4th cruise home – program – presenters – the ship – itinerary – pricing/booking – newsletters
Welcome to our first cruise 4 newsletter. We will issue newsletters from time to time as there are significant developments.
Voyager in Sydney Harbour
Bookings
- we already have nearly 120 people booked/committed – over three times the number we had at the same stage for the 3rd cruise
- quite few more have registered interest but not yet booked
- around half of those booked were on the 3rd cruise, suggesting a positive 3rd cruise experience or the added benefit of the 40% credit offered to those on the 3rd cruise – or both
- those considering the 4th cruise should consider booking soon – for several reasons:
– 70% of our reserved block of cabins are now committed
– 3 of the 11 cabin categories are already booked out
– numbers may need to be capped early due to limited conference room capacity - the stronger the early bookings the better the case we have to get an extra room in the conference centre. This would enable us to open the whole conference centre out into a single large room for main meetings, and allow us to accommodate many more than in 2013
Program
The speaker line up is almost finalised and the program is being developed. The aim is to have a provisional program online around the end of April.
N. Kyle
T. MacEntee
C. Paton
N. Smith
Do you know?
- we can help you find a suitable cabin partner to lower your cost – if you are single traveller. Please contact Alanalan@unlockthepast.com.au or Natalya at Clean Cruising.
- Unlock the Past offers a loyalty discount to those who have cruised with us before – $50 for one previous Unlock the Past cruise, $100 for two or more.
- Royal Caribbean International has its own loyalty program – the Crown & Anchor society. You earn points (credits towards benefits) for every cruise night that you sail with them and DOUBLE the points for purchase of a suite. You still need to book your Unlock the Past Cruise with Clean Cruising though to be part of our group.
- Australia has one of the highest per capita cruise rates in the world. Only the UK (slightly) and US were ahead of Australia in 2011, and Australia has been growing much faster than both these countries – with average growth 2007-2011 of 22.5% per year.
Some results from our 3rd cruise survey
- the Voyager as a conference venue? – 85% excellent or very good, 11 % good
- the speakers and presentations (overall) – 100% excellent or very good
- was your research experience and knowledge enhanced by the cruise? – 44% considerably, 35% quite a bit
- how do you rate the experience as value for money? – 91% excellent or very good, 9% good
- how often would you like to go on an Unlock the Past Cruise?
– twice a year – 2%
– once a year – 44%
– every 2 years – 48%
– every 3 years – 4%
– not interested in more – 2%
3rd cruise group
- what future cruises may interest you? (% of those responding)
– the 4th cruise Feb 2014 – southern Australian ports – 61%
– a possible 5th cruise mid 2015 – UK to the Baltic – 72%
– a possible future cruise – UK to the Mediterranean – 59%
– a possible 2-5 day cruise out of Fremantle – 17%
– a possible 2-5 day cruise out of Adelaide – 19%
– a possible 2-5 day cruise out of Sydney – 26%
(other cities not included in the survey are also a possibility)
mid 2015 cruise
Future cruise plans
2015 cruise – mid 2015 – out of the UK, (or possibly Amsterdam) to the Baltic – southern Scandinavia, St Petersburg and northern Europe
- this is attracting a lot of interest. Our future cruises survey is showing 50% stronger interest than the 2014 cruise, which itself is looking much stronger than the 3rd.
- as well as interest from prospective cruisers, we have had strong interest from prospective top line speakers from the British Isles, North America and elsewhere – mostly those who have heard about the cruise and offered their services.
- we can’t give a date until 2015 itineraries are published, but based on 2013 and 2014 itineraries it looks likely there will be something suitable in June or July 2015. Despite a good number of Baltic cruises on offer, there are very few ships/cruises with conferencing facilities for groups of 300-500, so we are limited to just a few options.
- though we can’t sign up to a cruise this far out (probably not until this time next year), we intend to put in a submission in later in April to major cruise lines for a priority choice of cruises and conference access.
- If you have not done so it would strengthen our 2015 submission if you could do our future cruises survey – anything from “definitely plan to go” to “not interested” or “can’t afford it” – or anything in between.
UNLOCK THE PAST GENEALOGY CRUISES TO GO INTERNATIONAL
More choices – more cruises, more itineraries, more price levels, more varied programs
- alll new genealogy cruising web site coming later this month
- considering at least two cruises a year
– a major/full conference cruise each year overseas and Australia
– shorter/cheaper/more basic cruises from different departure ports
WATCH THIS SPACE
New cruise Facebook page
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Alan Phillips and the Unlock the Past team