Simple actual cruise for a church: Goal: 25 cabins (50 people)
Ended up with 300 passengers in 140 cabins.
Raised $32,000 for the church in one shot.
Amy Ford, from Austin TX.

Another example: Carnival Cruise assists Avon Breast Cancer Research
Oct. 2003. Raised $11,000. Reset another for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome foundation.

More lucrative example:
An 8 day cruise . $899; (Hotel rooms on land average $125 /day)
You don't eat. You don't get entertained. You don't see the world. You don't live in a luxurious atmosphere. And two people have spent $1000 on a hotel situation ($125 for 8 days) not including parking and no activities. Just a bed in a room.

More can be generated from free cabins earned (1 free cabin for 100% profit for every 16 cabins sold)

For the cruise: Donation mark-up $60.
Promote your cruise . $959.

Carnival matches at $5 per pax (passenger) per day up to $40/guest. Chartered ships can generate more.

For this example (the 8 day cruise)  $40/guest match ($5/pax/day).

That equals $100/guest ($60 from the markup, & $40 from Carnival match--Translation:  $200 per cabin)

Sell 20 staterooms = $4,000 to your org; 
Sell 50 staterooms = $10,000 to your org
(One small minority arts organization did just this with fewer than 10 members on their board who went to work.)

FACT: Donations are hurting, but cruising in booming. More cruise ships are being built in the past 5 years than all the cruiseships that ever existed in the past 45 years.

FACT: People never forget this great experience, creates powerful word-of-mouth for future fundraisers with little effort.  and increased results. Cruises also have wide range of included features to accommodate special needs. Each cruise has first class meals, 24/7 complimentary room service, Vegas-Style family friendly entertainment, friendly casinos, exciting activities & great destinations from 19 US ports. (20 ports  in Sept 2009/Port of Baltimore)

For other ways to raise thousands: visit www.passport2giving.com (separate but extremely powerful program. Valentine's flowers, honeymoons, dress clothes, sporting goods, Ebay connection (they pay 25% thru Aisle19/YTB) also new and used car sales, passports, golf, tickets for events, anything a person buys including going to Walmart, can all go to any organization if they just knew how it's done.)

Meetings in major US cities and towns every week

Most 3 day cruises can raise thousands. blessin's

cynth'ya