General public booking for JoCo Cruise Crazy 4 is now open.

• Pricing information is here. Our prices now include ALL cabin and JCCC-related expenses: cruise fare, all taxes and fees, gratuity, and the JCCC Entertainment Pass (which gets you into the exclusive JCCC entertainment). The only things left to pay for are optional: alcohol/soda; excursions; casino action; spa treatments; and other discretionary items.
• Also new for JCCC4 are user accounts. After you book with us, you and everyone in your cabin will create a unique account, which will ensure that we can get critical information (payment deadlines; info on registering with Royal Caribbean when the time comes; info about weather or other conditions that might affect your travel  plans, as happened with some people last year) to every individual who is sailing with us. (Passengers under 18 will not create accounts; they will be covered under the account of the parent/guardian they are cruising with). You’ll also be able to purchase JCCC4 merchandise directly from your user account, once it’s available.
• If you’re a first-timer, the handy links to the right should have all the info you need to learn about and book JCCC4. But we recommend visiting the Forums at jonathancoulton.com to connect with all the veteran and new Sea Monkeys, who are already gabbin’ it up. They’re a super-friendly and enthusiastic bunch, so what do you have to lose? Nothing! So g’won already!

Although booking for JCCC4 is still only available to JCCC3 passengers currently, we thought we should at least publicly announce the ship, dates and itinerary for JCCC4, so that everyone else can at least start making plans accordingly:

“HUGE SUCCSESS”

Thank you, everyone, for making JCCC3 the largest, and (to our minds) most successful JCCC to date.

Lots of information forthcoming—feedback surveys, announcements re: JCCC4, etc.—but for the time being, we shall merely say “thank you” once again, and go back to weaning ourselves off of sunshine and frozen drink dependency.

We know a lot of you may be affected by the snowstorm bearing down on the Northeastern US this weekend.

We wish all of you the best of luck with your travel plans, and strongly suggest you keep a close eye on the forecast, because it is changing rapidly and repeatedly. Be aware of your travel options: many airlines have waived flight transfer fees for rescheduling, if you choose to investigate that option.

But just to be clear, because several folks have asked: neither JCCC nor Royal Caribbean offer refunds in the event you miss the cruise due to inclement weather/transportation cancellation. Your only recourse for a refund in this event would be if you had purchased trip insurance that covered such a situation.

That said, we are SURE that everyone is going to make it in time because THE UNIVERSE IS NOT THAT CRUEL and it WANTS US ALL TO MAKE IT TO JCCC3 ON TIME.

Think lovely thoughts.

As you may have seen, there are quite a few karaoke events on JCCC3 this year. We’d like to go over the different events in a bit more detail:

Live JoCo Band Karaoke (Studio B, Wed. night)

Jonathan will select roughly a dozen of “the hits;” sign-up sheets will be available in the Conference Center. Then, on Wednesday night, someone from each song’s list will be randomly selected to sing that song with Jonathan and his band performing it live with them.

UPDATE:  Jonathan has selected the official song list for this event, and it is as follows:

• Big Bad World One
• Code Monkey
• Future Soon
• I Feel Fantastic
• Mandelbrot Set
• Re: Your Brains
• Shop Vac
• Skullcrusher Mountain
• Sticking It to Myself
• Still Alive
• Sucker Punch
• Want You Gone

Regular Karaoke (Studio B, Wed. night)

This will be similar to previous years’ karaoke nights; people will submit (non-JoCo) songs they wish to sing; the evening will be hosted and curated by David Rees and John Roderick. When we say “curated,” it means that, while the selection process will be somewhat random, the hosts will also be looking to program an entertaining evening for everyone; so there may be an occasional ringer thrown in, and they will be looking to not have, say, twelve ballads in a row.

Super Funtime Karaoke (On-Air Club, several sessions during the week)

These somewhat more intimate sessions (the On-Air Club seats approximately 160-170 people) will all be open to both JoCo and non-JoCo songs, will feature a variety of hosts, and the selection process each evening will be entirely random. (With the exceptions of culling out any repeats; also, unless the attendance is very low, individuals may sing only one song per session)

Song Lists

We will have physical copies of the karaoke song lists available at the events; but they are also available as PDFs for easy download below. We strongly recommend you download them to your Personal Portable Smart Devices of Electronic Communication; they will be more easily searchable that way, and you won’t have to crowd around a binder with 25 other people:

JoCo Karaoke Songs

Non-JoCo Karaoke Songs – sorted by title

Non-JoCo Karaoke Songs – sorted by artist

UPDATE 01/20/13:

Okay, this time for sure…

We once again apologize for the technical difficulties encountered this past Friday night that kept the CocoCay amenities sign-ups from proceeding as planned.

After lengthy consideration here at JCCC Central Command, here is how we are handling things from this point:

• A small number of reservations did actually get through on Friday night. We are going to honor those reservations.
• We will be distributing the remaining amenities via “lottery.” This will both eliminate the potential for any more server-related issues, and is the most fair to all passengers—those unavailable at a specific time, international Sea Monkeys in earlier time zones, etc.
• Submission forms to request each amenity can be found below; you’ll need to submit your JCCC3 Booking ID (NOT your RCI booking number), name, and e-mail address:
• Cabanas:  events.jccc-countdown.com/jccc3-coco-cabana
• Tiki huts:  events.jccc-countdown.com/jccc3-coco-tiki
• Blue shells:  events.jccc-countdown.com/jccc3-coco-clamshell
• Submissions will be open until Wednesday, January 23 at 8 pm EST. After that time, recipients of the amenities will be randomly selected from the pool of submissions for that amenity. We will first select cabanas, then tiki huts, then blue shells.
• Individual passengers may submit themselves for multiple amenities, but one time per amenity only. Additionally, passengers may only receive one amenity total; if a person receives a cabana, for example, they will be removed from consideration for the tiki huts and/or blue shells.

Passengers on the JCCC3 discussion forums have been organizing themselves into groups of six for the cabanas (thereby increasing their chances of their overall group being selected for a cabana); if you are interested in organizing or joining a similar group, please visit the “Sharing Cabanas at CocoCay” discussion group.

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HOLD IT!

Apologies for the trouble with these links everybody – if you tried earlier and they didn’t work, you were not wrong. Scarface is working from a phone inside a car on a server that we don’t own, and JoCo is distracted by legal issues, and because you sea monkeys are so organized and POUNCY, said server is now borked. We’re going to hold on this until we can get it right and have a fair way for people to reserve on a first-come, first-served basis. We have a mess of cabanas, tiki huts and clamshells set aside for our group, so don’t worry that the Snorks aren’t going to steal them while we wait. With that in mind and with the long weekend ahead of us, we’re going to relaunch this puppy at 9 PM EST this Tuesday evening. Our sincerest apologies.

Organizing JoCo Cruise Crazy 3 carries occasional perks. What kind of perks? Oh, like getting to show everyone this awesome Official JCCC3 artwork by xkcd creator and JCCC3 performer Randall Munroe (inspired by his original xkcd comic “Up Goer Five“):

(click image to see a much more ginormous version)

This image (among others) will be appearing on OFFICIAL JCCC3 MERCHANDISE that will be available in the OFFICIAL JCCC3 MERCHANDISE STORE that will be online REAL SOON NOW.

The merchandise can totally be worn and/or seen on JoCo Cruise Crazy 3, which happens February 10-17, 2013, and for which you can totally still book a cabin, and you totally should because it’s a totally great time with a bunch of totally awesome performers. Just ask anyone.

(We know most of you know this already; but in case this post gets linked to xkcd fans and other folks unfamiliar with JCCC, we wanted a handy grouping of the important links)

Raise the mizzenmast! Gather your personal data! Swab the deck! Check your credit card balances! Because it’s ON. For REAL. Here’s how she goes:

Booking opens for PRE-REGISTERS ONLY this Friday, May 25 at noon US Eastern time, and will remain open until noon Eastern on Monday, May 28. The JCCC3 booking website then will be CLOSED, giving our scurvy crew time to repair the damage from what is certain to be a steady volley of bookings. IMPORTANT: you will need to have your pre-registration number (which should have been sent to you by email) in order to book during this exclusive pre-registration period.

Booking will then open to the GENERAL PUBLIC at 4 pm Eastern on Tuesday, May 29. Pre-registered passengers will still be able to book a stateroom and receive any applicable discounts; you’ll just no longer have an “early booking” advantage.

STUDY UP, MATEYS!

To make the process as painless for you as possible, the crew has prepared a complete booking walk-through, which provides more detail on what you’ll need and how it all works. Cleverly, they have titled the page How JCCC3 Booking Works.

One more important note: compared to previous years, there is a VERY LIMITED supply of “Outside”-category cabins on the ship. We expect these cabins to sell out very quickly, and we will not be able to add any more beyond our current allotment. If you are looking to book an Outside cabin, you may wish to make a contingency plan in case they are no longer available at your time of booking. (This applies only to the “Outside” category, not to be confused with “Balcony” cabins; the Freedom of the Seas has an ocean’s worth of Balcony cabins.)

*for those who pre-registered

Oooh, look! We’ve released more JCCC3 details. Sound the media! Alert the alarm!

The Pricing page now has a full breakdown of the Cruise and Entertainment Pass prices for JCCC3.

In addition, we’ve got a preliminary FAQ up and running (with answers about JCCC3 in general, as well as the booking process); more details forthcoming, we promise. We think we’ve answered most of the likely booking questions there, but if we missed something, please just let us know.

For everyone who pre-registered: please be aware that the deadline to cancel with a 100% refund on your pre-registration deposit is 11:59:59 pm (Eastern) on May 4, 2012. All cancellations made on or after May 5th will incur a $35 processing fee. If you wish to cancel your pre-registration, you can do so here: jococruisecrazy.com/jccc3preregistration/refunds/ (You’ll need your Pre-Registration ID number, as well as the name and email address you used to pre-register)

Actual booking will begin in mid/late-May, 2012. (Specific date TBA) It’s one step closer to being a real, actual thing! Are you excited yet? Because we are excited yet!