Cruising Forward in Miami Park Clean-Up (SLIDESHOW)

More than 100 employees from South Florida’s cruise lines including Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises and Royal Caribbean International got into the holiday spirit by cleaning and beautifying the North Shore Park in Miami. It was part of the Cruise Forward community involvement effort fostered by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and its member lines.

Cruise line employees were joined in the park clean-up by local partners, including PortMiami, Intercruises, Waste Management, Lloyd's Register, Survival Craft, MTN Satellite Communications, and HandsOn Miami.

Together, they helped restore the park by gardening, restoring a pathway, and repainting a fence around the perimeter of the park. The event was just one example of the global cruise industry’s schedule of activities, in which employees step outside the office or head off a ship for a day to give back to port communities worldwide.

Agents might read the blog by Dale Hirsch, the CEO of HandsOn Miami, at http://ceoblog.cruising.org/content/guest-blog-cruise-industry-joins-handson-miami-mark-international-volunteer-day-2013

Cruise lines also extend volunteer and philanthropic opportunities to guests. Sometimes cruise lines provide volunteer excursions for guests when in ports, other times they have an entire voyage dedicated to a charitable cause.

"We take great pride in the relationships we have with the communities where our employees live and work and the nearly 600 ports around the world that our member lines visit," said Christine Duffy, president and CEO of CLIA. "While December is a good time to give back and reflect on our efforts over the past year, our members actively support these port communities all year long - through charitable donations, volunteer service and cultural preservation programs."

Drew Daly, vice president of sales performance, CruiseOne and Cruises Inc., says "anytime a customer, or potential customer, sees people within an industry rally together for a good cause it absolutely translates to positive awareness and brand equity for those businesses in the local community." 

To learn more about the cruise industry's contributions to communities worldwide, visit www.cruiseforward.org.