This was my and my wife's first cruise. As we live right out of Seattle, we thought it would be kind of fun to start and end within a few miles of our house. The advantages are obvious (no airfare, ability to lug more crap, etc.). The disadvantage is that several days get wasted getting there and back (nearly 4 full "at sea" days). I guess at sea would be fun if you're into the cheesy on board stuff like buying duty free crap, watching horrific "shows," playing bingo, etc. Clearly a lot of people do like this. The one and only on board activity that was interest was a wine tasting event that happened in the middle of the afternoon while at sea. Unfortunately, when you're a little queasy, mid-day drinking doesn't seem like such a hot idea.

The ports were interesting. Yes, there are fun excursions to take (we booked our own and saved a ton of cash AND got to go with smaller, better companies). What struck us, however, was the absolute lack of anything cool about the towns themselves. Ketchikan and Junneau have NOTHING other than shops that exist exclusively for cruise ship tourists. If buying crap made in China that says "Alaska" on it is your idea of a good time, you'll be in heaven. Likewise, if you like to buy expensive jewelry that you can buy anywhere for the same price or other trinkets. Otherwise, you're out of luck. Skagway had the same crap as well, but at least the stores were housed in actual historical buildings from the gold rush and there was a museum so you could learn the history. That made it worthwhile. The final stop was Victoria. This is by far the coolest place. Sadly, we were there only for a few hours.

The cruising was awesome. The Tracy Arm Fjord was stunning and we had fantastic weather. We were able to drive right up to the glacier. Magnificent. Along those same lines, the section in the inside passage was mind-blowing. Nice weather (though cold) and early season meant a lot of beautiful snow covered mountains. Read more