Whedonesque : Comments on 12135 : Browncoat Cruise Reservations Opened Early.

Thank you for the link, I couldn't find it anywhere (I have it saved as a 'favorite' now). I am really interested in the cruise, it is just a matter of deciding I can afford it.

embers | December 27, 19:15 CET

Grr and argh! I was hoping this wouldn't show up on Whedonesque until I'd had a bit more time to save up for the deposit! :D

lexigeek | December 27, 19:30 CET

We have our reservation all set!!! OMG, this will be my first cruise and I am so excited. I may not know where we will be stationed in a year, but we will be on that gorram cruise.
(My in-laws will just have to deal that we won't be visiting Arkansas for the holidays.)

mikamom | December 27, 19:41 CET

Plus, if it gets cancelled, I hear the California Browncoats will throw a way better party with more guests! ;P

zeitgeist | December 27, 19:53 CET

There will be no need for the CB's to have a backup plan...some of us are going to help plan the cruise :)

Amaze at the idea of B3 organizers having more than 24 hours to plan! (And then reconsider mentioning it so as not to put expectations too high)

I just got off the phone with Brian and Jeremy. They went live with the sales at 3 AM. They are currently in Hollywood for a screening of DTI tonight at the Beverly Hills HD Film Festival. They have 250 free tickets, the showing is at 9:30, and everyone in the area is welcome. For more details see their site.

danregal | December 27, 20:23 CET

I know that the mods asked we not pile on the latest con disaster, and I haven't. But the problem with that is that I'm afraid to even consider this. Is it a reputable company? Am I going to scrimp and save for a year just to get screwed? When one con goes south, it spoils the market for everyone, especially for those like me who don't necessarily keep up with the cast of characters.

I'm not criticizing this cruise at all, it sounds great. I'm just saying that the much-publicized recent failure affects everyone out there trying to do good events.

cronopio | December 27, 20:23 CET

Is it a reputable company?

Nobody can really answer that, as it's a new company founded for the cruise. The people who are organising this are the Done The Impossible folks. As long as they keep a tight (and realistic) grip on their finances, should be fine. We know they managed to put together and sell Done The Impossible with a minimal of fall out, and I think it was financially successful for them, which is generally a good sign.

gossi | December 27, 20:46 CET

Hi cornopio - we are acutely aware of everybody's concerns considering recent events. In an effort to allay those concerns we are being as open as possible about the whole process. As for reputation, the cruise is being thrown by most of the team from Done The Impossible, and we are working tightly with many of the very same SoCal Browncoats that saved the day with B3 with virtually no notice. Please read through our site, we are doing our best to offer assurances.

As danregal said, I was up all night getting the reservation site ready to go and then I had to jump on a plane to head down here to LA for our DTI film festival screening. However I'm available via email through our website if you have any further questions or concerns.

Jeremy
BrowncoatCruise.com / DoneTheImpossible.com

JeremyN | December 27, 20:47 CET

I really want to go, sadly it would first involve flying half way around the world...

feigenbaum7 | December 27, 21:03 CET

Um, just a note jeremy, there a whole bunch of people such as myself with questions on the browncoat cruise forum. Some of us are thorougly confused as how the 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th thing works(especially when a lot of us want to go, want quad occupancy b/c its cheaper but dont know of roommates to go with). Also are there a limited avialability of slots?

ETA: Just wanted to add, I am sooo excited about this, I bought myself a ticket...dunno how I will afford it, but I guess I will find out :S. I have 99% faith that this will be handled well! OH and this will be my first CON!

[ edited by kurya on 2006-12-27 22:06 ]

kurya | December 27, 21:04 CET

Well, despite still fighting with my bank over my Flan money, I placed my Cruise reservation at 1:03 AM pacific U.S. time. I wonder what my badge number will be. Heh.

theonetruebix | December 27, 21:09 CET

I am guessing number 3 bix(1&2 being jeremy and brian?), and how often were you checking the website the past few days to be able to put through the reservation at that time? or were you really really incredibly lucky? ;)

kurya | December 27, 21:18 CET

It's sad but understanderable that one event can tar all other events of the same nature with the same brush.

I'm putting my faith 100% in these people so much so that I have booked and paid in full for my cruise.

It's obvious from the price that these guys are not trying to make a profit. I know the price sound expensive but you have to remember, it is not just for the convention, but includes food, accomadtion and everything else the cruise as to offer.

Conventions have been a huge part of my life for the last several years, as has travelling, and it's great to have my two passions come together. I just hope that what happened with Booster does not spell the decline of conventions in general.

See ya onboard!

Cider | December 27, 21:21 CET

Well Cider, it is expensive! :S especially for thsoe of us who have never been to a convention before, but apparently in the price it includes the taxes, and the port fees, dunno how much that comes to, but I am guess its not 10 bucks. Gratuity is not included so that is extra. And yes I paid in full as well for the 50 dollar discount. So like I said I have 99% faith.... the 1% being the ever present cynical doubt that crap happens at the back of my brain.

kurya | December 27, 21:34 CET

Grr...Argh. There's just no way I can be gone from work at that particular time of the school year! But no sour grapes. I actually look forward to all the Browncoats with their stories.

April | December 27, 21:45 CET

kurya: Oddly, it was luck. I was out watching Buffy episodes on the big screen until midnight or so, and before going to bed thought I'd check in on the Cruise site. Near as I can tell, the reservation stuff had more or less just been put in place. Heh.

theonetruebix | December 27, 22:08 CET

Gulp. I did it. Gulp.

Lioness | December 27, 23:13 CET

Like April, I couldn't get away from work at that time even if I had the money. But I will certainly look forward to hearing all the stories a year from now, and I will keep fingers crossed that all goes well.

palehorse | December 28, 00:39 CET

Eeep! I paid in full so there's no going back now. Where's my sunscreen? 8)

Traevynn | December 28, 04:15 CET

Oh man....I wish I could come with all of you hey!

Jealous...I am!

nixygirl | December 28, 07:58 CET

From our reservations site: "Due to a significant amount of confusion regarding standard cabin types and persons per cabin, the reservation system has been put on very temporary hold while we update and clarify the packages available. Also, it turns out our yahoo store and the merchant account that accepted credit cards were not communicating properly and none of the orders placed via credit card on Dec 27, 2007 were charged. With all of the confusion, this is probably a good thing, so we have canceled all those orders and we will be starting fresh within 24-36 hours. Seating order of those that attempted to order on Dec 27, will be maintained if you re-order by Jan 12. Sorry about the bumpy start, we have learned a lot and will endeavor to make "take 2" much less confusing. Thank you for your patience. If you are one of the six orders that used PayPal on Dec 27, your order went through okay, and we will be contacting you to verify that you are indeed getting the packages you are expecting. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this temporary holding pattern, please don't hesitate to ask. "

JeremyN | December 28, 10:50 CET

Well I'm gonna lay down a deposit here as soon as the reservations open up again....

I'm gonna have to scrmp and save but gorramit this is WAY to cool to miss out on!

In other news I'll be attending on my own (theres like a 1% chance a relitive might come but I highly doubt it) I'm looking for roomies if anyone else is goin' all by their little lonesome...

I also have to thank Jeremy and everyone else organizing this cruise for all the hard work they're doin' it looks like they're really workin' overtime and I'm sure it's gonna' be a GREAT cruise! :D

Blue@Heart | December 28, 12:47 CET

Ugh, I'm seriously thinking of moving to California after uni. It breaks my heart to read about these fun things everyone seems to go to. For a broke person living in Australia, it's quite depressing.

buffy_kitten | December 28, 14:40 CET

(Woo, first post.)

Europe also has some nice cruising locations... Sniff :-(

commandlinegamer | December 28, 15:00 CET

Welcome aboard, commandlinegamer, are you playing NetHack as we speak? Kidding!

b!X - no one believes you, we all know you had a small shell script checking for changes to the cruise site that txt'd your mobile when it was updated ;)

zeitgeist | December 28, 15:44 CET

For a broke person living in Australia, it's quite depressing.

Tell me about it buffy_kitten.

nixygirl | December 28, 16:41 CET

Well zeitgeist, I remember for the cantstopthesignal screenings, I was told and read somewhere(maybe here) of this URL checker that sends an alert if a webpage has been modified so tif there was a new round of screenings one would be notified. SO I bet b!x used that...

kurya | December 28, 18:20 CET

Yeah, I've used similar before (and I think mentioned so here), I just thought it'd be more fun to accuse b!X of 'rolling his own', so to speak :)

zeitgeist | December 28, 18:29 CET

I did not!

*sob* Isn't my word good for anything around here anymore.

theonetruebix | December 28, 18:32 CET

*taps on screen, wills reservations to reopen*

Charmuse | December 28, 19:43 CET

b!X - we kid because we care (we also love cheese, but that's not really relevant to this topic, methinks).

zeitgeist | December 28, 19:47 CET

I do not wear the cheese. The cheese wears me.

theonetruebix | December 28, 19:53 CET

Good man, b!X.

zeitgeist | December 28, 20:26 CET

Jeremy mentioned at the DTI screening that b!X managed to get his reservation in while they were still working on the site.

b!X scares me sometimes with his omnipresentyness :)

danregal | December 28, 22:26 CET

That's what makes minions: FEAR.

theonetruebix | December 28, 22:35 CET

::cowers under the bed wearing her b!X minion button::

CrankyBeach | December 29, 00:12 CET

Absolutely, b!X! Fear! Also surprise. And ruthless efficiency. And an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, and these nice red uniforms -- er, sorry, that's another group I'm a minion of. *goes back to minioning for b!X* ;-)

billz | December 29, 01:07 CET

I minion for no man, woman, Glory or Ben, but it will be interesting to see how fearsome b!X is onboard the USS Elation.

Tonya J | December 29, 01:16 CET

That's what makes minions: FEAR.

::shivers in terror rattling her "b!X minion" button::

Traevynn | December 29, 02:44 CET

My 1st post on Whedonesque. Yeah!

I'm watching the cruise site to see when they open up the registration again. I am excited about the whole event. I've never been on a cruise, and I haven't been to a con, yet.

VerseExplorer | December 29, 04:11 CET

Your first post failed to tremble in terror at the might of either b!X or myself and made no jokes about gossi... not going so well so far (I am SO joking; welcome aboard and its lovely to have you with us!)

zeitgeist | December 29, 17:45 CET

I was just thinking, not that the other mods aren't great, but where is soddingnancytribe? You know, plus the fact I just love that name.

Tonya J | December 29, 17:58 CET

you mean there was an actual joke requirement about gossi?? Ok gossi and a rabbi and an imam enter this bar....

kurya | December 29, 18:20 CET

you mean there was an actual joke requirement about gossi?? Ok gossi and a rabbi and an imam enter this bar....

...and the bartender says, "Hey, we don't serve your kind in here!" And gossi says, "Jeez, Browncoats can't catch a break anywhere."

theonetruebix | December 29, 18:41 CET

Hmmm, the cruise site is down or the link has gone bad. I hope that means they're updating it to re-open registration.

Tonya J | December 29, 18:55 CET

Hmmm, the cruise site is down or the link has gone bad. I hope that means they're updating it to re-open registration.

It's not down here.

theonetruebix | December 29, 19:12 CET

Bizarre. I'll be in the corner gnashing my teeth. I cannot get to the page to check anything.

Tonya J | December 29, 19:24 CET

Well anyway, this was Jeremy on the OB:

I've completely overhauled the order system so that it is much less confusing. I've thrown out the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th thing completely. Check back Friday evening or Saturday morning and it should be back online.

theonetruebix | December 29, 19:36 CET

Cool, thanks so much Bix!

Tonya J | December 29, 19:39 CET

soddingnancytribe has a lot on his plate and isn't able to pop in a lot lately. Please keep him in your thoughts, however; I know that he appreciates the concern and misses being able to be here.

zeitgeist | December 29, 20:41 CET

Shoot, poor guy. Best Wishes to SNT wherever he may be.

Tonya J | December 29, 22:21 CET

Yea...hugs SNT and...

Welcome to the nuthouse VerseExplorer.

nixygirl | December 30, 10:33 CET

I minion for no man, woman, Glory or Ben, but it will be interesting to see how fearsome b!X is onboard the USS Elation.

Oh, he's a fearsome fellow, TJ...and wields a mighty camera! : )

It's nice to be here!

mmmusings | December 30, 10:40 CET

FWIW, and before this thread falls off the main page, I've opened the Unofficial Browncoat Cruise Newsline. I'll only be re-posting official information, whether from the Cruise website, or from updates Jeremy or other organizers post to various discussion boards, so it's all in one easily-referenced place.

theonetruebix | December 31, 08:35 CET

If any of you kids read this, the reservations are open again at http://browncoatcruise.com with the revamped information. Jeremy also posted a tutorial for filling out the registration form, so read that first.

Tonya J | January 01, 05:57 CET

December 27 2006