We agree! We also board this Saturday, and though we have been aware of the problems, we still prefer to see Glacier Bay aboard a half empty ship! This will be our first trip to Alaska on a cruise, but we've done 15 other cruises to the Caribbean and/or Mexico and we've found that the first time in a port, we tend to explore the cities, rather than book excursions.
So losing a few hours in a port is not as big a deal for us. We also like the smaller ships, with less kids, and less entitled passengers. 😁