[geeks] desperation is the mother of invention

[Amy]

On Fri, 6 Jul 2001, Ken Hansen wrote:
> The real question comes down to, how do their prices compare to other, 
> non-technical cruises?

the same or cheaper, per person, than your garden variety cruise selling
at an outlet or a mass-cruiseline agency (i've done some checking). the
guy's only making a profit off the lecture fees (amd even then i doubt its
that much profit). right now he's got spouses traveling at 33% off and
usually most cruise lines add in a 3rd/4th person (kids, roommates) for
even better discounts. either way it does end up being much cheaper when
you consider that everything's paid for outside of alcohol on the boats.

> If the technical cruises are similar to a non-technical cruise as far as 
> non-technical folks are concerned, convincing the family to tag along
> would be simple.

unless they're registered for the lectures they probably wouldnt even
notice the geekcruise part of it. they'd be just your regular cruise
passengers (i.e., going into the ports, playing shuffleboard, in the
casinos, whatever).

> Wait, I just checked their site and two things jumped out at me:
> 	2) They seem to offer significant spouse/child discounts
> 	   (35%) when booked far enough in advance

the nice thing is you can probably convince your employer to pay for the
convention fees and your part of it. so it cuts vacation costs for the
rest of the family right there by a lot of money.

> I think it would be reasonable to as the organizers to see about Solaris 
> Cruise - I bet you could get great speakers out of Sun (doesn't Bill
> have some "inside" contacts there? ;^) and probably even get Sun to
> sponsor some attendees (favorite clisnts, etc.)
>

iiee, i hope they think its a good idea. maybe if they people who like the
idea could also pester him, he'd think it was viable! ;) *smacks hint
stick around*

--a