Zydeco Cruise 2007 update to Galvaston

ZYDECO CRUISE 2007 UPDATE

Greetings to all Zydeco Cruisers!

Some of you have noticed the changes that were recently announced in the news by Carnival Cruise Lines regarding their ship the Carnival Triumph, which they are keeping over in Florida and not sending over to New Orleans this year after all.

ZYDECO CRUISE 2007 IS A "GO" AND WILL BE SAILING FROM NOVEMBER 11-18 ON THE CARNIVAL CONQUEST, which is a bigger, newer, and nicer ship that our originally planned sailing on the Carnival Triumph. We were on the gorgeous Carnival Conquest in 2003 and 2004, for those of you who remember back that far!

Kermit at the Travel Machine has been working around the clock on this with Carnival Cruise Lines, and we will be in contact with every single person who is currently signed up on Zydeco Cruise 2007 to answer your questions.

We will be sailing out of Galveston, TX since there is no ship (on ANY cruise line) available out of New Orleans on our November 11th date that is big enough to accommodate our group and handle our dance events. We could go in December out of New Orleans when there are more ships available in Louisiana, but we just don't want to go in December.

THE TRAVEL MACHINE IS THE EXCLUSIVE BOOKING AGENT FOR ZYDECO CRUISE 2007. KERMIT DUHON, the owner of the Travel Machine, is the one and only person on the planet authorized to negotiate with Carnival and to speak for our Zydeco Cruise Group.

Please help us out by asking questions to Kermit at the Travel Machine and by not calling Carnival. We have a specialized Group Sales person assigned to Kermit and to our group, and all of the various Carnival sales agents in Florida who answer the phone for individual customer service and sales are NOT who you need to be talking to -- they are not in charge of the details for our very large group and they may or may not even know what is specifically going on with the latest news for Zydeco Cruise 2007.

Kermit is working on all of the details including pricing negotiations with Carnival. Anyone in our group who has specific urgent questions, please talk to your booking agent at the Travel Machine directly or email kermittravelmachine.net

We will be posting a Zydeco Cruise News update on www.zydecocruise.com (this site) VERY SOON, and also posting the updated flyer and pricing (for those of you who haven't signed up yet) in the next week or so. The regular Carnival pricing on the Conquest is higher than Carnival's pricing on the Triumph but obviously we are working it out so you get the higher priced cruise at the SAME (not higher) PRICE you have already signed up for.

THE ANNUAL ROCK 'N' BOWL ZYDECO FEST WILL BE AS PLANNED IN NEW ORLEANS RIGHT BEFORE THE CRUISE from Thursday November 8th through Saturday November 10th.

In order to keep our partnership with John Blancher and the Rock 'N' Bowl going strong for the 10th successful year, The Travel Machine agents are available to help coordinate your hotel and transportation plans and make sure it's easy for those of you who want to go to the Rock 'n' Bowl Zydeco Fest and then go directly to Zydeco Cruise 2007.

We have a strong commitment to continue our support the City of New Orleans and the Rock 'N' Bowl Annual Zydeco Festival. We are determined to part of the solution in the rebuilding of New Orleans and would NEVER pull support from our long time partner John at the world famous Mid-City Lanes/Rock 'N Bowl.

This has not changed, and we plan on our usual pre-cruise fun in New Orleans. We're working on the transportation details for those of you who want an easy, optional, and fun bus ride from New Orleans over to the ship in Galveston on Sunday November 11th.

We will also have our usual optional bus transportation option leaving from the Lafayette area - we'll just be heading west to Galveston instead of east to New Orleans while you take it easy and enjoy the ride.

Make your reservations and plan to go to the Rock 'N' Bowl for the Awesome Bon Voyage THREE NIGHT pre-cruise party, and we will get you to the ship in time to board and dance to GENO DELAFOSE AND THE FRENCH ROCKING BOOGIE BAND for the TENTH FUN FILLED YEAR!!!!!!!!!

Zydeco Cruise 2007
Celebrating 10 successful fun filled years of Louisiana music and dancing on the high seas!
This year we have 3 fabulous bands for you to dance to:
Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie
Chris Ardoin & Zydeco Nu Step
and introducing on their first cruise:
The Pine Leaf Boys

Contact The Travel Machine today at 1-800-683-9882 and make plans to go to the Rock 'N' Bowl annual Zydeco Fest in New Orleans November 8, 9 and 10th, and Zydeco Cruise 2007 from November 11-18, 2007

Remember: WE WILL MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR YOU TO GET TO THE SHIP FROM NEW ORLEANS - more info on that coming soon!

Thanks everyone for your continued support to the City of New Orleans and to the Mid City Lanes Rock 'N' Bowl - See you in New Orleans

Sincerely,

- Louisiana Sue / Entertainment Director for Zydeco Cruise 2007 /
lasuepacbell.net
- Carol Schreitmueller / Executive Producer of Zydeco Cruises 1998-2007 /
zydecocruiseaol.com
- Kermit Duhon, CTC / CEO of Travel Macine Inc. /
kermittravelmachine.net
- John Blancher / Owner, Mid-City Lanes Rock 'N Bowl^(TM)

MORE INFO

ON BOARD CABIN CREDIT: Please note that Carnival is giving us a $100 per CABIN (not the same as "per person" unless you are a single - still $100 per CABIN) on-board credit that people can use after they get onto the ship, in addition to keeping the Triumph pricing the same for our group on the Conquest, which is normally about $100 more per person.

AIRPORTS: Also - Please note the airport information - Houston Hobby is the closest airport to the Port of Galveston. The Houston Intercontinental airport is farther away from the Texas Cruise Terminal in Galveston and the airport transfer services quote it as a 1.5 hour trip, so flying into Houston Hobby is highly recommended.

ZYDECO BUS: We will be working on the Zydeco Cruise Bus from New Orleans details and we do not have pricing yet. We will need to wait a few more months to see how many are really interested in taking the New Orleans to Galveston Zydeco Bus before we can get an accurate price. It is too early for us to get that quoted since we are a long way from knowing our final head count.

Our chartered bus will be by far the most economical way to get from the Rock 'N Bowl Festival to the Zydeco Cruise -- it's somewhere around a 6 hour ride, but then it's a great opportunity for an excellent nap for people who stayed up too late the night before at the Rock 'N Bowl Festival or cruising in the French Quarter. (BYOB: Bring your own Beignets!)

FLYING From New Orleans to Houston: For those who want to FLY from the Rock 'N Bowl Festival over the cruise, right now it's listed at $157 RT (including tax) on Continental. Southwest Airlines also flies this route and it's possible to nab a slightly better deal if you get lucky and grab their lowest priced special fares - currently SW only books 6 months in advance so no pricing/availability is posted yet on their website for November.

-- Carol