Which Cruiseline for Alaska 2015

We got married one week ago on Carnival, my second cruise on Carnival, and my husband's first on Carnival, but he has cruised Holland to Alaska several years ago. We are hoping to cruise Alaska next summer (most likely September)....all things considered...price, food, shows, activities, cleanliness, service etc...which line would you choose for the two of us...we are in our 50's but do enjoy shows and a little dancing, and a drink or two, but not heavy drinkers....so, for somebody who isn't loyal to any particular line, which one should we consider?

Princess and Holland America have been in the Alaskan business for a very long time.

Pick up some brochures at a travel agency and check them out.

We have taken two Princess cruises to Alaska and loved both

I like Princess cruises with land tours in Alaska. The inland passage is nice but the real Alaska is the land portion.

We got married one week ago on Carnival, my second cruise on Carnival, and my husband's first on Carnival, but he has cruised Holland to Alaska several years ago. We are hoping to cruise Alaska next summer (most likely September)....all things considered...price, food, shows, activities, cleanliness, service etc...which line would you choose for the two of us...we are in our 50's but do enjoy shows and a little dancing, and a drink or two, but not heavy drinkers....so, for somebody who isn't loyal to any particular line, which one should we consider?

Holland.

Alaska is all about itinerary - glacier viewing, longest times in port, etc. Check out some Alaska travel books - I highly recommend Fodors and Frommers - read all you can and determine your interest.

Whale watching in Juneau or Icy Strait Point are the most popular; glacier sailing choices include Glacer Bay (it ain't a National Park for nothing;)), Tracy Arm (often difficulties getting close to the glacier due to time constraints and ice in the water) or Hubbard Glacier (my personal favorite - HUGE chunk of ice, but again, sometimes there are problems getting close to the glacier face); flightseeing over Misty Fiords is done out of Ketchikan; helicopter flights to and landing on glaciers done out of Juneau and Skagway; and taking the White Pass Railroad up into the Yukon can only be done in Skagway.

Then of course, there are the ports ports - all go to Juneau and Ketchikan, some go to Icy Strait Point instead of Skagway, some go to Haines instead of Skagway. All about preference and interest in activities in the various ports. Northbound, southbound or Roundtrip from either Seattle or Vancouver? If you have two weeks, consider HAL's 14 day itinerary out of Seattle, a true 14 day itinerary, not a B2B visiting the same ports twice - this one goes to some little visited by cruise ship ports like Homer, Kodiak and the city of Anchorage itself.

Head over to the Alaska boards of Cruise Critic and read the reviews in the 'Sticky' section at the top of the page for cruises taken in 2013 and 2014. As you can see - a whole lot of choices all dependent on what you want to do, see and experience. For me - longer port times are the ticket to which sailing I choose. Good luck in your mission - the 'fun' of planning for Alaska has just begun for you!:)

For your first visit to Alaska, you really should visit Glacier Bay. Holland, Princess, and NCL do this regularly. Carnival's last two cruises for the season also visit Glacier Bay. EM