Carnival Corporation launched a new brand, fathom, defining a new travel category it is calling “social impact travel,” that will offer consumers authentic, meaningful impact travel experiences to work alongside locals as they tackle community needs.
The long-term, systematic partnership approach with its partner countries paired with the unique business model that allows for sustained impact and lasting development is what sets fathom apart.
“People are always looking for new ways to travel and give back, so pairing both of these with Carnival Corporation’s new fathom social impact travel experiences is a brilliant idea,” says Michelle Fee, CEO and co-founder of Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative.
The Destination
The company’s first destination will be the Dominican Republic, where more than two million residents don’t have access to piped water. As the 10th global brand in the Carnival Corporation family, fathom will operate as a standalone brand. Starting April 2016, fathom will start 7-day voyages from the PortMiami aboard the MV Adonia. Travelers will have the opportunity to choose from a range of social impact activities and experiences both onboard and offshore depending on their passions, interests and skills.
“We believe travel is a meaningful way to allow for personal growth while making purposeful and engaging contributions to the world,” says Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation. “We are so pleased that fathom will give travelers a unique opportunity to work alongside local people as part of a larger scale effort that will demonstrably improve lives. Both our travelers and the local citizens will learn and benefit from the opportunity to serve together.”
According to Tara Russell, founder and chairman of Create Common Good, who will lead fathom as its president and as its Global Impact Lead for Carnival Corporation, the fathom team took an innovative design-thinking approach to deeply understanding both its travelers, as well as the needs identified by stakeholders across all parts of society in the Dominican Republic, and will continue to leverage the unique approach.
“Fathom will mobilize, educate and equip up to 700 travelers on every trip allowing for thousands of impact activity days per week—and tens of thousands of travelers a year to communities of promise, providing unprecedented scale for impact,” says Russell. “Fathom has been built differently, having worked carefully to ensure any and all efforts fathom travelers engage with are authentically impactful, scalable and sustainable. Fathom’s scale allows the opportunity to continuously innovate in the social impact space, while achieving holistic, transformational societal contributions that will help a broad region flourish.”
The fathom Market
Based on extensive market research, fathom has identified a sizable and growing market of potential social impact travel consumers—approximately one million North Americans who are strongly predisposed, in addition to global travelers already pursuing service-oriented travel experiences worldwide—who will be interested in this type of travel offering.
In addition, the company believes fathom will attract a significant number of travelers who have never before cruised. According to research, nearly 40 percent of the individuals who will book a social impact trip on fathom might otherwise never have chosen to cruise.
According to Russell, fathom will attract people of all ages, but especially North American, U.K. and Australian citizens ages 20 to 60 years old who are eager to discover their individual gifts, and unleash their personal passions and talents to improve the world.”
“Those new to the cruise market will find an upscale mission trip of sorts, which will be appealing to millennials and socially conscious families and give them a new way to experience cruising and see the world,” says Fee.
The Experience
The fathom journey is a carefully designed, holistic impact journey and will begin with one to two days at sea preparing for the on-the-ground experience, including a wide variety of fun and engaging impact-readiness experiences ranging from an orientation to the Dominican Republic, conversational Spanish lessons, impact activity training, creative workshops, personal enrichment, and much more.
Travelers will have the opportunity to create their own schedules and will have the flexibility each day to choose from a variety of social impact and recreational activities. Impact activities will vary from a few hours to multiple days. Travelers may spend up to three days on causes they are passionate about, working alongside locals and fathom partner organizations on one or more projects. Rates start at $1,540 pp including an exterior cabin with a window, all meals on the ship, onboard social impact immersion experiences, and three on-shore social impact activities and related supplies.
For more information, call (855) 932-8466 or visit fathom.org.
