I have taken my family of up to eight people
on all four of the MacMania cruises so far. We have toured such places
as Alaska, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and the Baltic. I have never spent
money or time more wisely. The cultural and technical learning on these
cruises is beyond what I'd hoped for. The people we've met along the
way are unforgettable. The Mac pros are simply great! My only regret
is that we will not be able to participate on the next MacMania because
of logistical conflicts. Hopefully there will be many more.
Steve Ragatz, M.D. <neon8s at execpc.com>
Thank you again for organizing such a wonderful trip. It's rare to find
someone who keeps up with all the details of a trip so that we don't
have to.
The courses were great. Jack Davis and Chris Breen
were spectacular and exuded energy to all of us attending.
I can highly recommend you and your team as doing
a spectacular job. Thanks for the memories and knowledge.
Robert Lemke, D.D.S., M.D.
<LEMKE at uthscsa.edu>
Thanks Neil for getting it ALL right! After signing up almost thought I might have to miss the cruise because I was having a problem walking. Found that I missed out on very, very little compared to the wealth of everything that I did. Your organizational skills are amazing Neil, even down to the smallest detail like finding a great roommate for me, and gifting us with wonderful dining partners. Don't know how you knew that we would all mesh so well. Loved our fun times together at dinner and our various serious discussions too. The seminars were just the best! But how could they miss with the amazing staff of instructors; the elite of the computer/photography world.
Dorothy LaPoint <dlapoint at sbcglobal.net>
First, the cruise and everything that went along with is was wonderful.
We both had a great time, and can not believe how smoothly everything
seemed to go.
With regard to your digital photography class,
I can't tell you how favorably impressed I was by the professionalism and commitment
to teaching a great class that Bill Durrence displayed. It was easy to see that
he is a great photographer, but putting across his ideas, theories, and the real
how-to-do-it stuff is not easy in a teaching situation. He had obviously taken
a great deal of time and energy (both physical and psychic) to prepare and present
a cogent, interesting, and — perhaps most important — useful course.
My husband and I have taught for many years, lead both numerous field trips and
tours, and I have taken a number of computer seminars so we are very familiar
with the problems and perversities of all of this. Bill gave one of the best
sets of classes that I have ever had the opportunity to enjoy. He had an excellent
course outline, stuck to it, made sure that the members of the class were keeping
up with him, and still was able to let us ask questions and distract him, as
will happen in this type of situation.
For me the best part of the seminar was the critiques
of both my pictures and those of my classmates. What a wonderful learning tool.
The competition was great fun also.
I never felt that the techniques, theories, use
of the camera etc. were too advanced, nor did Bill move through the material
too quickly to prevent the class from keeping up. Certainly the questions posed
in class would indicate this. The bottom line for me is that I got far more back
in useful information and knowledge than what I spent in dollars for the symposium.
These cruises are great and I have mentioned them
to several of the people at the Apple Stores that I frequent. We had a great
time, and would like to do it again, so keep us in the loop as far as future
trips. Finally, many thanks for getting us to St. Petersburg — it was fabulous.
Ann Frazier <siannfraz at aol.com>
Michelle and I are so thankful for Geek Cruises!! We get to spend a wonderful
vacation doing what each of us love. She gets to hang by the pool and
the hot tub and I get to "geek out" with some of my Mac heroes
such as The Woz, Leo Laporte, and David Pogue.
As the owner of small Mac consultant/tech company
in DC/Baltimore, I spend my days helping others with their problems and setups.
It's the rare occasion where I get to sit down and have someone teach me the
things I'm interested in. Geek Cruises gives me the opportunity to learn some
new things and get a groovy vacation at the same time. We've been to places
that we might not otherwise have gotten the chance to had it not been for GC.
It's just to cool to be able to sit on your private verandah with your PowerBook,
overlooking the cities of St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and Helsinki just to name
a few.
Cruising beats every other form of vacation and
Geek Cruising certainly beats them all. :)
This was our third Geek Cruise and we're looking
forward to 300 more!!
Clayton Lewis, Apple Certified Help
Desk Specialist
<clay at themactech.com>
We just keep coming back! Baltic Blast was our fourth Geek Cruise. The
main attraction to me has been the high quality of instructors made
available for the topics I have an interest. I have been attending
various Photoshop seminars for 6 years, but have found the particular
close contact and communication interchange with the Geek Cruises'
instructors to have been the most valuable experience in my developing
understanding of Photoshop.
Tom Grollman, M.D. <grollman at verizon.net>
My son Jonathan is a computer hobbyist (euphemism for geek). One day,
while checking the website of our favorite tech guru, Leo Laporte,
Jonathan discovered an announcement for the MacMania Baltic Blast.
The cruise was a 10-day excursion around the Baltic Sea. We were not
disappointed. My wife Brenda, whose household handle is "techno
turtle", took several classes and really enjoyed them. After attending
the iTunes class by Chris Breen and the iMovie classes by David Pogue,
she was very enthusiastic about pursuing some creative projects. In
fact, she created an iPhoto slide show with background music before
completing the cruise!
We give the MacMania Baltic Blast courses two thumbs
up. It was quite a thrill to meet Leo Laporte. Leo was very accessible and gracious
as were Chris Breen and David Pogue. On most evenings, one or more of the guys
were available for personalized help or just good geek conversation. So, beginner
or expert, if you want to hone your Mac skills and have some great fun, check
out MacMania!
Jonathan Weeks, M.D. <mfmdoctor at mac.com>
Greetings from
a dry docked Geek,
I’m delighted to hear that you are all
having a great time [on Linux Lunacy]. Am I surprised? Not in the least.
MacMania was the best and I’m sure this cruise is just as wonderful.
One of the things that really made the time special for me was the impromptu
get together we would have every night in the library. It was perfect:
fifteen or so Geeks, wired up and some liquored up, telling computer war
stories. Of all the cruises I’ve been on [over half a dozen] it
was the most fun.
Well, enjoy yourselves.
Best,
John de Lancie
MacMania III was so great that we've invited our whole family to
join us on MacMania 3.5. Wish we'd known about Geek Cruises in time
for MacMania I and II!
Joan Hare <joanieh at aol.com>
Hi Neil, having returned back in Germany and being caught again by my
business I have a wonderful retrospection to our cruise. It was the
greatest vacation adventure in my life (and Gudruns's life), and last
but not least a technical highly valuable event. So I am thinking
over the next cruise, perhaps MySQL Swell in the Mediterranean, probably
later.
Guenther Hartung <hartung at ubhartung.de>
As a first time cruiser on MacMania III, I can’t say enough about how
terrific the entire experience was. For myself I don’t know how it
could have been better
Bob Seigel <bseigel at netins.net>
BTW: the cruse was great, definitely an
experience to be repeated.
Dan Silivestru <dsilivestru at worldaccess.com>
“It was GREAT, Neil!!!! Thanks again for the opportunity to participate
in this bizarre non-sequitur and mega-feed of both food and information.
Every other conference venue is lame by comparison.”
Steve Roberts <wordy at microship.com>
“I’m writing to tell you how much Lisa and
I enjoyed [the conference]; the combining of the cruise and training really
did seem to give the best of both worlds as far as we were concerned.
Whilst we’re describing it as the “event of a lifetime”
to our friends, we might well come on another Geek Cruise in a year or
two!”
Graham Ellis <graham at wellho.co.uk>
“Your selection of speakers was excellent. This was a very diverse
group and I was amazed at the feeling of community that permeated the
atmosphere. I will recommend this experience to anyone that has the opportunity
to attend. The contacts and information are priceless.”
George Wright <george at justwright.net>
“Thank you for a pretty great conference experience, I had a great
time and learned a great deal. I’ll definitely be recommending future
Geek Cruises to my friends, co-workers and of course my boss! :-) I think
the best aspect of the whole thing was the total immersion factor as well
as unparalleled after-hours access to the speakers. I have no negative
comments except that it was too fun, making coming back to work pure hell.”
Len Vinci <lvinci at cdrom.com>
“The cruise exceeded our expectations as far as accommodations of
the ship and an array of classes … Theme cruises are great for those
of us who don’t play Bingo or slots or fold napkins because it offers
opportunity to exchange experiences with like-minded people.”
Leigh Hamilton <leigh at cmug.com>
“Great conference. I not only learned a good deal more about [programming],
but met some wonderful people. It’s a wonderful idea and really
was the best way I ever saw to promote human interaction, especially since
many of us prefer to interact with machines rather than fellow humans.
I really hope I can attend more, in fact I’m thinking of paying
for the next one out of my pocket, it was that good.”
Michael Morley <mmorley at mail.med.upenn.edu>
“It’s been mind blowing to spend a week amongst like-minded
people.”
Alfredo Matias Reed
<pathos at newsguy.com, pathos at ingole.org>
“I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know how much we’ve
enjoyed the [conference] and what a fantastic job we think you did. Not
only was it educational, it was truly fun. Again, Neil, thank you so much
for putting this all together … not only have I learned more [programming],
you’ve made our wedding/honeymoon so memorable.”
Jasmine Merced <djasmine at tnsgroup.com>
“Let me say that the cruise was one of the most enjoyable and relaxing
weeks of my life. Thank you!”
Lincoln Stein, M.D., Ph.D. <lstein at
cshl.org>
“The cruise was a smashing success.
I want to go every year!”
Daniel Dickerson <daniel_dickerson at
intuit.com>
“I learned techniques in the digital photography workshop that will
save me hours at work — and will result in much better quality.
I wish I’d learned this a long time ago, but, until the cruise,
I was too busy to learn and save time.”
Tim Horgan <thorgan at cxo.com>
“The one thing that I got on this cruise that would be impossible
to get at a typical computer conference was a chance to hang out with
these guys I’ve heard about over the years. At a normal Perl event,
where there would be a lot more people, if you ever got near Larry Wall
there would be a hundred guys around him vying for his attention. I had
nice chats with just about all the speakers, and that was great.”
Steve Dimse <k4hg at tapr.org>
“The short summary is, go if you can
possibly figure out a way.”
Charles Shapiro <charles.shapiro at nubridges.com
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