I am packing my bags and hitting the road again. I am leaving home for three weeks and will be traveling by land, sea, and air.
I'll spend the first week on board a cruise ship with several hundred other genealogists. This is the annual cruise sponsored by Wholly Genes, producers of The Master Genealogist genealogy software and of Archive CD Books USA, which makes digital reproductions of old books and other materials of value to genealogists. I have been on this cruise before and always found it to be top notch. I suspect this year's cruise will be at least as good. This year's cruise will depart Fort Lauderdale and make stops in St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Princess Cays, Bahamas. The ship returns to Fort Lauderdale at the end of the one-week cruise.
Like most genealogy cruises, the Wholly Genes Cruise combines genealogy classes at sea, daytime excursions in exotic ports, and luxurious accommodations at all times. Three things differentiate the Wholly Genes cruises: the large number of speakers, the large number of presentations, and the large number of attendees.
The majority of presentations are not specific to The Master Genealogist. Indeed, there are classes and seminars covering many genealogical topics for beginners, intermediate genealogists, and experts alike. Speakers this year include:
Barbara Grempler
Bob Velke
Cyndi Howells
Hank Jones
John Cardinal
John Grenham (from Ireland)
John Titford (from England)
Kent Riggins
Lee Hoffman
Marsha Hoffman Rising
Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak
Phil DeSilva
Robert Charles Anderson
Sandra Hewlett
Tony Burroughs
and myself
A list of all the presentations is too long to include here. You can find that and many more details about the cruise at http://www.whollygenes.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?screen=CRUISE.
It is obviously too late to sign up for this year's cruise that leaves on Sunday. However, I suspect there will be another cruise next year. I'll write more about this year's Wholly Genes cruise once it ends. If it sounds like something you would enjoy, you might consider signing up for next year's cruise once it is announced.
At the end of the cruise, I will remain in Florida for a while. Since I will spend the next three weeks traveling, some of that time at sea, hobbled with slow or perhaps nonexistent communications, don't be surprised if some of the daily editions of this newsletter and even the weekly Plus Edition get delayed occasionally. I will be traveling with a laptop and a variety of wireless networking equipment. However, good ol' Murphy of "Murphy's Law" fame is never far away. Besides, I can probably find something else to keep me entertained while on board a cruise ship or while in St. Maarten or in St. Thomas!
