Fathom, a new cruise line owned by Carnival, got underway this week with its inaugural cruise. This isn’t your ordinary cruise; it is voluntourism writ large. With approximately 750 passengers on board, the MV Adonia will arrive at Amber Cove every other week bringing a small army of volunteers. For the inaugural cruise, Fathom invited a few journalists along, including me.
We set sail Sunday, April 17, 2017 about 4:00 PM from Miami headed to our single destination, Amber Cove, near Puerto Plata, a city founded by Christopher Columbus before 1500.
Passengers will have nearly four days for volunteering and fun, arriving on Tuesday afternoon and leaving for Miami on Friday afternoon. This approach also gives passengers an opportunity to spend time in the city in the evening, a rare feature on cruises (typically, cruise ships sail at night to be in a different port most days of a trip).
One of the first signs that this cruise would be different was the set of “fair trade” toiletries we foun…