10 years ago, I booked a one way cruise through Celebrity with my Mom. We booked them because at the time, they had the best value for what we wanted with inside passage and cruisetour on the other end. I've cruised through various ships from HAL, NCL, Carnival, and Princess prior to for EU, or Carb but it was my first time through AK.
We loved it. We enjoyed the foods, the inside passage, and the service we encountered. It wasn't cheap. In fact, we felt at the time, it was more spendy then our EU cruise but we really did enjoy every moment, and wished we had spent more time in Denali.
This year, hubby and I are doing AK cruise through Princess. Initary was sole focus. We've had 3 cruises canceled on us ranging from work, Covid to weather. So we didn't want to fly LOL....we're trying so hard not to get excited due to our poor luck. He's never been on a cruise, and it's a SEA to VAN route. I wish we could go one way but time was not meant to be in this case. I really feel that if you do one way, you should go inland. It's so worth it.
Frankly, i completely understand route and cost are major considerations for many. Each line has it's "feel" and how they provide you services. Everything has a cost, the choice is up to you where you spend it.