An Alaska Cruise with Teenagers

Teenagers are the age group Alaska serves best and the one most likely to be bored by the wrong booking. The difference is whether the excursions involve doing something and whether there are other teenagers on board.

Alaska is one of the better cruise destinations for teenagers, and one of the easiest to get wrong. The two variables that decide it are whether there are other teenagers on board and whether the excursions involve doing something.

The peer problem

A teen club with four members is worse than no teen club, because a fourteen year old will notice immediately.

Timing matters as much as the line. July and August carry meaningfully more families than May or September. A Royal Caribbean sailing in late September may carry fewer teenagers than a Princess sailing in July.

Excursions that work

The principle is activity over observation.

What does not work

• Long scenic coach tours
• Town walking tours
• Salmon bakes as a standalone
• Anything described as a scenic drive
• Museums, unless the teenager is already interested

Independence in port

Alaska cruise ports are small, safe and walkable, which makes them unusually good places to give teenagers some autonomy.

Ketchikan and Skagway both have compact centres a few minutes from the berth. A pair of teenagers exploring Creek Street or Broadway for two hours with an agreed meeting point is entirely reasonable and considerably more interesting to them than following parents.

Practical rules worth setting: agreed meeting time and place, phones charged, the all aboard time known, and a photo of the ship and berth number.

Cabins

Connecting cabins are the usual solution and they work well, giving teenagers their own space with a door between rather than a corridor. They sell out first, often a year ahead.

Check the line's policy before booking two separate cabins. Most require an adult in any cabin occupied by under 18s, or apply minimum age rules.

Keeping them engaged

Give them the camera. Alaska rewards photography and a teenager with a specific job on deck is a teenager paying attention. See photography tips.

Give them binoculars. One pair each, not shared.

Let them choose one excursion. Ownership changes attitude more than any amount of persuasion.

Use the ship's app. Most lines now have onboard messaging, which lets teenagers roam while staying contactable without cellular.

Do not over programme. A day with nothing booked is not a wasted day at sixteen.

The wildlife factor

Teenagers who are indifferent to scenery are frequently not indifferent to a humpback whale surfacing forty metres from a small boat. Alaska wildlife is genuinely dramatic in a way that landscapes are not, and it is the reliable route to engagement.

Book the whale trip at Icy Strait Point if your itinerary includes it, because the boats leave from the site and the odds are the best in Alaska. See the whale watching guide.

Cost

Teenagers are usually charged as third and fourth guests, at 40 to 70 percent of the adult fare depending on the line, and they eat and drink like adults. Budget full excursion prices, since child discounts rarely extend past twelve. See family cruise costs.