I cruise on American Canadian Caribbean (ACCL) for several reasons, not the least of which is that a) you bring your own booze (except for the Captain's Party) and b) the ships carry a total of about 100 passengers, max.

If you want to visit Alaska, forget the bloody cruise lines!! Get to Bellingham and go up on the Alaska State Ferries. You can get a stateroom, you can bring your own car, you can sleep in the solarium in your own tent if want, or you can stake out a place in the lounge. Food is good and cafeteria style (you pay for what you get), there's a bar (you pay for your drinks), and there's no pressure to participate in anything at all (ditto for ACCL). The Blue Canoes put into places the cruise ships don't, like Angoon, and you can actually get to meet REAL LIVING BREATHING ALASKANS!! (mixed with real Germans, real Tlingit, real Aleuts, and others). Of course, you do have to do the planning...but there aren't many Carnival Cruises or Princess Line ships going to Unalaska or Dutch, I betcha!

Another note -- a few years back Princess and other lines got into DEEP TROUBLE in Alaska for dumping things like raw sewage and photographic chemicals into the harbors. And that doesn't even begin to deal with Cruise Flu....