I did the Alaska cruise three or four years ago and I brought along several large lenses and a decent tripod in its own custom case just for the purposes of having all the options for getting great photos during the trip. I achieved what I wanted but I wished I could do it all over again having had that initial experience.
I would suggest making your equipment choice based on your itinerary and any excursions you plan to take. Are you planning for nature shots? Glaciers? Whale watching? All three can be achieved with a moderate camera investment. Whale watching generally requires a high-quality, high-speed lens. This may be a pain to lug around. However, if you call ahead to the excursion company, you check for ones that will offer their photos as an add-on for the excursion package. This will save you time, money, and the hassle of lugging heavy gear around on a small boat that will be at a safe distance away.
Most of the nature shots can be achieved with an average lens. I would usually keep a 70-200m lens ready for this purpose. Shooting glaciers I would recommend a good tripod to squeeze out maximum detail, especially if stitching together several frames for a panorama. This is my one regret, not getting enough frames in my field of view for the panorama – I was trying to get all of the glacier I could and missed getting shots in the foreground of the glacier and the little ‘burgs in front of me. Did manage to get some of the calving. Another reason why a tripod is helpful.
One last funny thing to share. On the nature hike/whale watching excursion we had the joy of this annoying, young Instagram California couple on our boat. They brought along this tiny plastic Polaroid Instamatic camera hoping to get their Instagram selfies with the whales. After repeated failures, they attempted to “hire” those of us who planned ahead with the right gear and proper clothing. No one agreed to offer our photos to them. By the end of the excursion the rest of us in the group were ready to feed this annoying couple to the bears so they could have all the close up selfies they wanted.
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