Fathom Cruises: Providing Travelers A Unique Way to Give Back

As a mom of two, teaching my children to be thankful for the opportunities they are afforded and showing them ways we, as a family, can give back to those less fortunate has always been important to me. To help drive that message home, our family has balanced taking vacations to a variety of destinations with visiting and supporting areas of the world with the sole purpose of helping those in need. This was why I was so excited to learn about the new travel experiences Fathom, part of the Carnival Corporation Family, will be offering beginning in Spring of 2016. This will provide an opportunity for people to combine their love for travel with the desire to make a difference in the world by offering separate round-trip voyages from Miami to two of the Caribbean’s most desired destinations: the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

{Fathom Cruises is a sponsor of City Moms Blog. Here in Jacksonville, we only share sponsored content that we feel will be of value to our readers. We love that on Fathom, you can cruise with a mission!}

Every Fathom journey offers consumers authentic, meaningful travel experiences to enrich the life of the traveler and allows them to work alongside locals as they tackle community needs based on a sincere belief that the person-to-person connection is among the strongest catalysts for transformation.

In the Dominican Republic, travelers will have the opportunity to work side by side with local residents in existing programs that focus on improving the lives of children, families and communities. These impact activities include a wide range of projects focused on three areas – education, environment, and economic development. Activities vary depending upon travelers’ passions and skills as well as a range in physical activity requirements. Travelers can spend up to three days working alongside locals and Fathom partner organizations on the causes the travelers really care about.

Sample Activities Include:

Economic Development:  Help cultivate cacao plants and organic fertilizer at a nursery and assist a local women’s cooperative in producing artisan chocolates. This activity is designed to produce high-quality plants to increase farmers’ yields through sustainable practices and – importantly – create income opportunities for rural women.  Travelers can also work with a women’s cooperative to repurpose recycled paper into saleable beautiful paper products to generate revenues for the women.  Over time, these activities will allow the cooperatives to increase their workforces so the cooperatives can achieve economic independence.

Educational:  You can work side by side with Dominican school teachers in classrooms to teach English skills and help boost student’s academic performance, and participate in adult-learning programs to teach small groups of local community members conversational English. This helps improve their ability to qualify for jobs that provide a higher level of income.

Environmental:  Provide hands-on support to craft and build water filters – using clay, a natural resource found locally – and deliver those filters to families throughout the community to provide healthy drinking water. With limited piped water supply, this will make a meaningful difference in the quality of people’s lives throughout the region. Another opportunity is to support reforestation efforts through the planting of coffee to protect the region’s clean water sources.

There are also memorable recreation, leisure and sightseeing activities available to Fathom travelers to experience in the Dominican Republic when not participating in social impact projects. You can also choose how to mix and match recreational activities with social impact activities. Whether exploring ancient ruins, interacting with the abundant marine life in the crystal clear water while snorkeling or Scuba diving, lounging along the sun-soaked stretches of surf and sand, or participating in social impact activities, travelers will have the opportunity to make the most of their experiences in the Dominican Republic–and have fun!

If you are interested in experiencing this kind of unique travel experience and partnering with Fathom on their global vision to provide a sustainable impact on these communities, they are providing the below special offer to readers valid through the end of February.

Offer Details:

Offer: You can save up to $400 per person for the 1^st and 2^nd person in the stateroom to the Dominican Republic. Bring the whole family or sign up for a small group and 3rd and 4th passengers sail free. You only pay 50% of the deposit fee at initial booking.

$400 savings for Suite

$300 for Balcony Cabin

$200 for Ocean View Cabin

$100 for Interior Cabin

Price for a seven-day trip to the Dominican Republic starts at $974 per person, excluding taxes, fees and port expenses and including all meal on the ship, onboard social impact immersion experiences, three onshore social impact activities, and related supplies. Prices will vary by season. To secure a spot on future sailings, a fully refundable $300 per person deposit is required for all cabin categories and occupancy levels. Final payment is due 90 days prior to departure.

Redeem by calling 855-932-8466; reference tag and let them know you are booking for City Moms Blog Network.

Code: CMG

*Valid through end of February 2016

For more information, check out Fathom’s website,  Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

Thank you to Fathom for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.