My husband and I and our two small children are avid cruisers but up until now, had only cruised the Caribbean. Our last three cruises were all on Celebrity. We were actually on the Nieuw Amsterdam once in the Caribbean, six years ago, and were unimpressed - mostly because it skewed older and had very little in the way of nightlife and entertainment. But when my parents announced they wanted to do a family cruise, all of my research suggested Holland America was the best line to Alaska. And it turns out we made a wonderful choice. Overall, we had a fantastic time.

We had 20 people total in our group, with six small children (a 2 year old, a 3 year old, 3 six-year olds and an 8 year old) six people ages 40-50 and eight people around 70. We had a row of balconies on deck 5 midship, so we were able to open all the balconies to create a communal balcony area that was awesome.

Embarkation took a bit of time. Vancouver is a beautiful city with a shortage of taxis and no Uber or Lyft. Plan ahead and leave yourself plenty of time to get to the pier. Read more