Taking the Kids: On a different kind of Alaska cruise

There were three multigenerational families on board -- two youngsters, including Miller, traveling just with their grandparents. Miller's grandma, Carol Harrison, a 67-year-old widow from Georgia, brought Miller along with her son Todd and daughter-in-law Becky on her first "big" trip since her husband died several years ago. "I wanted Miller to not be too old to do a trip with me but old enough to do everything and I didn't want the parties and the crowds of the big ship. That isn't what this is about." The trip was such a success, she said, she's going to get her passport renewed now.

We're also traveling with extended family that has always wanted to explore Alaska and a trip like this certainly gives families plenty of time to share experiences and make memories, as long as you don't mind giving up creature comforts.

Our cabin is tiny with barely room to get around the bed. The bathroom is a combo unit for shower and toilet with just enough room to turn around in. The food is plentiful, served buffet style, though we wished for more diverse menu options. (It seemed there was a mistake in ordering before our trip.)

(For those who crave more luxury with their adventures, the company has a more upscale line -- American Safari Cruises (www.americansafaricruises.com). You can even charter an entire yacht for your gang. Check out the trips to Mexico and Hawaii in winter and special "Kids in Nature" sailings during summer in Alaska and spring break in Hawaii and Mexico.)

We don't spend much time in our cabin anyway. We're here to see the "real" Southeast Alaska, and we get what we came for -- dozens of whales as we cruise in Frederick Sound near Turnabout Island. They're here for the summer, eating 20 hours a day before they head to Hawaii for the winter.

A newborn seal pup and its mom float along on a chunk of ice and an eagle flies overhead as we venture out in a skiff driven by Capt. Quinn. We're off to explore the Dawes Glacier in what is called Endicott Arm and spot a mountain goat with its kid near one of the waterfalls.

Some of the cliffs are 1,000-feet high. Yes, it is true that Glacier Bay is more famous -- probably because that's where all the big cruise ships go -- but this place is spectacular and intimate.

We hear the glaciers calve -- Crack! Boom! -- and I understand why the native Tlingit people called glaciers "white thunder." The glacier looks like blue cotton candy with chocolate sprinkles. In reality, it is more than 360-feet high and at least as much below the surface, Capt. Quinn tells us.

John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, visited here and called this a "Wild Unfinished Yosemite," and the high rock face certainly is reminiscent of that.

I wouldn't have thought this trip would have been easy for someone with special challenges but Kirsty Digger, a nursing professor from the East Coast who uses crutches and a wheelchair, said she was able to see a lot of Alaska from this vantage point, especially in the kayaks and skiffs that loaded right from the boat. "I didn't think I would be able to see as much of Alaska on a big ship," she explained.

Neither would the rest of us.

========

For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow "taking the kids" on www.twitter.com, where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments.