Thank you so much for your feedback. I called NCL and am trying to get to the bottom of all the hidden costs, etc. of going on a cruise. I figure after all is said and done, it'll be around $2,000 each for the 7 nights with a balcony room. We'd use our miles for the flight to Seattle. Does that sound about right to you? Does that sound like it's worth it for the two of us that don't have that much time? We'd spend a night or two in Seattle. Thanks again!

PS. What time of year would you recommend?

Mid May-first week of Sept. Outside of this has more foul weather potential.

I book cheap inside cabins, so don't know about your rates. I've heard the service charges are also going up??

You may want to compare with several cruise discounters and see where the rates are overall. www.cruisecompete.com is a good source for this information.

After booking, continue to keep track of pricing trends yourself. When you see a drop, immediately contact your booking agent for an adjustment. Be especially agressive with this before final payment, count back the days yourself, since most agents add a week or more to the date. Pay at the last minute.

We loved our Princess cruise from Whittier down to Vancouver.

I've taken Carnival cruises and was much less impressed.

But did you do Carnival in Alaska?? Do you have more than one trip there??

Carnival does an excellent job in Alaska and too many people associate the line with the party hardy Caribbean sailings. Just has NOTHING to do with their Alaska itineraries. I've sailed Carnival 3 times to Alaska, having sailed there on 5 different lines. My preference is HAL first, but Carnival is second for me, over Princess.

Overall, it is best to look at the itineraries, ports, route, glacier, ship naturalist, time in ports, price. And then hopefully make the best decision for you.

Can only speak for our Princess (Coral, I think) trip from Vancouver north last year. We went in mid-August and the weather was spectacular. Glacier Bay was a must for us and it was all we thought it would be. We did a lot of research and planned our shore excursions to see bears, whales, and beautiful scenery.

Princess was nice. We had a balcony cabin and enjoyed it a lot. Our favorite spot was Crooners Bar. The food was OK, dined when and where we wanted. Not a Carnival/Caribbean party feel, but not stodgy old folk feel either.

We found we got up so early to do our excursions that nighttime entertainment/gambling was not important.

I can see a stage show anywhere; I can only see magnificant Alaska scenery once.

Thanks, maybe I'll look into other cruises besides NCL. I had just recently seen a TV special (Fineliving network) on NCL cruises as I was on the treadmill (captive audience) and thought the 'freestyle' would work better for us, but if other cruiselines do that, then I will check further.

My husband is a veteran and there are some decent discounts for that.

I am still just trying to decide whether this is financially realistic or not.

Great info here. It seems like July or August are pretty good months for this. Which would be best with kids? I have a very well behaved 11 yo who enjoys the kids club activities and likes a nice ship with all amenities. He loved RCL's Navigator of the seas last year.

We did a Holland America cruise in Alaska in May, and did freestyle cruising. We never had a problem getting seated for dinner anytime we wanted. Worked out well for us.

We are looking into Royal Caribbean (Rhapsody) in May 09 because of the Seattle-Seattle roundtrip. Seems like we might be able to save a little money with round trip airfare (Southwest), and I don't think we'll need passports (not everyonoe in our group has one), even with a port stop in Victoria, Canada.

They also appear to have a good military discount (even for retirees), and offer senior (55+) discounts on some cruises (but I haven't gotten all the details, yet).

Still gathering info, myself--'thanks' to everyone who is posting great info on this site!

maybe reading www.cruisereviews.com will help you.

In my opinion, the Rhapsody has a pretty crappy itinerary. There are far better ones to also consider for round trip Seattle.