The old adage that Charity begins at can be applied to cruises too!
I am not talking about the kind of charity most travelers encounter on cruises....donations to the casino. I'm talking about real charity, giving back to the community, your own and on an even larger scale giving to someone else's community, whether it be through fundraising or volunteering.
Locally, I will have the pleasure of sailing on the Rotary Club of Lake Norman-Huntersville's (http://www.lakenormanrotary.org) Wine Cruise this week. This will be just a 3 hour cruise on Lake Norman but proceeds benefited their scholarship fund for area students. Of course this local charity is part of the International Rotary Club organization (http://www.rotary.org/) , so the translation to global giving is very clear. Volumes can be written about their global charity work.
Cruises are usually associated with excesses, food, drink, music, & parties are plentiful. Life experiences that appeal to all senses and abilities like exploring ruins, hiking, diving, snorkeling, you name it the list goes on an on. So where does charity come in? Well, there are cruise lines that now offer charitable activities like beach-cleaning, school building, farm/irrigation building and pretty much every cruise line has fundraising dollars just waiting for your non-profit charity group.
Volunteerism is growing in the cruise industry, more and more cruise lines are offering itineraries for the philanthropic traveler ( these are sometimes before or after the cruise). They are also incorporating charities in on board activities. On our last cruise aboard the Carnival Fascination the Carnival sponsored "Groove for St Jude", program was in full swing, a small donation ($10) gets you a t-shirt and a rubber bracelet, all the money goes to the St Jude Children's Research Hospital. (Wow, for the price of another umbrella drink that I did not need anyway I got to help a kid somewhere in a hospital with cancer...can't beat that!)
The cruise industry is increasingly involving passengers, both on and off the ship, and is even offering sailings that are dedicated to supporting individual charities.
There industry is helping guests give back to others in the form of charity cruises, on board fundraising and volunteering by helping projects on shore.
Charity cruises are hosted by the cruise line, select sailings are dedicated to supporting a single charity and often come with the added perk of being partially tax deductible. (It is best to check this out with your tax accountant and to stick with charities approved by the Internal Revenue Service).
On board fundraising come in the form of cruise line-wide programs in which donations are accumulated from guests and donate to a specific charity (or charities) but fundraising does not have to be a program. If your local church group, little league team, Rotary club, or other non-profit charitable organization wants to combine a good time for members and non-members alike the cruise lines are ready to kick in their share. Fundraising matches differ from cruise line to cruise line but the money is there for the taking. Let me explain, if our local Rotary club (church group, local charity, etc) decides they want to plan an event where members will vacation together and still maintain their mission to rasie money, the cruise lines will give a specified amount to the charity on a per cabin basis, for example $75 per cabin sold witin the allotted group space reserved Doesn't sound like much? Well it adds up very quickly, a typical 32 person group (usually 16 cabins) would generate $1200 in "free money" for the charity and may qualify the group for 2 free berths on that sailing which can be used for the group leaders, given as a gift, auctioned or raffled. Not a bad deal is it?
Volunteerism is on the rise!!! Activities are emerging as parts of shore excursions, they are a work in progress and a good agent can certainly work something out with the cruise line for the group to accomplish their volunteer mission, pre, post or during the cruise.
Crystal Cruises' program is at the forefront in this area. Their "You Care, We Care" program offers free shore excursions that involve volunteering activities. A great example was cited in a Cruise Critic article by Amy Gunderson, about the program's debut on the Crystal Serenity. The volunteer program was in Cartagena, Columbia. It was the Foundacion Granitos de Paz, which served one of the barrios in the city. The group reportedly had a great time, interacting with the children, and the elderly, and visiting the homes and gardens. The volunteers helped with the gardening, craft-making and painting tasks. It was a great way to interact with the people of the city.
Other lines offer ways to get involved with local non-profit and research organizations. Norwegian Cruise Line is hosting a travel company that is incorporating volunteer work throughout their trip. A three-day pre-cruise package in New Orleans that will include replanting trees with a local Hurricane relief group.
The possibilities are endless.
So the next time you think about the opportunities and excesses of cruise also think about the possibilities to help those less fortunate.
Besides, the umbrella drinks taste much better after a gratifying day of helping others and sitting around on the ship with new friends, the sense that you did something good for others will make your vacation much more meaningful and memorable, ( besides did you really want to visit yet another chain retail store or eatery in that last port?)
If you have an interest in charity work or volunteerism cruises or if you would like to get your group together for a great vacation for yourselves while still helping others, contact me at Tony@ShipAhoyCP.com and we can discuss possibilities and arrangements. Please visit our website http://www.shipahoycp.com/ and follow us on Twitter and Facebook, we're @ShipAhoyCP on both.
Your comments and suggestions are welcomed.
I'll report back on the success of the Lake Norman-Huntersville Rotary Club wine cruise in my next post, (hopefully without a headache from too much of a good thing! But it is for charity after all so there cannot be too much!)
