By Pamela Vachon
When the Royal Princess pulled away from the port in Seattle with me, my husband, and my extended family on board, I wondered what the next week would hold.My mother and sister had conspired to plan a family trip in honor of my dad’s 80th birthday, deciding on an Alaskan cruise as the setting for our first-ever group vacation.I’m an avid traveler, but I’d previously had reservations about cruises. I typically prefer to navigate a new place myself for more than just a handful of hours in port.Not to mention my extended family of 13 hadn’t spent more than a day together … well, ever. We generally get along, but eight days spent traveling together is a different story than eight hours together in someone’s living room on Christmas.This cruise from Seattle to Alaska’s Inside Passage, however, turned out to be an ideal vacation for a multigenerational group of people with different abilities, travel styles, and interests.