I'm very happy you (and Lynn!) got on the boat, too!

Your surprise when you saw me (not knowing I was going as well!) made me giggle.

Thanks for posting the review. I hope there will be a lot more posted soon, too.

leiasky | December 10, 23:36 CET

Thanks for the review. I'm happy everybody was happy with the cruise. It makes all the hard work worth it.

JeremyN | December 11, 00:06 CET

I made my own review of the cruise for my website, but this review is excellent, too. Thanks, danregal...and a LOT of thanks to Jeremy and the staff for a great cruise.

impalergeneral | December 11, 02:18 CET

impalergeneral - Would you be willing to share the linkage to that website?

I so wanted to go, but instead, must live vicariously through all the big damn tales.

Znachki | December 11, 02:22 CET

Great writeup DanRegal!

You caught the atmosphere and feeling of the cruise very well. Nice to hear how the other folks lived, I was in one of those shoebox cabins, but it was still fun.

Thanks again to Jeremy, Christy, Brian and all of the organizers and volunteers for helping to make this happen. You done good people, real good.

Kyrax | December 11, 02:41 CET

Sure. I wasn't sure if it was allowed.
Anyway, just click here for mostly the whole story. I'll add a big picture all the BC passengers took together once that is available. I also have lots of pictures at my Flickr space.

impalergeneral | December 11, 03:03 CET

OH man...I haven't read the review yet, but I am sure it was a blast. I bought a ticket, but I couldn't go, because of an operation of a family member(but it went well!! wohoo!), and other reasons :( Maybe next year....

kurya | December 11, 03:29 CET

Lots of wonderful pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/browncoatcruise/

TDBrown | December 11, 03:51 CET

Thanks for the linkie to the Cruise Review. I wrote a blog about it at my MySpace but not as extensive as this one. I opened the blog about what not to do on vacation - which was "don't smash your thumbnail in the space between the bathroom door jam and the door." This was the 2nd morning and I walked around with a throbbing painful nail the rest of the cruise (thank Dog my roommate had Advil). But I still had a great, great, great, great time. I also wrote how the organizers (they know who they are) worked their asses off to show us a good time. When did they eat or sleep or have fun themselves? Inquiring minds want to know.

I have to post what I did over at Live Journal about Jonathan Woodward. I'll just preface it with saying I don't get the whole "thing" about him (I won't spell it out, everyone knows) nor do I care. He was stellar during this cruise:

I laughed myself sick at the White Elephant Gift Exchange. I was the one that said, "Jonathan!" when he realized he had no game plan for how this was supposed to work. Yeah, some tedium, but that boy gave 150% of himself. Particularly fun was watching him dance on his table in the formal dining room for dinners. Life of the party. I'm pretty sure the Red Team won!

Tonya J | December 11, 03:54 CET

I was actually on the cruise but not ON the cruise. By complete coincidence, my family had booked this cruise to celebrate my parents renewing their wedding vows after 30 years of marriage. It was only much later that I realized it was also the Browncoat Cruise! LOL. GO FIGURE!

All I can say from someone on the fringe of it that week is it looked like everyone was having a blast. I swear, there were Browncoats everywhere I looked! Impalergeneral, I think I remember you being on the Land's End catamaran with my family actually!

I got to talk to a couple Browncoats while I was there, and everyone was sweet. Plus, I met Ron (who I literally saw about 4389 times over the 5 days. He was EVERYWHERE!) and Jonathan, so BONUS!

Maybe next time I'll actually be with the Browncoats instead of *near* them.

Hoppy | December 11, 04:07 CET

It's difficult to express in words the profound joy I feel that so many people enjoyed our cruise. It makes all the hard work seem worthwhile now.

Thank you to all of the Browncoats, volunteers and guests who shared the experience with us, and traveled the world to be part of it. It was successful because of you and your spirit! Thanks to everyone for extending our Browncoat family! Now it's time for one of Michael's goofy jigs :-)

BrianDTI | December 11, 06:27 CET

So the only "real" cast to show up was Book, sounds a bit meagre - but if fun was had by the participants then that's something :)

Pumps | December 11, 07:02 CET

I beg to differ. Perhaps Michael Fairman, Jonathan Woodward and Nectar Rose weren't the STARS of the show and the movie, but they're definitely major parts of our 'verse and fantastically fun people to hang out with to boot.

lexigeek | December 11, 08:35 CET

So the only "real" cast to show up was Book, sounds a bit meagre - but if fun was had by the participants then that's something :)

Sorry, but even before this weekend I considered Michael, Jonathan, Sonny and Nectar as real cast. If not for having a part in the show and movie I love, then for coming out and meeting Browncoats and showing us they care about the 'verse as much as we do. All the guests on the cruise were energetic, fun, and totally at ease hanging with us Browncoats.

Not to mention what Jonathan and Michael did at B3. I'm not sure most of you know it, but Jonathan was the driving force behind the scenes at B3. He made a lot of phone calls, helped us get the buses for Saturday night, and even if he wasn't personally involved in some things, he had a hand in almost everything that happened that weekend.

There was nothing meager about the Browncoat Cruise. It was well run, featured the first ever Browncoat appearance of Sonny Rhodes, and in my opinion was the best Browncoat con this year (I've been to 3 total). I don't think there are words that can describe what an amazing time we had on the cruise. But I will say that I stepped off the boat with the same feeling I had after B3. And that was something I never thought I'd feel in my life again.

Hats off the the Browncoat Cruise team, they did the impossible. Again.

danregal | December 11, 08:42 CET

You had trouble walking a straight line after B3? :)

lexigeek | December 11, 09:14 CET

>Great writeup DanRegal!

Actually, that was my writeup. James just posted it here for people to read:)

There may have been only one main cast member there (and that was a bit disappointing to me at first as well) but it in no way hindered my enjoyment of the Cruise itself.

I mean, we were on a big ship and could do so many other things if we weren't interested in the Browncoat activities.

I would totally do it again, hopefully with a few different guests, but, I mean, really, who else would be nutty enough to have themselves trapped on a ship with crazy fans for 5 days? I certainly can't see Morena B, Adam B, Sean M, or Summer G doing it!

leiasky | December 11, 17:24 CET

I had dinner with Michael Fairman (not by myself but with his family and several other folks) and I wouldn't call it a meagre experience. He answered my question about studying acting with the great Uta Hagen by talking about that and other theatre experiences for a good ten minutes. Out of a trip full of highlights, that was probably the highlight for me. It doesn't matter to me that Fillion et al weren't there, though that would have been great as well. We had the best time you could have hoped to have.

Tonya J | December 11, 17:38 CET

Great reports! Thanks to all who took the time to give those of us who didn't go a chance to join in the fun. :-)

I know that there has been a lot of hand-wringing in some camps about the possibility that having three separate Browncoat/Serenifly events scheduled around the same time would cause all three of them to flop together. However, it sounds like each had its own highpoints that made those events worthwhile for those who attended. Hopefully we can use these experiences to continue to improve the quality and variety of events that this fandom has to offer in the years to come, whether those events are professional or fan-organized. This is not a one-sized-fits-all fandom. Not everyone is chomping at the bit to wait an hour in line for 30 seconds of face time with Nathan Fillion; some would rather spend that hour having a drink with Michael Fairman hearing about his work with Uta Hagen. I'm grateful that this crew is full of people like Adam, James, Brian and so many others who have the talent and energy to organize these opportunities for Browncoats to socialize with the cast and with each other.

BrewBunny | December 11, 18:54 CET

wow - sounds like a good time... Wish I could have gone! We had a browncoat Christmas party last night with our NC Browncoats and you know, really anytime we get togheter it's a good time... such a great group of people make up our fandom... Glad my coats brown, and I need to talk my wife into a cruise sounds like...

so when do we get this Book comic book?

refuge5 | December 11, 19:04 CET

You know, I'm surprised the leak that there is going to be a Book comic hasn't caused more of a stir. Especially since it will tell some of the back story that we've all been wondering about for 5 years.

I guess it was overshadowed by ME day. The Book comic will the next mini-series after the Better Days series coming out in March. So expect in either late '08 or early '09.

And I agree that all the FF/S conventions had their merits. But I would really like to see them spread out more next year. I for one would gladly go to every FF/S convention if they would just leave a month or hopefully more between events. Give me some time to save money people!

danregal | December 11, 19:14 CET

To be perfectly cynical, it's not been specifically stated as such on the front page.

I'm sure once SerenityStuff runs with it, it'll get posted on the front page here and we'll have a right old discussion.

Simon | December 11, 19:32 CET

I'm sorry there was bad weather and rough seas, but it seems to me that this cruise was a huge success (I didn't think people were expecting any of the head-liners to go)!
I am very excited that Joss is planning another comic book series after 'Better Days', but also a little disappointed. I had always assumed that Joss was saving Book's back story for the movie sequel, but now it seems like that isn't the case.

embers | December 11, 19:36 CET

Yeah, I'm both excited and disheartened by news that Joss is finally letting go of some of the secrets that he's kept for so long. It does seem to indicate that there is less and less chance for lensed release of the stories.

leiasky | December 11, 20:30 CET