2 Months Until Alaska … Are you Ready?

The months are flying by, and there’s now just two months until we set sail on Unlock the Past’s 14th cruise to Alaska.  61 days allowing for the timezone changes.

If you need proof … check my countdown app …

So after flying to Seattle, Washington, USA and having a full-on genealogy seminar the day before … we’ll be boarding on the 7th of September.

Myself and all the other geneacruisers then get 7 fun-filled days of genealogy learning combined with seeing the incredible sights that Alaska has to offer. Don’t you think that’s an awesome combination?

The itinerary takes us from Seattle, to the Inside Passage, to Juneau, Skagway, and Tracy Arm, then to Victoria, Canada before we head back to Seattle.

The ship we’re cruising on is the magnificent Explorer of the Seas from Royal Caribbean. Great ship, and great conference room facilities.

So we have a great ship, great itinerary, and trust me it’ll be a great conference as the range of conference presenters is incredible.

THE PRESENTERS
Susan Brook (USA) – Chasing Your Ancestors
Dick Eastman (USA) – Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter
Dr Janet Few (England) – The History Interpreter
Dr Maurice Gleeson (England) – DNA and Family Tree Research
Jan Gow (New Zealand) – Hooked on Genealogy Tours
Caroline Gurney (England) – Historical Research Services
Shauna Hicks (Australia) – Shauna Hicks History Enterprises
Cyndi Ingle (USA) – Cyndi’s List
Eric Kopittke (Australia) – German Family Matters
Rosemary Kopittke (Australia) – Rosemary Kopittke Genealogy
Kae Lewis (USA / New Zealand) – Goldrush Online
Mike Murray (Australia) – Time Trackers
Michelle Patient (New Zealand) – The Patient Genie
Pat Richley-Erickson (USA) – Dear Myrtle
Teri Schaller (USA) – History Speaks, a division of Mile High Transcripts
Helen Smith (Australia) – Dragon Genealogy
Mary Stutters (Australia) – bio here
Ed Thompson (USA) – Evidentia software

Just think of what you can learn from all of these incredible presenters.

THE PROGRAM
The program is largely finalised, and currently there’s 43 talks scheduled. And as with all Unlock the Past cruises they will offer Research Help Zone sessions. These give cruisers the opportunity for one-on-one time with an expert to help you with your brickwall. They’ll also have a panel discussion which this time will be on “DNA ethics and more”, so no doubt there will be lots of interesting comments on that one. And new to this cruise, they are also offering DNA one-on-one sessions. So if you have done a test and want help interpreting the results, or even have questions about testing – be sure to book into one of these. You can download the program from here.

Just some of the topics on offer are:
– Going nearly paperless
– Finding pictorial sources online
– Why transcripts are essential to include in your family records
– ScotlandsPeople
– England’s Poor Law and her misfortunate outcasts
– DNA testing plan
– Hidden secrets in our DNA
– Using the Irish census and census substitutes
– Extracting evidence from photographs
– Using Evidentia to organise your research and analyse your sources
– German maps and gazetteers
– Seven habits of highly effective genealogists
– Is it true? The facts, fun and fiction of family history
– Genealogy treasures inside The Internet Archives
– Cornwall’s people and emigration
– Are you related to royalty?
– Begotten by fornication
– Remember to WWW No, not the world wide web, but the who, where and when
– Use Evernote for genealogy and nearly everything else

The above list are just a few of the wide range of topics on offer. So I believe there’s something that everyone will enjoy and learn from. And remember it’s a cruise. You don’t HAVE to go to everything. If you’re going with family or friends, you’ll have time to go do stuff with them, and you can pick and choose which talks you want to go to.

And no need to feel like you’re missing out, as all talks are scheduled while the ship is at sea, so you still have plenty of time to go ashore and see the sights along the way.

So come and join me and a heap of others who have already booked for this awesome cruise, or just follow along online (I’ll blog about it as I always do) on what will be a trip of a lifetime.

For more info about the Unlock the Past Alaska cruise, visit their website here.

USEFUL LINKS: 
If you’re new to genealogy cruising, here’s a list of 13 tips for first time geneacruisers. I do need to update this list, but most of it is still relevant. Helen V. Smith has written tips for those interested in making the most of the Research Help Zone. And if you needed a reason (or two, or more) to go on an Unlock the Past genealogy cruise… here’s 20 reasons

MORE GENEALOGY CRUISES:
If Alaska isn’t your cup of tea, but Singapore, the Mediterranean, or an Australian cruise is, check out Unlock the Past  cruises 15th, 16th and 17th cruises.