This was the only one that had a land package available with three days in Denali at the time we booked. We would have preferred a smaller ship. The ship had three maintenance issues during the cruise.The first was the PA system was broken. The boat drill was a disorganized. Another was for, as the captain explained, to fix the breaks. The other would shut off the air conditioning for four hours (not a problem in Alaska). The restaurant served average bland food. When you order seafood, it is mostly foreign imports. The frozen fish and meat is standard fare. All is cooked to a bland person's liking. Nothing was savory of juicy. We tried the 3 "special restaurants", which were just as bland and boring. The Alaskan King Crab legs was the only locally sourced seafood I had, which was good, with a tiny amount of drawn butter. The side of creamed spinach was like baby food. I always had to ask for a take-up plate for shells and a seafood fork. You had to ask for salt and pepper also. They must have a shortage. The full service restaurant was not always available for lunch and if you did not make a reservation for the empty specialty restaurant, you would have to eat at the food toughs. My husband ordered a baked potato and he got a 1/2 of a baked potato upside-down on a plate. There are no rib eye steaks.

The shore excursions were hit or miss. I would not do anything that involves a family style dinner or show again. Food was barely shared and you had to beg for someone to pass it down. This include dinner shows, wagon rides & ATV rides. The wagon and ATV rides are in the same place with two dirty outhouses to use without running water. We enjoyed the river rafting in Denali and the hike/canoe to the Davidson Glacier. The outhouses were the worst ever at the Davidson Glacier.

The room where the enrichment talks was open to the Explorers' Lounge where there are bar blenders making noise for drinks and people milling about. The lectures were good and well worth going to. Read more