I loved my Alaskan Cruise, we added an extra week for the Glacier Cruise and to see Denali park and Fairbanks. I can’t answer for Holland America as we went with Princess cruise lines.

We had ports of call in Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan and Anchorage. Rode the train to Denali and Fairbanks. A balcony room would be worth the upgrade, especially if you want to watch for whales and sea lions

I will have to check my diary from the trip for specifics, I will add more later on the individual towns.

I’ve never been on one, but I have heard many people’s reports, uniformly favorable. Enthusiastically so. In fact, I’ve started thinking about one myself. My son’s school trip to Alaska, though not a cruise, was one of the high points of his career.

But do you really have to dress for dinner every night on a cruise? That would kill the idea for us.

@Jeruba The cruise I took had two “dressy” nights. It usually says on the website all that information, or you can call and they can answer all those questions for a specific cruise. Some people still were not very dressy. You can always eat in one of the other restaurants or in your room rather than the main dining room if you prefer not to deal with it. I have never heard of a cruise that expects guests to be dressed up every night. I think Norweigen cruise lines does not have any requirements, and they also have open dining, while the other cruise lines usually make you choose a specific seating time.

Don’t let attire scare you off from a cruise.

If you want to eat in the dining room you should expect two formal nights. If you don’t want to get formal there are several other options including room service.

The dining options when I was onboard ranged from fast food pizza to cajun to 5 star Italian and pretty much anything in between. There were 12 restaurants on board not counting the formal dining area.