OK, so I have some more firm prices for VS Fest 2009, so I would like everyone to vote again on our final 2 choices.

Option 1: St. Louis.

1. Rooms per night are going to run about $130 per night (This is up to quad occupency, so if you want to share a room with two double beds you may be able to cut costs that way.)
   
2. Parking is $15 self park, or $19 valet (unlimited daily removal)
   
3. I was planning on reserving us a meeting room at the hotel with a TV so that we can hook up Rock Band in the evenings. This is going to cost about 160 per day for Fri/Sat/Sun. We will have the room and the TV for the full day, so we should be able to take laptops down and have a LAN party or whatever we want.
   (I will probably just divide that up among the number of folks coming but it shouldn't be more than about $25 per person for the weekend.)
   
4. I'm still looking into transport, but if we want to get a "limo bus" type thing its looking like about 65-100 per person per day. I'm working on getting more specific pricing on this, it sort of depends on what kind of vehicle we need and what kind of "weekend discount" we can get. But we should be able to scale the number of seats we need in the vehicle to the number of people coming, so once I get the pricing it should be pretty firm on a "per person" basis. (This bus thing is totally an optional thing, I just couldn't come up with a better way for us to get around town).
   
5. Things these prices don't include:
   
   
   • Of course this doesn't include meals, beverages, and the like
     
   • It won't include any pricing on what we decide to do for fun during the day. (I will have to do quite a bit more research into that and it will likely include another poll.)
     
   • Airfare (or whatever means you need to use to make your way to St. Louis)
   Option 2: The Cruise
   OK, so after a lot of price searching and researching and other what-nots, I came up with the best price I could. The Cruise would also be on the weekend of August 6th. It would depart Mobile, AL at around 4pm and sale to Cozumel, Mexico and return on August 9th (Making it a 4 day/3 night cruise).
   
   
   
   1. The pricing for the cruise is $309 per person for an inside cabin, $359 for a cabin with a window. This includes all of you on-ship meals and your room accommodations. But there's more...
      
      
      • You will also be charged a $47 fee for "Department of Homeland Security hullabaloo"
        
      • Because we would be traveling as a "Group" and will be booking under a "Group Rate" I will be able to give everyone back $50 in on board gift certificates (so the $47 fee for DHS sort of washes).
        
      • For every 8 cabins we book, I will receive about $309 in credit to me... I would most likely distribute this back to everyone on the cruise evenly.
        
      • Also, if you group up so that you share larger cabins, the price for the 3rd and 4th person in the cabin is reduced.
      
      
   2. Things that these prices don't include:
      
      
      • Beverages from the bar, that includes soft drinks and alcoholic drinks.
        
      • Off ship excursions, that is any ship-planned excursions that you want to take part in. Or, as the case may be, us-planned excursions.
        
      • Any meals you choose to eat off the boat (we will be in Cozumel for the entire day on both Friday and Saturday, so it is likely you will want to eat lunch off the boat both days.)
        
      • Your transportation to Mobile, AL
        
      • Your Passport--if you don't have one you will need to get one!
        (But honestly, its a good idea to have one anyway.)
        
      • Any accommodations you need before the departure of the Cruise at 4pm on Thursday or after the 7am return on Sunday.
      There is a slight possibility that I missed something here...lol
      Actually I can almost guarantee there is something that someone wants to know that I didn't put here, but the hell if I can figure out what it is.
      
      Let me know if you have any questions, here or in a PM.
      
      I would like to kind of have an idea of what we are doing sometime next week, so I can firm something up with the hotel.
      
      So, vote away!

Is the boat bar handled on a tab settled afterwards or is it per transaction? I assume if it is per transaction they would want cash and not card...

I'll have to look around for flights to ensure I'd be able to get there on time for the boat. Sounds a lot of fun but I'd hate to see someone lag and then get locked out of the instance!

Is the boat bar handled on a tab settled afterwards or is it per transaction? I assume if it is per transaction they would want cash and not card...

They issue you a "Cruise Card" and that is basically a tab that is charged to your credit card at the end of the voyage.

I'll have to look around for flights to ensure I'd be able to get there on time for the boat. Sounds a lot of fun but I'd hate to see someone lag and then get locked out of the instance!

I love this euphemism...

Couple of comments regarding the cruise: You will be "expected" to tip everyone on the cruise (housekeeping, waiter, etc) and that can add up to a quite a bit. Also, in my experience, the drinks on the boat are not the cheapest (and also include a mandatory tip of 15% or something like that). If you are not a drinker, this won't really bother you. But for the rest of us... well, it can easily double the cost of the trip. They don't usually allow you to bring booze on board but I have been successful in bringing it back to my room claiming it as a souvenir and then guzzling it down. Just saying. :D

As for St. Louis - If the bus thingy is going to cost that much, would it be cheaper to just share taxis everywhere? Or rent cars and split the cost of them?

St. Louis does have light rail, that makes it easier to get to many places.

Couple of comments regarding the cruise: You will be "expected" to tip everyone on the cruise (housekeeping, waiter, etc) and that can add up to a quite a bit.

Yes, your right, I did forget to put that on there... It seems as though they put the tip on your "Cruise Card" and charge that at the end of the voyage. It is automatically calculated and as Sapph said, it would probably add up...


As for St. Louis - If the bus thingy is going to cost that much, would it be cheaper to just share taxis everywhere? Or rent cars and split the cost of them?

Definitely an option. We will probably have some cars, and if some of the fliers rent we would probably be able to do that. I know Arachne and I will be driving over, so we will have 2 extra seats, and anyone else who drives would be able to transport... or we can share cabs, but I think that may get very expensive...

The only problems with us driving ourselves around are (a) getting lost-hehe- and (b) needing a DD.

I will give an update on the car service in a bit, but we may find that rental cars are easier, especially if we can rent a couple of mini-vans or something... again, this will likely depend on how many of us there are...

C-Rob and I are down for either. We like the cost appeal of St. Louis...but the idea of a cruise. If we go to St. Louis, we will drive, opening up another 2 seats.

Also, is there a way to change votes in the poll?

Sounds a lot of fun but I'd hate to see someone lag and then get locked out of the instance!

Does Brown already have a cruise ID?

LOL

Awesome.

Also, is there a way to change votes in the poll?

I don't know, The Don will have answer this one...

As for the car-share pricing. I have several other ideas to bring the pricing down on that. One is that we can just car-pool everywhere during the day (a couple people may need to rent a car or something) and then we can get limo/bus service thing for to and from dinner.

The other is that we can just carpool everywhere. I wouldn't worry too much about that cost, if we decide to get a bus service I can probably get the cost down for just the evenings to somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 per person per day... and that would keep us getting safely from the hotel to drinking (I mean dinner) and back...

As for the cruise, I did a little more research on the tips... Wow, you may want to add at least $100 per person for tips, not including those for alcoholic drinks. (just for information purposes).

I can change your votes.

I don't see a "I hate you fuckers and refuse to hang out with any of you other than Lux" option in the poll.

I don't see a "I hate you fuckers and refuse to hang out with any of you other than Lux" option in the poll.

That would be the option of not voting... I had thought of that, you know...

Usually, I do add my own option but I've been really busy lately and thus, unmotivated to ruin everyone's fun.

But if Beam would like to be ruined by me, I can make time.

Poll results are currently sitting with 60% of the vote for St. Louis and 50% for Cozumel.

Wait a second.. is this being tabulated in ohio or something?

Poll results are currently sitting with 60% of the vote for St. Louis and 50% for Cozumel.

Wait a second.. is this being tabulated in ohio or something?


I think...
its because you can vote for more than one...
So 60% of the voters voted for St. Louis while 40% did not vote for St. Louis
And Separately 50% voted for the cruise while 50% did not vote for the cruise...
(and as 10 total people have voted at this point that makes sense)...

If that's not the case then it was probably calculated in Florida, in which case "I want a recount!"

In other news: Only 10 people voted! Come on guys, VOTE, its kind of like drinking: its your right
(unless you happen to be under 21 in the states in which case it isn't your right to drink, but you can always join the Army)...

I have no idea if I can take the time off yet since I won't know what I will be working on. However either option sounds good to me :)

Usually, I do add my own option but I've been really busy lately and thus, unmotivated to ruin everyone's fun.

But if Beam would like to be ruined by me, I can make time.

What are you doing tomorrow night? I have pie.

saint louis is seeming a better option. If nothing else it just isn't as stressful getting everyone together.

Does the hotel/conference center you have in mind have a bar near by? a bar with.. kareoke??

and a Popeye's. I require popeye's.

and a Popeye's. I require popeye's.

Torrin Chicken Party!

Does the hotel/conference center you have in mind have a bar near by? a bar with.. kareoke??

and a Popeye's. I require popeye's.

I don't know about Popeye's...

But there are several bars around, I will definitely be looking for a Karaoke bar if we end up in St. Louis. There is a bar in the hotel, but I don't think they have Karaoke at the hotel.

I'm looking at the Hilton downtown. Arachne and I went to St. Louis a couple months ago and met C-Rob and Monkeygirl. It's the same place that we stayed then, and we all thought it was pretty nice.

Sorry I haven't voted yet. I have been soooo busy at work and haven't had time to think about this...

So... I thought I set this poll to close on Tuesday... Apparently it's set for Thursday, but I am going to go with the Tuesday results because I need to get back to people by then to firm up reservations and the like.

Does the hotel/conference center you have in mind have a bar near by? a bar with.. kareoke??

and a Popeye's. I require popeye's.

Would you also like someone to pick out the brown M&Ms? :lol:

Would you also like someone to pick out the brown M&Ms? :lol:

Pick them out of where?