<p>JEM, we are interested in the small cruise ships as well. We’ve seen some booked through REI that seem interesting and reasonably priced. But I haven’t done enough research to know whether an agent is helpful with these smaller vessel cruises.</p>
<p>Please keep us posted and thanks for starting this thread!</p>
<p>Thanks, again, for the responses.</p>
<p>Still not quite ready to make a decision, but have learned a lot. As with so many things, may have to balance individual preferences (for low key, less formal and less crowded experience) against other criteria such as itinerary, timing, cost, etc.</p>
<p>Cost comparisons are complicated by our having a third person, which works well where suites handling three are available, not so well where staterooms assume two per room – heavy “single supplement” in some cases for son.</p>
<p>Found that looking into excursion possibilities at ports of call can help us decide what itinerary we would prefer. Also, some cruises of the same length have more “total sea days” than others.</p>
<p>Not planning on a land package, as S (tight on vacation time) will fly out to return to work right after cruise, and H and I may just spend a few days in Vancouver afterwards.</p>
<p>H has had an interest in traveling to Alaska since high school, so I am delighted he may finally get to do it, and S is excited as well. (S, who has done some of the research, put together a very good Power Point presentation on our options for H and me the other night, and we have been watching some Alaska DVDs we got from the library.)</p>
<p>I"m like your son–the huge cruise ships don’t appeal to me. We did an Alaskan trip on a small boat with Lindblad. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.</p>
<p>My friend took her kids on one of the small ships. The price included all the kayaking anyone wanted to do, with a crew member, as well as guided hikes and other options. They had a blast!</p>
<p>We did a short cruise with Cruise West, small boat and stayed on land at night. It was wonderful.</p>