Become a Numenorean and sail to Middle-earth with us
After a successful Cruise to Middle-earth in November of 2008, and a sequel cruise in December 2012, it is time to complete the Trilogy. This Journey to Middle earth starts on January 2, 2023, in Sydney, Australia as you board the Celebrity Eclipse, and runs 12 nights long, ending in Auckland, New Zealand on January 14, 2023. This is not a LOTR convention at Sea, but more of a Mobile Middle-earth Moot where we get to see the real-world Middle-earth while enjoying the benefits of a luxurious cruise ship.
The Celebrity Eclipse comes with a 1/2 acre of live grass called the Lawn Club
This 12-night cruise will take you to such filming locations as Hobbiton and Edoras, with the option to visit the WETA Workshop in Wellington on a private tour. Other ports visited will be Melbourne, Dunedin, and the Bay of Islands. And for those choosing to arrive in Sydney a few days early, you will be able to celebrate the New Year’s Celebration near the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge for fireworks (not included, but I can assist in securing a hotel and flights).
Departs Sydney on January 2, 2023 and ends in Auckland on January 14, 2023
Once the cruise is finished, there will be an optional 2-night post-cruise stay in Auckland so that we can experience WETA Unleashed, and have a farewell dinner in the restaurant at the top of the Sky Tower in Auckland, and have a private tour and dinner in Hobbiton. This allows folks to choose a Cultural or Geological tour option in the port of Tauranga (Rotorua) rather than Hobbiton from the ship, which will be rather short and bunched together with other cruise passengers that might not be as geeky as those in our group. If you choose this post-cruise tour, there will be an additional cost, and you will need to remain in New Zealand at least until January 16, 2023.
Garfeimao and Bella in front of Bagend in 2018
If you choose to arrive on the morning of the cruise, you will have to depart North America on December 31, 2022, to arrive by January 2, 2023, or you can depart earlier and spend a couple of days in Sydney. If you wish to be in Sydney for the actual New Year’s celebration, you will want to depart North America no later than December 29 for a December 31 arrival. For those interested parties in Europe or Down Under, the time difference will affect you differently.
I am arranging an exclusive day tour to visit with WETA in Wellington for us when the ship is in port, which will include a private workshop. There will be a motorcoach to pick us up just outside the port area in the morning and take us over to Miramar to tour the facility, taking in not just LOTR projects, but some of the many other film projects WETA has worked on over the years. This will be topped off with a hands-on workshop on crafting leather and chain maille armor before the motorcoach will take us back to the city center for a self-guided tour inside the Te Papa Museum. You will not want to miss Te Papa, besides it being a world-class museum, there is a Gallipoli exhibit created by WETA that must be seen to believe, and the museum is free. We will then make our own way back to the ship before it departs. This tour can be purchased as a customized package not included in the cruise fare. A quote will be available shortly.
The original 2008 Cruise to Middle-earth group, the 5-year-old in the center just finished his first year of college.
On the ship, there will be a few days at sea, with no port stops, so I’ll be planning a few group activities that you can choose to join or not, depending on whether you would prefer to go to the spa or partake in other Ship Hosted activities. There will be a Tolkien Toast on January 3, 2023, to commemorate the Professor’s birthday, and then there will be a few games and group discussions, and maybe singing along to some of Tolkien’s songs found in the books. And this cruise takes place just a couple of months after the Rings of Power airs, so lots to discuss and maybe an additional location or two to be seen. For those of you with Middle-earth costumes, feel free to bring them, especially if they are on the lighter side, for packing purposes. There will be a Costumed Cocktail reception, and for those without costumes, a geeky t-shirt will suffice. The bonus is that you can also wear the costume either in Edoras or Hobbiton or bring two costumes and do both.
Other cruises thought our group were performers and wanted to follow us to our show
The nitty-gritty information for this group is that it has been on sale for several months, so some room types are no longer available. The Cruise pricing fluctuates regularly, based on available discounts for persons who qualify (past passenger, Senior or military rate, etc.) and just what rooms are still open for booking. An interior room right now is starting at $2179 per person, a Balcony room starts at $2429 per person and a Concierge Balcony (more perks) starts at $2869 per person. The private tour to WETA during the ship’s port stop in Wellington will have its own price, to be finalized very soon, and the customized 2-night post-cruise tour in Auckland to Hobbiton and other activities is currently priced at $1170 per person, but that will go down with a few more people booked into the group. There is a small planning fee of $50 per person if booked by May 31, and then it goes up to $100 per person on June 1.
To make an inquiry, please contact me at Garfeimao@TheOneRing.net
Several Ph.Ds, published authors, Tolkientubers and TikTokers have shared their first impressions of completed footage from Prime Video’s massive new Lord of the Rings TV series – The Rings of Power. (Check out our report too!)
We’ve gathered all of these reactions in one convenient post on TORn. Enjoy!
Amazon assembled a wide group of Tolkien fans for this adventure, but if anyone on the trip is to be considered a celebrity, it is Dr. Corey Olsen. Known as the Tolkien Professor, he is founder and head of Signum University, an accredited online-only graduate school which counts Stephen Colbert as an avid viewer. Corey held court from the first introductions, entertaining a revolving circle of fellow Ringers and fans of his work throughout the week. I loved seeing how excited folks were finally to meet him! While I’m sure he will share his thoughts over the coming days and weeks across his many broadcasts on twitch, Corey’s small but powerful statement has made waves, as an acknowledgement of the quality of the showrunners in charge:
Last week, I was invited by the @LOTRonPrime folks, along with a bunch of other internet Tolkien folks, to attend an advanced screening of some footage from the #RingsofPower show and to meet the showrunners. I must say: after meeting them, I feel the show is in VERY good hands.
The Tolkien Society, currently headed by Shaun Gunner, is probably the most respected LOTR fan group, since its founding while JRR Tolkien was still alive. They have always championed the literary legacy of Tolkien’s works, and often are a strong and balanced community voice among the hype that Hollywood generates. It’s no small thing to earn a positive review from the Tolkien Society, and in their post about Amazon’s event Shaun praises what he saw & heard:
The show has been created with a level of craftsmanship and attention-to-detail which is unparalleled, and which is a love letter to the Professor… this is a level of commitment and interest that can’t simply be faked. Speaking with the showrunners, I am convinced that they are the right people to adapt Tolkien’s works.
– Tolkien Society chair Shaun Gunner
Nerd of the Rings, one of the biggest YouTube channels who started talking about lore and has grown into wonderful interviews with some of our favorite people, shared a 30-minute travelogue with an essential comment at the end: ”My trajectory on this show has gone from cautious to cautiously optimistic, with excitement creeping in.”
My count may be off but there were around 30 influencers at this Prime Video LOTR event, each with an incredibly personal perspective and deeply engaged audiences.
Tea with Tolkien, whose aesthetic I will always strive to reach but never attain, posts:
As a lifelong Tolkien fan, I’m no stranger to seeing adaptations go off the rails or Tolkien’s creative works being exploited for profit, so I will always retain some level of nervousness toward anything set in or inspired by Middle-earth. But after learning so much more about the show and its creators, I do feel quite a bit more confident going forward. From what I’ve seen, it seems to me that this show is in competent hands.
Tea with Tolkien
Tiktok star KnewBettaDoBetta, who was a breakout lore hero for our marathon 6-hour trailer analysis livestream, shares his excitement:
Kili from Happy Hobbit was there too, known for co-authoring ”Middle-earth From Script to Screen” with Daniel Falconer and Peter Jackson. She has mined the Weta archives, and brings a unique perspective on Amazon’s show which I hope we get more of on TORn Tuesday soon.
Raising a pint to the Professor in none other than the Lamb and Flag pub where the Inklings often gathered for a drink and to share their writing! I’ll post more soon, but suffice it to say I was humbled to have been invited by Amazon on an adventure to Oxford to visit… pic.twitter.com/tq2iNAEIQG
El Anillo Unico, often considered the Spanish equivalent of our little site since the earliest Peter Jackson days, wrote (in translation):
The most important thing we have discovered and believe we can make public, Tolkien Estate is involved in the creative process, and had active participation during the process. This gives us an idea that Amazon has really had people who are experts in the field and have helped to fill in the gaps that exist in what is written about the Second Age. We loved the music, the visual aspect is very good and it gives us an air of something already known. Quite different from the trailer itself that was released months ago
El Anillo Unico
Dr. Maggie Parke, director of the Mythgard Institute:
@LOTROnPrime had me and @tolkienprof to London last week to see bits of the #RingsofPower, Tolkien’s Oxford, & to meet the show runners, who kept up with the best of us. Their passion & knowledge made me feel like they were one of us;they get it. I’m feeling very optimistic! pic.twitter.com/dBWq3x4v9w
The top Brazilian LOTR fan group (who I am so excited to have met, thanks to this opportunity!) wrote, “The wisdom and depth of the entire team in Tolkien’s work is something never seen before.”
Na última semana fomos à uma jornada épica. A Amazon nos levou para Londres e Oxford, onde assistimos cenas de #OsAneisdePoder e tivemos a honra de conversar com os showrunners. Foi surreal e espetacular. É a maior série de todos os tempos.@LOTRonPrime#LOTRROP#RingsOfPower
Still don’t believe the hype? Here are further respected voices from the Tolkien community, for you to peruse:
Alan and Shawn were invited to London by Amazon Prime Video to view a sneak peek of footage from The Rings of Power, and to meet the showrunners! We can say that we have moved from 'cautious optimism' to 'restrained anticipation', and are looking forward to telling you more!
— The Prancing Pony Podcast (@prancingponypod) May 9, 2022
Amigos! Debéis saber que la semana pasada fui invitado por Amazon a Londres, donde pude ver algunas escenas en exclusiva de @LOTRonPrime y pude conocer a los dos showrunners de la serie. No tengo permiso para entrar en detalles sobre lo que vi o escuché, pero debéis saber que…
And finally, to everyone’s – and perhaps no one’s! – surprise, the #1 leaker of things and Bezos’s bane against secrecy, Fellowship of Fans was invited to see and share what real finished footage looks like (instead of grainy cell phone pics).
Amazon invited me to an event in London where I saw footage from the show and got to meet the showrunners. The showrunners were excellent and their passion filled me with confidence and time will tell whether that will be translated onto the screen!…
— Fellowship of Fans (@FellowshipFans) May 9, 2022
Big thanks to Varking on reddit for assembling everyone’s takes and being there in person with his own perspective! And thanks to all of the merry company, with whom we had such a great time, and whose opinions are always worth hearing. Find many of the folks from this post around our Discord, where more conversation is happening. discord.gg/theonering You can also join us tonight, 5pm PT for TORn Tuesday, when we’ll have some of these folks as our special guests. And before that, you may want to check out Corey Olsen and Maggie Parke at Other Minds and Hands, as they discuss last week’s events in their livestream (1pm PT).
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, a 5-season adaptation of tales from Tolkien’s Second Age, comes to Amazon Prime Video on September 2 this year.
Staff from TheOneRing.net will be presenting panels, in-person, at two separate conventions in Southern California over the next week and a half.
First up is San Diego Comic-con’s Special Edition event this coming weekend. Our panel will be on Friday night, November 26 at 7 pm, and will be in room 7AB. If you have ever wanted to go to SDCC, but have been unable to get tickets, they are still available for this event. It’s a great way to get your feet wet, as it were, and buying a pass to the Special Edition will allow you to be on the Past Attendee list when the 2023 SDCC goes on sale. To check out our listing in the schedule, click here.
Our second stop on this whirlwind tour of SoCal conventions will be the Los Angeles Comiccon the following weekend, on Saturday morning, December 4 at 11 am, and will be in room 410. Both panels will be very similar, unless any new announcements about the Amazon LOTR drop between this weekend and the next. Feel free to visit us at both, but at least this way fans in both LA and San Diego have options to hang with the wonderful Fellowship that makes up Tolkien fandom.
The Brisbane Tolkien Fellowship invites you to participate in our Zoom meet-up with our special guests John Callen and Sarah McLeod from The Hobbit/Lord of The Rings Movies, on the 31st October, 2021.
Sarah McLeod – Rosie Cotton
John Callen – Oin
We are initiating this event to replace our Evening in Middle-earth which is our major annual fundraiser for Kids in Care, supporting “The Pyjama Foundation”.
Due to Covid, for the last two years we have had to cancel our event, but this year we are running it virtually, online via Zoom and are delighted that we will be joined by John Callen and Sarah McLeod.
Our event, “Evening in Middle-earth”, first began in 2013 and in that time our small club has raised over $12 000 for our nominated charity and donated many children’s books also.
We hope you can join this special online event and enjoy a conversation with our guests.
The Zoom will run for one hour but can be extended to an hour and a half if required.
Come join the Southern California TORn staff and Tolkien fans on Saturday, September 18, 2021, as we celebrate Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ shared birthday in Griffith Park. The party will kick off at Noon, and run until about 6 pm. The biggest difference this year will be NO POTLUCK. Please bring enough food and drink for yourself and the group you will be attending with. As always, sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses, and maybe a popup for shade are all good things to bring in order to stay comfortable. We are returning to the Mineral Wells section of Griffith Park, which is near the Harding Golf Course. Please head to the Baggins Birthday Bash Facebook event page for directions and a map. https://www.facebook.com/events/193623342558178/
While this event is scheduled for Saturday, September 18, the dual issues of COVID restrictions and/or Wildfires could become an issue this coming week. Should LA County trigger a restriction of large gatherings or a Wildfire trigger evacuations in the region of Griffith Park, we will post a Cancelation notice to the FB page first, and if there is time, post here on the main website as well.
As for COVID restrictions, the LA County guidelines recommend masking outdoors only in the case of a Mega Event, and that has only happened once. We are recommending everyone have a MASK with them, ready to wear near groups of people and remove when eating and drinking. The outdoor setting should afford us more than enough space to social distance if it makes you feel comfortable. We would PREFER if everyone attending was fully vaccinated, but none of us are qualified to verify the CDC card, so we won’t be asking.
Come and join fellow Tolkien fans from around Australia for a Zoom get together of the 'Hern Ennorath' Tolkien group.
Tolkien fans from Australia are building an online community for Australians to discuss Tolkien and Middle-earth topics.
‘Hern Ennorath’ means South Lands of Middle-earth. The name was chosen to reflect where we Aussies live, in the great southern land, in the southern hemisphere and, so far, is made up of three sub-groups
Each of these sub-groups also have their own individual Facebook pages.
The next online meeting is on 23rd September and the topic will be “Music of Middle-earth”. It will start with a quick ‘getting to know you’, before discussing all things music in Middle-earth. From Tolkien’s lyrical poetry to music that has been inspired by Tolkien. The meeting will run for 1 1/2 hours, but everyone is welcome to come and go as they please.
Just follow these instructions to join
Times: 8pm, ACT, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania 7:30pm NT and SA 6pm WA
All are welcome, so mark the 23rd of September in your diaries, grab your favourite snacks and settle in for some “Music in Middle-earth”.
There are also plans afoot to hold an online Middle-earth Trivia Night in November, and a national face-to-face dinner and conference in 2022, so stay tuned for further details.
