Social Impact cruises, NCL follow suit?

[Sotermarler]

Now that Carnival Corp has released their new social impact (volunteer) cruise line called Fathom, will other lines like NCL follow suit?

[motleyfan]

Now that Carnival Corp has released their new social impact (volunteer) cruise line called Fathom, will other lines like NCL follow suit?

 

I've never even heard of that what is it?

[spotfish]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2015/06/04/new-carnival-brand-fathom/28425453/

[fshagan]

Interesting idea. How many people will pay cruise prices to go and spend three days volunteering? Can they get the 37,000 per year to make the ship profitable?

 

I don't know why CCL is creating a new, separate cruise line for this. Perhaps they feel that their various lines attract a certain demographic and this idea is intended to attract an entirely different group of people. I can see someone saying "Hey, a volunteer vacation from a cruise ship, oh wait, it's a <insert-known-brand-name-here> Ship, so it's a party boat" (or whatever).

[eroller]

I don't think any other line will be racing to follow suit. It's quite questionable if fathom will even be successful with one small ship, at least for the long term. Carnival Corp is doing this venture as cheaply as possible. Borrowing some execs from other brands, using a P&O ship that frankly they were not sure what to do with, using Amber Cove which is a port they just built up, and using operational resources from sister brands Carnival and P&O.

[yukongold]

Interesting concept. I wonder if the volunteers will spend evenings on the ship?

[Sotermarler]

Interesting concept. I wonder if the volunteers will spend evenings on the ship?

 

Yes the article says the volunteers will stay on ship, eat all meals on board and they will provide travel to the locations. It's kind of a cool idea, but pretty pricey starting at $1450 pp. I don't see how working only one week at a time will help, they will have to train new volunteers weekly.

 

I think if I was a twenty something. I would be all over this, it's volunteering disguised as a cruise.

[eroller]

I don't know. If you're really interested in helping a cause and have $1500+ to spare, why not donate all that money directly to the cause then volunteer your time.

 

This seems a little like a "feel good" vacation with all the luxuries of a cruise ship and some highly organized helping hand work thrown in. Something to talk about to your friends when you get home but will it really make a difference? Meanwhile Carnival makes a profit on all of it and gets to showcase their new Amber Cove port which I'm sure has plenty of shopping and drinking opportunities. Sort of like Grand Turk.

[motleyfan]

Interesting idea. How many people will pay cruise prices to go and spend three days volunteering? Can they get the 37,000 per year to make the ship profitable?

 

I don't know why CCL is creating a new, separate cruise line for this. Perhaps they feel that their various lines attract a certain demographic and this idea is intended to attract an entirely different group of people. I can see someone saying "Hey, a volunteer vacation from a cruise ship, oh wait, it's a <insert-known-brand-name-here> Ship, so it's a party boat" (or whatever).

 

I agree with you, I don't see it working at all. technically those prices are higher then carnivals regular Cruise prices. I thought at first when it said volunteer that the Cruise going to be free lol. It might help a little if it was still the cruise ship type experience while on board the ship and then helping when you get off, but according to the article there's no entertainment whatsoever on board the ship.

[Sotermarler]

I don't know. If you're really interested in helping a cause and have $1500+ to spare, why not donate all that money directly to the cause then volunteer your time.

 

Very good point eroller. I bet the $1500 would help way more than my 20-30 hours of service. I would think the locals will tire of this. Seeing new faces each week thinking they are making a difference then at the end of the day heading back to their fully loaded cruise ship.

[NLH Arizona]

Now that Carnival Corp has released their new social impact (volunteer) cruise line called Fathom, will other lines like NCL follow suit?

Don't know about NCL following, but Crystal has had their program "You Care, We Care" for quite some time.

 

You Care. We Care.” Crystal Voluntourism Adventures

 

As one of the first luxury lines to fully embrace the notion of combining meaningful and educational tourism with adventure travel, we are very pleased to offer a complimentary “You Care. We Care.” Crystal Voluntourism Adventure on every itinerary (where possible). The “You Care.” element offers guests the opportunity to make a difference in the places we visit at a very local level, while the “We Care.” portion represents Crystal’s own investment in preserving precious historical sites around the world.

 

These adventures focus on hands-on volunteer efforts with no obligation of financial donations. With the goal of improving destinations for future generations, Crystal Voluntourism Adventures allow guests to directly contribute to a need or cause specific to the community we are visiting.

[NYcruzzer]

I posted on Carnival board. My feeling is that DR is just a prelude to where Fathom will go next. That is Cuba. These type of volunteer / learning cruises comply under current US travel to Cuba guidelines

[mojomorris]

From what I read, pax/volunteers spend 3 days there (like many Bermuda cruises) and then do on sea days what pax normally do at sea.

From the article I get the idea that the pax will do manual labor type things and that subsequent pax on the following cruises would just pick up where the others left off.

IMHO many charities are a way to separate you from your money and very little of it gets to the intended people. If you want to contribute to the common good, "sweat equity" is the way to go i.e. Habitat For Humanity and the like.

[fshagan]

This seems a little like a "feel good" vacation with all the luxuries of a cruise ship and some highly organized helping hand work thrown in. Something to talk about to your friends when you get home but will it really make a difference?

 

I often wonder the same thing about those people who go volunteer to help with Thanksgiving dinner at the local mission.

 

But, people do take working/volunteer vacations. I've known people who do Habitat for Humanity for a week, go to poor villages in Mexico or central / south America and help with orphanages and housing, doctors who go and attend to a long line of people in a village in a single day, etc.

 

Many of these people are wealthy or upper middle class. So a cruise to volunteer work might work.

[AKR2011]

I love this concept, but I have an issue with the price. I enjoy giving back, but I could never afford to do this trip. I know that you can book shore excursions that give back, and I almost booked one last year. I think it was thru Shore Trips. Has anyone done one? Personally I try not to go over $75/person/night for a cruise(and I usually go much less). I love being on the ocean but simply cannot afford anything more.

[skittl1321]

I don't know why CCL is creating a new, separate cruise line for this. Perhaps they feel that their various lines attract a certain demographic and this idea is intended to attract an entirely different group of people. I can see someone saying "Hey, a volunteer vacation from a cruise ship, oh wait, it's a <insert-known-brand-name-here> Ship, so it's a party boat" (or whatever).

 

I think you nailed it- they want to get an entirely different demographic.

 

I don't think there is any intention that this line be known as a party boat. The demographic for it is not the Carnival Cruise Lines cruiser at all. (Keep in mind Carnival Corp also houses Seaborn, Princess, HAL, Cunard, etc. With fathom, there are 10 distinct brands in the Carnival Corp family. I don't think anyone goes on these lines thinking "this is a Carnival brand, it is going to be a party boat!")

 

From their release, they aren't really looking to pull from their own brands (which wouldn't make much sense, corporations want new customers.)

According to fathom’s research, 80 percent of its cruisers will never have booked a Carnival Corp. cruise, and about half of those people will have never cruised at all.

 

 

I don't know what their profit-motivation is, perhaps they just want a nice right off to eat up loss from other brands; but as a profitable entity, I don't see this working. I'd love to see social impact shore excursions become more common though. At least there you aren't deluding yourself into thinking you are doing a lot to help, just a bit. My problem with fathom is it is just too short. What can really be accomplished in 3 days? At that price, wouldn't you be better off on a full week long mission-type trip?

Edited June 7, 2015 by skittl1321

[Sotermarler]

Don't know about NCL following, but Crystal has had their program "You Care, We Care" for quite some time.

 

You Care. We Care.” Crystal Voluntourism Adventures

 

As one of the first luxury lines to fully embrace the notion of combining meaningful and educational tourism with adventure travel, we are very pleased to offer a complimentary “You Care. We Care.” Crystal Voluntourism Adventure on every itinerary (where possible). The “You Care.” element offers guests the opportunity to make a difference in the places we visit at a very local level, while the “We Care.” portion represents Crystal’s own investment in preserving precious historical sites around the

 

I never new this cruise concept already existed.

[skittl1321]

I never new this cruise concept already existed.

 

I think it was just a small part of the cruise experience. (Like how the Celebrity Xpedition has one excursion where you go and plant trees to repopulate the forests).

 

I don't think Crystal had entire cruises dedicated to volunteer work in a single place.

[NLH Arizona]

I never new this cruise concept already existed.

I think it was in 2011 that Crystal started their program.

[xriva]

I think it's the first in a series of speciality cruise lines. After guilt-ridden Yuppie parents take their teenagers to work in the jungle for a week "for vacation", the next year, they can take a cruise on a ship that takes them to an island for three days of family counseling and therapy.

[sail7seas]

I don't know. If you're really interested in helping a cause and have $1500+ to spare, why not donate all that money directly to the cause then volunteer your time.

 

This seems a little like a "feel good" vacation with all the luxuries of a cruise ship and some highly organized helping hand work thrown in. Something to talk about to your friends when you get home but will it really make a difference? Meanwhile Carnival makes a profit on all of it and gets to showcase their new Amber Cove port which I'm sure has plenty of shopping and drinking opportunities. Sort of like Grand Turk.

 

I don't know. If you're really interested in helping a cause and have $1500+ to spare, why not donate all that money directly to the cause then volunteer your time.

 

Very good point eroller. I bet the $1500 would help way more than my 20-30 hours of service. I would think the locals will tire of this. Seeing new faces each week thinking they are making a difference then at the end of the day heading back to their fully loaded cruise ship.

 

 

Huge sums of money were donated to Haiti and what is there to show for rebuilding after the earthquake. Sometimes 'throwing' all that money doesn't promise it will do the work for which it was donated.

 

[pspercy]

Huge sums of money were donated to Haiti and what is there to show for rebuilding after the earthquake. Sometimes 'throwing' all that money doesn't promise it will do the work for which it was donated.

 

 

Exactly.

 

Back in the 90s I was working on a project in Zimbabwe, the place was still pretty decent then tho' public health stats were declining, mostly AIDS.

 

A local (black) surveyor told me the local definition of AIDS:

Aquired Income Deposited in Switzerland.

 

Many a true word spoken in jest:D

[GoAndHaveFun]

I also saw that article about CCL having a volunteer program and I definitely agree that $1500 for it is pretty steep. For $1500, I would prefer to stay there for a month, get to learn about the local culture (including eating local food), get to know the locals and etc on top of volunteering there as opposed to just being there for 3 days. And going back to the ship at the end of the day (I see cruising as a privilege), it's like I see that as similar to volunteering somewhere and then you go back to your 5 star hotel at the end of the day with.

 

Do I see NCL following suit? Maybe! If they wanna create a super great public image, offering a volunteer cruise would help.

Edited June 7, 2015 by GoAndHaveFun

[cadien]

I think this does make sense as an alternate format to the service vacations that already exist and are successful. Housing the volunteers on a ship instead of in the village takes a lot of the strain off the local infrastructure. And the locals have no obligation to serve as a cultural educational experience for their visitors, so it should really not be an issue to miss out on some immersion.

[Nola26]

Yes the article says the volunteers will stay on ship, eat all meals on board and they will provide travel to the locations. It's kind of a cool idea, but pretty pricey starting at $1450 pp. I don't see how working only one week at a time will help, they will have to train new volunteers weekly.

 

I think if I was a twenty something. I would be all over this, it's volunteering disguised as a cruise.

 

Problem as a 20 something I didn't have the cruise fare or I didn't have the vacation time.