We're taking a 2025 Holland America relocation cruise from Vancouver, BC to San Diego, CA on the Nieuw Amsterdam. Current lowest price through HAL is $709 per person (double occupancy), plus $200 per person for access to the game room & retreat area.
An inclusive event is not inclusive if it requires traveling through a distinctly non-inclusive environment. For those excluded from JoCoCruise through 2026, we've been told repeatedly that we are what makes the cruise what it is, so let's, um, cruise with that. We set up a group cruise on the West Coast, and we go from there.
I'm the parent of someone who doesn't feel safe travelling through Florida. We attended every full ship JoCoCruise from 2017 through 2023. This has been a big part of our lives for a number of years now, and since we will not go to Florida while it is so unsafe for our family, there's an emotional and recreational hole to fill.
Yes, I'm aware of the announcement that JoCoCruise will be sailing out of San Diego in 2026. While I'm cautiously optimistic, this is still a thing I want to do, and in order to pull this off with the desired amenities, I needed to start the booking process early.
To celebrate my 55th birthday, I've booked a group, in order to facilitate a number of things:
Exclusive Use of the Retreat Cabana space
Half Moon Room (for a game room/library, and maybe other things)
For getting on board, please book through Allyson Cohen with AAA WA, or you can book directly with Holland America, If you use my referral code, we each get $50 in onboard cruise credit!
For a badge/lanyard and access to the private spaces, there will be a fee. Getting exclusive access to the Retreat Cabana space costs around $6,000. Guessing at around 30 people, that's $200 each, which gets us a quiet outdoor space on the ship to ourselves, along with stewards and daily treats. This will also get access to the game room & game library. For this, you'll have to reach out directly to me, as we don't have a way of handling this through HAL's booking process.
All in, the lowest fare option is $709 each (two people sharing an interior cabin). My best estimate says there will also be $204 / person in gratuities for the crew which will appear on your stateroom bill. This can be offset by onboard credit. Booking using my referral link should get each of us $50 toward that.
, and assuming onboard credit will cover gratuities). Since this is a 6 day cruise, there's also the option to add the Have It All package for $390 per person (which includes $200 of onboard credit, which is $4 short of covering required gratuities).
Well, we'll have tabletop games (which may include a sponsorship from Chaosium). If you've ever thought it would be fun to have a go at Taskmaster, we'll make that happen if get enough participants -- check the #taskmaster-on-board channel on our Discord. Have your own ideas of what might be fun? That what the #shadow-events channel is for!
Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/twqdVGcEgx.