Prize text on color cubesMay has been a busy month with new cruise developments. Here are the main ones:

  • 2014 cruise survey prize winners drawn – AU$5100 in prizes
  • new win a free cruise opportunity – AU$6000 in prizes on offer
  • 2015 Baltic cruise last few days for early booking discounts and cabin credit
  • possible new short cruise/s out of Brisbane

8 prize winners – AU$5100 in prizes

We have run general cruise surveys, updated each year, from mid 2012 until mid-May 2014. These are now discontinued. They have served the purpose of guiding us in planning future cruises. The end result is useful to us and benefits you in two ways:

  1. the cruises planned for the future will better reflect the preferences of the majority
  2. some of you will benefit from the prizes offered for those who did the 2014 survey

We are pleased to announce the following winners of the eight prizes offered to those who submitted a completed 2014 survey and who are willing to be on this newsletter mailing list.

  • a FREE CRUISE up to the value of AU$2500 – John Loveland – Victoria
  • AU$500 cruise discount voucher – Sharon Hutchinson – Western Australia
  • AU$500 cruise discount voucher – Lynne LeStrange – Northern Territory
  • AU$200 cruise discount voucher – Debra Rohde – Victoria
  • AU$200 cruise discount voucher – Leon Daly – Western Australia
  • AU$200 cruise discount voucher – Kerry Armstrong – Western Australia
  • AU$500 a cruise discount from Clean Cruising – Chris Dennis – Queensland
    (for any Unlock the Past cruise booked with Clean Cruising)
  • AU$500 a cruise discount from Royal Caribbean – Andrea Simmons – Queensland
    (for any Unlock the Past cruise on a Royal Caribbean or Celebrity ship)

In addition a further seven prizes were offered to all who completed the survey, regardless of whether they opted to subscribe to this newsletter or not. These prizes included – a further $200 cruise voucher and six free subscriptions to Discover Your Ancestors digital magazine (12 issues valued at £12 – approx AU$22).

  • AU$200 cruise discount voucher – Pat Ferguson – United States
  • Discover Ancestors subscription – Brian Flanigan – Queensland
  • Discover Ancestors subscription – Linley Hooper – Victoria
  • Discover Ancestors subscription – Pam O’Hara – New Zealand
  • Discover Ancestors subscription – Anne Philtrip – Queensland
  • Discover Ancestors subscription – Kay Reynolds – Western Australia
  • Discover Ancestors subscription – Colin Spencer – Spain

Prize winners will be contacted directly by email – with their voucher

$6000 in prizes

$6000 in prizes in all

Win a free cruise – AU$6000 more prizes on offer

Book any Unlock the Past cruise and be in the draw to win a future Unlock the Past cruise up to AU$2500 value – or one of 12 additional prizes – AU$6000 in prizes in all, including a free cruise up to AU$2500 in value.

Choose from any of the seven or more cruises open for booking or planned from July 2014 to the end of 2016. Click here for full details.

Book any cruise between 12 May and 31 December 2014 – for any future Unlock the Past cruise – and you will automatically in the draw to win a prize (as long as you will also continue to subscribe to this newsletter)

Itinerary

Baltic cruise itinerary

Considering the Baltic cruise? Book by 31 May 2014 for extra benefits

  • book by 31 May 2014 and save AU$50
  • book by 31 May 2014  to receive US$100-US$125 on-board credit
  • we have only been given 88 cabins for our group, and some categories of these already sold out!

Visit the 8th Unlock the Past – Baltic cruise page for details – and see who has already committed as features presenters.

Over 50 people have already booked since bookings opened early last week and many more have made an initial enquiry. Book now for the best available prices, best choice of cabin – and of course the benefits available to 31 May 2014. It is possible to book outside our allocation, but prices are subject to the rate of the day, with the addition of gratuities and our conference fee (they will always be higher than our group rates).

Legend of the SeasPossible new shorter/cheaper cruises out of Brisbane

Are our currently listed cruises (booking now or planned) not right for you? Too expensive? Not the right itinerary? Not the right timing? Too long? Only interested in cruises out of Brisbane? … Well we have more options that might be of interest under consideration.

Just 2 days ago Royal Caribbean announced the itineraries for a new (to Australia) cruise ship to be based in Brisbane for the 2015/16 cruise season –Legend of the Seas. To quote their announcement:

arrives in Brisbane in December 2015 for a five month period. Revitalised in 2013, she will offer an array of stunning cruise itineraries ranging from 2-14 nights to the South Pacific, Queensland and New Zealand … Legend of the Seas is part of Royal Caribbean’s Vision Class and has similar features to Australian favourite Rhapsody of the Seas

Here is what caught our eye, and what we think may interest many of you:

  • it is the first conference suitable ship to operate a season out of Brisbane
  • it is especially convenient if you are in Queensland, where many of our cruisers come from
  • there is a great two-night cruise for a low entry cost – probably the cheapest cruise we will ever be able to offer – ideal if you’ve never cruised before to ‘test the waters’ with minimal cost and risk
  • it offers two attractively priced cruise options to the Barrier Reef
  • it offers great alternative and affordable cruise options for those not wanting to do our longer and more expensive cruises in 2015 and 2016
  • those who have cruised with Royal Caribbean before, with our cruises or others, can carry over Crown and Anchor loyalty benefits they may have earned from previous cruises.

We have enough indication of interest already to put in a submission for a group cabin allocation and conference space for the two-night cruise and will consider a Barrier Reef cruise in either 2016 or 2017.

Click here for more on the Legend cruises we are looking at – and to tell us which ones interest you.

Two great cruise reports by Chris Paton on genealogy cruising

  • Your Family Tree/History magazine Spring 2012 (article now placed online)
  • Your Family Tree/History magazine – current issue number 142, May 2014. If you don’t subscribe or have access to a copy you have to get one from a newsagent

More/most up to date – cruise information

Alan Phillips and the Unlock the Past team
alan@unlockthepast.com.au