I found 1 14 day cruise for $499 per person. For me the problem will be time. But when the kids grow up this would definitely be an option for me. My grandmother came across the Atlantic in 1949 to settle in Canada, so it would be neat to do a crossing by sea. (Although they don't do Rotterdam to Halifax any more)

yeah i didnt even know you could cross the atlantic on a ship anymore, that is pretty cool i must say.

well cool idea but i dont think i'm rich enough for it

trip: east coast usa. other locations possible.

Personally - I think a cruise is a bit too complicated. and if I'm paying several hundred for a cruise, I dont want to be stuck in a room with lots of guys. I'd want to be on the deck hitting on the girls =P

but I do think even if a cruise is set-up, that we also do a land-lubber's tourney... I'm down for either StLouis or DC metro.

here is my suggestion. lets take the top 3 or 4 choices and get a tally of who is willing to help organize or help TD.

I'll start off by saying I'd be willing to help TD either StL, DC metro. I'd be more than happy to help with the prizes or recruitment for StL or shopping/supplies for DCmetro.

Can I come right out and say that I think a cruise is a bad idea:

1) Where will we play? The cabins? Too small. The deck? We'll look like idiots and it could be windy or wet.
2) We'll be directly competing with family and cruise events. "Sorry guys, can't play this game, my daughter wants to go see dolphins." "Sorry guys, can't play this game, these two chicks want to have kinky cabin sex."
3) How long do we go for? A week? Most people can't take that time off. A weekend? We'll either get no diplomacy in or spend the entire cruise locked up with a bunch of guys (unless dj and crazy grace us with their presence).

As I've said, I can take care of the venue in St. Louis and I'm not the TD type, so Babak being a part of that effort would be great. Looks like we need to start our short list with St. Louis at the top! ;-)

If I may, perhaps we should let this thread run for more than a week before making a decision? : )

lol ab but that's the beauty of the cruise (#2)

but you're right it's not the most realistic thing.

i don't know how much i can help with StL, except to say that I can put pressure on some of my dip players in austin to come with.

i should have mentioned that i am voting for st louis as a traditional location.

ab, nobody is making a decision, but if we're going to narrow our choices down to 4-5, then I think clearly, so far, St. Louis makes sense to be on that short list. Once we have agreed on our short list, then prepare for me to go "Olympic" on you all in making my bid attempt!! :-P

I like St. Louis. It's a "flat" town, but has some great architecture for those into sight seeing, and a couple riverboats (or it did) on both sides of the river for those into gambling away the night. I learned to play baccarat in St. Louis and made 80 bucks on my trip there many years ago.

I never did go up the arch though. Acrophobia can be a bitch.

I still like the cruise.
1) Where will we play? Rent a conference room.
2) Family events will be during the day, I want to see the dolphins too! At night , people can go to nightclubs or have kinky sex or they can play dip or they can do all 3
3) How long do we go for? A week? Yes 5-7 days. I think most people CAN take a week's vacation ANd I will be happy to "grace" you with my crazy pressence

At abgemacht - You've never cruised have you? They have conference rooms and game rooms/libraries and card rooms galore for businesses and seniors.

And if someone like me, who would get a suite for my wife and I, is on the cruise, we would have access to the lounge for suite travellers and their guests as well as access to the suite, obviously. Finding a place to play would be no problem. Hell, my wife and I renewed our wedding vows and had a reception afterwards in the conference center onboard the Enchantment of the Seas.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?br=R&shipClassCode=VI&shipCode=EN&shipName=Enchantment+Of+The+Seas+++++++

Look down at the "Conference Facitilites" near the bottom for the conference center and break out (aka negotiation!) rooms.

As I stated in the other thread floating around here, I like Indy, although I wouldn't complain about St Louis. It's not too terribly far. I wouldn't be down for DC, though.

Here's another idea. If we could set up several tourneys across the US, we could combine scoring from each event and have a grand tournament held later in the year at a location central to the winners. We could host 7 tournaments at various locations (NW, SW, NC, C, SC, NE, SE) with each venue to be held on the same weekend to prevent the same player from playing at more than one venue. The same system for scoring would be used and the winner(s) of each venue plays at a final event. Each event might pass on the top three scorers with a runner-up who would act as a judge or stand-in.

We could find 7 people to host the events in their home towns or the nearest major city.

DC should be out. We did an East Coast. It should be another part of the country no matter where it is.

DC should be out. We did an East Coast. It should be another part of the country no matter where it is.

Stupid Error 500 retry. Sorry for the double post. I've gotten a lot of Error 500s today.

same here, lots of the errors

I live in St. Louis and can help with the organization.
Won't be able to go on the arch though due to acrophobia. Poor Draughnar and I...

Yeah, I don't think the next webDip tournament should be in DC, but there are a lot of FtF opportunities in DC and many of us plan on going, so that's the only reason we're talking about it.

I spent $60 getting to boston and back. Something like a $500 cruise just isn't in my budget.

Yeah, it's definitely not in everyone's budget. But how much did you spend on the hotel room while you were in Boston? And food & drink? Remember, the cruise price includes room, food (all you can eat of it - all day and night long), soda/tea/water/juice. About the only extra cost on the cruise is alcohol.

I had a free room thanks to Red Squirrel and spent about $50 in food/drinks. Even had I needed to find a place to stay, the whole trip would not have cost me the $200 I budgeted for it.

OK. I asked because the typical cruise costs the same or less as an equivalent stay at a decent hotel and includes the food. Of course, the cabin isn't as nice as the hotel room, but all you tend to do is sleep there.

St. Louis is definitely doable for me. Flights from Cle to StL are typically pretty cheap using Southwest (or sometimes Continental). It's also not too bad driving wise.

DC is also a short drive for us and I have a ready place to crash in Gathersburg - literally the last or second last stop on the DC Metro.

Actually, Cleveland is withinn 10 hours driving distance of 2/3 of the US population.

Ok; that may have been an exaggeration - but it's still pretty close:)

If it's in mid-USA, I could probably make a try at showing. It's been too long since I've played live.

@Thucy- "I can put pressure on some of my dip players in austin to come with."?? Who you talkin' 'bout Willis?

@Draug

I didn't realize cruises had accommodations like that; however I still feel that there will be a serious conflict between Dip and non-Dip activities. Now, I'm not saying I don't want to go on a cruise and play poker with you, or pick up chicks with Babak, but if we are having a Tournament, I think it needs to be somewhere where there aren't such distractions.

Also, consider this: *half* of the players at the Boston Tournament didn't need hotels. That won't be the case on a cruise.

And, I do agree with you about DC. DC would be a great venue, but we should aim for something further west.

There doesn't have to just be one meetup. West coasters can't make the East and East coasters can't make the West. It is really really really hard for East coasters to get into the Mid West without a car or money for a plane. Also DC already is a venue, webDippers are invading in droves this October.

I will attempt to get to FtF 2012 no matter where it is, unless its a cruise or somewhere I can't get to for less than $200. Eventually, that won't be a problem, but until I have all my pieces of paper, I can't start making real pieces of paper.