Cruise Buzz

Cruise 4 Haiti volunteer outreach cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas delivers final shipment of aid.

After many hundreds of hours of work – mission accomplished!

This morning the remaining 5 pallets of donated items for the “For Haiti With Love” orphanage have been delivered to the Royal Caribbean site in Labadee, Haiti.

The pallets contain Cholera meds and numerous donations that will help bring the holidays to the orphans served by the For Haiti With Love projects in  Cap-Haitien Haiti.

Summary of Cruise4Haiti outreach: a voluncruise story.

Over 30 humanitarian travelers joined the Cruise4Haiti on Royal Caribbean International’s Liberty of the Seas sailing roundtrip from Miami on Nov. 14th, 2010.

Cruise4Haiti’s many accomplishments included:

• With the help of Royal Caribbean, delivered 6 pallets of aid to Haiti to benefit For Haiti With Love’s medical clinic, orphanage and food bank projects in Cap-Haitien. Brought donations of food, medicines, school supplies, individual gift bags and 200+ personalized cards, toys, sports equipment, and clothing for 50 orphans and more than 500 needy children and their families. Our group was the first cruise passenger group to assist For Haiti With Love’s projects.
• Delivered 33 individual Christmas gift bags, over 100 personalized cards, and over 120 pounds of clothing, toys, stuffed animals, school supplies, medicines, sports equipment and toiletries to the St. Maarten Orphanage & The I Can Foundation. Our group was the first cruise ship or airline group ever to visit the orphanage. One group member is beginning the adoption process for one of the young children. In addition, our visit forged connections for this orphanage that will result in future visits and aid.
• Delivered over 75 pounds of Christmas gifts, infant & toddler clothing, stuffed animals, toys, books, medicines and baby items to La Casa Cuna de San Juan Orphanage. Our group was the first cruise ship group to visit this orphanage.
• Held benefit concert for the entire ship and raised money for our charities.
• Raised over $5500 in cash donations for our two charities, Airline Ambassadors and For Haiti With Love.
• Raised over $25,000 in in-kind donations for Airline Ambassadors and For Haiti With Love.
• Generated well over 3 million impressions through articles, blog posts and social media – thus significantly increasing awareness of opportunities to give back on a cruise (voluncruising), the outstanding humanitarian work of For Haiti With Love and Airline Ambassadors, Royal Caribbean’s cruise options and its significant ongoing support for Haiti, and the continuing needs of the Haitian people.
• Created and executed a high-profile special event mission for Airline Ambassadors, resulting in the launch of a new line of outreach voluncruise service programs at sea.

The Cruise4Haiti was organized after January’s earthquake to raise awareness of Haiti’s needs and help children and families in Haiti and the Caribbean.

Nancy Schretter, Rich Tucker and Carrie Finley-Bajak say thank-you!