The views started almost immediately after leaving Vancouver. We were barely out of port when the scenery outside shifted into something that didn’t look quite real — mountains dropping straight into dark water, forest so dense and green it almost glows, the scale of everything quietly enormous. I stood on the deck watching it and thought: okay. This Alaska cruise with kids is going to be something.
We had done one cruise before with the kids so we knew the general rhythm. But Alaska changes the equation. Sailing through those waters with two kids pressed against the railing looking out at a world that looks nothing like the one they grew up in — that’s its own kind of education. And the Serenade of the Seas made every moment of it feel taken care of.
This is our honest guide to everything — the ship, the food as a vegan family, the kids club, the ports, the practical things nobody tells you, and why we’d sail this itinerary again without hesitation.
The Ship
The Serenade of the Seas is a mid size Royal Caribbean ship that felt perfectly suited to Alaska. Not so large it overwhelmed, not so small it lacked anything. Here’s what’s on board:
- Multiple pools including an outdoor pool with two hot tubs and a Solarium pool with hot tub
- Kids splash pad with water slide
- Ocean Adventure Kids Club
- Full gym with wet and dry saunas
- Spa with treatments for additional cost
- Main dining room, Windjammer buffet, and specialty restaurants
- Theater with nightly shows and entertainment
- Cinema
- Arcade
- Rock climbing wall
- Basketball court with soccer nets
- Putt putt course
- Casino
- Multiple bars and lounges
- Shopping
Something is scheduled from early morning and well past our 10pm bedtime. World Cup watch parties ran throughout our sailing. There is genuinely never a dull moment — but the ship also never felt chaotic or overwhelming. It found a balance we didn’t expect.
Ocean Adventure Kids Club
Ocean Adventure was one of the best things about this cruise for our family. Easton asked to go back every single day. Every single day. Multiple times a day.
Registration happens once you board — head up to the kids club area and sign them up.
The club divides by age:
- Babies and Tots room for the youngest
- Aquanauts: ages 3-5
- Explorers: ages 6-8
- Voyagers: ages 9-11
- Fuel: ages 12 and up
Hours generally run 9am-12pm, 2-5pm, and 7-10pm though these vary by day. After 10pm there is an additional fee. The activities are genuinely engaging — our kids came home with crafts, new games, new friends, and stories about their counselors. It also gave Matt and I something equally valuable: time. A workout. A quiet coffee. A conversation that didn’t get interrupted every four minutes. On a family trip that is its own kind of luxury.
Dining as a Vegan Family
This deserves its own section because it was the biggest surprise of the entire cruise and exceeded every expectation we had.
The Main Dining Room
There is a vegan option on the menu every night in the main dining room. That was already more than we expected. But on the very first night something happened that set the tone for the whole week — the executive chef, our assistant waiter, head waiter, dining room lead, and restaurant manager all came to our table. They introduced themselves, asked about our dietary needs, asked what the kids liked, and told us they would plan ahead for us each night.
For a vegan family that is used to scanning menus for the one option or asking awkward questions of servers who aren’t sure what’s in the kitchen — having an entire team come to you and ask how they can make your experience exceptional felt genuinely remarkable. It was the moment we knew the food was going to be fine. Better than fine.
Every night they prepared custom dishes beyond what was on the menu. The kids got special pasta, vegan pizza, vegan quesadillas, tofu dishes they loved. Matt and I were treated to custom vegan Indian cuisine by the executive chef — originally from India, genuinely excited to cook it — that produced some of the most memorable meals of the entire month of travel. Pea and potato samosa with mint chutney. Rice, roti, papadam. A main course I can’t fully describe because I was too busy eating it to take notes.
They offered vegan ice cream nightly and desserts that surprised us every time — peanut butter crunch, oat crumble bars, lychee tarts, banana coconut tarts. Milo had vegan ice cream for dessert almost every single night. He was consistent if nothing else.
One of the quiet joys of the scheduled dining — which we strongly recommend — is that you have the same wait staff all week. By day two they knew our kids by name. They asked about their days at the ports. They laughed at the same jokes. That continuity, seeing the same friendly faces at the table each night, made dinner feel like something we looked forward to rather than just a meal to get through.
The Windjammer Buffet
The Windjammer is the ship’s casual buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Vegan options were more limited here but never impossible. The staff were knowledgeable — if someone wasn’t sure whether something was vegan they went and got the chef rather than guessing, which we always appreciate.
Breakfast highlights: custom veggie tofu scrambles made on request, custom made vegan pancakes, oatmeal cooked in water with vegan toppings available including brown sugar, flax seeds, peanut butter, granola, and fresh fruit. Plant milk available at the drink station on request. Select rolls that were vegan. The chef who prepared the scrambles came out with genuine enthusiasm every time we asked — that kind of staff attitude makes all the difference.
Izumi Specialty Restaurant
On our last evening we had dinner at Izumi, one of the ship’s specialty Japanese restaurants. We let them know our dietary requirements in advance and they handled it beautifully. You can order a la carte or choose the fixed price at $45 USD per person for one small plate, two large plates, and one dessert.
Highlights: tofu salad with ginger sesame dressing that the kids demolished, avocado rolls layered with thin sliced avocado on top of the rice, vegetable tempura, veggie sushi rolls with avocado and carrot and cucumber and asparagus, tofu udon noodles, and crispy sesame balls for dessert. Easton has decided avocado rolls are now his favorite food. We are not complaining.
Entertainment
The Serenade of the Seas takes entertainment seriously. Michael Holly’s comedy show had the kids laughing out loud. The singers and orchestra put on a full show that reminded us how much live performance beats a screen. The farewell show on the final night was genuinely moving in the way only something ending can be.
The egg drop competition on the last sea day — passengers building contraptions from ship found materials to protect an egg dropped nine stories — was one of the most entertaining things we watched all week and cost nothing.
The Wildlife
Nobody tells you about this part of an Alaska cruise enough. The wildlife is everywhere and it starts immediately. Within hours of leaving Vancouver I spotted a whale breaching off the side of the ship at nearly 10pm — still light outside, the water calm, the moment completely unplanned. Later in the cruise we watched sea otters playing near an island from the Windjammer windows over breakfast. Blow holes in the distance. Eagles. The scale of the natural world up here is unlike anything we’d experienced and it shows up when you least expect it.
LGBTQ on the Cruise
Royal Caribbean had a nightly self guided LGBTQ meet up scheduled at 10pm. With young kids we never made it — 10pm is firmly past our bedtime — but we loved that it existed and was listed in the daily schedule as naturally as anything else. We felt completely comfortable and welcomed as a two dad family throughout the entire sailing.
Practical Tips
- Wine: Each adult can bring one bottle of wine on board and bring it to the main dining room. A nice touch if wine at dinner is your thing. They also sell alcohol drinks at a cost.
- Kids Club: Head up to Ocean Adventure to register once you board. Note the age brackets and the after 10pm fee if late nights are in your plans.
- Dining: Reserve a set dining time in the main dining room — especially with kids. Having a guaranteed table and the same wait staff all week is worth it in every way. Walk up dining is available but waits can be long.
- Solarium pool: Kid hours twice daily in two hour windows. Warmer and calmer than the outdoor pool. Our youngest treated it as his personal domain.
- Sea days: Don’t underestimate them. Between pools, kids club, sports courts, trivia, movies, and shows there is more than enough. Some of our best family moments happened on days when there was no port to rush toward.
The Ports
We will cover Sitka, Juneau, and Ketchikan in their own dedicated posts. Our fourth port was Prince Rupert, British Columbia — a small and quiet town with a cute main area called Cow Bay worth a walk. It was a natural rest day for us: a movie in the ship’s cinema, trivia, the solarium, a scavenger hunt. Sometimes a slower day in the middle of an adventure is exactly what the trip needs.
One thing worth noting across all our ports — we spotted at least one pride flag at every stop. Sometimes a business, sometimes a house, sometimes just a single flag in a window. It sounds small. For a two dad family it isn’t.
→ Sitka Alaska with Kids — Bears, Raptors and Bald Eagles on Alaska’s Most Charming Island
→Juneau Alaska with Kids — Dog Sledding, Alaskan Huskies and Glacier Views
How Much Does an Alaska Cruise with kids Cost?
Cruise pricing is one of those things that’s genuinely hard to pin down because it varies so much depending on when you book, what time of year you sail, how many people are in your cabin, and what type of room you choose. That said here’s a realistic picture to help you plan.
For a 7 night Alaska cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas departing Vancouver, stateroom prices have generally ranged from around $1,400 to $1,800 USD total for the room — not per person. That total gets divided by however many people share the cabin, which is why families of four in one cabin often get a better per person rate than couples. Kids sail at a reduced rate and Royal Caribbean frequently runs promotions where kids sail free or at a significant discount — worth checking when you book.
Cabin type makes a meaningful difference in price:
- Interior cabins are the most affordable and honestly worked perfectly for us. We were barely in the room — the ship and the ports were where we spent our time. We slept well, the kids slept well, and not having a window meant no 4am Alaska sunrise waking anyone up prematurely.
- Ocean view cabins add a window and a meaningful price jump.
- Balcony cabins are the most popular for Alaska specifically because the scenery is so extraordinary — waking up to glacier views from your own balcony is a genuine experience. Budget accordingly if that matters to you.
Beyond the base cabin price, budget for:
- Gratuities: $18 USD per person per day — $504 USD for a family of four on a seven night sailing
- Excursions: these vary widely. Ours ranged from $100 per person to $200 per per, per excursion
- Specialty dining: Izumi ran $45 USD per person fixed price
- Internet: $31 USD per day if you need it
- Any spa treatments, arcade, or additional purchases on board
The best approach is to check Royal Caribbean’s website directly for current pricing on your specific sailing date as prices shift regularly and early booking often gets the best rates. → Check current pricing at royalcaribbean.com
Would We Cruise Again?
Yes. We went in experienced but uncertain about Alaska specifically and came out completely certain. The combination of waking up somewhere new every day, having everything taken care of, watching our kids thrive in the kids club, eating food that genuinely surprised us, and sailing through some of the most breathtaking scenery on earth — it works. It really works.
Alaska by cruise is a genuinely special way to see a part of the world that is hard to reach any other way.
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