Event on a Cruise ship?

[+LFITQ]

Hi there,

 

I'm teaching a bunch of people the art of geocaching while we are on a cruise ship in a few months.

 

I was thinking about creating an Event Cache for this meet n greet and lesson but I was unsure of how to do it, mainly because we plan to do it while on a sea day on the cruise. Which means I can't enter any coordinates for the meet - the ship will be moving!

 

I thought it might be nice for those who are in attendance to be able to register and log their first find as the event cache.

 

But I am unsure if this is possible or even allowed???

 

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[+TrailGators]

Sounds like fun and I can't think of a reason why you couldn't but you better check with a reviewer. I guess you could post the coordinates for the port it's leaving from. I'd love to see a video of you guys trying to find a cache hidden on the ship while it's out at sea.

Edited March 2, 2008 by TrailGators

[+nekom]

I would think the coordinates of the event would be where the ship is leaving port from, since that is where the event will naturally have to start.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

I'm wondering if this would pass the commercial cache prohibition.

[+briansnat]

I'm wondering if this would pass the commercial cache prohibition.

 

That certainly would be a stumbling block.

[+Trucker Lee]

I'm just trying to figure how to keep the coords current so folks can find it!

[+Andy&BeckyRiley]

I'm just trying to figure how to keep the coords current so folks can find it!

 

Quite a lot of the larger cruise ships are trackable - have a look here:

 

http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/cruiseships.phtml

 

for more details. You even get a lang and long

 

Andy

[+wandering4cache]

I'm picturing many frustrated newbies looking for a moving cache. lol Sounds like a cache for the more advanced cacher. Where do we sign up?

[+Knight2000]

Traveling caches are no longer allowed.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I'm wondering if this would pass the commercial cache prohibition.

 

That certainly would be a stumbling block.

I don't know, there are events in restaurants all the time, a cruise ship would be like a very large expensive restaurant, and a restaurant were you can eat 24 hours a day for several days at a time.

 

Before going on a cruise it is a good idea to get on your bathroom scale while holding a 20lb weight. Then when you get home you can say "look, I didn't gain any weight while on the cruise"

[+TrailGators]

Traveling caches are no longer allowed.

 

As far as earlier comments on being commerical, I was thinking that many of our events are at Pizza places or Irish pubs. As long as you don't advertise the place it should be OK.

[+Nochipra]

What you might be able to do is teach them to mark waypoints while out to sea? I would ask the captain of the ship if their is any point in the cruise if they will be crossing the exact same spot on the ship, then when you start the cruise mark that point when you get to it and then again on the way back and see if anyone can get the same numbers? If you are stopping at any ports then you can let people do the traditional caches if they are close enough or hide one yourself while out? That's about the only way I could figure to do it?

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Traveling caches are no longer allowed.

 

As far as earlier comments on being commerical, I was thinking that many of our events are at Pizza places or Irish pubs. As long as you don't advertise the place it should be OK.

 

But you can go into a restaurant without paying. I don't think you can do that with a cruise ship.

[+TrailGators]

Traveling caches are no longer allowed.

 

As far as earlier comments on being commerical, I was thinking that many of our events are at Pizza places or Irish pubs. As long as you don't advertise the place it should be OK.

 

But you can go into a restaurant without paying. I don't think you can do that with a cruise ship.

What about all the caches in theme parks and zoos? I thought the point of the commercial clause to stop people from promoting other businesses. This event is not promoting a crusise ship and I seriously doubt the cruise ship needs geocaching to make ends meet. I think he should ask his reviewer regardless of what we think... Edited March 3, 2008 by TrailGators

[+tomfuller & Quill]

I'm planning an event cache starting in Chemult OR on May 23. The posted cache coords will be on the platform. Any cachers that show up before the southbound Coast Starlight arrives are welcome to sign the cache log. If you have a ticket you can ride on down to Sacramento. I expect to be at GeoWoodstock VI before 9:30AM the next morning. I'm hoping there will be at least a handful of cachers on board.

As long as the coords given are a public area on the dock where non-ticketed people are allowed to meet prior to the ship sailing it should be allowed. Have fun on your cruise .

 

tomfuller & Quill

Crescent, OR

[+Prime Suspect]

Hi there,

 

I'm teaching a bunch of people the art of geocaching while we are on a cruise ship in a few months.

 

I was thinking about creating an Event Cache for this meet n greet and lesson but I was unsure of how to do it, mainly because we plan to do it while on a sea day on the cruise. Which means I can't enter any coordinates for the meet - the ship will be moving!

 

I thought it might be nice for those who are in attendance to be able to register and log their first find as the event cache.

 

But I am unsure if this is possible or even allowed???

 

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

The point of putting an Event on the site is to alert people to the event, and give them the info they will need in order to attend. It doesn't seem like any of that actually applies to what you're doing. If they're not yet members of GC.com, they'll never get the notice. You seem to want to post the event just to give them a free smilie.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

What about all the caches in theme parks and zoos? I thought the point of the commercial clause to stop people from promoting other businesses. This event is not promoting a crusise ship and I seriously doubt the cruise ship needs geocaching to make ends meet. I think he should ask his reviewer regardless of what we think...

 

Oh, I agree that he should ask.

 

And you can't place a cache at a commercial theme park or zoo anymore. Only not-for-profit locations and parks.

[+TrailGators]

What about all the caches in theme parks and zoos? I thought the point of the commercial clause to stop people from promoting other businesses. This event is not promoting a crusise ship and I seriously doubt the cruise ship needs geocaching to make ends meet. I think he should ask his reviewer regardless of what we think...

Oh, I agree that he should ask.

 

And you can't place a cache at a commercial theme park or zoo anymore. Only not-for-profit locations and parks.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing with you MM. I'm just trying to understand the "intention" of the guideline. It's easier to apply a guideline if you clearly understand that. Anyhow, I can see how it would be fun to have an introduction to geocaching event on the boat. They can certainly do that even if the event won't be listed on the site. I don't see the harm in listing it in this case, but Tomfuller & Quill's suggestion would certainly be a workaround to get the event listed.

[+joranda]

Hi there,

 

I'm teaching a bunch of people the art of geocaching while we are on a cruise ship in a few months.

 

I was thinking about creating an Event Cache for this meet n greet and lesson but I was unsure of how to do it, mainly because we plan to do it while on a sea day on the cruise. Which means I can't enter any coordinates for the meet - the ship will be moving!

 

I thought it might be nice for those who are in attendance to be able to register and log their first find as the event cache.

 

But I am unsure if this is possible or even allowed???

 

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

The point of putting an Event on the site is to alert people to the event, and give them the info they will need in order to attend. It doesn't seem like any of that actually applies to what you're doing. If they're not yet members of GC.com, they'll never get the notice. You seem to want to post the event just to give them a free smilie.

 

 

Aren't smilies supposed to be free?

[Keystone]

What about all the caches in theme parks and zoos? I thought the point of the commercial clause to stop people from promoting other businesses. This event is not promoting a crusise ship and I seriously doubt the cruise ship needs geocaching to make ends meet. I think he should ask his reviewer regardless of what we think...

Let me correct your understanding of the guideline. The point of the commercial cache guideline goes well beyond "stopping people from promoting other businesses." It is also to control promotion of businesses, even if unintentional. And, that control belongs to Groundspeak, not to the volunteer cache reviewer. The only proper answer to the direct question raised by the OP is, "write to Groundspeak and find out." A cache reviewer cannot answer the question.

[+TrailGators]

What about all the caches in theme parks and zoos? I thought the point of the commercial clause to stop people from promoting other businesses. This event is not promoting a crusise ship and I seriously doubt the cruise ship needs geocaching to make ends meet. I think he should ask his reviewer regardless of what we think...

Let me correct your understanding of the guideline. The point of the commercial cache guideline goes well beyond "stopping people from promoting other businesses." It is also to control promotion of businesses, even if unintentional. And, that control belongs to Groundspeak, not to the volunteer cache reviewer. The only proper answer to the direct question raised by the OP is, "write to Groundspeak and find out." A cache reviewer cannot answer the question.

Thanks Keystone. That makes sense that Groundspeak would want to decide stuff like that. Edited March 4, 2008 by TrailGators

[+JohnnyVegas]

Traveling caches are no longer allowed.

 

As far as earlier comments on being commerical, I was thinking that many of our events are at Pizza places or Irish pubs. As long as you don't advertise the place it should be OK.

 

But you can go into a restaurant without paying. I don't think you can do that with a cruise ship.

Not really, it depends on the restaurant, I have been to events at all you can eat buffets, at these places you have to pay at the door before you get inside.

[+DanOCan]

The point of putting an Event on the site is to alert people to the event, and give them the info they will need in order to attend. It doesn't seem like any of that actually applies to what you're doing. If they're not yet members of GC.com, they'll never get the notice. You seem to want to post the event just to give them a free smilie.

 

We did something similar last summer for a caching introduction course we did for our local Parks and Rec Dept. We posted it as an Event cache which allowed veteran cachers to show up and meet the people if they wanted. The new cachers were notified via other methods.

 

It was quite fun to see their eyes light up when they were told that they had already found their first cache -- an Event cache. It also makes a nice segue into the discussion on the various types of caches. Besides, nothing wrong with a free smiley. Heck, the smiley was also an added incentive for those who volunteered to do the actual teaching and caching too.

 

As for the OP, I suspect getting the cache approved on the ship would be a challenge. I think the idea raised above -- have the event in a public location before departure allowing both cruise members and non-members to attend -- would have the best chance of approval. Just my opinion, naturally...

[+Kacky]

You can't teach caching on a moving ship (cache THEORY maybe?) , but you can teach it on an island if there's a stopover. Why not post the co-ords to an island. There may even be a cache there already.

[+torossi]

This sounds like a cool idea

I just returned from a cruise and geocached at all the ports of call.

 

To me it would make sense to use the ships home port as the event location. Once on board, teaching sessions could be done to explain geocaching etc. The GPSr was great on the ship to see where on the planet the ship was, and what course and speed we were heading.

 

Once at your ports of call there should be lots of opportunity to cache to regular caches and most likely virtual caches etc. If the cruise line has a private island or beach it is possible that caches exist there, and it is for sure a fun way to learn about geocaching.

 

Good luck!!!

[+Ambrosia]

You can't teach caching on a moving ship (cache THEORY maybe?) , but you can teach it on an island if there's a stopover. Why not post the co-ords to an island. There may even be a cache there already.

 

Yup. There may be a cache or two on one or more of your stopovers. At the very least, you could take them caching that way. It's always fun to cache on a tropical island, and get a new country on your list. I've been on several cruises, two since caching. Both times, we managed to get a cache while at a stopover (Novia Scotia, and Grand Bahama). It's a cool adventure.