Been to Alaska twice, Balcony would be cool because you are cruising close to shore alot in Alaska, Just bring good jackets and thermal underwear If you plan on sitting out on the balcony, You will see lots of Bald Eagles.. The kids would like Royal Carribean, Carnival, Princess, but Hal is an older group of people usually, But it is very nice and the foods incredible. plus you don't have to fight over chairs by the pool.Princess is good, with good food and kids programs, same with Royal C. Celebrity has really nice ships and food. Hope this helps. Have fun

Regardless of line, try to take the nland tour. It really adds a lot to the package. We have taken HAL only to Alaska. It was a small ship without balconies, but it was great. HAL does have a lot of older people on board, but it is not noticeable as all ages are amply represented. As an older person, I would like to keep the myth alive, as we oldsters would like to have a predictably child free voyage as much as the children would like to avoid us.

HAL is no longer just for older adults. It really does a good job of catering to all ages. However, with teens, I think you'd be better off with Princess or Royal Caribbean. Just be aware that cruises to Alaska almost always skew a little older than normal (even Carnival) unless they take place during a school break.

HAL ships have balconies, but they charge much more of a premium than other lines on the older ships that don't have many of them. Most Princess ships have more balcony options, and I personally like to have a balcony, but I don't think it's a must-have. You can always go on deck to see the sights along the coast, and there's no guarantee what you want to see will be happening on your side of the ship at any given time.

We did the Alaskan Inside Passage with Princess in Sept. 2011. To us a balcony is a must have. We were fortunate enough to have great non-typical weather on our cruise and utilized our balcony often. Even keeping it open most of the day and part of the night. It's just much easier to view the sites without have to go running up and down to get to the outside areas.

Our cruise had about a handful of children, but at that time I believe school had already started for the fall term. I think that RC would have more things for children/teens to do on their ships.

Based on your openning reamrks, definitly Pricness over HAL. More things to do and the passenger profile is closer to yours. You will also enjoy the entertianment more.

There are many places where balcony is almost a "must" if you can afford it. Panama Canal is one, Alaska would be the other one. I am not big on balcony but I would defineitly spend the extra money for a balcony on an Alaskan cruise. (depending on the extra, a couple hundred bucks works out to $30 per day per person)

Hint: if you cramp e or 4 into a cabin, the 3rd or 4th person usually pays the same as inside cabin anyway so you are better off to have 2 cabins, one inside and one outside (or balcony) across from each other. Make sure you ask the questions and comapre the cost between inside cabin and your 3rd and 4th person rates.

The ships run kid's program, teen's program. Even if they are on board, you won't notice them much. I wa surprised to hear that tehre were almost 500 "kids" on board on our last Alaskan cruise 2 years ago. We hoenstly didn't see many running around.

By the way, teh balcony are gerat in viewing the glacier up clsoe, the scenic crusing part, the insided passage. You don't have to jockey for position at the open deck.

If you are doing a northbound cruise, be on the right hand side (starboard) of the ship. If you are doing southbound cruise, be on the left hand side (port). If you are doing an inside passage, port side is preferred.

The must see for Alaskan cruise is Glacier Bay National Park if you have never been there.

We did Alaska on HAL a few years ago and there were many children onboard so don't think it matters on Alaskan cruise. They will have activities onboard for the kids. The reason we picked HAL was the price was excellent and the size of the ship was perfect for cruising inside passage, only 1200 passengers and the captain was able to get really close to the glaciers. Doesn't always matter about which side of the ship you are on as the captain turn's the ship around so everyone can view the glaciers. However, some people do feel differently. As far as a balcony, again, we didn't want to spend the extra money for the balcony (it is usually a lot more for Alaskan cruises). We had a cabin where we could just go right out onto the deck and have great visibility for cruising the glaciers. The kids are probably going to want to be out and about on the ship and not confined to a balcony.

We did the same itinerary as you, Anchorage to Vancouver. We booked a private tour thru HAL to "Portage Lake for a spectacular one-hour cruise to Portage Glacier aboard the mv Ptarmigan. On board the mv Ptarmigan, with its enclosed, heated cabin and topside open viewing deck, cruise to within 300 yards of Portage Glacier for fantastic views of the blue-white icebergs that decorate Portage Lake. You may even witness the "calving" of an iceberg from the glacier. An onboard U.S. Forest Service ranger will offer insights into how the area has been shaped by glaciers. After your cruise continue along Turnagain Arm to Anchorage."

Not sure if all cruise lines offer this extra tour but it gets so close to the glaciers you can almost reach out and touch them. We loved it.

There are so many wonderful excursions you can do w/ your kids. Do your homework b4 you go. We also booked a floatplane trip in Ketchikan that was the highlight of our cruise (other than Denali).

Have been to Alaska with Princess and other cruises with HAL and being with teenage kids I would suggest you the first one cause on HAL more elderly people. The entertainment on board of Princess is great and they will have fun!!

Thank you all for your helpful posts. After some consideration we booked Island Princess cruise from Whittier to Vancouver. All adults reserved the balcony cabins (port side) with younger generation staying in inside cabin (we had similar arrangements on a prior cruise, and it worked beautifully).
In addition we are adding a week before the cruise to travel to Denali and Kenai Fjord National Park (still researching possible stops and activities).

Great choice. Make sure you are at your nice balcony enjoying the beautiful view of the glacier ranges at a disatnce after the Glacier Bay National Park scenic cruising.