On an Alaskan cruise, you will only have 30% chance of clear sky. Most of the time, it will be cloudy, light rain and even out right down pour at times. I ruined a perfectly good SLR at Sitka in the rain. I used the hair dryer to blow dry it but in the end, I sold it after paying for a repair.

We took a roundtrip out of Seattle as well, though it was on the Golden Princess. Few things:
* Fly in the day before to make sure you get there in time, and with your luggage
* Take a cab to the pier--it's a bit out of the way
* If you have an opportunity to go to Glacier Bay, definitely grab it--it's quite unique scenery
* We went to Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan; they're all nestled in the snow-peaked mountains and are quite atmospheric.
* As others have said, from Juneau, you can easily get to Mendenhall Glacier by city bus. Ketchikan has fabulous shopping--native crafts, salmon of all sorts to take home, Russian nesting dolls...

If you're interested, I have two postings on my blog that cover Alaska--one is sort of a 101 version and the other is on the ports. You can find them at http://musingaboutcruising.blogspot.com

thanks for posting a link rj - which entries are on Alaska?

Does anyone think these coupon books are good deal?

http://www.toursaver.com/inside-pass...aska-toursaver

Most of the "sample" coupons are not suitable for cruise passengers.