Unlock the Past Cruises is testing the waters, so to speak, to find out if there is any interest in a seven-night genealogy Alaskan cruise from Seattle, Washington to Skagway, Alaska in the third quarter of 2018.
Based on their previous cruises, they expect to spend 2-1/2 days at sea for “a good conference program.” This should allow for about 20 talks in the main stream and perhaps 10 talks (if they run with this option) in a second parallel stream.
They propose to have two or three leading presenters from the UK and North America, with other supporting presenters from Australia, North America, and perhaps other countries.
Provisional booking
If you are definitely or reasonably likely to be interested in this cruise, you can place a provisional (no obligation) booking. They are not asking for a deposit, just a “fair expression of your interest (definite, probably or possible)” on the Alaskan cruise reply form.
Learn more about the itinerary, cost, and provisional booking on the Unlock the Past Cruises website.
The costs are provided in Australian and US dollars, but not, surprisingly, in Canadian currency, even though part of the tour includes Victoria, British Columbia, which is just across the border from Seattle. If find it odd that this Australian company is overlooking Canada, a fellow member of the British Commonwealth, and is not more welcoming toward the Canadian genealogy community.
Follow-up article: Alaskan genealogy cruise update — Prices in Canadian and other currencies
Gail, thank you for the mention of our proposed 2018 cruise. Most of our group will be Australians. We expect that most from outside Australia will book with local agents in their own currencies. There are too many uncertainties about a cruise two years away when the exchange rate may be quite different, the list pricing in other countries may differ from the Australian list prices and the nearest we have now are 2017 prices.
We also get bookings from New Zealand, Britain and other countries, but did not give their equivalents either. The only reason I gave a USD figure rate (despite the uncertainties mentioned above) is that most people would have no idea of conversion from AUD, but would usually have a good idea from USD. But I have changed the form of the costing note anyway now – with rough guides to conversion in five currencies. And added a bit more about our target date. We always give multiple currency figures as guides when cruises are finally confirmed and prices fixed.
Good point about the currency rate changing in a couple of years. Thanks for the additional info!
I have since been able to log into Royal Caribbean web sites for each country and put up guide line entry prices for each of six countries/regions in their on currency – for the nearest 2017 equivalent to our target 2018 cruise. They are all very close when checked with current exchange rates. They are now on our cruise page.
I published a follow-up blog post today about the additional currencies.