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First timer needs lots of help!

Hello seasoned cruisers! My brother and our spouses wish to book an Alaskan cruise in August for our families to go on, with our parents, to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Neither of us have cruised before, and I am desparately seeking advice (I don't even know where to start!)regarding a cruise line that will have something for everyone. Our parents are very well travelled and a bit on the "snobby" side, but we want our children (regular old boys ages 16, 13, 11 and 9) to have fun as well. If they're all happy, we will be too. We thought a smaller ship would be better than a larger one. Advice, tips, suggestions, please? Thank you!

I had a bit of a similar problem several weeks ago trying to plan an Alaskan cruise for 16 people with 7 different cabins (family and friends). The desired cabins were everywhere from inside/ cheapest to suites and everything inbetween. With different ages and taste, I finally decided on NCL Sun. It seemed to have the best for what we needed and everyone seemed in favor of the "freestyle dining" where you can eat when and wherever you chose and especially No Formal Night (makes for much lighter packing and the men all voted YES on this one!) We also chose to sail in and out of Seattle to keep the airfare at a minimum (many cruises originate in one place and end in another)so it was important to be able to purchase round trip airline tickets rather than open jaw tickets. There are lots of great cruise ships and I've sailed on many (Princess, Holland America, RCCI) but this is what worked best for us with so many people to please. If you want a small ship(and can afford the luxury, I'd recommend Radisson) Find the ship/cruiseline and the date you prefer but don't book. There are lots of good sites to get an education such as cruisecritic.com or go to the cruiseline website itself (i.e. ncl.com, etc.) You will find your best bet for the cheapest fare on cruisequick.com (you can contact Ray at his email: [email protected]). It is an internet only method of booking but I've found it to work great. You never miss any calls, Ray is very attentive and you'll have everything in writing. You must do your own research though, they won't do this for you and don't get caught up in the prices quoted in brochures or the websites (they're way high).Cruisequick.com is strictly for the booking process. I seldom recommend products (and certainly not TA's) but I've found Ray to be exceptional so I'm making an exception. You're welcome to tell him that "Marcie" recommended him and you expect the same great service you've given her! Feel free to email me if you'd like. I've spent HOURS researching all of this and I might be able to save you some legwork. Good Luck in finding what's just right for you and your family! Marcie

Marcie, thanks a million for the information. I will definately heed your advice and I'll let you know what we choose!

Hi Irego, Since you are a fist timer I certainly would not advise booking over the web. Best to see a Alsakan cruise expert at one of your local travel agencies. One that will spend hours with you. I am sure you and your family would have a ton of questions. There is a right way and a wrong way to see Alaska. Do not let your trip of a lifetime go down the drain. Paul

Iregeo - in case you didn't know it, Paul is a travel agent. You can see from the testimonials on this thread as well as the one on cruisequick that many people are extremely satisfied with both the price and service they received from cruisequick. The brick and mortar agents like Paul are very intimidated by the .coms and have lost a large percentage of their business to them over the last five years. Most now resort to scare tactics or empty promises to steer you away from the best way to book cruises - the internet. Paul will likely respond to this post with some negative crack about me, but he can't change the positive comments from the others.

I certainly agree with Marcie's advise. Do your own research, pick up brochures, read everything you can on the web, visit cruise message boards like Fodors.com and cruisecritic.com and AFTER you've chosen what is right for you, go to Ray at cruisecritic.com for the best pricing. He's done a great job for us as well. You're welcome to email me as well if I can help. We were all first timers once too!

Marcie, Peter, Paul and Petlover: Thank you all for the advice. I've started my research and am already eliminating some ships as too large for our tastes. I'm looking seriously at Holland America, and am considering Radisson Seven Seas (only 700 people, but, to many of these $$$$$$). Besides, I'm not yet sure that kids are welcome on a cruise of that caliber. I do appreciate your offers of e-mail advice and will likely take you up on it.

There are a couple more TA's you could check out. Buycruises.com and Bestcruiseprices.com.

If family members are a bit on the "snobby" side, don't do NCL because it will not be "good enough" for them. Think Princess for Alaska for a mixed age family...Holland America caters to a much older crowd and your kids will be better off with Princess...overall, the Alaska cruises will have a much older overall age crowd.