things to do in Vancouver with the Family (summer time)

Going on a cruise to Alaska in late July.. Thinking about flying out a couple of days early. Is there enough to keep busy with, my kids are 13 and 10. Also is there any thing to see or do in Anchorage?
Thanks

I strongly recommend taking a week in Alaska before/after the cruise. Since you asked the Anchorage question, I'm presuming you have a Whitter/Seward to Vancouver cruise and not a round-trip Vancouver.

This was our first cruise in August 2001, kids were 16 and 12. Kids really loved the independence on the ship; there will be age group progams for both of yours. We were lucky with weather on the cruise, in general June/July is much better than August/September.
We chose Celebrity due to reputation for food, service and kids programs. Only downside is that permits to cruise Glacier Bay are limited, and they all belong to Holland America and Princess, who were the first big cruise lines in Alaska. If you want that, I'd recommend Princess, as Holland America tends to attract a higher age demographic.

Princess also has 4 lodges in Alaska for which they package "cruisetours." They are supposed to be very nice, but will be more expensive for a family of 4 than the rent-a-car, do yourself method we used.

On our own we spent 2 nights outside Denali (you have to reserve bus seats well in advance to spend a day in the park);
1 night Fairbanks (riverboat and gold mine tours);
1 night Talkeetna (cute town, best place for flightseeing Denali, but we lost that to weather, we stopped in Anchorage for a couple of hours at the state museum);
1 night Girdwood (at base of Alyeska ski area, we river rafted class 4+ Six-Mile Creek, includes rental dry suits due to 35 degree water, much better than the more touristy rafting outside Denali);
1 night Seward (visited interesting aquarium, and did all-day glacier and wildlife boat trip in Kenai Fjords);

Our cruise was Friday to Friday, so we went to Whistler for the weekend after the cruise.

Whistler is a two hour greyhound bus ride from Vancouver, very scenic ride up the Pacific coast line. Brings your skis and burn some turns on the Blackcomb Hortsman glacier. The bumps are incredible, cost about $50 for a public ski day pass. Lots to do for the family at the resort like mountain bike, horse back, swim at lost lake etc...

Might make for too much traveling but I enjoy the scenic bus ride almost as much as smashing the sweet bumps, well not that much but Whistler is a great famliy resort in late July. Good luck.

Tony.
We are booked on Royal Caribbean. We leave Vancouver on Friday July 26 and finish up out side of Anchorage. I can only extend my stay by 1 day. The rafting out side of Anchorage sounds cool. I would like to get to Vancouver a day early to check out the Asian Culinary scene. My kids found some Mega Zip line outside of Whistler they want to check out too.
Thanks again for your help..

Vancouver is a great city to visit (with or without kids). A beautiful place to visit

Stanley Park at the edge of downtown. Rent a bike and tout it. The Vancouver Aquarium is also located in the park.

Capileano (sp?) Bridge (cool suspended bridge) / Grouse Mountain (tram ride and great view of Vancouver). There pretty close to each other and you can get there by city bus.

Chinatown. One of the biggest in North America.

UBC campus and the Museum of Anthopology.

There a few other things which I cannot remember the name...but I'm sure you could find them fairly easily on the net.

Outside Vancouver. Yes, the drive from Vancouver to Squamish along Howe Sound (halfway to Whistler) is incredibly beautiful. It isn't called the Sea to Sky highway for nothing. Ah yes, you can ski in Whistler in July.

PATRICK WROTE:

" AHH YES, YOU CAN SKI IN WHISTLER IN JULY "

shhhhhh :wink:

He's baaaaaack... 8)