Mar 6, 2020 - Almost Boat! Plus, Performer Update

Date: Fri, 06 Mar 2020 12:00
Subject: Almost Boat! Plus, Performer Update
From: JoCo Cruise
To: booked cruisers

Almost Boat!

Boat's comin', y'all, TOOT TOOT! We are extremely excited to see all of you tomorrow. (And possibly randomly run across some of you in Fort Lauderdale today and tonight.) We thank you all for being so awesome during this, shall we say, unorthodox couple of weeks.

We've pointed you to it a lot lately, but we'll just mention one more time that HAL's COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Travel Advisory page has complete information regarding their current health advisory and travel safety procedures. They've also recently posted a video by their Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Grant Tarling, that outlines some very helpful information on how to stay healthy while traveling.

If you are feeling sick, please be sure to exercise your best judgement before coming to the cruise port, and be aware of HAL's policy regarding accurately completing your health screening forms during check-in. We look forward to a happy, healthy and awesome cruise for everyone.

Performer Update

We are bummed to make the following announcement:

• Zoë Keating has a fever today, so in the interest of her and her family's health and well being as well as that of all our passengers, she will not be joining us for JoCo Cruise 2020. She says she's very sorry (which is to be expected, as she's Canadian) and sends her deepest regrets and will miss you all.
• Wil Wheaton will also be unable to join us this year. Here's a statement Wil asked us to pass along to all of you:

I've gone on every JoCo cruise since 2010. It breaks my heart to miss this significant anniversary, but I don't have a choice. Because a nonzero number of y'all reading this will be disappointed upon receiving this news, I just wanted to take a moment and explain.

In about three weeks, I will start a job that has the potential to change my career, and my life. I'm not paranoid, I'm not panicking, but I'm considering my future, my family's future, and doing my best to make choices that are in their best interests.

After extensive consultation with my team of agents and managers, lots of conversations with Anne, and many late nights alone with my thoughts, I concluded that even a 1% chance of being disrupted by a quarantine, or picking something up in an airport, was too much of a risk. If I ended up sick or quarantined, this show would be forced to recast, I would lose the job, and I would be devastated. As much as I love this cruise and the world we all get to live in when we are on The Boat, I have to prioritize the world I live in now, and the world I believe this job is going to open up for me.

Sea Monkeys are awesome, so I know you'll get this: I have a chance to live my dream. *MY* dream, not someone else's dream that I felt obligated to live for most of my life. I know that there is not a person among you who would even consider for a moment putting anything in between me and realizing that dream.

I'm going to miss you all. I'm going to miss everything about The Boat, and I'm going to miss seeing the wonderful people I only get to see once a year.

But my dreams are finally coming true, and I have to do everything I can to ensure I am in the best position to realize them.

I know some of y'all are disappointed. I am right there with you, and it's why we waited until the last possible minute to make this decision. We just kept hoping something would change, that there was some way to justify this tiny risk, and I just couldn't do it. But I know you all understand, and I appreciate that so much.

Have a wonderful voyage, everyone. I will miss you all, and I'll see you next time.

Wil

[puts on our Jean Valjean vest] Onnnnnne daaaaaaay mooooooooooooooooore!

THO.

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