Cruising is awesome. There is always so much entertainment on the ship, from comedians to Broadway musical type shows. There are bars with dancing, bars with live music, bars with karaoke, etc. There is usually a casino, shopping, a spa, an exercise room, a basketball court, mini golf, a climbing wall, several pools, etc. etc. etc.
The meals are very nice. The restaurants compare to very nice high-end restaurants. Here is a sample menu:
The dishes on the right that they call "Timeless Starters/Entrees" are available every meal. The dishes on the left will change daily. And every day there are delicious choices. I have only cruised in the Caribbean before (just 3 times) and down there they have meals that reflect the local food at the closest Port of Call. I am not sure how the food will vary on an Alaskan cruise, but by that sample menu it looks like they will present recipes from all over the world.
Here are some excursions I have booked already:
Icy Strait Point/Hoonah - some info on the area is here:
This island has the highest population density of brown bears on the planet. I am renting a Ford F250 with extended cab that seats 5 people. It will be my wife and I, and two of my sister and my brother-in-law. I will be buying a map at the Forestry Service and talking with them to see what the best spots are to observe brown bears. I expect to see brown bears and a lot of other wildlife. There are trails that we might hike. I decided to rent a vehicle and do a self-guided tour so we have more flexibility, and more time. We will have close to 8 hours to do our own thing.
In Juneau we have a shuttle bus pass from town to Mendenhall Glacier and back. We plan to go to the glacier in the morning and do a hike up to it, and also some other hikes in the area that are highly recommended.
Then we plan to go back to the ship to eat lunch. Then in the afternoon we will take the Goldbelt Tram up Mount Roberts and do some scenic hikes up there, overlooking the town and other nice scenery.
Another Port of Call is Ketchikan where we are going to do some ocean kayaking. This is a guided tour. We will be out on the water for 2.5 hours. We will have some time to look around the town of Ketchikan too. There are several options that we are considered like self-guided walking tours. Touristy stuff...
We have a few days cruising in the Inner Passage. We are hoping to see whales, sea lions, seals, etc. from the boat. There will be a lot of bald eagles and other wildlife to see on the shore too, apparently. We will also see the Hubbard Glacier.
We will go out every night to one or more shows. And we will hit the bars. I will probably make a fool of myself at karaoke.
Only a real stick-in-the-mud would be bored on a cruise.