I had never take a cruise before and one along the Inside Passage of Alaska was considered by veteran travelers as a good "starter cruise" for a person wanting to get their feet wet, but not too wet. Celebrity Cruise Lines had a reputation as being solid if somewhat staid, premium but still affordable. If it kept me away from the "macarena, tequila swilling crowds" it would suit my purpose. Some may balk at the tuxedo requirements or the set dinner times and seating arrangements but for me they added to the sense of attending a costume party and harkened back to a time when ocean travel was the only mode of transportation between the United States and Europe.

The Southeast region, the seat of Alaska's government and timber industry, is a 500-mile-long vacation paradise of forests, wildlife, rock and water long famous as the Inside Passage. About half of the tourists who come to Alaska arrive or depart on cruise ships that make their way through the islands of the Inside Passage to Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway and other destinations.

Cities, towns and villages of the Inside Passage include:

Ketchikan (7,845) plays up its boisterous history of timber, gold and fishing but has gained recent notoriety as the site for the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere".

Sitka, (8,894) the only Southeast town facing the Gulf of Alaska, has Sitka National Historical Park to remember its Native and Russian background, and lots of whales near shore.

Juneau (30,981) has a mountain tram, a salmon hatchery, the state museum and the governor's mansion.

Skagway (841) was the debarkation point for stampeders heading over Chilkoot Pass in the Klondike gold rush of 1897-98. A great deal of town is now part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.