all you folks who have never been to Alaska, need to make some plans!
Oh, believe me, I am. My mother has been on 2 Alaskan cruises, and she has continually raved about how beautiful it is up there.
I'm looking at maybe going next year on a cruise with her, my grandmother, and several other family members. (A ladies' trip). 
you will have a wonderful time, plan some nice side trips, flight seeing if you like to fly. I lived there eight years in Anchorage, and I have taken my husband on two cruises, once the inside passage, the second we did the inside passage then up to Fairbanks, Denali and back to Anchorage, that's where we were on 9-11-2001