We have traveled extensively, but have never taken a cruise. Knowing that there are great sales going on, any suggestions for a small cruise line and itinerary ideas?

"Small", will be Cruise West, Lindblad, Alaska Safari. The significant "sales" are on the mega liners. With HAL, probably having the "smaller" ships.

Get yourself educated on the different routings and decide what is your choice, first. Then look for a ship that matches.

One way- also consider adding time for interior Alaska touring, take advantage of being there.

Round trip Vancouver, offers fantastic scenic sailing, the least scenic sailing is round trip Seattle. But with Seattle, there is ease of cheap Seattle flights. Easy to get between Seattle/Vancouver with an extra day, if of interest. Plenty of choices. Look at ports, glacier, time in ports, route, price. All choices will involve compromises. Pick what is best for you.

I recommend HAL, especially if you choose an itinerary that includes Glacier Bay. If you have not been to Alaska I do recommend a cruise tour. You are missing too much if you only do a cruise

thanks! I will research more. We have taken a ferry trip on the Inside Passage, but that's all.

The 14 day itinerary that the 670 passenger Pacific Princess is offering out of Seattle this year looks pretty interesting. It's "small" compared to the mega ships but large compared to Cruise West, etc--but those are quite a bit more expensive.

It is a definate advantage to consider adding days for interior Alaska touring with a one way cruise. However, I definately disagree with the above recommendation for a "cruise tour" and "missing too much". Actually you miss plenty with cruisetours, which many times is the most costly way to tour, seeing the least. Be VERY informed on cruisetour choices,and understand EVERYTHING about them, MOST people do not.

Independent is a very simple option to also consider, of which you can see and do significantly more.

Just returned from an RCI Inside Passage 7-day cruise, round trip from Seattle. The port stops were Juneau, Skagway & Victoria, BC. The glacier was Saywer.

There were a couple reasons for chosing RT from Seattle--airfare cost and one person in our party didn't have a passport required for flying. Barring the above restrictions, I would have chosen to depart from Vancouver -- I would have preferred another Alaska port stop instead of Victoria, and a different (bigger) glacier would have been better. Don't get me wrong, it was still a great trip and the ship was beautiful. We splurged for balcony rooms and it was one of the BEST decisions we made!