We lived on the Mississippi and have seen the ACL "cruise" boats but have never taken the cruise. Very nice boats. Seem expensive.
We cruise quite a bit and enjoy it very much. To us there are roughly two kinds of cruises. Destination cruises and "get the hell out of here trips".
The destination trips are places you want to visit, such as the Baltic, Israel, Antarctica, Hawaii, etc. The other kind are the ones are the Caribbean cruises where the ports are similar, beaches, water activities etc, but they are close and relatively inexpensive.
The notion of large and small ships is hard to explain. The Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas was the largest cruise ship in the world when built about 30 years ago and is now the smallest ship they have. The mega ships, 6,000 people, have diving shows, Broadway shows, ice skating shows, shopping malls, casinos, and loads of other entertainment which we enjoy on the Caribbean trips. The "smaller ships", around 2,000 people, are good for destinations. some people even like smaller ships around 1,000. Some ships have interesting lectures on the ports you are visiting. The 3 day weekend cruises are not a good way to get a taste of cruising as they are usually younger people enjoying a party weekend, with not very good ports. Good for them just not us.
Remember, when cruising you are seeing port cities for one, occasionally two days from 8am to 5pm.
We have never river cruised, we believe it will be too confining with little entertainment choices, but intend to try it in Europe. Looks relaxing and expensive.
Alaska is a great first cruise. Shop, shop shop, for the best deals and have a good time.
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