[DubaiSis]

AOII Alum, I (sadly) haven't done an Alaska cruise yet, but to a person, they ALWAYS love it. However, it is not a cruise I would suggest if you're trying to penny pinch because I really think you should do the train tour in conjunction with the cruise. It's an additional 5+ days and worth every penny. It is also ALWAYS surprising to people how cold it is, even in the height of summer. You need winter coat, gloves, hat, etc. If you're not prepared you will spend a fortune getting yourself warm. I even know travel agents (the worst travelers EVER) who have had to pay the big bucks for the sweat shirts and coats in port.

But that being said, you can save a lot if you go right at the beginning and end of the season. It will be colder, but as I said, there won't be any point that you're working on your tan even if you go in August. To me it's worth the trade. But then I never travel in high season.

Oh, and here's another little secret. If you have a group (even as low as 5 cabins, double occupancy) you can get 1 berth (1 person) free. It doesn't take too much work to get 5 or 6 couples together and you can either take the freebie for yourself as a reward for the work you did or you can spread the savings out over everyone.

But really, if you're not big drinkers and won't drop a mortgage payment in the casino, a cruise can be substantially cheaper than a hotel-based vacation. You just have to compare apples to apples and be flexible with your travel dates. Oh, the best deal out there? Repositioning cruises. That's when the ships move from the Caribbean to Europe (or back), Asia to Alaska (or back) etc. It works best if you have some frequent flyer miles to spend because one way airline tickets can (not always) be more expensive, but you can do a 2 week cruise for even as low as $1000 per person. Seriously.