Sorry, folks. Please bear with me, I have a good bit to cover. And of course, "a good bit to cover" describes the entire project this year.
In defense of our printer... no, our printer is not responsible for any of this delay. The problem is all on our end.
I'll cut to the chase... unfortunately, it'll be sometime in early June before we finish our work on the manuscript. I can't put a firmer date on it, because unanticipated delays are still possible.
Printing and binding can take 3-4 weeks at this time of year, but we will print some books the faster, much more expensive way - using Print on Demand equipment - so we can get those books to folks who will be traveling soonest.
Believe me, we feel your pain, and we hate disappointing you. It's hard to imagine a more supportive, appreciative group of people, and without that support we simply wouldn't be in business. We've met many of you in person over the years, and have come to know many more of you here on the boards. You're not faceless, nameless "consumers" to us - you're real people, and you mean a lot to us.
Delay also hits us in the wallet, because the book will have a shorter lifespan before the next edition comes along. We expect to sell perhaps half as many copies as usual, and every day of delay subtracts from our prospects. Not good, no matter how we look at it, and it's all incentive to get this done sooner, rather than later.
Why is this taking so long?
With the Dream debuting in January 2011, there was just no way we could put off covering the ship until our 2011 edition. Folks were able to start booking rooms on the new ship in October '09, so by sheer numbers (1250 staterooms x 90 sailings in 2011), that's a lot of folks in need of info now, when they're selecting staterooms and deciding whether to cruise the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, or Mediterranean in 2011. Meantime, the kind of information we've needed on the new ship was long in coming.
Meanwhile, the longer the delay, the less useful the port of call info for the 2010 European ports has become. At least,
DCL returns to the Mediterranean in 2011 as well, so information on the Med ports continues to be useful. However, there are only four Baltic cruises (plus the Barcelona/Dover repos), and there's a huge amount of work (and space) necessary for those ports. With the book as late as it is, the Baltic port info will only be of use for less than a month before it becomes history (at least, until the next time). Meantime, the work remaining on the Baltic ports could delay the completion of the book by about two weeks, making it even less useful for the folks sailing the Northern European itineraries, and adding to the delay for everyone else.
So, sadly, we had to make some choices, and find some way to address as many folks' needs as possible, in order that we can complete the book sooner, rather than later. Therefore, we've very reluctantly decided to remove port of call info for the Northern European itineraries.
On a brighter note; as many of you know, we'll be releasing an electronic version of the book to everyone who has pre-ordered the print edition from us. In order to get as much info out to you as quickly as possible, we've decided to release the electronic edition in two parts. We're very close to completing the first five chapters of the book, so you can look forward to receiving those in the very near future. The rest of the chapters should follow in another couple of weeks, and then it'll be off to the printer!
For those whose circumstances make it impossible to wait any longer, we will of course refund your pre-orders with our deepest apologies. Please contact us by e-mail
orders@passporter.com, Private Message to either me or Jennifer, or by phone - 877-929-3273 Mon-Fri, 9-5 Eastern time, and we'll issue your refund.
Others of you may benefit by having the 2009 edition now (if you don't already have it), rather than wait longer for the 2010. To remove a bit of the sting, we've reduced the price of the paperback, deluxe refill, and text-only refill by 50%. You can also apply your customary discount on top of that price, so if you have the 35% PassPorter's Club discount, your cost for the paperback is just $6.16! Even the standard 15% discount is applied on top of the price cut, so nobody pays more than $8.05 for the 2009 paperback!
If you have an existing pre-order on the 2010 and want to take advantage of this, we'll send you the 2009 and the appropriate partial refund.
I wish I had better news for you. I am very proud of what we have been able to put into this edition, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it, once it's done.
Thanks so very much for putting up with all this!
. That feels so good when I type, the "second week" - I get soooo excited!
) Thursday night/Friday morning. Maybe I will try calling 
to the club...
My best formal dress won't fit at this rate! 
