We’ve worked hard to get the price of this conference-cruise down as low as we possible can, and in the end made something that will actually cost less than you would normally pay for a full week long conference.  But let’s discuss this so that you can fully understand where each of the costs go.

Conference Ticket

To get the price as low as we can, we’ve settled on only having a single price point for the conference (no individual/student/non-profit rates), and just setting it as low as we can go.   We will have an Early Bird rate for those people who can afford to sign up early and reserve their spot early.  The ticket prices are:

The Early Bird rate will end on December 31st, 2015

The ticket will include your entrance to all of the conference sessions, help with scheduling activities, and entrance for your family to all of the family events.

Cruise Fee

The cruise fee varies based upon what room you are looking for.  In our group block, rates start at $819 per person and go up to $1094 per person, plus tax & service.  (Ranging from an interior room, up to one of the better balcony rooms).  This includes all of your lodging and meals in one fee.  Once you’ve purchased your conference ticket, we will connect you with our travel agent who can book you directly into this group rate that we’ve reserved for the cruise.  If you’d like to talk with the travel agency earlier to discuss your options and get a quote in advance, you can email Elizabeth Caran of Outlander Travel at elizabeth@outlandertravel.com to do so.

Do note that as with all cruises, the price is per person, and based upon double occupancy in the room.  If you are interested in attending but wouldn’t be bringing any family members or coworkers with you to split the room with, don’t worry.  Just drop us an email at contact@phparch.com and we’ll work with you to match you up with another conference attendee to room with for the week.  (Or you can choose to cruise alone, but will be charged an extra fee to do so)

Cost Comparison

You may be thinking that while the conference ticket is rather inexpensive at the moment, that the cruise seems fairly expensive; however, when you look at it in comparison to the cost of a full-week long conference, such as php[tek], it actually is extremely inexpensive – saving you up to over $1000 over the total cost.  Why?  Simply put, the rate for the cruise works out to around $169/night, which is comparable to a conference hotel stay.  Except that it also includes all of the food.  Then take into account the much lower price we are charging for the conference itself, and the savings really add up:

Convince the Boss

Are you already the boss?  Well then great, hopefully we’ve already convinced you of the great value that you’ll get in this conference.  If not, and you aren’t sure that your boss would cover the cost like they would a normal conference, we have a few things to help you out.

First of all, we will be providing a PDF here in the coming days which mirrors much of the information on this page; showing that the cost really is cheaper than a full conference.  That way, your boss can understand that for themselves.

But secondly, part of why we specifically separated out the Conference Ticket from the Cruise Ticket was so that attendees could look at having their company pay for the conference (and travel if needed), and they pay their Cruise Fee themselves.   This way you can get the best of both worlds.

Family Vacation

Also, we announced this as early as we did, and planned it during the summer because we have talked to a lot of community members who stated that this would simply be their family vacation plan for next summer.  We hope that this could be a great option for you, to get professional development for yourself, while your family has a great vacation at the same time!