Princeton Class of 1980

Mini-Reunion Spring Break 2017--March 23-26!

The Great Class of 1980 will convene in St. Petersburg, Florida for a long weekend of fun in the sun, culture and sports.  A wide variety of events all classmates can participate in as well as many a la carte options are already planned.  Thursday evening Kim Ritrievi '80 and Darryn Tilden h'80 will host a casual buffet supper to welcome classmates.  Friday evening we will have dinner at the Vinoy Resort and hear a Princeton University professor talk about his or her most recent work.  Saturday lunch will be held at The Dali Museum.  Following a short, topical presentation, classmates will have a private docent led tour of the permanent collection.  Saturday night dinner will be aboard a chartered boat to enjoy the stunning sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico.  Sunday brunch/lunch will be back at Kim and Darryn's for final goodbyes.  The cost for these activities will be $385.

A la carte activities Friday all day, Saturday and Sunday mornings will include golf, tennis, and a spring training baseball game.  These activities will involve additional charges; we will send information on these activities in early 2017.  Of course, lounging by the pool, heading to the beach, shopping and sightseeing are popular options in a resort town.

We hope you will join your classmates at what promises to be a very special event.

Registration

We still have a few spots available. The registration fee for classmates and guests is $385/person.  The fee includes Thursday evening buffet supper, Friday dinner, Saturday lunch and dinner, and Sunday brunch.  It also includes entry to The Dali Museum.  All other meals and expenses are the responsibility of individual classmates/guests.

If you are only available to join us for select events, we are now able to add a la carte events.  The pricing per event per person is:

Vinoy Dinner with Stan Katz $120

Dinner Cruise $100

The Dali $100

Thursday dinner $60

Sunday brunch/lunch $40

Housing

Room blocks have been arranged at two hotels within the area, The Vinoy Resort and the Hampton Inn Downtown St. Petersburg.  Both hotels are within a short walk of each other and along Beach Drive in St. Pete.  Classmates must make their hotel reservations directly with the hotel; to take advantage of our room block rates, which are quite good, please make your reservation via the link/information below.

The Vinoy Resort

Renaissance Vinoy

501 5^th Avenue NE

St. Petersburg, Florida 33701

Room rate:  $260 + tax & fees

Reservation Link:

https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=15795597

or, via these group reservation phone numbers (the main number will not be able to provide assistance with the group rate).  We are known as Princeton 1980 Class Reunion:

Reservations Toll Free: 1-888-789-3090

Reservations Local Phone: 1-888-303-4430

The Hampton Inn Downtown St. Petersburg

Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown St. Petersburg

80 Beach Drive NE

St. Petersburg, FL  33701

Main 727-892-9900

Event Name:  Princeton Class of 1980

Group Code:  P80

Standard Room Rate:  $209.00 + tax (includes breakfast)

Dates:  3/23/17-3/26/17

Cutoff Date: 2/23/17

Reservation Link:

http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/groups/personalized/P/PIEHSHX-P80-20170323/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG

or, you may call the hotel directly at 727-892-9900 or 1-800-HAMPTON (1-800-426-7866) and give the reservationist the group code "P80” when making their reservations. 

Transportation

Classmates are responsible for their own arrangements to/from the St. Petersburg area.  The closest airport is Tampa International.  A rental car is not necessary except for the a la carte activities.

Background information on St. Petersburg, The Dali Museum, and The Vinoy Resort (taken completely or partially from Wikipedia entries)

St. Petersburg, FL--A short 25-minute drive across the Tampa Bay from Tampa International Airport.  St. Petersburg was founded in 1888 by John C. Williams, who purchased the land, and by Peter Demens, who brought the railroad industry into the area. As a part of a coin toss bet, the winner, Peter Demens, named the land after Saint Petersburg, Russia, while Williams opted to name the first hotel built the Detroit Hotel, both named after their home towns respectively. St. Petersburg was incorporated as a town on February 29, 1892 and re-incorporated as a city on June 6, 1903. With an average of some 361 days of sunshine each year, and a Guiness World Record for logging the most consecutive days of sunshine (768 days), it is nicknamed "The Sunshine City".

The Dali Museum--Largest collection of works by Salvador Dali outside his personal museum in Figueres, Spain.  Largest collection of his works on canvas in the world.  The permanent collection includes work from his boyhood through all of the phases of his artistic career.  The new museum building was opened in 2011 and is an architectural reflection of Dali's life and work.

Vinoy Resort--The Vinoy Hotel was built in 1925 by Aymer Vinoy Laughner.  Construction began on February 5 and took 10 months to complete. The hotel was a seasonal hotel, open from around December to March. Rates were $20.00 a night, the highest in the area at that time. Celebrities ranging from Babe Ruth, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and James Stewart are known to have stayed there. During World War II the hotel was taken over by the U.S. Army and used for a training school. After the war, the hotel was sold to Charles Alberding for $700,000. The hotel continued to prosper for the next couple of decades but fell out of favor and into decline and disrepair by the end of the 1960s. In 1974, the Vinoy closed and most of its contents were sold at auction. The hotel sat vacant until the early 1990s when it was bought by Renaissance Hotels and Resorts and the Vinoy Development Corporation. A $93 million renovation was undertaken, and in two years the Vinoy was reopened.