I have to concur with MarkRG and WDWLVR in that we pick
DCL first and the itenerary second.
We are delighted with ANY destination if we can be aboard a
Disney Cruise Line ship! Our family has always had an amazing time on our DCL adventures. When they cruised the Mexican Riviera in 2008 we went because it was an opportunity to see new ports PLUS sail on DCL.
We had looked at other Alaskan cruise offerings....inner passage, little
National Geographic cruises...we kept coming back to our love of DCL. We have cruised on another line. They were 'ok' and it was pre-DCL. I've tried to vacation 'on the cheap' before and been dissappointed, especially when you have an excellent yard stick for measurement. Our vacation time and dollars are well spent with any Disney destination.
Disney cruises are more expensive than some/most of the competitors. Because of this we don't repeat destinations on DCL for the week or longer cruises. Now for shorter cruises the ship IS the vacation and IMHO there is no finer destination for beach fun than
Castaway Cay.
As long as DCL varries their ports of call we'll keep sailing! Our
travel agent typed "I say this very softly - you could go to the same ports for less money on another cruise line" I thanked her for the info and booked our DCL Alaskan vacation.
I must admit we freely drink the Disney Kool-aid. We are members of the DVC (should have done it YEARS before we did BTW), have been on 4 DCL cruises with our family, and up to our DVC purchase in 2006 went every other year to WDW for Christmas since 1997. We now make at least one trip a year to DL or WDW and went on a wonderful Adventures by Disney tour last summer.
As for being negative about the destination ports that DCL selected, I don't care.
We've never been to Alaska so any port will be new and exciting for our family! Looking forward to soft serve ice cream, adult clubs, the adult pool, some outstanding table companions, and a great time being pampered by a Wonderful crew.