This was my second cruise in 15 years, my husband was previously a more frequent cruiser, and had been to Alaska before on a different itinerary. We had received an upgrade, possibly as we had booked over 6 months in advance, from a partial sea to a veranda, which made it nice for our day in Glacier Bay, and to judge temperature so we were dressed appropriately for our ventures out into port. We were there to relax, so we did not participate in the formal nights, which seemed to be the case with many other diners in the Lido restaurant. We ate either at the Lido or the Terrace Grill, as we wanted the flexibility with time and portions, as the Lido offerings seemed to be identical to the dining room offerings. We chose all of our shore excursions many months before departure, so we were able to do the Mendenhal Float Boat in Juneau,Lumberjack show and duck boat in Ketchikan, and Pub Tour in Victoria. The Victoria pub tour was expensive, rushed, and not really enjoyable, as the quantities of beer presented in the amount of time allowed to consume was reminiscent of a frat kegger! Especially where I do not drink beer, but went to accompany my husband, it was very expensive Ice Tea and soda for me.

My biggest issue was with the soda and beverage cards. When the card says soda, they mean soda only, and not bottled water. Also, with the soda card, you only get fountain drinks, and not sealed cans. I have an issue with the sweeteners in diet soda, thus cannot drink, After the 5th diet coke I received, which the did correct it when I said something, but it never should have happened in the first place, we went down to the front office and complained.They would not allow the canned so I could confirm what I was receiving, unless we wanted to use the other beverage card. Some people would not see a big issue with this, but since I am somewhat sensitive to the motion, and need to be medicated for it, a mouthful of Diet Coke makes me feel even worse than I already felt. The cruise lines compensation for this was 2 complementary bottles of water the last night of the cruise.

The shows were entertaining. We went to bingo, chocolate trivia (which we won). We did use the luggage direct service, as we had an evening flight, and it was well worth it. Other than the soda issue it was an uneventful week.