I know some people who have gone and I would love to - I think as with all trips you need to do some homework and really know what is offered and it can be great fun.

I have been one two quilt cruises. One with a LQS which was fun. And another with Deb Roberts' Tours our of California. The first one we took our machines and made a quilt with log cabins and fans. You were free to come and go if you wanted to do something. The second one we hand pieced with a teacher from Austrailia, then appliqued with a teacher from Texas, whom I knew.
I am going with Deb Roberts again in late September on a 14 day cruise to Hawaii. We will have 3 teachers, one each day while at sea, with one day a sea to do whatever. That is going and returning.
Stitchinheaven does do good cruises. I have not been on one with them, but I know Debbie Lutrell who owns the shop and tour company. In fact 8 of us were just at
Stitchin heaven's bunkhouse for a 4 day retreat. Go crusisig if you can.

For those of you who want to do the "fun" things, you can. Quilting is "at sea". However, the one in Dec has sewing rooms "open" 24/7, so you can choose what you want to do. The Dec cruise stops at Aruba - "I ain't agoing there!" I'll stay on board and sew. JMO. Silvia

I went on my first cruise, a quilting cruise with a friend in February 5 years ago. Are final opinion...ee decided although we love to quilt- when we are spending days at sea we want to be lying by the pool drinking maragaritas, not stuck in some windowlessclassroom! We skipped alot of the classes. Now we cruise when we want to cruise and do a quilting retreat when we want to quilt!

I have seen them advertized a couple of times. Would love to go on one. I have only been on one cruise and loved it. So a quilting cruise???? Wow

I've been on a cruise and loved it. A quilting cruise is a dream trip for me. Hopefully someday!

A friend from our guild when on an Alaskan quilting cruise organized by www.sewmanyplaces.com last year. She had a great time. At least I got to "see" it through the presentation she did for us at a guild meeting. She had lots of quilting time, machines provided (sorry, don't know the brand), but still had lots of time for seeing scenery and shopping at LQS while in port.

Suzeq, You should really see Aruba, one of the prettiest little island towns you will go to. It is a wonderful place.

I agree, I would have done the same thing.

If you want a beautiful setting to quilt in, I choose a great retreat, where the quilters can use the work rooms even after class. You make great friends, because people come to the rooms in their sweats and PJs and quilt and talk most of the night. JMO.

ooh! I will have to check that out! I MAY be contacting you!

This has been my dream for somtime, also. On the top of my bucket list. Would probably take some time to save for this. I was very interested to read the other quilters experiences. I'll certainly do some intense research before I make real plans. Do not want to spend that kind of money to sit in a disco room!

I think a train trip with a quilt class at a quilt shop and shopping day, maybe over night there and train back would be a blast!!! Dani

My husband sent me and my sister on a quilting cruise last fall to the Mexican Riveria, It was wonderful, It was the first quilting cruise for this company,and my first too ,We flew into LA airport,they are planning another one in May to Alaska, They provided all the machines , the materials , champaigne in our cabin , a large fruit basket, T shirts and loads of fun, I would go again if I could afford it , I think it is a once in a lifetime thing for me ,We had an outside cabin and a balcony, they just kept dropping the prices so it was a real good deal, Then in January our quilting guild had a seminar here called Quilting at the Lake, . After the several days of lessons we have our regular meeting , I was findindg my seat when I spied two ladies that I was on the cruise with , What a surprise, , Next year we are goign to spend some time together here with them , maybe a big BBQ, we exchanged E-Mials so we could keep in contact with each other , My sister and I are in our 70's , what a memory we have , thanks to my great husband of 6 years :thumbup: , :lol:

The cruise I was on was on the top of my bucket list, My sister and I had both lost spouses to cancer so every day is a great day for us,My present husband had lost his spouse to cancer too, so we think memories are important, Don't wait until you retire, My former husband reached retirement and then died, not a fun thing, The next thing on my bucket list is to spend time in the White Mountains in Arizona, stay at the lodge and ride around those beautiful hills with the top down on my Vette , We don't have a lot but we will save for the lodge, Every body shoud see the Bucket list movie. Makes you think :thumbup: :XD:

well, I might reconsider Aruba. After all, I will not be going to a bar or such like that high schooler did and has never been seen since. Suzeq

I have a better chance something bad happening in LA, than I do Aruba. Don't miss your chance to see a beautiful island.

I went on one a couple of years ago(to the Caribbean) with a quilting friend of mine. We loved it! It was arranged by SEW MANY PLACES, Jim West's company. (sewmanyplaces.com) Helen Squire, from AQS was our leader. She was great! We had three classes, all done while we were at sea in lovely rooms. Two of the three classes were machine classes and Singer had each of the rooms equipped with 35 brand new machines. They sent a few representatives along so there was never a problem.
We ate early dinner and had the choice of doing whatever we wanted on board or going to the sewing rooms to catch up on our classwork. Most of us went to the sewing rooms as we were having a great time with each other! We laughed and helped each other. As a matter of fact, my friend and I are going again in January with Mary Englebrite! She is the creator of that great fabric that has the little girl on it with the sayings such as "It's GREAT to be Queen!"
In each port, we enjoyed the stop and looked for fabric shops, of course!
Go to the website...SoManyPlaces.com and see a variety of trips, all over the world. The travel is great and the people devine. If I could afford to go all over with quilters, life would be TOOOOOOO good! (Out of 100, 96 were quilters, mostly women but a few men as well as 4 spouses. And, of course, the spouses won the Singer sewing machines!!) Yes, if you found a machine out of the new machines on board, that you liked, you could buy it when we got back to Ft.Lauderdale, Florida, for almost $300. less than absolutely new! I can't wait to go again. Post it if you do go! (The instructors included Kimberly Eino, a lovely and talented woman who has invented great rulers, written several quillting books, and knows how to teach!)

I have never been to a quilting anything. Penny

I would rather go on a quilt retreat for quilting, and a cruise for cruising. I would have a hard time quilting when I thought I was missing something or enjoying the deck. I would feel divided.

I want to...but havent been yet.

The cruise I went on we only quilted the days we were at sea if we wanted to go ashore or stay and quilt, . we stopped at all the ports, there was shows every night on the ship and gambling also if you were so inclined , There was plenty of time to do all the things a person would want to do, we were assigned a table for dinner and we ate with the same people every night , but we could quilt any time we wanted to in the evenings if we were so inclined

My husband and I have been on many cruises, two of which were "quilting cruises". I enjoyed both of the, but the first one had four teachers, and we could only take one 3-hour class with one teacher. We did have evenings with the group and that was fun. The best cruise was one with Eleanor Burns, a 10-day cruise to New England to see the foliage and make a sunflower throw quilt! machines were provided and the room was available 24/7 - classes were held only when we were "at sea". We had a terrific time - there was plently of time to sightsee, and we were fortunate enough to find some quilt shops along the way. Eleanor included the husbands in several activities, as well. Most of the 25 participants got their quilt top completed, and several even got theirs quilted before the cruise ended.

Sorry this is so long, but I'm all for quilting cruises. Just make sure that you will have enough class time with the teacher to make it worthwhile.

I went on one out of Galveston, Tx. Royal Carribean. Went with one of our local Quilt shops -- Quilter's Emporium. Robin Pandolph was one of our Guest speakers along with Paul Barnes and a few local quilt teachers. We signed up for various classes that were offered during the time the ship was cruising. You had a choice to go on shore at each destination or stay in and sew. All the Janome sewing machines were set up on the ship. You did not bring your own. The classes were great -- learned a lot of techniques and even bought my Janome Embrodiery Machine on this cruise. This quilt shop is actually on their way back to Galveston from another cruise. I believe they sponser two a year. This one is the big one. We had right at 100 quilters and I think they were close to this amount of quilters on this trip. The other one is during the summer. I don't think this one is as big. Because the quilt shop is a Janome dealer she is able to sell all these brand new machines at used/discount prices. If you are looking for a Janome this would be a great deal. All the machines come with the same warranty as a brand new one. I would love to go on an Alaskan cruise. Maybe when the kids graduate from high school.

Then in January our quilting guild had a seminar here called Quilting at the Lake, . After the several days of lessons we have our regular meeting , I was findindg my seat when I spied two ladies that I was on the cruise with , What a surprise, , Next year we are goign to spend some time together here with them , maybe a big BBQ, we exchanged E-Mials so we could keep in contact with each other , My sister and I are in our 70's , what a memory we have , thanks to my great husband of 6 years :thumbup: , :lol:[/quote]

How FUN for you!! For ALL of you! --- happy quilting and lasting friendships!

I would absolutely love to go on a cruise but unless it was one that sat the quilting times for when you are at sea only I wouldn't want to do a quilt cruise. I wouldn't want to miss the sites myself.
So I would rather go on a cruise for the cruise experience and then just go on a quilting retreat with some friends.
Muriel

Muriel: Classes are when at sea. check out the site Fons and Porter Love of Quilting Cruise for info. There are others in 2011

Where are the quilting retreats? I'd like to do that. Silvia

I can't imagine having to carry all the things you need for a class on the ship with yome.My hubby and I have been on quiet a few cruises but can't imagine that I would enjoy it if I had to worry about a class. Now cruising to the quilting stores, that would be fun.

We did not carry any thing but our scissors and some rulers , everything else was provided by the seminar providers, if you forget something someone will help you out, it is OK to carry scissors if you put in your lugggage, not your carry on

Where on Cape Cod? There are a couple of quilt shops I go to in the summer--Heartbeat Quilts in Hyannis is a must--Let me know if you plan to go there and I'll meet you there. I live about 45 min. from the shop--Sharon J

And I agree with you shaverg.

I also would love to go on one, but would have to be the RIGHT one. There's one advertised in a recent mag and it's r/t los angeles to Hawaii, Oct 2010 on Princess. If the group is good, this seems ideal cause you've got 4 sea days each way (to/from Hawaii). Def would want to check out the org behind it tho. I finished (hem but needed to press) a formal gown on one cruise I was on and since you couldnt have an iron in cabin, used the laundry room and it was packed with folks on the sea days and the irons were lousy. Sounds like so much fun!
Leigh

Check with Stitcin Heaven in Quitman,Tx for a cruise,Debbie Lutrell has one coming up and just posted one in 2011,They are not on my budget, she also does retreats,that I love. Those are more within my means.lol Tell her Jo Lofland sent you. Jolo

What I like about the (not affiliated, just am going) Fons and Porter Love of Quilting Cruise is, from what I read, do not have to take any "tools". However, have not gotten official info yet. Cost for the Quilting sessions is pricey, IMO, but three teachers, and free stuff, @ $850. But, I think only three "at sea" days. Check it yourself. I may be wrong, won't be the first or last time. :lol: Silvia

My sister and I went on one last Oct with our LQS. There were about 15 of us. No speakers. We had a nice room to set up all of our work. We sewed the 2 days we were at sea. Had time to sightsee also. We went to Bermuda from Sat. to Wed. out of Bayonne NJ. Our ship was the Explorer of the seas. We had a wonderful time.

That price doesn't seem bad at all - Where exactly are you cruising, and who are the instructors? - Sounds good - I am curious - when is it going? Thanks