Royal Caribbean International Launches A Royal Thank You, a series humanitarian cruises to thank volunteer first responders via Thinkerbell
In partnership with Royal Caribbean International, Thinkerbell has launched A Royal Thank You, three humanitarian cruises in support of Australia’s volunteer first responder community, who worked tirelessly during the recent bushfire crisis.
Thinkerbell and Royal Caribbean are working with state-based volunteer agencies across the country, including the Rural Fire Service, to directly notify and encourage eligible volunteers to register for their complimentary cruise.
Royal Caribbean International’s newest ship, Spectrum of the Seas, made her first trip to Australia and departed from Sydney on Saturday on her first complimentary four-night coastal cruise. Each cruise is completely dedicated to rewarding first responders and their families, with up to 12,000 volunteers expected to be hosted across the three cruises. The entire initiative was created in 13 days and has taken a huge co-ordinated effort to make it possible.
Says Kathryn Valk, director of marketing and PR, Royal Caribbean International: “We are in a fortunate position to give back to the brave and dedicated members of our community and their families by inviting them to join us for a few days to relax, unwind and enjoy our hospitality. We are also in a very fortunate position to have such a dedicated internal and agency team with Thinkerbell and Edge Promotions, working tirelessly to bring this opportunity to life and reach so many worthy recipients in such a meaningful way.”
Volunteers and their families will travel from all over Australia to sail on Spectrum of the Seas over the coming weeks, including the Barnes family from Albury, NSW who were onboard on Saturday when the first humanitarian cruise departed Sydney.
Says Barnes: “We have 11 volunteer firefighters in our family, so we’re beyond excited to all be going on a holiday together. It’s been a tough couple of months and we’re extremely thankful to have this incredible opportunity to kick up our heels and enjoy quality time with loved ones.”
Royal Caribbean has partnered with Lifeline to provide individual support sessions for any guests who have been impacted by the Bushfires and need to talk through calling the Bushfire Recovery line 13HELP on 13 43 57.
Says Margie Reid, managing partner of Thinkerbell: “It’s not often projects of this scale happen, and to make them happen so quickly and seamlessly has been a joy. It takes verve and some lateral thinking to redeploy such an impressive cruise ship, to say thank you to some heroic Australians who desperately need a break. Needless to say, it’s been an extremely rewarding initiative for us to be involved in.”
The media response has been extremely positive with some of the stories featured here and here.
35 Comments
Getting sent on a cruise isn’t my idea of a thank you right now.
Nice gesture, appalling timing.
So when is a good time that would suit you.???
Encima que te regalan un viaje protestas. En una de las navieras más importantes del mundo. Ojala me lo regalaran a mi.
Getting paying customers to take a cruise right now would be a very tough brief. No wonder they’re giving them away. The idea of being stuck on a ship with its mostly geriatric cargo would be my idea of hell at the best of times. But now, while a ship is no more than a floating viral incubation lab? You wouldn’t get me on one if you paid me.
what a sook!!!!! suck grapes you sour person.. bet your offspring have dark thoughts just like you
I imagine anyone up for this would be extremely reticent to participate. Of course they’re giving them away. The ships are empty. Nobody in their right mind would go on a cruise at the moment.
looks guys.. another sook….Its sad peeps like you will always “always” look at the dark side of things… unfortunate for the rest of us, is when those like you get into leadership roles and positions of power
Great! They can swap their fire suits for hazmat suits with masks and goggles. What a fun time! Brilliant thinking! Count me in!
Sometimes you’ve just got to have the courage to tell the client they’ve had a stupid idea. Of course if the idea came from Thinkerbell…
Thank you so much Royal Caribbean International 🥰. We had the greatest time! My husband and I were both first time cruisers and WOW, RC did not disappoint! The beautiful ship, the friendly and helpful staff, the gastronomic delights, the amazing shows! I could keep going on and on! My husband didn’t expect anything for fighting the fires, that’s what he does, but for RC to put this on for all the voluntary First Responders was an amazingly generous and wonderful gesture. Thank you for giving us this glorious holiday! 🥰🥰🥰.
Booo to the naysayers! Everyone that was on board had a ball!
Hi Tracey thanks for writing that whoever you are glad you had a great time and thanks to you and your husband for all your efforts- and apologies that you’ve found this nasty turgid corner of the universe.
Thanks Adam! I can’t understand all the negativity for such a lovely and thoughtful campaign! I did not hear one scrap of negativity on the cruise! It was just beautiful! Everyone loved it and were so grateful! The next two cruises will enjoy it thoroughly too! My husband worked tirelessly over the fire season and was away a lot, that also goes for my 19 year old Autistic son (he unfortunately couldn’t afford to have time off for the cruise)! While these naysayers were probably opening presents on Christmas Day – my son and husband were out that week, a few hours from home, trying to help another community! RC wanted to acknowledge all the voluntary first responders (which wasn’t expected and RC certainly didn’t have too). Perhaps all the negativity is jealousy? RC have sure made lots of new fans with all of us! I thought I’d put my last name on here, something the trolls don’t seem inclined to do. Thanks Adam :). Thanks RC!
We had a great time on that cruise and the staff were amazing. Feel sorry for people who always look at the negative side of things, they really need to get a life.
#fakecomment
Have been torn about the cruise. All packed and ready to head to Sydney with family and then heard about the next cruise ship in CA that is unable to dock. Sadly decided to break the heart of my kids and not go. Not worth putting my kids at risk. Thanks for the gesture. This decision to go or not to go has been more than stressful on all of us.
Shame on you wingers. We have just come back from a RC cruise not the volunteers one, one we took under our own steam. We have nothing but praise for them. We were to do the island’s but were unable to, due to the virus. RC went out of their way to get us somewhere else at short notice. Some people winged about it. But RC has that right to change things if required. As for the unlucky people who did get caught with the virus it is a chance you take. You can’t blame the cruise line for something like that. Our wonderful firefighters and frontline people deserve this break. And for Royal Caribbean to offer to do it, is amazing. I will definitely sail with them again. And I hope all these wonderful people and their families have a great time. You’ve certainly earned it
Excessive praise from random person followed by quick reply from Thinkerbell founder… Seems legit.
Oh I’m quite legit! My husband is a volunteer firefighter with Lyndhurst Fire Brigade in NSW. I posted a big thank you on RCC International’s FB Page (go feel free to stalk!!). This website was posted on another page, and after reading all the negative comments, it had my blood boiling! Don’t try and turn such a wonderful campaign into a big downer! Such negativity and jealousy in the marketing world! Instead of moaning and whinging – how about you start thinking outside the square and you may have some success yourself! Hot tip: I always find living your life free of anger and judgement, leaves the mind clear for creative thoughts and ideas.
In 2017, one cruise company emitted 10 TIMES more sulphur oxide into the atmosphere than ALL 260 million cars in Europe combined. This is not sustainable.
Other than the fact that you’re in a petri-dish of unhygienic bogans with monster energy drink snapbacks and corpulent geriatrics, this is the least efficient way to travel.
I’m all for accessibility for those who find normal ways of getting from A to B physically demanding. But until there is stricter legislation in place to curb cruise emissions, please disown anyone who thinks traveling on a polluting eyesore is a good idea.
Thankyou for your feedback.
I can not beleive the down right excuses and low life comments made when RC could have turned around and went “not my problem” just like the Government and some of those so called donation takers pocketing 10-15% of the takings for Admin Fees. You really need to look at yourself and b…y hang your heads in shame. Don’t blame the Virus blame yourself for your un Australian comments to justify your exsistance. I didn’t see many Civvys gett i ng off their a..e to help out the Resonders. I’m Defence I was there I didn’t get a free cruise but these guys and girls were better than me in what they were doing. Cannot believe what I’m reading b…..y shameful.
When I saw this idea first in the media last week I thought ‘what an amazing idea, this will generate a whole lot of good will and a great thing to do for those fighting the bush fires’.
Then when I saw this pop up on CB yesterday I did think ‘what awful timing, glad that some people have already gone and hopefully this won’t be affected by coronavirus concerns’
It literally blows my mind that people are on here attacking a great idea that was clearly concepted before the coronavirus reached current levels of panic. Do you people have nothing better to do? Like going and having some great ideas of your own?
I don’t have any connection with Thinkerbell but I really felt the need to just say ‘god people, seriously, get a grip’.
Did Thinkerbell really just get a bunch of customers to give a testimonial on the CB comments?
What the hell is happening?
I think it is a lovely gesture. My husband has been fighting fires for over 30 years and this is a wonderful gesture. I hardly saw him over this last Christmas period as if he wasn’t fighting fires as a paid worker for the forestry he was fighting them for the CFA.
I am hoping we will be one of the lucky families to he selected for the final cruise as we could do with a break.
As far as the Corona virus goes, there have been more deaths this year from the normal flu.
It is really nice hearing how appreciated our volunteers are. I dont think people realise how many hours of their lives they give up to help others.
Thank you.
Haha, this is a circus.
Myself and my partner just got back from the first cruise. The crew were absolutely amazing and the level of hygiene was astonoshing. Thank you RC for giving myself and my partner the oportunity we will be back.
How can those reviews be real when there’s nobody left in adland old enough to go on an RC cruise?
when they need to make fake comments to protect their work.
100%
This little corner of this little industry is truely fucked up.
Oh the irony of people using fake names, accusing people such as myself (using my real name!!) of leaving fake comments! LOL
Give it a rest! It was a great initiative and appreciated greatly by those who volunteered during the fires.
Fake comments or not, I can’t believe how nasty and fucked up some people in our industry are.
This is a nice thank you to the people who risked everything to protect the lives, homes and wildlife of Australians in our worst fires ever.
I’m sure the cruise was organised way before the Corona virus. And do you honesty think Royal Caribbean would risk peoples lives if they had concerns?
A thank you to brave people, tainted by gutless anonymous scum.
booked in and still going !, if someone coughs then its a left turn to Christmas Island !! Woo Hoo
Here………………., among the multitude of Christmas island crabs are the last remaining species of what is known to be
Voluteeris Oztralithicus a once proud firefighting subspecies now critically endangered. They are particularly noticeable with their faded yellow overalls and brigade crests.
They cannot survive on raw crabs and have a complete inability to cook them as once a fire is started it is immediately extinguished by their fellow Vols.
Alas the end is near for them, such is Life on earth
what a sook!!!!! @hillbilly vic…. suck grapes you sour person.. bet your offspring have dark thoughts just like you
Its sad peeps like you will always “always” look at the dark side of things… unfortunate for the rest of us, is when those like you get into leadership roles and positions of power
My husband and I and another brigade member went on the second Thank You cruise. We had a great time and are very greatful for the holiday provided by Royal
Carribean.
We have worked very hard on constant patrol and or deployment over the Summer months without being able to see our families who all live in other areas without a break for the whole time since October last year until Mid February when the rain started.
Thank you Royal Carribean.