Originally Posted by
Gardyloo
Hang on -
If they don't have enough time for several days' touring (up to a week) in Southcentral Alaska before or after the cruise, then the 7-day round trips - either from Seattle or Vancouver, offer excellent value and provide a good first exposure to Alaska.
The Alaska board on cruisecritic.com is a good place for them to hang out for a bit.
With all due respect -- taking a round-trip Alaska cruise from Seattle or Vancouver really just shows you what the coast of BC looks like (The Inside Passage is literally a geographic extension of British Columbia). Saying you saw Alaska on one of those cruises is like going to DisneyWorld and saying you saw Florida. If they just have 7 days, it's definitely worth it to do the one-way between Anchorage and Vancouver to at least see Southcentral AK -- even if only from the train on the way from the airport to the ship (a spectacular trip by itself). And I recommend doing the southbound voyage since they have 3 hours less flying time at the end of the trip to get home.
Late August is also good because it starts getting dark enough at night to have a chance of seeing the Northern Lights.
Also... have your parents talk to a good cruise travel agent who will ask the right questions to match them to the right ship based on their wants, needs and desires. It costs no more and will make a huge difference in their trip. There are lots of ships in Alaska -- they all see basically the same thing but not all are the best vacation for everyone.