MnJ

Although we have traveled extensively, we have never taken a cruise. We are now planning our first ever cruise. And, the options seem overwhelming. This is our main desire—to take time to see and explore the glaciers of the Inner Passage. We have been to Denali National Park and a day cruise
on Prince William Sound. Thus, we do not want to repeat that wonderful experience.
We are a middle age couple with no interest in nightlife partying on board a ship. We “think” are looking for a 7 day cruise.
Please give us your suggestions about what type of cruise would fit our desires and what cruise line. We appreciate your help.

gail

We just returned from Princess one-way (Whittier to Vancouver) cruise. One partial day and one full day are spent glacier viewing sailing. It was my understanding that one-way cruises spend more time closer to glaciers than RT cruises.

We also did glacier helicopter landing in Juneau - expensive excursion but worth it.

We went with our 2 adult kids (18 and 22). We are in our mid 50s. There were no peers for our kids, and most passengers were our age or older. We have been on other cruises, and this one was extremely sedate - people were there to see Alaska, not party. We had late dinner seating and one night we wanted to have a drink with our son (the 22 year old) at about 11:30 and had difficulty finding a bar open on the ship! The casino was not heavily used. While we are not big partiers either, this was almost a little too quiet for us.

A contributing factor was that it was never night - we went over summer solstice and it never really was darker than dusk. Also, on other cruises, people tend to congregate and drink on the pool decks - and in this case people were there viewing things bundled up against the weather.

Barbara_in_CT

Look at the Tauck Tour cruise on the Spirit of Yorktown, a small ship.

http://cruise-travel.tauck.com/tours...cruise-xa-2008

It has been some time since I did this cruise but it sounds like it would meet your needs. I found the other passengers to be older, well-travelled and well-educated.

mscarls

We just took a Tauck cruise in a small ship (60 passengers) in Europe and it was fantastic. We have also taken several Tauck bus tours in Europe that were great.

We did the inside passage on Celebrity Summit, however, before we had become Tauck fans. The ship was large but elegant, with excellent food. We had a cabin with a balcony and thoroughly enjoyed it.

We thought the glacier viewing was spectacular, but, of course, we don't know how it compares with other ships.

TravelingMan76

I think you would enjoy a trip on one of Cruise West's ships. about 100 passengers, flexible itinerary(We hung around for about an hour, watching a couple of grizzlies feeding on shore)good food,no fancy dress at dinner,good tour leaders,and more. Check them out; headquarters in Seattle,WA

kutcheraranch

We just returned from a 7 day inside passage r/t from Seattle and it was spectacular to say the least. We had 6 days of sun and one cloudy day and no rain. Everybody that we talked to in the ports said that we were the luckiest people because they hadn't seen the sun in 2 mos. We spent about 5 hrs at the Hubbard Glacier with temps in the mid sixties and if you have never experienced a glacier calving first hand then add it to list of things to see. We did a whale watch excursion in Juneau and was worth the money as was our willife excursion in Sitka. we saw otters, eagles a bear, deer, sea lions and whales. Ketchikan was nice and we just walked around the town and took in the sights. Vancouver was very nice but we wern't there long enough to do much but the city was beautiful. The age groups on the ship were 40 somethings and up with very few kids. The food was good and our balcony room was fantastic. I would have a hard time taking this cruise again because everything was so perfect. whoops, our cruise ship was the Holland American Oosterdam and I must say it was outstanding. Hope this helps

LuxuryCruiseBible

Have you considered American Safari Cruises? http://www.amsafari.com

We sailed the Inside Passage with them last summer and it was one of the best vacations we've ever had. You can read my blog about it here: http://luxurycruisebible.blogspot.co...1_archive.html

Jed

Do you want a small or large ship? We prefer small. There are small ship cruises led by educational groups, which are more expensive.

Eschew

For Alaska, my chioce would be north bound from Vancouver and not an inside passage round trip. For whatever reason, south bound is cheaper than north bound. On the one way trip, you will have more exposure to Alaska and its wonders. Best time to go is June July August.
September are okay but it usually wet and cooler.

I am surprised that BudgetQueen is not in on the discussion already as she is the one who is most vocal and probably been on more Alaskan cruise than anyone around here.

Since this is your first cruise, be sure to make a careful chioce on the cruise line. You should start with the mass market lines like Princess, HAL, Celebrity, Carnival etc. Each cruise line offer different things so check them out before you book. Cruisecritics.com offer some generalization of cruise lines that you may find helpful. They also have member review of ships and cruises.

Good luck!