We loved our Alaskan Cruise. It was a "Bucket List" item. Here are some notes for people who visit our Web site and are considering such a trip themselves. Please remember that we are no experts, so take our comments with that understanding. Also, You'll see that these notes contain a few money-saving tips. If money is no object then you'll want to just skip those areas.

Bonnie and I like each other. I guess that’s a good thing for people married over 45 years. We can have lots of fun with our family – kids and grandkids – but we can also have fun on our own. But for this trip we went with some very good friends, the MacIvers, and traveling together was great. We ate, took tours, watched shows, and played card games together. All with the understanding that we were each free to go off on our own. We think that having Tom and Marilyn along added much to our trip.

We took out trip insurance, and that is probably a must for a cruise like this. We also arrived a day early in Seattle for peace of mind, though we could have flown in the day of the cruise and caught the ship. My vote is to come in early and do some Seattle city touring.

The trip from the Seattle Airport to downtown Seattle is about a $45 taxi ride. We split the cost with Tom and Marilyn. If you are traveling on your own and up to a small amount of work, there is a railway into town. There are also shuttle services that one can find on the Internet.

Jay and Bonnie are of the "board early" mind for cruises. In general, that means arriving at the terminal not later than 11 AM, even if it means waiting for the departing passengers area to open.

Carnival allows passengers to carry on 750 ml of wine and about 12 cans of soda. Or you can purchase these type beverages on the ship at ship prices.

We reserved cabins with extended balconies. This was nice but I'm not sure an extended balcony added that much. We were told that the starboard side of the ship is preferred so that is where our cabins were, but we didn’t see much difference.

We also signed up for "any time" dining. This was good. If you like your servers you can ask to be seated each time with them and be accommodated most often.

Our seven day cruise departed from and returned to Seattle. With that parameter, we cruised the Inland Passage up and back of the panhandle of Alaska. We toured in mid-May. Looking back, if we had toured maybe two weeks later we would have been there when the salmon were running and the hatcheries were in full swing. We might have had more bear sightings as they came out to feed on the fish.

Musts: The Tracy Arm Fjord Excursion, the narrow gage railway tour (we took the 3 1/2 tour and thought that was just right -gave us time for a second tour in the area), and the Mendenhall Glacier (On your own is cheaper and better - get a round trip bus ticket from the vendor right at the dock area for $8 pp round trip). We enjoyed all our excursions, including the hiking the Chilkoot Trail and river rafting tour; and the Ketchikan Highlights Express. We also visited the Alaska State Museum on our own (very nice). If you have to see whales then get a whale watching excursion. The people we talked to seemed to really like that adventure.

Canival had a naturalist on board, and she gave three presentations. We attended all and they were each very good.

Bonnie and I also like the self debarkation option. That is where you do not put baggage in the hall the night before but somehow manage to carry all your baggage off the ship by yourself. Ensures a quicker departure.