YOU are not doing this AGAIN!!
Last year was hard enough scheduling 10 GOH’s and making sure their panels went smoothly, I ABSOLUTELY FORBID you inviting everyone back PLUS THE GOH’S FROM 2001!!!!
I worked tirelessly for………….

……oh wait….

OH, its the anniversary of you two………well…um……

er…..CONGRATS!!

Re: Totally worth it!

Yep, we’re definitely expecting it to be on the expensive side, but if we’re going to go through the effort of doing a cruise, we don’t want to diminish it by trying to do it on the cheap, you know?

The reason we’re looking at July is because, well, that works well for us 🙂 Also, from what I’m reading in the shoulder seasons (May and August) the quality of the weather drops off precipitously. I’m OK with paying a little more if it gives us a chance at better weather.

We’re getting a lot of guidance from and who made a similar trip a few years back. We’re definitely going for a suite with a balcony on the aft end of the ship, and also there WILL be a shore excursion involving sled dogs 🙂 Everything else is up for grabs, and I appreciate your suggestions (the boat on the Susitina River sounds pretty awesome). We’ll see how it all works out.

I’m all about Cruise Critic – I’ve found a ton of useful information there already! And we’re not ruling out booking online, but the complexities seem to get a little hairy and if we wind up with a large-ish group we’re going to want a third party to handle funds. We’re definitely keeping our options open.

if you opt to go in May (as I did), the rates are a little lower than the summer, which means extra money to spend on an upgrade to a nicer cabin, or more shore trips.

I went with an interior cabin (no windows), as I felt that I’d spend a lot of the time in the public areas of the ship, where there were always good views. In hindsight, I should probably have gone with a room with a balcony.

Oh, and bring a warm jacket and gloves! It gets very cold on the water when the wind gets up.

You’ll have a great time! I did this in May 2004 with Princess Cruises. Be sure to take a cruise-tour (which explores interior Alaska by bus) instead of just a boat cruise (which only briefly stops at the ports).

Things to see:

* Vancouver: Stanley Park, Capilano Suspension Bridge or Lynn Canyon

* Coastal: float plane glacier fly-over, pan for gold, Mendenhall Glacier, White Pass and Yukon Route railroad, Glacier Bay

* Interior: Susitna River jet boat trip, Mt. McKinley, central Alaska railroad to Fairbanks, helicopter landing on a glacier, sled dogs (in the summer, the huskies pull an ATV), Trans-Alaska Pipeline, El Dorado mine

Warning: it ends up being a very expensive trip, but one that you’ll always remember!

It just so happens that 2011 is also our 10th anniversary (March 31, 2001). Before I did the whole midlife crisis job quit/school thing, we were planning on doing a cruise to celebrate. Those plans were set aside, but that doesn’t mean we can’t resurrect them.

We are interested, but mark us down as a definite “Hmmmm.” We will have to see about my job situation, and what my vacation allowance will be. If all that works out, though, we would like to come.