommended by René, and for others it was a scenic train ride into the rugged wilderness.  So yes, we felt like Alaska offered us each something a bit different but perfect for our tastes.

Final Approach

There’s a reason why Alaska is on most bucket lists.  It’s the same reason why we have never spoken with someone who did not enjoy their cruise in Alaska (even if they might have had a few complaints about the ship they chose to sail).  For us we thought Alaska might be a one-and-done trip, but we find ourselves talking about “the next time we sail in Alaska…” so while there are still vast parts of the world that we haven’t cruised yet – Asia, Australia, South America… we’re still thinking about going back to Alaska.

We would love to take a similar trip with my side of the family because we really felt like the reasons why we chose Alaska for our three generation cruise really proved to be 110% correct.  But we also wouldn’t hesitate to take a couple’s trip as well.