Square Dance Cruise

I am interesred in sponsoring a square dance cruise. I call up to A-2.

Do you book a SD cruise based on the caller?

Do you take the SD cruise based on the embarkation point or destination point?

How long do you usually cruise, do you check to see how many "at sea" days there are for dancing?

Do the cruise lines give good dancing times before or after meals or before shows? Is there a particular time of the year that you would be inclined to go on a SD cruise?

If the cruise is SD attire optional would that be helpful?

Is it helpful if I

1. Set up a hotel close to the port and negotiate a block of rooms to "try" to lower the cost.

2. Have a Trail end dance the night before the cruise at the hotel as a "roll call"? If no trail end dance, when would a good time to meet and greet be? The last dance I did we met about 2 days into the cruise. Meals were awkward at first, because no one knew each other and didn't know if they were square dancers or not.

3. Would it be appropriate to possibly contact other clubs and attend their dance or invite them to our trail end dance.

4. Would you be interested in dancing while in port? What about going ashore and returning early? I heard some cruisers that considered Ensenada an at sea day because they didn't like that particular port.

5. Could there be more dancing while at sea? ie morning (9-12) and / or early afternoon (1-3)?

6. Should I advertise a particular dance level ie mainstream w/ plus star tips; plus w/ adv. star tips, etc. round dance phase levels II-IV? If you went on a SD cruise, would you want rounds?

7. Should I try to advertise on the ship that there will be square dance classes? On my last cruise, I was 'discouraged" from advertising this as

we were told we might have too many people and not enough room.

8. If I have a class for non dancers that came would you be interested in angeling?

I don't know if there are any other items that I didn't think of. I try to think ahead.

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks

I think your post is seeking too much information. Why don't you just put a notice in your state or area square dancing newsletter and see how many people would be interested. I don't know where you live, but in Texas there are lots of associations. You could probably get a bunch - but probably not enough to fill a whole ship. I think a group of 25 or 30 squares would be a lot of fun.

Hi Dave, I just got back from my first sponsored sq dance cruise. Because it was my first, I wanted to make the next one better. I asked the questions because I wanted to know what other dancers would be interested in, such as a trail end dance, one hotel for everyone, and use that as a meet and greet, etc. The meet and greet on the ship was 2 days after sailing and we had already been sitting at the dinner tables and meeting other dancers was slow at best.

I had advertised in Texas (I'm in Calif.) and also in the petticoat junction web site, and also at the national square dance, and also advertised we had rounds.

Have you been on sq dance cruises? if so, what would you like to see improved? I don't like just getting on the ship and hoping to see other dancers.

If you haven't been on a cruise, what would you expect from a sq dance cruise?

I felt good that we had 6 squares, but, as I said, I would like to improve for the dancers' sake.

Thanks,

Bob

Just started this group: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=804