So it’s out 20th anniversary this year and we are going to do an Alaskan cruise, would appreciate any advice any of you that have been can share. We have not booked it yet looking for a summer trip around first of July.

I suggest not just a cruise . We did a 7 day rail tour from Fairbanks back down to Anchorage in '17. Loved it ! We didn't do a cruise, all land tour. Flew into Fairbanks , departed Anchorage. If you just cruise and don't go spend several days inland , you've missed Alaska IMO. We plan on going back.

We are doing 7 days in May on the Discovery Princess. I’ll let you know when we get back. Although you should book before we get back. Like tomorrow.

We did Royal Caribbean. Accommodations were ok. Food - eat in the dining hall for breakfast and dinner. Grab a bite when out on your excursions at local places. Plenty of good food and beer in ports. Excursions we good. Lot of beautiful country.
Someone gave us the advice to do either an inland tour (bus/train) or a cruise. Unless you’ve got a month 10-12 days won’t cut both
Probably gonna do an interior trip soon.
It’s a beautiful place.

See if Viking is doing one. We used them in Europe this year and highly recommend.

If one of your stops is Skagway, rent a jeep from the Green Jeep Co. You can keep it all day and drive all you want. We drove pretty far into the Yukon and then round Skagway. It wasn't horribly expensive and they provided snacks and a cooler of drinks and water. Some of my family took a train ride into the Yukon and paid more and enjoyed it less than we did. Make sure you have some serious bug spray. The mosquitos are numerous and hummingbird sized.

We did it in July and plan to do it again soon. Take binos and get a balcony room, that’s how we spent a good deal of the time on the ship.

Yep, always something to look at. Saw more whales from the ship than I could count. Numerous funny Sea Otters when the ship went to the glacier and turned around.

What does something like that cost, out the door?

Whew , that's been a while , I'm guessing $4,500 +/- a few hundred including airfare and tours. Even though it was all a land tour , it was through Princess Cruise lines. They have their own cars on the train. Heck of a trip . Wife want's to go back in winter and see the Northern Lights. I'm down for that.

Upon farther review I think closer to $4,500 all included . We did plug in an extra day / night in Anchorage .

Might depend on your age and tolerance for people, but we took a family cruise on Disney inner passage out of Vancouver and it was fantastic. Later, we took an outer passage trip out of Seattle on Royal Caribbean, and the boat and activities for the kids were great, but we were so far away from land a lot of the time, we couldn’t tell we were anywhere near Alaska…..it was just water with cold wind. I want to go back and do the train thing.

We are cruising the first week of July. I know my wife booked an excursion where we helicopter in and go dog sledding. Also doing a train ride in Skagway( I think). A friend in Kenai says a really cool thing to do is a taking a float plane to a lake and fishing. Said you will be fishing with the grizzlies.

My wife and I have had this conversation many times. Looks like we’ll have to get all the kids out of school first. Hard to find an extra 6,000 laying around (for me). I want to go to Colorado, Alaska, and California when we can afford it.
Take plenty of pics when you go!

I'd fly to Anchorage and get a rental and go see some things before I'd do a cruise but, that's just me. Take binos if ya go on a cruise as there are some great views. The glaciers are cool

My son likes Juno and is purchasing a place up there soon. He didn't care for Anchorage. Do a predator search of the area before you rent a place. They have one of the highest groupings I've ever seen.

You talking about Grizzlies or pedophiles?

My memories were made inland and driving around.

Get up early and get a good seat on the deck when the ship goes up the fjord to the glacier. Enjoy the hot chocolate they will bring around. It is especially good with the brandy they will put in it. One of the most scenic parts of the cruise. I'll probably never do another Caribbean cruise but would do Alaska again in a minute.

Pedo. Heck, one of my bucket list places is Kodiak Island to watch the salmon run.