Sure, the Packers games are there for you now, but after the football season ends, what’s a fan to do? How about dusting off the snorkeling gear and trading in your Title Towel for a beach towel?
Each winter, Green Bay-based Packer Fan Tours hosts a Packers Cruise to help fans – along with current and former players – warm their Frozen Tundra hearts. This year, the seven-day tropical excursion departs Galveston, Texas, on March 1, and heads to ports in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Mexico.
Packers fans, up to 125 of them, are part of a larger Carnival ship (the 110,000-ton “Conquest”). Keeping the number low, says tour coordinator Nancy Denissen, helps kindle conversations between fans and players. As both bring their children along, a family-type atmosphere ensues.
“It’s just a good experience,” says Candy Clifton. She’s the wife of offensive tackle Chad Clifton, and their two kids have joined them on the cruise since 2005. “We’ve had a great time with all the fans.”
Former fullback William Henderson has been a regular since 1997, and though he’s no longer with the team, he plans on bringing his wife and children again this year. Henderson is a favorite with some of the repeat cruisers.
“We don’t talk about the Xs and Os of football,” says Denissen. “We talk about the feelings behind football. Once they get out of their uniforms and don’t have the camera in front of them, they really open up. They talk to the fans differently than they do to the press.”
Besides the inevitable lounging by the pool, a variety of scheduled activities are available, including a get-acquainted cocktail reception, an autograph and picture session, a Q-and-A with players and a Packers trivia contest, which Henderson says can often get a little heated.
“The players truly enjoy it,” he says. “We have a lively bunch of players who like to get competitive.”
