Hi Lisa.

Glad to hear you found my post useful. We were okay with the inside cabin – we really were only in it to sleep. I booked another cruise about six months later (also with HAL. I’ve now booked a third with them in 2023!) and again went for the inside cabin. But I guess it depends what you prefer. I’m an active traveller, so I always want to be up doing things. If you prefer to relax in your cabin, then one with a window may be better.

As for budget – we travelled in Aug/Sept 2019 and paid $3091AUD for two.

Good luck with whatever you choose. I’m sure you will have a great time regardless, Alaska is amazing!

Love your blog BTW – there’s a lot I relate to there 🙂 I was reading your about page to check you were from Oz since my memory can be a bit dodgy and I found myself nodding along. We’ve been married the same amount of time, and I’m still almost an empty-nester too. Feel free to hit me up if you are ever in SA.

Hi Lisa.

Glad to hear you found my post useful. We were okay with the inside cabin – we really were only in it to sleep. I booked another cruise about six months later (also with HAL. I’ve now booked a third with them in 2023!) and again went for the inside cabin. But I guess it depends what you prefer. I’m an active traveller, so I always want to be up doing things. If you prefer to relax in your cabin, then one with a window may be better.

As for budget – we travelled in Aug/Sept 2019 and paid $3091AUD for two. I don’t have the USD amount for the time, but today that would be roughly $2375USD, so a little under $1200USD per person for a 7 night cruise.

Good luck with whatever you choose. I’m sure you will have a great time regardless, Alaska is amazing!

I love that you went on a smaller ship – this would be essential I think for us to enjoy it I believe. Alaska is probably a one time thing for us so I want to get it right – well as right as possible but the costings I’ve seen for some cruises are frightening. I wonder if you could share a ballpark figure of what your 7 day cruise cost? It is so difficult to decide what your priorities are with these expensive but wonderful experiences.

Your close bear encounter sounds both thrilling and completely scary. I can’t even begin to imagine.

Thanks Jan 🙂

Thanks Bree. Alaska really was fantastic! I keep raving about how beautiful it is. If you like cruises you should definitley look into an Alaskan one, and I was happy with the HAL service and ship, even if Volendam is meant to be a little on the older side. Hopefully you like Zuiderdam too. I think a Baltic cruise would be a good one too.