Welcome to The Jazz Cruise… Where did the time go?  I cannot believe that our next sailing of The Jazz Cruise will be our 10th anniversary of being a full ship charter.   The time has gone by so quickly and there are just so many wonderful memories.  What began as an idea and a dream of mine has become a very real program.  What started on Holland America’s smallest ship is now on one of its largest and newest, the m/s Noordam.  But the really heart-warming part is that so many of our very first guests still cruise with us.  I am thrilled that this has not changed!

For those of you who have sailed with us before, we will be continuing our production of our own big band, again with amazing performers and vocalists.  The old stand-by events will be featured.  You cannot have The Jazz Cruise without The Jazz Cruise T-Shirt Party, Conversations with the Stars, Keyboard Capers, The Gospel Hour and Final Jam.  Some of our more recently added events have gained the stature of “standards” for The Jazz Cruise, so Showtime in the Vista Lounge (Opening Night), Hall of Fame Show, Costume Night and Dancing with Houston Person are all slated as usual.

For those of you who are on this site for the first time or have looked in the past, but have never joined us, there is no time like the present.  If you enjoy “straight-ahead” jazz, then there is simply no festival, concert or series of performances that present the quality and quantity of music that you have on The Jazz Cruise.  Truly, the only problem is getting it all in during the week.  That is why each performer is scheduled four different times during the week.  You need that amount of time to insure that you can see everyone!

We customarily sail in November, but we are pushing the cruise back to January 2011 in response to our many guest looking for that post-holiday, get out of the cold music vacation.  These extra few months offer our guests the ability to s-t-r-e-t-c-h out their payments for their cabins.  You will see that, in addition to our Standard Payment Plan, we are also offering a Sail-Away Plan that creates monthly payments which are less than most folks’ latte costs.

I just hope that those of you, who desire to have the best jazz music week of your life, will find the best way to come and join us for the 10th anniversary of The Jazz Cruise.

Anita E. Berry