Ports. Ships. People

“If I am not part of the solution. I am part of the problem,” Carrie Finley-Bajak aka Cruise Buzz

When Haiti was struck by a vicious blow from Mother Nature and suffered the terrible earthquake that crippled the island, I joined the world-wide mourning for the loss of life and orphans left behind.  I bought the iTunes download of The Hope For Haiti benefit and participated in local projects to send assistance to the island.

When my social media radar picked up that Royal Caribbean International had made the decision to call on their posh private oasis on Haiti, I was a little disgruntled.   I questioned how leisure travelers would stomach a port call for a day of Jet-Skiing  and eating while on the other side of the island rescue workers were digging carcasses out of the rubble.  I thought it was irresponsible of Royal Caribbean to subject their cruisers to the aftermath of the earthquake so soon after the quake.  Then Royal Caribbean posted a compelling message on their website which changed my opinion. 

Royal Caribbean posted a release about how they planned to use their ships to  help transport goods to Haiti and the fact that families not effected by the earthquake relied on revenue generated from the port calls.   At that point, I mentally changed my attitude and thought of ways that I could be part of the solution using the resources at hand.  A natural fit for me as a travel agent specializing in cruises was to organize a fundraiser at sea.

I sent out a tweet on Twitter asking if anyone wanted to help me organize a fund raiser cruise.   Almost immediately 

Nancy Schretter from Family Travel Network and Founder of Together for Good, and Rich Tucker from Travel Leaders Leisure Group and CruiseSource Blogger, raised their hands (tweets) and Cruise4Haiti was hatched.   Cruise4Haiti is the direct result of using social media to bring networks  together for a shared  purpose.

My goal is simple – help one child.  If I can help one child have a better day because of a fund raiser then I have succeeded.  As a cruise expert, I am dedicating my resources and expertise to help Haiti relief efforts.   I hope others will join me in reaching my goal of helping one child. Together we can have a far larger impact on more than one child.  The more people we have helping to be part of the solution the more people we can serve.