Cruise - Destination: Caribbean Cruise
French Quarter to a Caribbean Cruise, one exciting week!
Departing from New Orleans, our trip onboard begins midday on Monday at the dock, but you have more options to make this trip your own. Come early, stay later, extend this week as you wish. The French Quarter Conference will be a totally different kind of event because it's packed with full-days of sessions. Blending both will be a full experience without repetition.
The cruise conference is a chance to have a great group of people to relax with and share your vision, inspirations and war-stories together, and to gain some very extended discussion with the experts who will be along. The schedule is light by comparison to the weekend conference or a typical conference day event of any kind. We will aim to spread the content of one typical full conference day of events by spreading it over four days of general interaction with everyone in the group.
A cruise like this provides the opportunity to blend business and distractions and to get to know everyone on a level you just can't reach in the fast-paced setting of a weekend conference. Probably more important, this is a chance to bring the context of the business and social events beyond just technology, to add imagination and a setting comfortable to bring your spouse or a friend along.
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Get Started with the Sunday Mixer
The ship sails Monday for the 5-day Caribbean Cruise. Why not get an early start on your getaway or even combine your own unique vacation plan with an extended stay in New Orleans? You still get leverage a great luxury hotel if you want to extend more days in the remarkable city of New Orleans.
Certainly you want to arrive no later than Sunday afternoon if you won't be in for the weekend conference. We'll gather that night for cruise attendees to exchange plans on shore excursions as well as the agenda for Monday. Yes, making a short flight into New Orleans might let you arrive Monday in time to board the ship that day without staying overnight, but you would miss the party!
Monday: Bon Voyage from New Orleans
You can grab more time in New Orleans, whether you choose to stay over when the ship returns, sign up for the 3-day weekend French Quarter conference as well, or just drop in town early enough for the party Sunday night. Regardless of your plan, our conference hotel will accommodate your stay in style.
Spend a weekend or a week overlooking the French Quarter and riverfront of New Orleans. You can even use the rooftop pool to get a start on your tan if you don't mind 29 floors of breathtaking view!
From our hotel we are just a few of blocks from the cruise wharf. You will have time for relaxed breakfast and some shopping or sightseeing in the city before we are onboard for the sunset cruise down the Mississippi river!
Gulf of Mexico to Caribbean
There's so much to do onboard the ship, you won't likely have a chance to check out the entire ship before the trip is over. If you bring a friend or a spouse with no interest in our seminar discussions, they won't lack for entertainment on ship or on shore! If anything, it's likely our discussions will rapidly wander beyond the meetings.
Our transit each way from New Orleans round trip to Progreso and Cozumel provides us a pair of days at sea. The two days in the tropical ports offer a chance to explore or choose the extensive shore excursions for whatever suits your taste for excitement or relaxation.
Seminars & Group Receptions at Sea
During the five days we sail, you can expect an uncomplicated schedule of events organized and arranged daily to blend into the pace of our week. There will be one daily seminar session structured for interaction with both serious discussion topics and flexibility to follow the interests and preferences of the group attending. In keeping with the overall goals of this week, these sessions will be arranged to bring topics up for discussion and debate with room for everyone to contribute as well as learn from each other and the experts in attendance. We will have some panel discussions, and likely some case studies covered.
Shore Day Excursions
You can choose how to spend your day in port without complications from the organized conference interfering. With one of the strengths of a cruise based conference to bring people together for networking and brainstorming, don't expect a Powerpoint lecture to interrupt your chance to circulate among new friends and colleagues all about the ship.
Plan to enjoy your options, take time to blend the business of the daily seminars with time on the side either on topic or off. You will have plenty of time to spend with family and without distractions.
Gliding back up the Mississippi River
The afternoon we sail out and the evening we return will be blocked out for a nice event. The final night of the cruise is a spectacular sight when the moon is out and it's clear as you approach the mouth of the Mississippi River from the gulf. The ship glides amid the offshore oil rigs lit up like Christmas trees, and the ships at anchor outside the channel makes a truly memorable event. We'll have a party to celebrate together as our cruise comes to an end the next morning once again at the dock in New Orleans. We arrive before sunrise and the weekend is just getting started with your chance to head for home, or take some more time in the city on your own.
