This is a brief note to let you know that I will leave home later today and will be traveling for about ten days. You probably won't see as many new articles as normal in this newsletter during that time. Of course, I travel often and have written similar notes in this newsletter before. However, I will be more incommunicado than normal on this trip.
I will start with a visit to a combined meeting of both the Falmouth Genealogical Society and the Cape Cod Genealogical Society, to be held in Osterville, Massachusetts. I have the honor of addressing the two societies at an all-day seminar on Saturday.
I will then fly to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to board the ms Westerdam on a genealogy cruise to Aruba, Curacao, and to Half Moon Cay, a small island in the Bahamas. The final leg of the cruise will return to Fort Lauderdale. The cruise is hosted by Wholly Genes, Inc., the company that produces The Master Genealogist software as well as Archive CD Books USA.
If you have never been on a genealogy theme cruise before, you have missed a great experience. Indeed, the Wholly Genes Cruise is the largest family history conference on the seas. About two hundred genealogists will be on board. Each day at sea will be spent in seminars, as presented by some of the leading genealogists of our time. The days in port are spent sightseeing on exotic tropical islands. Of course, the cruise attendees are always surrounded by excellent food, all sorts of entertainment, a fitness center, spa, nightclub, casino, and a variety of bars and lounges. In short, I think we all can find something to do on this cruise!
Internet connections from cruise ships tend to be slow and also quite expensive, so I probably won't be uploading and downloading gigabytes of information per day. Instead, I will devote most of my time to sightseeing and enjoying the islands, the ship, and the good company of hundreds of other genealogists. However, I do hope to fire off a few reports of interest to newsletter readers.
This cruise is looking like it will be a good one. The speakers are all people I have met before. I know that each of them is a genealogy expert and that each of them is also a great lecturer. I also know they all have great personalities so I believe it will be fun to travel with them.
The lecturers on this cruise include:
- Audrey Collins - Author and Family History Specialist at The National Archives in London.
- Pam Boyer Sayre, CG, CGL - Professional researcher, lecturer, writer and expert on U.S. National Archives (NARA) and computer tools
- Rick Sayre, MA, CG - Professional researcher, lecturer,, author, and expert on land records, military records, and mapping tools
- Craig Scott, MA, CG - Certified genealogist, publisher, popular speaker, and military record expert.
- John T. Humphrey, CG - Professional genealogist and expert in German and Pennsylvania research
- And myself, probably best known as a person who writes a newsletter
The 15+ hours of genealogical lectures are completely software-neutral and presented by the preeminent experts in their fields. Windows users, Macintosh owners, and even non-computer-using genealogists will find plenty of topics of interest in these seminars. A number of additional presentations will be offered on the use of The Master Genealogist and on complementary software products. These additional presentations will be offered by the staff of Wholly Genes and by others.
I always like to compare genealogy cruises to traditional genealogy conferences held in lecture halls and convention centers. Indeed, the subjects of the presentations are similar with sessions conducted by genealogy experts. The primary differences are that shipboard conferences have better scenery and better food! Another difference is that the cruises also offer better entertainment when the seminars are not in session.
Still another advantage of the cruises is that attendees have an opportunity to share a meal with a world-class genealogist or to schedule one-on-one time to discuss specific research challenges.
Spouses and other family members who are not interested in attending genealogy seminars also can find much more to do on a cruise ship than in a convention center in a typical city. Then the entire family can spend time together at the meals and in port for a truly memorable vacation.
If you have never been on a genealogy cruise before, I would suggest you sign up for one. It will be an experience you will never forget. As stated on the cruise's web site: "What could be better than a Caribbean vacation and a first-class genealogy conference all rolled into one?"
It is too late to sign up for this year's Wholly Genes Cruise that departs on Sunday, but there will be more cruises next year. You can read more about this year's Wholly Genes' Genealogy Conference and Cruise at http://www.whollygenes.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?screen=CRUISE
I suspect I will also write about the cruise shortly after I return ten days from now.
If you enjoyed this article, please share it with others. Tweet it, share it on Google+, Facebook or on your preferred social network.
Republishing of this article in newsletters, blogs, and elsewhere is allowed and encouraged, with a few minor restrictions. Details may be found at http://goo.gl/hoHH1.
Of course, if you haven’t done so already, you should join my email newsletter mailing list to stay current on my latest articles and announcements. You can also cancel at any time within seconds. I promise to never, ever send you any unrequested e-mail, other than newsletter updates.
