About The Eat Club And Our Cruises

The Eat Club is a loose association of people who listen to my radio shows and read my daily New Orleans Menu newsletter. It's not really a club. It's open to everyone. For over fifteen years, we've had wine dinners in New Orleans restaurants almost every week. And gone on cruises. This will be our twentieth!

Will I be a stranger among friends? And will I be able to hang out with (or avoid) Tom?

You'll be an unfamiliar face for maybe ten minutes. Most of our cruisers don't know one another, but after a drink and dinner together we quickly become buddies. Many who didn't know one another became good friends who now hang out together as a result of their times together on the ship. Traveling with a group is infinitely more fun than cruising alone. You'll see.

Every night around six (or whatever works), we'll gather for the now-famous Tom's Early-Evening Martini Club. Please let me buy the first drink. I will move around at each meal, and will do all I can to join every person with us for dinner. I'll also plan some on-shore lunches. I'd love to socialize with you, but if you want to go your own way I'll stay out of it.

Must I do everything with the group, or can I make my own plans for touring, dinners, etc?

Absolutely everything on our cruises is optional. You are always free to do whatever you like (except for what the ship requires, like the lifeboat drill). And you're always welcome to join in any group activity.

I hear that some of the restaurants on the ship require a surcharge. Can I avoid this?

Yes. Breakfast and lunch are free all the time. At dinner, both the main dining room (with its very good five-course menu, which cnanges nightly) and the buffet have no surcharge. And there are other free venues. In the specialty restaurants, the surcharges are inexpensive, running from $10 to $25.

I noticed that the fares on the cruise line's web site are lower than yours. What's the deal there? If I make my own reservations, can I hang with the Eat Club anyway?

The fares on the web probably don't include air fares, transfers, port charges, fuel surcharges, and the like. We also build in a number of extras for the group. If there's a difference in the final amounts, it's very small. Please understand that if you don't book with our group, we don't get the amenities the ship allows group members. So we can't give them to you. You must book with us to join us.

If you have other questions, please e-mail me personally at tom@nomenu.com.

I hope you do join us! All of our nineteen previous cruises has been a delicious pleasure, a terrific party, a laugh riot--all resulting in the making of many new friendships. I'm looking forward to becoming good friends with you!

Tastefully yours,
Tom Fitzmorris
tom@nomenu.com

Transatlantic Crossing

June 24-July 1, 2010
London to New York On The Maiden Voyage of the Norwegian Epic!

EpicMy wife Mary Ann actually shuddered at the thought of being on a transatlantic cruise ship. "What am I going to do in six days at sea, with no stops at all?" she asked.

But at the end of it, she declared that it was the best cruise of the two dozen or so we've taken. That she'd do it again. And that just visiting London was the equal of going to five or six ordinary ports.

I couldn't agree with her more. Going across the Atlantic Ocean in a big ship is a tremendous pleasure. And the Norwegian Epic--the long-awaited new ship from the line that introduced Freestyle Cruising--is a very big one. With over a dozen restaurants, a bowling alley, the only tube slide at sea, and the Blue Man Group, for starters.

Wait. Over a dozen restaurants? But that doesn't give us time to go to all of them! We'll just solve that by having an Eat Club dinner every night. They'll happen right after Tom's famous Six-Thirty Martini Club gathers for pre-dinner chat and cocktails. I can't wait to dine and hang out with you and your family aboard this first voyage of this exciting ship.

And to think it all comes after a visit to London! And a visit to New York at the end! We will construct add-on programs for those who want to spend time on those two fabulous cities.

Click Here For More Information Or Reservations
Or call Debbie Himbert at DH Travel: 504-456-0846

Here are some sample per-person fares, with air included. Other accommodations are also available, as are single-traveler supplements, and three-in-a-room rates. You may also choose to buy your own air, which would discount these fares accordingly.

Category ts (Studio): $2093, double occupancy
Category j (Inside): $2130, double occupancy
Category bg (Balcony): $2283, double occupancy

The Eat Club Package includes:

In other words, it includes almost everything except drinking, shopping and gambling.

To secure space with this package, a $25o per person deposit is due at the time of booking with final payment due by April 1, 2010.

Click Here For More Information Or Reservations
Or call Debbie Himbert at DH Travel: 504-456-0846