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Initial disappointment
over the news that one of our clients was cancelling their charter
on the Silversea Cruise ship - Silver Cloud, was dispelled when we
learned that the client who
had already paid in full for the charter of the ship, was prepared
to work with us to donate the ship charter to charity.
Worldwide is well
known for it's creative use of cruise ships and an idea was formed
to move the ship from it's original port of embarkation (Barbados) to Puerto
Rico where Worldwide believed there was more of a chance of putting
together a successful event.
A telephone call to
one of Worldwide's friends and clients was initiated to see if he,
as a well established travel professional in Puerto Rico thought the
idea might fly. This gentleman - Mr. Nestor Rivera,
"Pancho" to his friends, of Pinnacle Events, was at that time
engaged in a site inspection on a Costa Ship in the Mediterranean
Although not the best
time to run an off-the-wall idea by him, it did turn out to be
a fortuitous call as he was able to connect with a friend who is
involved with the "Avon Foundation" in Puerto Rico.
The Avon Foundation
has long standing relationship with the American
Cancer Society (ACS) in Puerto Rico by virtue of their own past fund
raising events for the ACS. They unhesitatingly agreed to work with the
ACS to put together a charity event built around the the
Silver Cloud immediately
committing to purchase a block of staterooms to start the ball rolling.
Fireman's Fund
stipulated that 100% of the proceeds must go to the charity and
agreed to allow the event to be named -
Cloud 9 - so that all the
pre-ordered items bearing their Cloud 9 programs name could be
utilized by the ACS.
The following days saw
a hectic amount of back and forth between Steve Bloss of Worldwide
Cruise Associates and Mr. Sean Mahoney of Silversea Cuises who
kindly agreed to facilitate the transfer from the purchaser of the
charter to the American Cancer Society, as well as Fireman's
Fund's in-house
travel professional - Ms Janet Hennesey who had been working the
program right up to the cancellation and finally Pancho who was the
point man with the American Cancer Society and Avon.
Once the Cloud 9 event
went public, both Toyota and Suzuki - Puerto Rico, have collaborated
in this event and raised over $150,000.00.
The whole charity
program was a major coup in as much as we had only 1 month from the
date of the initial cancellation to the starting date of the charter
during which time not only the ship had to be organized, liability
Insurance arranged and move to
Puerto Rico but but so did the organization of the charity events
which where going to take place onboard the Silver Cloud.
The event will take
place on Thursday March 19th with the cruise calling
on St Barts, Antiqua, Virgin Gorda
and finally disembarking in Puerto Rico on Monday March 23rd. The
itinerary was designed specifically to try and hit as many of the
original ports as possible so that the local companies who should
have been working the original program would still have a chance to
recoup some of their lost revenue.
I would like to
acknowledge everyone involved
in putting this together who graciously donate their time to make it happen.
And finally Fireman's Fund for
donating this very substantial gift to the American Cancer Society.
Nestor Rivera (Pancho) of
Pinnacle Events in Puerto Rico
who got the ball rolling and worked tirelessly on programming the
cruise for the ACS.
Jose
Quinones of the
Avon Foundation -
the principle mover who's initial commitment started the ball
rolling.
Janet Hennesey - the Senior
Director of the Charterers Meeting and Event department
of the Donating Company
and the others in her company that dealt with many of the nuts
& bolts details.
Carmen Olivio - The
American
Cancer Society and her team who worked hard to close the
deal and put together the fund raising events/cruise.
Sean Mahoney of
Silversea
Cruises and his team who made light work of a lot of
detailed paperwork.
Steve Bloss and the
Worldwide Team who nurtured the idea from start to finish
and brought everyone together to make the event happen.
Finally our thanks to
Toyota
and
Suzuki, Puerto Rico for
throwing their weight behind this and boosting the sum by a very
considerable amount.
This was so much more
satisfying for Worldwide than simply having our client write of
their cruise and the not inconsiderable non-refundable charter fee. |
