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The New Orleans Convention & Tourism Board did an Economic Footprint Study in 2016 to measure the impact of Cruising on the local economy (New Orleans ) and how many direct/indirect jobs are generated in a Service Industry base economy as a result of placing cruise ships in New Orleans as the Home Port 

CEO Arnold (who is born and raised in New Orleans 7th Ward and a graduate of St "Aug" ) has an excellent grasp of the situation (IMHO) and is a disciple of the School of Project Management and i am confident he has a plan 

next year when one takes a cruise you might do a mapping exercise starting from the time you make your reservation thru the time you cross the gang plank and set up the Ship and see how many jobs are link to cruising 

in 2009 we took an AMAZING Peter Dielmann River Cruise to the South of France and to prepare I read "Wine & War : The French. The Nazi's & The Battle for France's Greatest Treasure " by Donald & Petie Kladstrooup on the overnight flight from Newark to Paris ..Lagniappe we visited the main Family owned Winery that was featured in the book and was occupied by the German Army and were given the tour by actual family members (who were pre teens) at the time of the German Occupation ...Dielmann River Cruise Company was German owned (went bankrupt at the end of the sailing we were on) and there were 122 German Pensioners and 12 Americans on Board which added to the uniqueness of the excursion 

by reading the book I was able to have a greater appreciation of the tour and appreciated the 1st person narrative..Germany & France have a very strong connection to wine that superceeded the political climate and the German Army commander family had done business with the French Winery before the War and had a greater call of duty to know that they would restart business after the War...won't give away the crux of the book but the German Commander & the Owner of the Winery worked in partnership to ensure the best wines were hidden and never sent to Berlin by putting diluted vintage in expensive bottles

So I took the theme of the Original Poster to embrace reading books (as opposed to watching Travel Shows which is almost a quick cheat sheet) about cruise destinations you plan on visiting or are on your wish list which gives a greater clarity and excitement when and if you actually cruise there 

if it helps there is an historic precedent that should give everyone Faith in how all Stakeholders can come together to ensure that full charter music cruises will continue to be a therapeutic conduit to heal ( paraphrase "Bridge Over Trouble Waters " ) when times are stressful 

in 2005 we were book on The All Star Smooth Jazz Cruise hosted by Rick Braun  in November on a Carnival Fantasy Class Vessel out of Houston ..Hurricane Katrina disrupted those best laid plans ..Carnival made the decision to pull 3 Fantasy Class vessels out of service ( including ours) to provide support for recovery efforts in New Orleans and Mobile and moved the (then) brand new Carnival Conquest sailing out of New Orleans to Houston ..the Promoters worked closely with Carnival, the artists who were schedule to perform and the booked guests (especially those of us who lived in the impacted area ) to move the full charter to the larger Conquest class vessel and in essence become a large group on a "regular" sailing in December which required adjustments for all parities which was successful due to the Promoters working with the Carnival Conquest Staff to ensure that everyone enjoyed a week of respite from the horrible aftershock of Katrina 

Rick and his fellow performing artists went above and beyond to use their musical gifts to make the week incredibly comforting and special for everyone ..the Conquest onboard staff went above and beyond to make our group feel welcomed as well as the non Smooth Jazz guests who could have felt that their cruise was disrupted due to having to share venues that they would normally have access to...on the last full day at sea , the promoters and the CD hosted an open thank you concert on the Lido Deck featuring all of our Smooth Jazz artists which was the highlight of the week 

that week with the music and the smooth seas , got me thru many tough periods when I return to rebuild in the following months

I suspect that ECP , the Artists & Celebrity will recreate the same magic for guests on their 2021 sailings that had their 2020 charter cancelled and that guests will appreciate the Artists & Music even more and appreciate the closeness and bonding between fans and the artists that only a full charter music cruise can provide 

thanks for the 21 BNAS update ..interesting .....Capetown SA has been designated as the 2021 International Jazz Day Global Host City celebration during the 2021 Capetown International Jazz Festival which has always been on my "Bucket List" 

I'm beginning to think one  Capetown  International Jazz Festival verses  two Full Charter Smooth Jazz Cruises for 2021 & 2022 

on the NCL Norway you could tell the deck and the day by the color of the carpet near the elevators 

in 1975 on the Oceanic sailing from NYC to Bermuda ..inside cabin for 4 on deck 1 with no in cabin restroom had to walk down the hall to a common area..main dining room was on the bottom deck with no windows ..skeet shooting off the back deck ..nude bathing area on the top deck ..the manifest was posted at the Guest Service Desk complete with cabin number and home city 

shuffle board tournament was the big full day at sea excitement ..safe to say the demographic make up of the guests was missing diveristy 

interesting when Carnival offered 3 Fantasy Class ships in 2005 post Katrina to house 1st responders and emergency personnel there was a very different tone on the part of a few posters on CC ( I screen saved a few select postings for a year  that were especially offensive and very insensitive and monitored if they would post an apology at some point with the benefit of hind sight ) ..the CC Board Monitors at that time made a strong effort to remove the more offensive postings in the days following Carnival's announcement 

glad to see the positive change of attitude of the  part of the current  CC posters  who are waiting to see the logistical planning process prior to postings 

interesting , Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) is rerunning all 8 episodes of Ken Burns Country Music Documentary in Binge Watching form since the NCAA March Madness Conference Championships have been cancelled and CBS is showing reruns of past Conference Championship Games (spoiler, we already know how they turned out )...it reinforces the link between Country Music & Jazz ..somewhat surprise that ECP has not picked up on the " 6 Degrees of Separation " and be reflective in the line up on both versions of future full charter music theme cruises 

since there is no Sunday Church during this Health Scare, your DH might find a Smooth Jazz FM Radio Station on Sunday Morning and you can have a Sunday  style New Orleans Gospel  Shrimp & Grits  Brunch (that he cooks for you ) while listening to a Jonathan Butler & Kirk Whalum "The Gospel According to Jazz CD's marathon 

don;t forget to stockpile hand wipes (after the crisis has past and the price scalping has gone away ) to pack in your Smooth Jazz Cruise suitcases that you keep in your Den so you won;t have to run out and obtain for your January BNAS 

better to error on the side of caution..Tom Joyner's Fantastic Voyage Cruise on Carnival will be rescheduled so I suspect since RCCL puled the plug ECP will be able to work with all Stakeholders to do the same ..the ultimate goal will be to make every guest whole and then the entire Travel Industry will turn to the Government to recover their financial losses  and much like the Airlines had to re write an entirely new playbook after the closing of air space after 911 , the Travel Insurance industry will have new guidelines based upon these unique set of events..the challenge of course is the  unknown timeline  it will take to manage thru this crisis 

I am tying go figure out how to get thru this weekend with  Sports, Church  and local New Orleans Food & Music Festivals all cancelled so I will dig into my stash of books that I ordered to read on cruises and reorganize my extensive  Smooth Jazz CD collection according to the specific Smooth Jazz Charter i was on and look forward to 2021 Jazz Cruising after a long layoff

PBS American Experience 1918 Influenza is a fascinating reminder of the impact of social media on today's handling of this type of crisis ..I suspect Ground Zero will be shifting almost daily ..you are wise to sit this out..a good book and lots of Smooth Jazz to keep you company and be thankful you had good trip insurance 

great minds think alike ...I was thinking of you while watching CBS Nightly News which showed the Celebrity Infinity sailing out of Miami with lots of empty cabins  ..if one stops to think about it , you would not have been able to enjoy yourself.(social isolationism and Smooth Jazz Cruises with Candy Dulfer onboard do not mix well together ) ..glad you purchase an independent policy with Cancel For Any Reason" clause...cardinal rule #1 it's not a good idea to purchase Trip Insurance Offered by the Cruise Line you are sailing for a litany of reasons  (IMHO) ..we were on a cruise out of Venice the week of 911 on Sun Line Cruises and were actually in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul when we were notified by the Turkish SWAT team (there were about 30 Americans onboard ) ..Sun Line made us whole and covered our expenses and air fare to get back home a week later, so I did not have to make a claim ..also when flying domestic I choose Southwest when I can because of their very liberal policy of travel credits for 1 year (which is normally the same time of the Jazz Cruise the following year ) 

when my health started to fail ,my Family Practice Group have placed all of my medical history on a J Drive that I carry with me both domestic and international and Thank God, I never had to use it 

I'm pretty sure ECP & Celebrity are having "Coming to the Lord" meetings as we speak to maintain the relationship as well as the other Music Promoters for these types of Full Music Charters because of the long term relationship with their guests ..the Travel Industry is taking a huge hit and much like post 911 it's going to take a while to rebuild (look for huge discounts on regular cruises  & air fares especially to Europe 

if your DH is looking for alternative options a romantic road trip to the San Juan Islands in early September with stops at Brick & Mortar Jazz Clubs and Outdoor Jazz  Festivals might be in order 

sometimes events happen for a reason that opens up other travel experiences ..if you can't reschedule your vacation time for next week you can create a Virtual Reality SJC at home 

WWW Cruisers ..will Boney James be having a CD Release Party for his upcoming release "Solid " while on your cruise

Boney's trademark **Non Hood ** Sneakers would get him busted if he was trying to be incognito...LOL ...one of my favorite Boney James stories...I own every Boney James CD he has ever made and he was kind enough to sign them all..my all time favorite is "Ride" that I love to play on my Fender Sound System in my VW Bug when I go to the local Car Wash hang out on Saturdays and both the Old School Players and the Young Turks love the CD and when I show them the Photo we took while on one of the Smooth Jazz Cruises they are stunned 

my Cruise Buddy is from Detroit and a hard core Straight Ahead Jazz Fan ..for our 1st date I invited her to go on the Capital Jazz Super Cruise and in looking at the line up her response was OK, but it's not Real Jazz and she had never heard of most of the Smooth Jazz artists ..her closing argument were the shopping ports of call..the line up included Maysa with Incognito, Kirk Whalum,  Phil Perry, Jeffrey Osborne, Ledisi, Teena Marie, Brian Culbertson, Lalah Hathaway, Take 6, Will Downing, Spyro Gyra, George Duke, George Wallace, Leela James,  Chuck Brown, Richard Elliot, Rick Braun among others 

needless to say at the end of that Cruise she has become a "convert"..looking at the Blue Note at Sea line up for 2021 my selling point to her is that the line up is meeting her half way 

prior to my inviting her on our 1st CJSC, she had only been on one other cruise (which was a 'normal' cruise ) and absolutely hated cruising because she said it was boring and the ship was asleep by 10 pm ..now if I would suggest going on a non Smooth Jazz Cruise Theme Charter she would laugh in my face 

like most of us Male Jazz  Cruising fans of a "certain age", Marcus had a full head of hair back in the day and thus no need to wear a brim ..I'm still in awe Marcus jammed with Prince & Miles ..prior to watching the PBS special I was not a big Fan of Miles because I didn't understand a lot of his Music and now I know why so I don't feel as guilty 

I have found after seeing  our favorite Artists performing live on the Smooth Jazz Cruises I have a much greater appreciation when I get home and listen to them on CD,Vinyl or Radio...especially having attended a CD Release party on the ship to understand the meaning behind various tracks 

now that you have placed that bug in my mind, I will have to dig out my  CD's of the Artists performing on BNAS 21  and load up my CD player, put the tv on mute while watching NHL Hockey & XFL football..thanks God the New Orleans Music & Food weekend Festivals start up at the end of the month 

glad you both had a great time ...much like you, I value the impromptu interaction with the artists ..I once ran into George Clinton in the rest room off

the lobby near the atrium and we sang a chorus of his 1st hit "I want to Testify " ..perfect acoustics ...lol

I learned early that since one is never in the cabin to book an inside cabin and to impress a first time cabin mate an Ocean View 

went to college at SUNY Oswego in the late 60's and dated a nice coed that attended St Bonaventure and we went to see them play Niagara at Buffalo back when Bob Lanier vs Calvin Murphy...best part there was a massive snowstorm in the area and we were snowed in for 3 days in the Girl's Dorm (back in the day before Coed Dorms ) 

makes sense and I remember the Celebrity Century we were on in 2009 for the Smooth Music Cruise was perfect size wise and venue wise ,,Capital Jazz Super Cruise X was on NCL Breakaway and it was a total nightmare logistical wise for performance venues 

if it works don't mess with it 

now that Mardi Gras is over we are entering the Food & Music Festival Every Weekend Season between the end of March thru early December ,,...planning on doing the Sea Breeze Smooth Jazz Festival in late April to get my Smooth Jazz "fix" until a Jazz Cruise 

Hi Sandra..if you are interested in Germany during WW 2 , you might google New Orleans World War 2 Museum Education Travel Tours as a starting point...good luck 

I've often wonder why ECP or Star Vista have not looked into chartering Celebrity Eclipse 7 day  repositioning cruise in late March from San Diego to Vancouver (or reverse in late September )  and coordinating with the West Coast (SAN- LAX -SFO (overnight) - SEA ) Brick & Mortar Jazz Clubs & Smooth Jazz Festival communities 

traditionally repositioning cruises are great value ( in part to offset higher 1 way air fares which could be offset by a deal with Celebrity Choice Air or Amtrak ) ..because of the high number of repeat guests for each offerings, one might think a change from the Caribbean might be appealing (just ask Dave Koz or Rick Braun ) 

I'm sure there is a logical reason on the part of both the Promoters and the Cruise Lines..I noticed Celebrity is advertising a $399 pp rate for an inside cabin 

if I were smart I would have purchased a "B" share of  Berkshire Hathaway when it divided in the early 90's when I lived in Omaha and just before they purchased Dairy Queen when I had the opportunity and a few extra bucks 

if you like the line up and promise to start a training regiment this weekend then by all means pull the plug and book it..one never knows what will happen a year from now and NEVER pass on a chance to hang out with George C in his suite..by design on my Capital Jazz Super Cruises I would book the inside cabin in the very front of the  Carnival Conquest Class Ship on the Lido Deck (9th) across from the Suites that the Promoter assigned the Artists...one year I lucked out and Candy Dulfer & her Mom were in the suite, one year Chante Moore and her Mom...both were gracious to invite us for afternoon tea on a full day at sea 

the key is stamina and means..I wish I could do The Smooth Jazz Cruise, The Jazz Cruise & Blue Note at Sea B2B2B and the following month do the Soul Train Cruise & The Flower Power Cruise ..of course it would possible if I could have sold my "B;" share of Berkshire Hathaway and find a cabin mate who's musical palate was as robust as mine 

Marcus is an AMAZING Renaissance Man and the PBS special featured him a lot...22 years old and playing with Miles Davis..I never knew Miles Davis & Prince performed together on stage with Marcus ..of course his biggest commercial hit "Da Butt'

perhaps ECP will work out a deal with PBS to show The Birth of Cool on BNAS 21 which is the perfect conduit between The Jazz Cruise & The Smooth Jazz Cruise 

Marcus would have fit in perfectly during the era of the Cab Calloway Big Band Era in the 40's-50's 

WWW Cruiser ..did you happen to watch PBS American Master  special on Miles Davis "Birth of the Cool "...I have a whole set of questions to ask Marcus Miller on the next BNAS 

George C...so how was the cruise ? thinking about doing the 2021 Flower Power Cruise with my high school classmate that I reconnected with at our 50th High School Reunion last October in Upstate New York 

I suspect Michael does not need my musical scouting ability .....he does just fine all by himself and probably gets an earful every year on his Jazz cruises from guests representing their regional favorite ...I bet he will be invited back to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival this year and perform in front of a larger audience 

BTW, you might mention to your DH that Candy is performing with Jonathan Butler at the Capetown International Jazz Festival March 27th -28th which would be a great opportunity to use all those extra frequent flyer miles you have accumulated flying to Florida every year for your Smooth Jazz Cruises to "surprise" you for a weekend Get- A -Way

I've noticed that more of our favorite Smooth Jazz artists perform at Capetown International Jazz Festival every year and the Essence Festival has a marketing agreement with the Durban Jazz Festival so you might think about alternating between doing a Jazz Cruise and a major international Jazz Festival every other year so your DH can support Candy both on land and sea 

got it..stay in communications with Star Vista..often they will run a dedicated shuttle from FLL airport to POM if a large group is flying in the day of or staying near the FLL Airport the night before and sometime provide a free shuttle back to FLL at the end of the cruise 

because of Artist copyright laws guests are not allow to film the concerts in the main showroom ..generally you can catch reruns of the evening concerts in your cabin on close circuit tv ..Star Vista will email you an information sheet prior to leaving home about logistical " can and cannot 

I always make a Memory Jazz Cruise Scrapbook for my cabin mate ( I'm old and old school ) and my grandson says I should learn about digital scrapbooks ...you can start now by collecting a paper trail of the artists memorabilia from that era (Detroit still has Brick & Mortar Old School Record Stores ) 

George C. makes great suggestions as well...you will find the schedule allows for formal interactions with the Artists but there will be ample opportunities for impromptu interactions ..the Artists are incredibly generous with their time and guests understand and respect giving them private time and space 

understand by design you will not be able to do it all but try to do a little of everything 

if you are lucky your DH will surprise you for NYE and take you to Rick's annual fundraiser and Candy will be performing 

still have not pulled the plug to book BNAS 21..this past October, I went to my High School 50th Reunion and reconnected with my childhood classmate who wants to go on The Flower Power Cruise in 2021 (our 1st "unofficial date was to see The Rascals at Saratoga  (NY) Performing Arts Center in 1969 ) 

did you by chance catch 60 Minutes tonight to see the segment on the Jazz Prodigy Matthew Whitaker ..amazing...he appeared at Jazz Fest last year and maybe if the ECP Promoter caught the segment he will be on one of the Jazz Cruises in 2021