FAQs

Okay, no one really asked that.  But it’s something you need to know because there’s a BIG difference.

The REAL question we often get is: “Can I just sign up for the cruise and come to all the seminars, roundtables and hosted parties?”

Yes, people really ask that.  The short answers is “No”, but that sounds too harsh, so here’s the thought process behind it…

A “Summit” is a gathering of elite leaders, industry experts and like-minded individuals for the purpose of sharing information, discussing ideas, and making strategic connections. It’s a high level event.

A “cruise” is a bunch of random people who happen to end up on the same ship on the same week to eat, drink and sunbathe.  There’s nothing strategic, educational or elite about a cruise.

Most conferences take place in hotel meeting rooms, so the obvious focus is the event, not the venue.

For our Summit, think of the cruise ship like the hotel conference center.  It’s simply the venue.  Without the Summit attendees, the cruise is just a ship that carries around a bunch of people on vacation.

For some reason, every year we get a few folks (and only a few), who compare the price of the Summit to the price the cruise and wonder why there’s such a big difference.  Yet no one would sign up for a conference and expect only to pay for their hotel room. The main value is the conference, not the hotel room.

So the “cruise” is simply our hotel conference center.

The Summit is the ENTIRE event… including the land based hotel, the ship, the materials, the speakers, etc.

To keep it simple, we wrap it all up in one price.  So please don’t think of the Summit as simply a cruise.  It’s a Summit.  We just think it’s a lot more fun to have a Summit on a cruise ship rather than in a hotel. And once you’ve been on a Summit, we think you’ll agree!

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In a word: AWESOME!  A cruise is unlike any other venue.

It’s like going on a multi-city tour and staying at 4+ star hotels … except you only check in and unpack ONCE…and your hotel takes you from country to country.  Pretty cool.

There’s also gourmet food (LOTS of it), first class shows and entertainment, a vibrant night life, casinos, swimming pools, group activities, in-room movies, fitness and spa facilities, bars, shops (duty free!) and much more.  Plus, a wait staff that is large (actually most are very fit, but there are many of them) and eager to cater to your every need. You’ll feel like royalty!

And of course, there’s sunshine and beautiful ocean views by day…and warm starlit skies at night.  Once you go, you’ll be hooked.  No wonder we have so many serial Summiteers!

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This is really a two part question.

First ask yourself, “Do I want to bring my children?”

If you decide not to use this as an opportunity to take a break from the kids, then the remaining question is: will the kids enjoy it?

Based on our all of our prior Summits, the unequivocal answer is: Your children will ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

From toddlers to teenagers, cruise ships have a ton to offer young people. There are youth-oriented facilities and activities, as well as organized Kids Programs, all designed to free up Mom and Dad to shop and enjoy the ship. In our case, you’ll be in seminars while at sea … and private parties at night.

Each ship and cruise line is different. For specific information about Family Cruising call 1-817-421-7447 to speak to Shangri-La Travel (the official travel agent of The Real Estate Guys™ Investor Summit at Sea™).

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How much time you spend in classes is entirely up to you. There are no attendance requirements, though most people attend every available session. You paid a lot for the training and networking. But we also understand how tempting shuffle board can be.

Class days typically start no later than 8:30 am (sometimes earlier) and go as late as 5:30 pm. We’ll be learning on land for the first 1 ½ days …. then in seminars at sea every day the ship is sailing between ports.

There are also roundtable discussions, pre- and post-dinner parties, and a few other scheduled group events. It’s never a dull moment. You’ll get a full schedule before we board the ship.

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Absolutely not! There’s not much worse than paying top dollar for an “educational” event, only to get there and find every seminar is really a hyped up tease to upsell another event, or worse, a hard close on some product or service at the “today and today only special pricing.” We HATE that and don’t let it happen at our events.

So here’s the deal: You’re paying for education and access to the faculty, and that’s what we deliver. Plus we throw in some parties, entertainment, and a cruise. It’s a ridiculous deal. And people LOVE it. Many of them come back year after year … and bring their friends and family.

Our faculty are all real life business people. That is, teaching isn’t their main gig. They teach because they like to, they want to give back, and it provides exposure for their businesses. If you get to know them and decide you want to do business with them at some point in the future, that’s up to you. But no one will be pressuring you during the Summit.

We also have a STRICT non-solicitation environment. This means we do not tolerate people coming on the Summit and peppering the seats with flyers, putting business cards on the dinner tables (and in the bathrooms…yuck), or badgering people in every conversation with their elevator pitch. That kind of behavior just ruins the experience for everyone so we police it carefully. Thankfully, we’ve had virtually no issues with this in all our previous Summits.

With all that said, one of the big values of the Summit is the opportunity to build relationships. You may meet another Summiteer and find you have an interest in doing business with them (or vice versa), so you decide to exchange cards. That’s fine. But if someone is pushy, we’ll ask them to tone it down. If they push back, we push them overboard. Just kidding. But we might move them outside the circle of trust.

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Also, there will be two OPTIONAL activities promoted by The Real Estate Guys™. “Optional” means you don’t have to do it. It also means it’s not included in your registration, so if you decide you want to attend our Private Group Beach Party and/or our Educational Shore Excursion, you’ll be offered the opportunity to do so at additional cost – just like any of the wide variety of shore excursions the cruise line will be offering.

We make these events optional because not everyone wants to participate. The ship really is beautiful and there are often tempting things to do at each port, so some folks take a break from Summiteering and just go full tourist. That’s fine by us.

Sometimes there isn’t always enough room for everyone in every optional event we do. So optional event registrations are offered based on Summit number.

How much are these optional events? Good question!

We don’t actually know until we get closer to the Summit and have an idea how many people we need to accommodate. All pricing and details will be included with our shore excursion email closer to sailing.

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Because we have several authors on the faculty, we SOMETIMES have their books available for purchase so you can have them on the ship to read and get signed by the authors. Everything will be at standard retail pricing or below.

But if you want to be SURE to get a book signed by your favorite Summit faculty member, play it safe and bring your book from home.

The bottom line is the Summit is an EDUCATIONAL event, not a selling event, so the presentations are about information, not sales pitch. And we take great care in creating a “no hard sell” environment where you can enjoy learning, sharing and connecting. You’ll love it.

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This is another question that comes up a lot! While we’d love to print a course catalog months in advance of the event, the fact is: we don’t know what the seminar itinerary is until just a couple of weeks before the Summit. But before you get frustrated, let us explain why we do it this way, and why we think it’s better for you.

In the early years of the Summit, we would publish a list of planned classes. But a funny thing would happen on the way to the Summit.

The market would change, or a big event would occur (like a financial collapse or an election), or a faculty member would have some new epiphany and want to change their assignment.

Sometimes, we’d get a last minute addition to the faculty and have to move things around to accommodate them. In all cases, we’d have a hard time honoring the pre-published class schedule.

The bottom line is we decided to stop promoting specific classes and focus instead on the faculty members themselves.

Each of our faculty members are experts in their field. We trust them to come prepared with current, relevant content and we’ve never been disappointed. And because the Summit isn’t a mega conference with thousands of people, there’s a lot of interaction between faculty and audience. A scripted presentation only gets in the way.

So, to allow for the creative genius of our super-talented faculty, the specific class sessions and schedule won’t be finalized or published until the morning of embarkation – and even then, it’s subject to change!

When you attend the Summit, our faculty will share topics they think are important for investors at the time of the Summit. You won’t get some canned speech they’ve given at 20 different conferences. You’ll get whatever the current state of their thoughts are, based on their personal experiences, what’s going on in the world at the time, and whatever magic synergy happens when we get them all together at the Summit.

One thing we always have is panel discussions. It’s amazing to watch these big brains talk to each other about a specific topic. They each have their own knowledge, wisdom, opinions, and insights. And when they start going deep into an important topic, we’re thrilled to eavesdrop. Of course, the audience often gets in on the conversation too!

Right now, we don’t know where the economy, real estate, international relations, interest rates, or government policy will take us. But when you’re on the Summit with our all-star faculty, you’ll be able to ask questions, hear what they think is important for investors to know (and do!), what other investors think about what’s being discussed, and you’ll have plenty of time to contemplate it all before returning home to put your education into effective action.

In all these years, we’ve never had anyone complain there wasn’t enough education. It’s possible it will happen in this time, but we doubt it!

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Do yourself (and us) a huge favor and PLEASE don’t wait until the last minute! Here are some reasons why you want to sign up right away:

• Summit numbers (our priority rankings) are assigned in the order registrations are received. Attendees with low Summit numbers are given priority access to exclusive, limited space optional events and opportunities. Trust us. You want the lowest Summit number you can get.
• The best pricing and upgrades go to early registrants. As the ship fills up and we exceed our allotment, the pricing is subject to increase. If you’re serious about coming, commit early and sign up right away.
• The ship almost always sells out many weeks, if not months, before the sailing date. Once it’s full, it’s full, And even if we have room in OUR group, if the ship is full, you can’t go. Don’t miss the boat!
• Summit space is also limited. In order to optimize the classes, panels, roundtables, parties and excursions, we limit the enrollment for the Summit. Like this ship, when we’re full, we’re full, even if the ship isn’t. So again, if you want to be on the Summit, sign up as soon as you can! Click here to schedule a consultation with a Summit registration specialist.
• Meeting space on the ship is limited and therefore so is our enrollment. Once we sell out, it isn’t possible to expand. If you want to go, make sure you reserve your spot right away.

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A big component of Summit cost is the cruise cabin. And the cruise line charges a lot more for a cabin with only one person in it. So, if you’re traveling alone, you can save yourself some money by recruiting a roommate.

But if you aren’t able to find anyone to come with you, we have something called our Guaranteed Share program.

Simply stated, you sign up alone and add $497 to the Double Occupancy rate. Then we’ll either find you a same sex roommate or if we don’t, you get the cabin to yourself … at a big discount! Either way, you win. It’s amazing how much sleeping with a stranger is worth. Wait…that came out wrong.

So for only $497, you can go Guaranteed Share, save some money and make a new best friend for life. We can’t guarantee you’ll get along, but you won’t spend too much time in the cabin anyway. And odds are, since you’re both investors and you’ll be in classes together, you’ll have TONS to talks about when you’re together.

NOTE: The Guaranteed Share program ends several weeks BEFORE the Summit begins, so if you want to use it … register as soon as possible.

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Advance registration deposits of $1000 per person and $500 per child will secure your spot (and pricing) until advance registration closes. Then all registrations must be accompanied by payment in full.

Payments can be made by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express; check or money order. You can also wire transfer or deliver a small suitcase full of cash or gold bullion. Not really. Well, we would take it, but a wire is better.

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That would be SO sad.

But we know sometimes life happens and gets in the way of the best laid plans. However, we have costs that we need to cover in the event of a cancellation, so there’s a graduated cancellation fee schedule.

If you think there’s a change you may need to cancel, Shangri-La Travel (our travel agent) offers optional insurance.

Both the cancellation fee schedule and the optional trip insurance is described in the registration packet. If you need help figuring out the travel insurance, just contact Shagri-La Travel at 1-817-421-7447.

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You’re responsible for making appropriate travel arrangements to arrive at the designated hotel in our originating city (we’ll let you know which one once you’re registered) on or before the evening prior to the start of the Summit.

Your Summit registration includes your hotel room the night before the Summit begins (we want you there ready to go first thing in the morning!) and until we board the ship. So if you decide to arrive early and enjoy the originating city, you’ll need to make your own hotel arrangements for any extra nights. But let us know, as we may be able to get you into the Summit hotel at our group rate (no promises!).

The Summit officially begins with breakfast the first day. On the afternoon of embarkation, we’ll arrange group transportation (also included in your registration) to get you from the hotel to the pier where we’ll board the ship.

PLEASE NOTE:  When the ship returns at the end of the Summit, you’ll be on your own to get from the pier to your home, hotel, airport, etc.  Because we all get off the ship at different times and are headed in various directions, it’s up to you to arrange to get from the pier to wherever your final destination is.

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There are a host of logistical details we will provide to you between your registration and the Summit itself. Among these are hotel details, packing recommendations and how to notify the cruise line of any special needs (diet, medicines, etc.).

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Please note that all persons sailing, including children, will need a valid passport. These can sometimes take a few weeks to get, so make sure you plan ahead! There is no way the ship will let anyone on board without a valid passport. And make sure your expiration date is at least six months later the return date. We’d hate to have to drop you off in Cuba.

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