My 9 year old daughter lists cruising as her favorite vacation, even over Disney World. She's been on a half dozen cruises already and before she came along my wife and I had done about a half dozen ourselves. Most of our cruises had been to the Caribbean and Mexico. This was our first time in Alaska.

Most of our recent cruises have been on Royal Caribbean. We cruised Princess years ago before they were owned by Carnival Cruises. We went on this cruise with two other couples, one of whom had a 15 year old. I am definitely glad we saw Alaska and we all had a very good time. However, cruising Alaska is a very different experience than cruising in the Caribbean and I wish I had understood a little more what we were getting into. That is why I want to do this review in two parts -- first points about Alaska cruises in general and second about this particular ship.

Things you should know about Alaska Cruises. Read more