Richard,
Jim and I actually were booked on Cruise West for Alaska last year but then decided to go for more luxury and better food, entertainment, etc. and switched to the Mariner. (Which we loved.) C.W. was actually more expensive than RSSC.
We are still considering Cruise West for the future sometime. The impressions I got from some of the reviews I read last year was that the food was very good, not gourmet though.
