I did the Disney 5k when we cruised last year. Always fun to get up, sneak out of the room as to not wake the family, go run a race, come back, and find everybody still asleep. Ha!

As somebody else said, Disney cruises are AMAZING. We are going again this November. The kids said it was their favorite vacation ever.

I took a 17 day cruise in January for work, believe it or not. My wife and I led a student group on the trip and we did a service project in the AM at every port of call that we went to. Certainly, it is not an ideal situation, but I was able to get in some good training. A few tips that I came up with:

Your definition of a lap pool and theirs are likely very different. Thankfully, I brought a swim tether with me and tied it to the ladder. (http://www.swimtether.com/) I did a lot of 30, 45 and 60 second intervals on it with short rest. On our port days, I got an open water swim in the afternoons after our project. The tether will pull your hips down and force you to go to your legs quite a bit. People will look at you like you are crazy, but no worries! Also, try to swim into the waves. The boat will rock side to side sometimes and forward to back others.

The Gym typically does not have great ventilation. Bring a lot of water. I did a couple 5-6 hour rides on the spin bikes they had in there and it was pretty hot and stuffy. On the plus side, I got to watch some whales who were playing by our boat for a few hours during one of the rides! Pretty cool. Bring your HRM with you since you probably won't have power. Pretty easy to get the hr up and keep it there for an extended period of time. You will sweat...a lot. And it probably won't evaporate much. Throw a towel behind the bike and in front of the bike. First day, I didn't do this and someone slipped in my sweat...at the other end of the gym! The rocking boat moved the puddle of sweat and I didn't even realize it.

The treadmills are usually pretty good in the gym. However, watch the weather. A few days the water was really choppy and you really couldn't run at all on a moving treadmill. The captain will give a weather report every morning, pay attention to the winds and plan your runs for days that have a little less wind. Again, I tried to get my longer runs in on dry land whenever possible.

Your running and/or biking shoes will likely be soaked every day. Take the inserts out and put some news paper in them to draw out the moisture and so they don't stink...so bad. I brought a pair I could just leave in the garbage on the ship at the end.

Be flexible with your workout plan, get in what you can, relax some, and of course, enjoy the trip!

Hope this helps a bit.

Kept up casual training on last 2 cruises. 40 minute hard sessions on the treadmill, some rowing and there's always spin bikes (usually for an extra charge). Also, DON"T TAKE THE ELEVATOR- EVER. Even my pregnant wife kept up with the use of stairs. On our last cruise in July, the only time I stepped foot in the elevator was on the last day taking our bags down to get off the boat!
Also remember, the buffet food isn't all that good, so no need to gorge.
My cruise was 1 week before my first olympic race.

Have done a fair bit of cruising and training. Depending on the boat size (we have tended to go smaller) you won't find too many pools that are worth swimming in. Have never seen a lap pool on cruise boat, so if you get one, sweet. Just use it when everyone else is eating (so that gives you what? about 23 hrs a day) As for swim training using a tether, I suppose it works, but you will look like on of "those guys".

Running is a pain on a boat, if there is any wave action. But when that happens just crank up the angle on the treadmill and walk uphill. Same workout with added bonus of no likely damage. Or try this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLfUgXcvq4g

Most boats I have been on do not have spin bikes generally available, they are reserved for classes and the classes are usually lousy and short. Ordinary bikes are nasty and cause a lot of chafing, so good luck on that score. If you get access to a spin bike, it's better than nothing.

Weights for the swim muscles (yeah swimmers use weights) are a good alternative.

On my trips I have usually done two workouts a day (1 :15'ish each). One before breakfast Spin/run/swim mornings and weights/spin run afternoons, during everone else's "nap time" before dinner, gymn is always deserted once they start serving desert.

In port you can run from the boat and see a little different view of the port that the tourists don't see. Mind you, watch out for dogs if you run the back streets, had a whole pack chase me in South America (stop running real quick), they were a little suspicious of gringos.

And if you get really bored, you can always jump of and chase the ship.

A few years ago I went on a 7-day Alaskan cruise on Princess 3 weeks out from Lake Placid. We stopped at Ketchican, Juneau, and Skagway (sorry, those are probably spelled wrong). Juneau was the only one out of the three where I could rent a road bike (the other places had hybrids), but things may have changed since then. Biking was a great way to explore the island and meet the locals. The cruise ship did have an indoor pool. Alaskan cruises tend to have more older folks than kids so the pools aren't that crowded. Barley anyone uses the outdoor pools especially when the ship is moving. The fitness center also had a Jacuzzi/endless pool, but I never used it. Running is great in Alaska because the weather is cooler. I ran in Skagway, but I didn't in Ketchican. The fitness center on our ship wasn't that great. It had one upright bike and we weren't allowed to use the spin bikes unless there was a class. You should have no problem getting in 60-90 mins of training, especially if you get up early.

Just in case people stumble across this thread who are cruising the Mediterranean instead of Alaska, I had the run of my life on Santorini in the Aegean. I got off the ship first thing and ran up the donkey path. (The cruise tenders come in to a small port that is 900' below the town. There are three options up: 1) cable car; 2) ride a donkey; 3) run up the donkey path and trying not to slip on donkey crap. I chose option #3. After that, it was a run along the rim trail about 1000' feet above the ocean with amazing views:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/297720900

I did the Holland America Alaska cruise a few years ago. I agree that it was epic in the true sense of the word. I was keen to work out every day BUT......

1. Running on a treadmill, looking out the window at the scenery was a truly weird sensation. Running on a treadmill is never my favourite thing to do, but on a boat, limited options.
2. The scenery won out so I skipped working out after one day and just spent my entire time at the rail, checking out the awesome sights. I figured I had spent thousands to get from New Zealand to Alaska so I wasn't gunna waste time working out, and miss anything!
3. I didn't work out on land, because we just had too much too see and do. We did take a day trip to the Yukon and went horseback riding and also canoe across a lake. Disappointingly, the canoe guide was TERRIBLE. Having spent a lot of time wilderness canoeing, we ignored his instructions and did it the right way. Everyone was impressed by the paddling my wife and I demonstrated. That was the extent of our exercise on the trip.
4. We followed that up with a week snorkelling the coral reef outside our hotel in Tahiti and swimming with sharks, on the way home to NZ.

Alaska? Can't wait to go back there. Wicked awesome place
Tahiti? Glad I never have to go back. Dirty and expensive
Next week I'm off to Fiji for a week of R&R at 1/3 the price with people who don't despise the tourists.

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

I have done two Disney cruises. The gym is good and the treadmills are as good as the ones at any nice hotel gym. Cycling is impractical. The Disney 5k was great...I ran 18:20 and finished 3rd. Then the dude who finished 2nd came with me and we ran the course 2 more times. I rented some bikes (cruisers) with my kids later that day and biked on the island...now that I know the roads I'd plan an even better long run next time. Pretty well any port where you stop can have some good running and Alaska is no exception. Go onto Garmin Connect or an equivalent site and find out where people go running. Have a great holiday!

We cruised Alaska on the Holland America Zuiderdam. Swimming? Forget about it on that ship as the pools are too small and are filled with children or lounging adults in bikinis and board shorts.

Running was excellent. I went to Deck 5 (I think) which has a wrap around wooden deck. You go very early in the morning, earlier the better. We had a balcony room and one of the mornings I was up early for running and after I got changed I went out on the balcony, and it was just me and a whale up at that hour. I saw and heard the whale smacking its tail repeatedly on the water. That was one of my favourite moments on the whole cruise. The wind blows you around a bit and you have to be careful on the wet deck, but it is a great experience because there are very few other people on the walking deck at the time, and the scenery is fantastic.

I couldn't bear cycling or running in the heat of the gym. A fan isn't enough to keep you cool up there. Probably a good simulation for the heat of Kona, though! Ha! Depends on the gym for each particular ship. Previously I ran successfully on the treadmill of the Celebrity Galaxy during another Alaskan cruise.

Have fun...