Above: the first fathom ship

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Carnival Corporation is launching a new cruise brand it says will focus on “social impact.”

It’s called fathom [sic], and it’s geared toward a travel category it’s calling “social impact travel,” offering what the company describes as “authentic, meaningful impact travel experiences to work alongside locals as they tackle community needs.”

The brand’s first destination will be the Dominican Republic, what the company called “a country known for its spectacular beauty but also a country where the average household income is approximately $6,000 USD a year and more than two million Dominicans do not have access to piped water.”

Fathom will launch seven-day voyages from PortMiami on the 710-passenger MV Adonia, which is being redeployed from Carnival Corporation’s P&O Cruises.

“fathom will cater to a growing market of consumers who want to have a positive impact on people’s lives, and aren’t always sure where to begin,” said Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald. “We believe travel is a meaningful way to allow for personal growth while making purposeful and engaging contributions to the world. 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.”

Donald brought in “social entrepreneur” Tara Russell to help lead the effort; Russell, founder and chairman of Create Common Good, a food production enterprise, will serve as president of fathom and “global impact lead” for Carnival Corporation.

Russell said fathom travelers would “work in partnership with proven, trusted local organizations on the ground to amplify their missions for far greater, sustained impact.”

“Because fathom will bring hundreds of travelers to a destination on a regular basis, fathom can achieve focused and holistic, collaborative contributions in a broad region of the country – allowing fathom travelers to make a collective, transformative impact that they know will extend far beyond their involvement,” Russell said.

According to Carnival, a typical fathom cruise will begin with one to two days at sea preparing for the on-the-ground experience, from Spanish lessons to “impact activity training.”

Cruisers will then have the opportunity to build their own schedules and choose from “a variety of social impact and recreational activities.”

Those activities will range from cultivating cacao plants and assisting a local women’s cooperative making chocolate to helping teach English in Dominican schools.

Carnival said the prices for a given seven-day itinerary would start at about $1,540 per person.