A couple of us who post on this board and Cruise Critic were discussing FT tags. I came up with the idea of a "cruise do". Just wanted to see if there was any interest.

What cruise line???

Where???

When???

My own personal opinion-if I was the sole decision maker

Repo cruise to South America, Europe, or the Panama Canal. Relatively inexpensive

When: fall 2007 or spring 2008-few kids, longer cruise, more "mature" (well, this is FT)

Cruiseline-Cunard, Seabourne, Celebrity

I am more than willing to make the arrangements, place a group of cabins on hold or whatever else needs to be done. I do this logistics stuff everyday, so it is relatively easy for me.

Anyone else interested??? All opinions welcome!!!

Sounds like an interesting idea.

How about a suggestion to start this off???

For a "maiden voyage" DO, I would suggest a relatively short cruise - say five days or thereabouts, just to see how it goes. If it goes well (and I anticipate it would), further such DOs could be planned on longer cruises.

My preference would be for something out of a Florida port, but that's mainly because I live here and could drive to the port! Obviously other folks will have other preferences, I'm sure.

I'm not convinced that where the cruise goes is particularly important at this point since the basic objective is to meet and greet fellow FT travelers, right?

Either fall or spring would be fine - as you said, when the kids are in school and not on board - although I'm not convinced that FTers themselves are particularly "mature." Have you read Omni lately?

seabourn has 7 night caribbean from ~$2700 and 12 night transatlantic from $2500. (only $200 single supp on transatlantic)

seadream has 5 night caribbean from $2000 and 11 night transatlantic from $2200.

small ships like seabourn and seadream are probably not the best for a DO, unless you did a charter. which would require a LOT of people.

cunard, celebrity, etc would start MUCH cheaper, and seem to be much more workable IMO.

(i thought seabourn was fantastic, i did a crossing last year for my first cruise. the small size and having all regular pax just seems to be a minus for a DO.)

heh, i guess i count as young and mature i actually had admin remove OMNI from my account, as well as starwood.

I think Flyingmama has a good suggestion-keep this to one of the shorter cruises for a first time outing.

I have two up for suggestion:

1. Costa cruises out of Venice-5 day - either November 18 or 19 (may be too close to Thanksgiving or that timing may be a big advantage)

Insides-from $599.00, Suites from $1279.00

And October/November airfares to Europe should be fairly reasonable and great times for an end of the year MR

2. October-every week on Sunday-6 day "leaf peeping" cruises on Norwegian Spirit-NYC to Canada,
Boston and Martha's Vineyard. Insides-from $799.00, Suites from $2699.00

I have never been on either Norwegian or Costa. But I believe the object is to get a bunch of FT'ers together and not focus so much on the cruise itself. Both Norwegian and Costa are more casual, for those that don't like formal nights. Maybe others think we should focus on the cruise.

Comments??? Suggestions???

one other thought - book through a Virtuoso TA for their benefits

Good suggestions, Greatam. Personally I like this idea:

It would be easy for US/Canadian FTers to get to, without the hassles of a transatlantic flight....unless you're coming from the other direction, of course, LOL.

i would agree, New England or Europe would probably be best in terms of getting a bunch of people together.

(technically not as good as a crossing, but thats a whole different animal.)

I liked the "leaf peeping" idea too. Our company hauls firewood out of upstate NY to CT, Mass and RI every year during leaf peeping season. I always thought it was kind of nuts, but now I could be one of the nuts.

I will call both my own TA and Norwegian tomorrow when I have free time and find out about a group cruise booking. Usually if you book 10 rooms, you get one free. So, the cost of 9 rooms is split between 10 couples, which reduces the fare somewhat. But I don't know if you have to book all 10 in the same category. I will find out.

We are going to have to generate more interest. How do we do that???

Post it as a DO in the Community forum?

We are thinking of taking the Island Princess from LAX to YVR on May 11th. That might be a fun party. ^

We are also thinking of buying a round trip airline ticket SEA/LAX and then taking the Diamond Princess September 15th YVR/LAX and flying home with the other half of the ticket. That could be another party.

The prices are right

Good ideas. However, Canada is really cracking down this year on "x offenders". People are being denied entrance into Canada (Vancouver side specifically) for 30-40 year old DUI, pot busts, etc. Evidently, they have now tied the Vancouver border computers into the NCIC computers in the US.

Had the problem with one of my employees in October. Pot bust in 1974-misdemeanor-$250.00 fine, one year probation. That driver has been in and out of Canada for the 3 years he has worked for me. Had to get another driver to take the load into Vancouver.

The new restrictions are all over Cruise Critic. People are really freaking out as quite a few have "youthful indiscretions" and have cruises booked to Alaska.

Canada is denying entrance for very old convictions. You must have a "rehabilitation" certificate to enter Canada if you have an old conviction. Would hate to have problems for any of our group in Vancouver.

My comments: I haven't done a "DO" yet, but I'd still be interested in something like this. I like the concept and thinking about cruise lines where single supplements are not too high. I would consider it.

Regarding the single supplement. My suggestion would be to concentrate on the total cost, or your per diem. It's hard to find a deal for a single on the popular cruise lines, but it's not hard to find a deal.

Punki has the right idea in tossing up a cruise that is being considered, or has been booked. If it sounds good to a few others, you've got your group.