Here's what we learned:

Don't take wine. We paid $31 in Seattle for a 1.5-liter red and a 750-milliliter white but on boarding were charged a $15 corkage fee for each. A Corona beer was $5.18; a snifter of Courvosier, $8.91; a glass of Duckhorn Chardonnay, $12.36; a bottle of Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel, $52. We didn't drink much alcohol.

Don't log on to the Web. I did that in the ship's Internet Cafe to check my fantasy baseball team results, and it cost me $21.75 for 28 minutes. During one shore excursion, I found a cafe with computers that took quarters and paid $4 for half an hour online.

Don't expect to get to all the onboard activities; there are too many. The library was the only place to hide from incessant messages from cruise director Simon Murray, touting art auctions, beauty treatments, jewelry seminars, shopping tips, bingo, photo sessions, line dancing, disco parties, etc. I read a James Patterson novel in one afternoon of blessed quiet as the magnificent scenery slid by.

Do enjoy the nightly free entertainment; it was first-rate - short and sweet, about 75 minutes a show. We saw a Second City comedy troupe twice, once doing an improv show based on audience suggestions. The Jean Ann Ryan Company of dancers presented "Garden of the Geisha," featuring flying circus acrobatics, and another night it put on a Las Vegas-style singing and dancing revue. Other nights, there was a comedian, a magician and the crew's comical, water-spitting revue.

Do take shore excursions. They break the monotony of staring at the horizon, and doing them every other day was a fine idea and a great way to view nature. Get a front-row seat, take binoculars, guidebooks, hats and layers of clothes. Our highlight was a guided river boat tour ($162 a person) out of Haines to a bald eagle preserve, where we also saw two moose. We also enjoyed visiting Juneau's receding Mendenhall Glacier ($49 a person) and Ketchikan's Totem Bight State Park ($37 a person) to hear the stories behind the carving of towering totems.

All in all, our first cruise was a great experience, and we'll do it again, especially now that we know what to expect.