GGC2007: Request For Bids

Hi Gary,

That is really sad news. I thought we'd at least have a bid from Peter
Berlin, George, or Cal.

Like you said, on to plan B. Last year they didn't even start planning till
much later than this, so keep your collective "chins up".

Tobieon an Island in the Pacific

"Gary W" wrote in message
oups.com...
Greetings!

I am sad to report that during the Request For Bids open period, the
GGC2007 committee received no bids for our preferred trips. There a
several possible reasons, but the net result is the same. It is time to
go to plan 'B'.

We will extend the Request for Bids invitation for two more weeks, to
be closed at Midnight PDT on May 6th, 2006.

TAs are now invited to make bids and the committee will consider any
and all itineraries. Additionally, we will accept bids from interested
or solicited TAs outside of RTC, so make contacts as you feel
appropriate. All TAs outside of RTC will be qualified by the committee
prior to making the travel agreement.

The committee will give first consideration to RTC TAs, and secondary
consideration for bids which come near to our preferences.

So ... talk it up, get the word out, call your friends, neighbors, or
Congressional Representative!

The committee will be reaching out in a dedicated effort to secure a
good trip for a good price. Thanks for your support, advice, and help.
I'll keep the updates coming.

Gary W.

In article MEM2g.61781$P01.15296@pd7tw3no, Tobie Gerbrandt
wrote:

That is really sad news. I thought we'd at least have a bid from Peter
Berlin, George, or Cal.

Maybe the problem was with the prefered trip?

--
Charles

Gary W wrote:

Greetings!

I am sad to report that during the Request For Bids open period, the
GGC2007 committee received no bids for our preferred trips. There a
several possible reasons, but the net result is the same. It is time to
go to plan 'B'.

This is sad news. I think maybe part of the problem was our being too
specific about what, when and where we wanted to go. I would love to
see a TA come up with a 10 day Panama Canal cruise, which would
include some of the Southern Carib.

sue

Gary, since no TA's responded and they were given several weeks, I'm
wondering what extending the bidding period a couple of more weeks
would accomplish?

Jo-Ann

In article . com,
wrote:

Gary, since no TA's responded and they were given several weeks, I'm
wondering what extending the bidding period a couple of more weeks
would accomplish?

They won't be constrained by the prefered trip. They might come up with
something else suitable enough for most people.

--
Charles

Yes, Tobie, I never expected this to happen, especially after the posts
Peter Berlin made about starting to prepare his bid as soon as the poll
results were in.
Mary

Tobie Gerbrandt wrote:
Hi Gary,

That is really sad news. I thought we'd at least have a bid from Peter
Berlin, George, or Cal.

Like you said, on to plan B. Last year they didn't even start planning till
much later than this, so keep your collective "chins up".

Tobieon an Island in the Pacific

"Gary W" wrote in message
oups.com...

Greetings!

I am sad to report that during the Request For Bids open period, the
GGC2007 committee received no bids for our preferred trips. There a
several possible reasons, but the net result is the same. It is time to
go to plan 'B'.

We will extend the Request for Bids invitation for two more weeks, to
be closed at Midnight PDT on May 6th, 2006.

TAs are now invited to make bids and the committee will consider any
and all itineraries. Additionally, we will accept bids from interested
or solicited TAs outside of RTC, so make contacts as you feel
appropriate. All TAs outside of RTC will be qualified by the committee
prior to making the travel agreement.

The committee will give first consideration to RTC TAs, and secondary
consideration for bids which come near to our preferences.

So ... talk it up, get the word out, call your friends, neighbors, or
Congressional Representative!

The committee will be reaching out in a dedicated effort to secure a
good trip for a good price. Thanks for your support, advice, and help.
I'll keep the updates coming.

Gary W.

Peter hasn't posted for a while. I just wonder whether he is ok.

Ermalee

Mary Foster wrote:

Yes, Tobie, I never expected this to happen, especially after the posts
Peter Berlin made about starting to prepare his bid as soon as the poll
results were in.
Mary

Tobie Gerbrandt wrote:

Hi Gary,

That is really sad news. I thought we'd at least have a bid from
Peter Berlin, George, or Cal.

Like you said, on to plan B. Last year they didn't even start
planning till much later than this, so keep your collective "chins up".

Tobieon an Island in the Pacific

"Gary W" wrote in message
oups.com...

Greetings!

I am sad to report that during the Request For Bids open period, the
GGC2007 committee received no bids for our preferred trips. There a
several possible reasons, but the net result is the same. It is time to
go to plan 'B'.

We will extend the Request for Bids invitation for two more weeks, to
be closed at Midnight PDT on May 6th, 2006.

TAs are now invited to make bids and the committee will consider any
and all itineraries. Additionally, we will accept bids from interested
or solicited TAs outside of RTC, so make contacts as you feel
appropriate. All TAs outside of RTC will be qualified by the committee
prior to making the travel agreement.

The committee will give first consideration to RTC TAs, and secondary
consideration for bids which come near to our preferences.

So ... talk it up, get the word out, call your friends, neighbors, or
Congressional Representative!

The committee will be reaching out in a dedicated effort to secure a
good trip for a good price. Thanks for your support, advice, and help.
I'll keep the updates coming.

Gary W.

Gary W wrote:
Greetings!

I am sad to report that during the Request For Bids open period, the
GGC2007 committee received no bids for our preferred trips. There a
several possible reasons, but the net result is the same. It is time to
go to plan 'B'.

Gary W.

Gary, my totally uneducated guess would be that with the
cruise being so specific, that the TA's found they would all
be bidding essentially the same package, and that any "good
deals" would come out of their profit and not from their
negotiating prowess with the cruise line. As suggested,
there might also be personal or health matters happening at
the time that precluded some of our favorite TA's from
bidding. Maybe now they can bid.

I also understand what you and the Committee are going
through with this, but fear that just tossing it open for
any cruise and any itinerary will possibly wind up with
something that not many of the r.t.c. folks would salute.
Heck, let's give it a try, though. Who knows, we might enjoy
a 3-day cruise on the MS Salivation from Port Arthur to
Vancouver Island. Tobie and Barb would be there, and they're
darned good friends and hosts. grin

It's too late now to change the rules, and I think the
Committee has done all that it can- and done it well. What
surprised me a little was the change of voting that took
place between the first referendum and the last. I have
absolutely no idea whether the votes were "weighed" by the
Committee for validity (for want of a better word), but
wonder if any weight was given to whether the voters had
been on GGC's before or had posted to r.t.c. It would be
unfortunate if somebody who really was pushing for a
particular cruise would have had friends, relatives or
acquaintances stuff the ballot box, so to speak. I doubt if
this happened, but the method of having a popular vote is
open to this. You might look at the votes and see if you
can identify who voted and whether they were past GGC or
r.t.c. folks.

In the future, perhaps we will learn from this. I'm going
to go out on a limb and make some suggestions from what I've
seen since GGC #1, having served on several Committees and
also chaired one committee. Please remember that these are
just my opinions and I recognize that others have different
and probably better ideas. Absolutely nothing is intended
as a criticism or slam to anyone.

The GGC Chair should be responsible for tapping Committee
members on the shoulder to insure compatibility. The Chair
and members should be recognized posters to r.t.c. and
generally have been past GGC, SGC and other r.t.c.-like
participants, such as on George Leppla's "Sleazy" cruises.

The Committee should solicit discussion on r.t.c. and avoid
any maillists or forums except to duplicate what is posted
to r.t.c. R.T.C. is the HOME to the GGC and not the forums.
If there's chit chat, so much the better. When somebody
criticizes GGC talk on r.t.c., they should just be ignored
or killfiled. The nicer people on r.t.c. felt driven to the
forums by a very few complaining people, when much of the
long-lived fun of r.t.c was the planning and excitement of
the GGC's.

As the Committee begins to get a feel for what the r.t.c.
folks might enjoy in a GGC, the Committee alone should take
it from there and make the determination of which
itineraries and ports would be good. An early general
referendum might be OK, if taken in the open on r.t.c. and
not being touted as binding. Private balloting, like on
Yahoo, gives the temptation for folks with an agenda to
stuff the ballot box, so to speak.

Then, let the one or two TA's have at it to offer up a
specific cruise.

When I chaired a GGC, one TA complained bitterly that we
would not even send him an RFB. That was because we felt
many of the regular r.t.c. posters and most of the GGC
participants would object to him being the TA, because of
earlier conflicts on r.t.c. Then, as now, I think that the
GGC Committee should be bound by NO charter, rules,
regulations, voting or protocol beyond the trust that exists
between respected old friends, and that everyone who is a
friend would get a square shot, and that others need not
apply. If a TA wants to bid, let him or her become a
regular poster to r.t.c. and join the crowd. Let the TA
inform the Committee that he's interested in pursuing a GGC
long before the GGC becomes locked in. Let the TA actually
steer the GGC Committee toward something interesting.

For you sociologists out there, what I'm saying is that the
GGC needs to be de-institutionalized again and become a good
old boy's club. That's not a popular thing to say, but we
all know what I'm saying. In business, some structured
companies use committees, polls and tests to reach a
consensus. In a free-for-all like Usenet and r.t.c., we
need a Committee to just "listen" to the talk and then tap a
very few travel agents on the shoulder and say, "What can
you suggest?" In other words, pick a Chairman, let him pick
a Committee and let the 5 of them pick a TA to do the GGC.
Do it without the guise of being impartial. Let one or two
TA's actually actually act as consultants to the Committee.

Well, I again hope that I've not said anything that hurts
anyone's feelings. I don't mean to, and don't think I did.
I love the GGC's and we all have to remember that it is
NOT the darned ship or port that makes it a GGC; it is the
PEOPLE who make it a GGC. Friends meeting old friends for
the first time. Remember that phrase?

Nonnymus

Thanks, Nonnymous (my feelings are in good shape, thank you ) ..
and everyone else who posted.
Yes, in hindsight it's pretty easy to see how the TAs might shy away
from such a 'restrictive' RFB and maybe I / we didn't make it clear
enough that the results were 'preferences' and not mandates. Although
the language of the RFB clearly stated that the committee would favor
bids that spoke to the vote's results, it was also stated that these
results were preferences and TAs were indeed welcome to bid on any
cruise they liked.
Yes, we were pretty 'institutional' in the voting process, and it was
truly done in the name of conservatism. I am still a relative newcomer
and was stretching a lot, so I leaned on what was comfortable to me
(the known entity of voting).
While waiting a little while longer may not seem like it would do any
further good, I believe that the time will be well spent in opening the
playing field up and encouraging TAs to make offers on what they think
will be good cruises for the GGC, not necessarily good cruises for the
opinion results. Dialogues are opened now that weren't last week, and
we shall see what develops.

Thanks again for your support

Gary W.

Just to be sure,

The bidding is still open to interested TAs for a GGC cruise. Any TA
regularly posting on RTC may bid a trip for the committee in the next
two weeks.

The voting preferences are still there, and if we can find a great
cruise that fits or comes close to that bill we'd certainly give it
favor, but most of all we'd like to hear from TAs about their ideas and
plans.

A special thanks to the TAs that have communicated with me / us over
the last few days, and another thanks to all the wonderful suggestions
and options that have been floated here in RTC and on Yahoo.

If you are interested in bidding, send me an email at
or post here or on the ggc_2007 yahoo group.

Thanks so much