{"id":7616,"date":"2011-04-04T01:15:30","date_gmt":"2011-04-04T08:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/?p=7616"},"modified":"2011-04-04T01:15:30","modified_gmt":"2011-04-04T08:15:30","slug":"volunteering-on-cruise-ships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=7616","title":{"rendered":"The Latest in Cruise Voluntourism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This weekend was a double whammy, of sorts.<\/p>\n

While catching up on some PVR-ed TV shows, we watched Sixty Minutes<\/a>, a show we have not watched enough. One of the stories was about Elissa Montanti, a 57-year-old Staten Island woman who almost single handedly is trying to help kids who are physical victims of war or poverty. From anywhere. Her “Global Medical Relief<\/a>” is basically her and one of the young men she helped, recruiting others to help, by donating medical expertise and facilities to kids who need both.<\/p>\n

That was Saturday.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, we were reading about a couple from California, Bill and Cathleen Huckaby, embarking on a cause that’s similar in spirit (e.g. helping others), but using cruise ships in the process.<\/p>\n

There is a growing trend among people on cruise ships to “voluntour” when in ports. Next week, the Huckabys take it to a different level.<\/p>\n

Their non-profit is called Hope Floats. Yes, like the movie. Next Saturday, on the Caribbean Princess<\/a>, they make their inaugural Hope Floats cruise, for 7 nights, providing passengers who sign up in advance with volunteer opportunities that THEY choose in five Caribbean ports: St. Thomas<\/a>, Tortola<\/a>, Antigua<\/a>, St. Lucia<\/a> and Barbados<\/a>. How it works is detailed on the Hope Floats website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They’re calling it the “Trial-Run Bon-Voyage” cruise. It leaves from San Juan<\/a>, Puerto Rico. Passage \u2014 obviously, it’s last-minute now \u2014 is booked through a travel agency, and that might raise some alarm bells about “profiteering.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>So we checked.<\/p>\n

The point is not to find the best deal. The point is to find out if you pay a premium for this voluntourism opportunity. So, using a balcony room as an example, on the Princess<\/a> site for that April 17 departure the cost is $890 per person. From the travel agency<\/a> connected to Hope Floats, it’s $498 per person. This seems almost to good to be true, but that’s not the point, because as balcony staterooms go, we may be comparing apples and oranges.<\/p>\n

What is too good to be true is the chance to help somebody local while stopping in a port.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Put it this way: Two of the Mexican ports we have frequently visited are Cozumel<\/a> and Acapulco<\/a>. We feel like we’re on a first-name basis with some of the vendors. In fact, with a couple of them we are. How many times can you go to a port and have “the same old experience?” How much costume jewelry do you need? How many souvenirs? How many Mexican blankets?<\/p>\n

There are many chances to help the impoverished when cruising to warm-weather ports. What appealed to us about Hope Floats is that it’s organized in advance, and you can pick your place and method for volunteering.<\/p>\n

The motivation for doing so might be boredom with a port? It might be having been on all the shore excursions that interest you. It might be to feel less guilty about being lucky enough to be on a cruise ship.<\/p>\n

What really matters? Why you helped somebody, or just that you did?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This weekend was a double whammy, of sorts. While catching up on some PVR-ed TV shows, we watched Sixty Minutes, a show we have not watched enough. One of the stories was about Elissa Montanti, a 57-year-old Staten Island woman who almost single handedly is trying to help kids who are physical victims of war… Continue reading The Latest in Cruise Voluntourism<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,25,31,15],"tags":[51,35,64,93,572],"class_list":["post-7616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruise-industry-news","category-people","category-ports","category-stories","tag-cruise-ports","tag-cruises","tag-princess-cruise","tag-shore-excursions","tag-voluntourism","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}