Travel with Purpose
Jul 14, 2015 01:32AM ● By Family Features
For people who enjoy travel with a deeper meaning, the world's largest travel and leisure company, Carnival Corporation, is offering a new way to conquer your travel bucket list with purpose-oriented, social impact experiences. fathom, Carnival Corporation’s social impact brand that will initially offer socially immersive travel experiences in the Dominican Republic, has just announced it is now adding Cuba to its destination roster starting in the spring of next year.
Launched earlier this year, fathom is designed as a purpose-driven brand to enrich the lives of its travelers. The brand expects to attract 37,000 annual travelers who collectively could spend a total of more than 100,000 days a year either volunteering or immersing in educational and cultural exchanges in global destinations, starting with the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
Carnival Corporation was recently granted U.S. approval for travel to Cuba, paving the way for the company to operate fathom travel itineraries directly to Cuba beginning in May 2016 for the purpose of providing cultural, artistic, faith-based and humanitarian exchanges between American and Cuban citizens.
“We’re incredibly excited and humbled by this potential opportunity to help travelers experience the amazing beauty and culture of Cuba, while being able to provide educational and cultural exchange activities that will benefit both the traveler and the Cuban people,” said Tara Russell, president of fathom and global impact lead for Carnival Corporation. “After establishing the Dominican Republic as our first partner destination, Cuba represents an important step for us to expand our ability to offer meaningful and enriching experiences to purpose-driven travelers.
“Our goal remains the same for both destinations – to enable travelers to immerse, learn, serve and flourish while making enduring, sustainable contributions on a scalable and systematic basis. We are looking forward to building what we intend to be a beautiful and lasting friendship with the Cuban people.”
Led by Russell’s strong background in social entrepreneurship, fathom seeks to develop lasting social impact partnerships that allow for meaningful personal enrichment of the traveler, while providing long-term educational, environmental and economic development benefits in its partner countries.
Following inaugural April voyages to the Dominican Republic, fathom will offer both Dominican and Cuban itineraries on regular basis. Travelers can choose either destination, which will include a range of activities designed to have a positive, transformative effect on the lives of the travelers and the partner communities in which they serve.
Prices for the seven-day trip to the Dominican Republic start at $1,540 per person, which includes an exterior cabin with a view, all meals on the ship, onboard social impact immersion experiences, three on-shore social impact activities and related supplies, taxes, fees, and port expenses. Prices will vary by season.
Prices for seven-day itineraries to Cuba start at $2,990 per person, excluding taxes, port and other government and related fees, and including all meals on the ship, onboard social impact immersion experiences and certain on-the-ground cultural immersion activities.
Learn more about social impact journeys to Cuba or the Dominican Republic at www.fathom.org.
