Hello all... Our family participated in 2012, and while we had a schedule conflict in 2013, we were very much looking forward to getting together with everyone here in 2014. I want to thank Ana for all of her past effort, and she deserves a break...We arent likely to live up to the example that she has set, but my wife and I are considering trying to take on arranging an event (or two) in 2014. Theres nothing more difficult than getting a group consensus and coordinating the reservations and activities... even things like negotiating room rates are very hard when you have no idea how many people will commit... but we are willing to give it a try. Here are a couple of options we are considering: 1) Do a hotel weekend (likely the end of June) in the Cocoa Beach area, with a day activity possibly to Kennedy Space Center. Preferably somewhere with good swimming pool facilities and either beachfront, or very near the beach. Coca Beach is 45 minutes due East of the Orlando Airport. There is a good variety of restaurants, hotels, a cruise terminal and other features. 2) Do a cheap 3 day cruise out of Port Canaveral, Ft. Lauderdale, or even Miami. The idea here is that there would be far less logistics to meal planning, activities, etc. and when the deals are right, it is not much pricier than a hotel and meals. The problem is that we cant really do a last-minute cruise with a group (nothing happens quickly with a group), and the best deals are not in the summer. Currently, the best prices are approximately $350 per person with some kids sail free deals. The other option is to push it to Oct or Nov to get down to the cheaper fares. One other aspect of a cruise is that we might bring in more out-of-state folks for an event like that (which is a good thing in my opinion). So the questions Id like to put out to you all: How many people would be interested in a late June weekend in Cocoa Beach ? How many people would be interested in a late June 3-day Cruise (pricier) ? How many people would be interested in a November 3-day Cruise (Cheaper) ? How many people would be interested in both a hotel weekend this summer, and a cruise later in the year when there is one of the ubiquitous $199 per person sales (or other good deal) ? We have no agenda here but having the kids all get together. We are inclined to do something even if the response group is small as we know our daughter really liked being part of a group of other Guatemalan children. We are also happy to coordinate and negotiate, as long as we arent shouldering a lot of expenses. The one thing I know we cant do is make everyone happy... I had to get comfortable with that fact before we volunteered. Please chime in with your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you - Jesse Salvatore (Keylas Dad)
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 14:26:50 +0000