May 15-22, 2005 ALASKA: Inside Passage
I want to begin this review by thanking, all the people who have taken the time to compose, and post their reviews. Special thanks to those who have posted in-depth reviews. This represents a generous investment of time. Thank You! My wife and I are in our late 40s and this was our very first cruise. It was my wife's idea to go, but I did all the planning (I had the time). My marching orders were, a cruise to Alaska, and we had to see Moose. I didn't know whether or not the moose thing was achievable, but I started the planning with high hopes.
First stop, Amazon dot com for a book. The one I chose was Frommer's "Alaska Cruises & Ports of Call". I highly recommend that you buy a book. If not this one, then something similar. I didn't know a thing about Alaskan cruises and this book had a wealth of knowledge. The first decision that I learned I would have to make was whether to take an "Inside Passage" cruise, or a "Gulf of Alaska" cruise. After deciding on The Inside Passage I moved on to the myriad of other decisions. Next choice, Big ship, or medium to small ship. I chose a big ship for several reasons. Mainly because my Wife gets motion sickness, and the Big ships are less affected by the movement of the sea (this is also why I chose the Inside Passage-calmer waters); but also because of the much greater number of amenities on board; and greater anonymity (we wanted to relax, not mingle). However, there is plenty of opportunity to mingle if you want. Next, which cruise line, and which ship? I read the info. in the book about all the big cruise lines, and was attracted to the less formal "Freestyle Cruising" of Norwegian Cruise Line. We do not like dressing up, and with NCL you don't have to. The dress code is 'resort casual', which, bottom line, means casual slacks, collared shirt, and no tennis shoes in the restaurants at dinner. There is one optional 'formal night', but we had dinner in our room that evening (explanation later) so I'm not sure just how that works.