Community Relations

Carnival Foundation

Carnival Foundation is dedicated to creating positive change through empowering youth, enhancing education, and strengthening families in the communities where we live and work. Carnival Foundation and Carnival Corporation & plc brands support a broad spectrum of organizations that positively impact thousands of youth and families annually through charitable giving, in-kind donations, and volunteerism. Whether it is providing job training to people experiencing homelessness, preserving and protecting the environment, furthering medical research, or investing in our future through education and mentoring, the reach of the Carnival Foundation is all-encompassing.

During times of crisis, the Carnival Foundation works closely with national and international relief organizations, coordinating corporate and employee donations for emergencies, such as hurricanes in the U.S. and the Caribbean.

Carnival Foundation's contributions are spread to communities where the brands operate but focus on organizations in South Florida, Carnival Corporation's headquarters.

http://www.carnivalfoundation.com/.

Signature Program:

In 2007, Carnival Foundation launched the Carnival Scholarship and Mentoring Program in collaboration with Big Brothers Big Sisters, a four-year in-the-workplace mentoring program for high school students. Carnival management team members serve as one-on-one mentors to over 100 students.

During the school year, participants visit Carnival headquarters monthly to shadow their Carnival "big" and observe them in an office environment. Students also participate in group activities and presentations to assist with college preparedness, financial literacy, and life skills. Program participants may apply for one of 15 college scholarships Carnival Foundation purchases annually from Florida Prepaid College Foundation in their senior year.

Carnival has purchased 315 scholarships valued at more than $6.6 million and has awarded 210 to mentoring program graduates. The first class of scholarship recipients graduated from college in 2014.

Other Key Carnival Foundation programs include:

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami Carnival Center for Excellence 

In 2016, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami celebrated the grand Opening of the Carnival Center for Excellence as the result of a gift from the Carnival Foundation. The donation is the most significant corporate gift ever bestowed on the Miami chapter and the largest ever provided to any local affiliate chapter of the national nonprofit youth mentoring organization. Carnival Center for Excellence is the headquarters for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami. It includes facilities to support ongoing mentoring and educational activities for Big Brothers Big Sisters' "Little" participants. The center comprises a "You Media" creative area for music, video, and creative digital learning; a computer lab; space for homework and tutoring; life-skill classes; continuing education; and the Miami HEAT Big Fitness Room with exercise equipment, free weights, and activity space.

Florida International University Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management

Carnival Foundation founded the Carnival Gold Scholars program at the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University. The program awards five new qualifying students renewable, full-tuition scholarships. These scholarships include room and board and awards of up to $20,000 each. Carnival Foundation further strengthened its relationship with FIU by adding a scholarship endowment known as the Carnival Bridge Scholars. The program annually supports junior and senior students in jeopardy of not graduating due to financial constraints, and the endowment enables them to complete their education. Before establishing the scholarship programs, the Carnival Foundation funded the renovation of the school's 2,600-square-foot multipurpose facility, renamed the Carnival Student Center. The center serves as a gathering place for more than 1,500 students annually.

Jackson Memorial Foundation/Holtz Children's Hospital 

Carnival Foundation funded the renovation of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Holtz Children's Hospital. The "Carnival Cares for Kids Center" includes 30 unique oversized rooms that enable family members to remain with their critically ill children and a comfortable lounge where family members can relax at the hospital. In addition, the Carnival Foundation, in partnership with the Miami HEAT and the Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation, funded the Children's Outpatient Specialty Center at the new Jackson West Doral Campus that opened in 2021. The Children's Outpatient Specialty Center includes a pediatric emergency room, diagnostic services, and outpatient surgical facilities.

Lotus House

Carnival Foundation is committed to supporting the Lotus House shelter for homeless women and children in the Overtown neighborhood of Miami. The five-story facility, Lotus Village, offers comprehensive support services and amenities, serving as a national model for holistic healing for women, youth, and children experiencing homelessness. The Carnival Foundation funded the Play Therapy Rooms at the Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation Children's Wellness Center, a therapeutic early childcare and education facility for children from newborn to age three.

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

The National Museum of African American History and Culture was established as the 19th museum of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex and research organization. Its mission is to provide for collecting, studying, and establishing programs and exhibitions relating to African American life, art, history, and culture. Carnival is a founding donor of the museum.

Miami Children's Museum

Carnival Foundation, in partnership with Carnival Cruise Line, supported the creation of the museum's Carnival Cruise Line Ship Exhibit. The exhibit gallery presents the dynamics of a cruise ship as a self-contained community. It educates visitors about navigational principles and the details of creating a successful Carnival cruise.

www.carnivalfoundation.com

Carnival Cruise Line

At Carnival Cruise Line, our commitment to delivering fun vacations to our guests is matched by our responsibilities to promote the health, safety and well-being of our guests, our team, and the people in the places we serve and visit.  We are proud to operate out of 14 U.S. homeports and be a part of many vibrant communities, providing jobs, generating economic activity and helping enhance the lives of those citizens.

Carnival and its employees have supported a variety of charitable and community organizations since the company’s inception in 1972. We support non-profit organizations that share our commitment, with a special focus on those that: 1) help veterans, military families and first responders, 2) provide health and mentoring services to children, 3) protect the environment, and 4) enhance the quality of life of residents who live in our homeport cities. Our support is expressed in many ways including sponsorships, monetary donations, and in-kind cruise donations.

Our efforts to support homeport communities include participation in and sponsorship of numerous local business and hospitality groups, including chambers of commerce, convention and visitors bureaus, maritime organizations, Rotary Clubs, and many more.

Carnival’s employees are also dedicated to giving back. Our “Friends Uniting Neighbors (F.U.N.) Team,” is composed of employees who work directly with local charities on bimonthly community service and beautification projects. Additionally, Shipboard personnel do their part by participating in beach cleanups and donating their time and talent to orphanages and children's charities throughout the destination communities where Carnival ships sail.

Signature Program:

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Since 2010, Carnival Cruise Line has partnered with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Thanks to the contributions of our generous guests, Carnival has raised more than $29 million over the life of our partnership and in 2018, was named the hospital’s Corporate Partner of the Year.

As the Official Celebration Partner of St. Jude, Carnival hosts events at the hospital and raises money through a variety of fundraising initiatives, both on board and ashore, including the Groove for St. Jude dance party, Build-A-Bear Workshop at Sea where kids can create their own St. Jude-themed keepsake bear, and a cookie amenity package with proceeds going to St. Jude. An indication of the vast number of guests who support St. Jude, in 2022 alone, Carnival sold more than 100,000 St. Jude Groove shirts and more than 27,000 St. Jude bears.

Carnival also highlights St. Jude and the hope it provides through patient-inspired and designed artwork on several of its ships, including Carnival Horizon, Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, and Carnival Jubilee.

Operation Homefront

Carnival has a longstanding partnership with Operation Homefront, supporting the organization’s work to help build strong, stable and secure military families across the country. Among the ways we support the organization, we raise funds through the sale of items at the “Heroes Tribute Bar” found on several ships and provide cruises to the winners of Operation Homefront’s annual “Military Child of the Year” awards.

KultureCity

Carnival is the first cruise line to be certified "sensory inclusive" by KultureCity, a leading nonprofit dedicated to accessibility and inclusion for individuals with sensory and invisible disabilities. Working with the organization, we train shipboard staff how to engage with individuals who have sensory needs and provide tools onboard to assist with this work. We also support the organization through monetary donations and sponsorship of its annual gala. As a result of the successful partnership, in 2022, Carnival was given KultureCity’s Human Highlight Award.

AIDA Cruises

Social and corporate responsibility and commitment are key elements of our entrepreneurship. At AIDA Cruises, we are committed to actively creating positive change in society and promoting sustainable development, both locally and internationally.

Our comprehensive approach includes diverse initiatives that are carried out on all levels of our operations. This approach applies to us as an employer as well as to our relationships with our guests, business partners and destinations, society as well as other stakeholder groups.

AIDA Cruise & Help

Traveling, discovering the world - and doing something good at the same time: AIDA Cruises has been following this approach, not only since we have pooled our social and cultural activities under the umbrella of AIDA Cruise & Help back in 2019. The focus of our engagement lies on improving the futures of children and young people by building schools in developing countries. We aim to support those closest to us, which is why we focus our engagement particularly on the countries where our crew members come from as well as the regions where our ships sail.

After all: AIDA is family.

In mid-May 2019 we opened the first AIDA Cruise & Help school in Cebu City, Philippines.  As of September 2023, the AIDA family has completed 50 school projects in 13 different countries, such as Haiti, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Namibia, Nepal, Philippines and Sri Lanka. These schools provide around 5,700 children with a safe place to learn.

We thank our partner, the Reiner Meutsch foundation Fly & Help, as well as all of those who have supported us, in particular our crew on board, our employees on land and all of our guests whose donations to our initiative have made it possible for us to have such great results in only four years. AIDA Cruise & Help Projekte – Wir tragen das Lächeln in die Welt!

Local and regional involvement in Germany 

As a responsible corporate citizen, it is also important to us to get involved in social, cultural and sport projects in Germany. We have not only been a sponsor of major maritime events in Germany for many years, such as Hamburg Cruise Days, the international Sailing event “Kieler Woche” or the Hanse Sail in Rostock. We are also excited be one of the major partners supporting the ROSTOCK SEAWOLVES in their second season in the 1rst national Basketball League. For more than 20 years, we have been a main sponsor for the Classical Music Festival “Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern”. We also support a variety of social projects and community initiatives, such as the Rostock Citizen’s Brunch or the environmental campaign “My Tree for Rostock”.

Partnership engagement in our destinations

We are convinced that real progress can only be made through collaboration, honest and mutual respect as well as a transparent discussion of knowledge, ideas and different views and experiences. This is why we are committed to engaging in social and intercultural dialog not only in Germany, but also in our destination. Our goal is to promote understanding between various communities and cultures through our business and social involvement, in order to find mutual solutions for the most important challenges facing our society as a whole. Thus, it has always been important to us that we are in continuous dialog with our local partners as well as the people in the 250 destinations in 85 countries that we visit with our guests.

After an almost-three-year break due to the pandemic, where in-person interaction was severely restricted, in November 2022 we were finally able to continue with and expand upon the dialog in our destinations that we have actively kept up over many years.

As of today, we have welcomed more than 1,000 guests on board our AIDA fleet at more than 80 events in more than 50 of our worldwide destinations: from school classes in Africa and the Caribbean to students in Germany, Malta and Norway, neighborhood initiatives and local rescue organizations in the Netherlands, public officials in the Middle East as well as ministers, members of parliament and local municipality and tourism representatives around the world.

Our crews have also actively participated in a wide variety of social projects on land. For example, the crew from AIDAsol planted trees on the island of Madeira together with an elementary school class. Through the charitable organization, the Hope Floats Foundation, the crew from AIDAluna donated towels to the Red Cross on the island of Tortola in the Caribbean, and crew members from AIDAprima used their free time to participate in a beach-clean-up project in the Norwegian city of Nordfjordeid. 

P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard

Teenage Cancer Trust

P&O Cruises partnered with Teenage Cancer Trust in 2015 and since then, we’ve been proudly fundraising for this extraordinary charity, predominantly through activities on board our ships and through donations from our generous guests.

This includes our popular flagship fundraiser, Trek the Deck, where guests donate £10 to take part in a 5km walk around the ship’s deck. Our crew have also been fundraising through a whole host of activities on board, such as spinathons and swimathons.

Partnering with Teenage Cancer Trust for so many years has given them much needed stability. Seven years of unrestricted funding has given them the ability to plan long-term for services and direct funds where it’s needed most; whether it’s the recruitment of new nurses or the funding of non-clinical support workers.

The Prince’s Trust

Cunard is proud to be Platinum Patron of The Prince’s Trust youth charity with the aim to help disadvantaged young people change their lives for the better, offering the support needed to overcome personal, academic and social barriers to achieve their potential.  To date, The Prince’s Trust has helped over 1 million young people across the UK.

Cunard has been a partner since 2007,  when in the presence of His Majesty King Charles III, the Queen Consort named the ship Queen Victoria. Since then, with the help of crew, guests, employees and friends Cunard has raised nearly £3 million.

In 2018, The Prince’s Trust expanded its programmes and support to communities across the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and most recently, North America.

The partnership with The Trust in North America launched in 2020 and in Australia in 2023. 

As well as fundraising, Cunard works with their local teams to deliver employability workshops both on board our ships and on land in our Head Office in Southampton, the aim is to help equip young people with the skills and confidence needed to learn about the travel industry and get into employment.

Monty’s

In 2023 Carnival UK proudly partnered with Monty’s, a creative community hub in the heart of Sholing, Southampton. A community hub is where people get together to offer their skills and time to support local people and address local challenges.

Carnival UK’s shoreside employees offer support to the charity by participating in fundraising events, sponsored activities and volunteering opportunities. To date over 55 days of time have been volunteered to support Monty’s with building work and gardening work in the local community. All funds raised for Monty’s directly support them to run their valuable community services.

Costa Crociere Foundation

Costa Crociere Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in November 2014, with the aim of spreading and developing the values of the Costa Group through the planning, management, and financing of environmental and social projects of collective interest. To do this, we mobilize all financial and non-financial resources at Costa’s global network’s disposal, generating a multiplier effect. In fact, by uniting the efforts of our partners, public institutions, our guests and colleagues, we achieve much greater tangible results than it would be possible to achieve individually. Our action began with a few projects in Genoa, and has spread throughout Italy and, today, sees us engaged on 4 continents.

Our commitment is to transform happiness into a shared right, accessible to everyone, through social and environmental projects aimed at mitigating inequalities and addressing the issues that threaten our planet and people’s quality of life, by promoting sustainable development.

Costa Crociere Foundation acts in a complementary and synergic manner with Costa’s sustainability strategy, in line with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SGD) of the United Nations; this constitutes an ecosystem capable of creating, multiplying and measuring value and positive impact on places/local areas. An ongoing challenge, to which the Foundation commits all its resources, continuing to invest 100% of its donations received in projects. 

The Projects

Food Assistance – in partnership with Comunità di Sant’Egidio: devoted to the city of Genoa, the project is granting a daily hot meal to people and families in state of poverty, and cold meals to homeless people.

The project, developed together with the Comunità di Sant’Egidio, leverages the involvement of regular Costa ship suppliers and provides direct financial support to prevent fragile people from falling into an ever-deeper state of poverty.

Food poverty is in fact, even more an emergency.

Thus, during 2022, we reinforced our program, which from 2015 have donated more than 940,000 meals to people from 127 different countries, contributing in food donation also supporting Food Parcels, whose increase escalated due to pandemic,  supporting the Ukraine country devasted by the war, and widening our food assistance program, with which we donate food initially intended for Costa ship consuming and next to expiry date to Banco Alimentare and to the Ricibo Association from Genova.

Material Assistance - Costa Crociere Foundation gives new life to stranded assets from Costa ships and offices - that are still usable and in excellent condition - free of charge to the non-profit organizations that request them. This creates a virtuous process in which the useful life cycle of objects is lengthened, and goods are reused for the benefit of communities in need. During the project the most significant donations reached Paris, Haiti, Madagascar, Cameroon, Angola, Central African Republic, Senegal, Sudan and Ukraine. During 2022 the project registered an increase reaching up more than 360.000 objects donated, among those also medical devices, humanoid robots, Technogym facilities, pianos and furniture items.

Guardians of the Coast - is an environmental education and citizen science project (science created and shared by citizens), for the protection of the Italian coast, aimed at students and teachers of third, fourth and fifth grades of secondary schools, and from 2020, also to student and teachers of Primary and Secondary schools.

The project aims to sensitize students - through the adoption of stretches of coast and their monitoring - to the uniqueness and fragility of the natural heritage of the Italian coasts, in addition to raising awareness of the problems deriving from the increase in plastic waste along the coasts, on the beaches and at sea. In the first 6 years of the project 4,376 schools, more than 67,000 students and more than 5,600 teachers actively participated, adopting 1/3 of the Italian coasts and collecting over 125 thousand scientific data-points relating to Mediterranean biodiversity, marine litter, pollution and other environmental indicators.

The results of the citizen science activity of the latest edition of Guardians of the Coast demonstrated a significant enrichment in terms of ecological information related to the coastal environment of Italian beaches.

The data collected with the new survey protocols go beyond simply reporting species or categories. In fact, by collecting data describing the environment, such as the type of backshore, the presence of signs of erosion, and key species that serve as bioindicators, the results are now interpretable from an ecological perspective.

Citizen science thus, gives an unattainable sample size for the individual researcher, a fair reliability of the data, and, at the same time, bringing a considerable number of people closer to science.

Holland America Line

At Holland America Line, giving back to our communities is part of our everyday values and culture. Building on the extraordinary efforts of individual employees within our Holland America Line family, we've developed programs to reach a variety of organizations with aid, donations and service. From employee fundraising to cash and cruise donations to innovative philanthropic programs that invite the participation of our guests, we're working together to make a difference. And it's made our company stronger along the way. 

We are committed to making the world a better place and our higher purpose of opening minds, building connections, and inspiring a shared humanity. Sponsorships of charitable organizations and volunteerism are the cornerstones to giving back to communities where we work, live and sail. Our giving strategy focuses on arts and culture, health and human services, environmental and maritime causes. Our highly popular Reduced Rate Cruise Donation program allows hundreds of nonprofit organizations to purchase cruises at a greatly reduced price for their fundraising efforts. This program gives Holland America Line an opportunity to support the many worthy organizations that do not qualify for a cash donation. 

Each year, Holland America Line hosts shipboard charity luncheons in its homeport cities in the United States and internationally. Throughout the fleet, volunteerism can happen on any given day. Crewmembers donate clothing, books from the crew library, school supplies and other items to benefit local schools and other organizations in the ports that we visit.

Signature Program:

Holland America Line has a long tradition of working with guests to raise money for important causes. Through our signature program, On Deck for a Cause™, guests are invited to participate in a noncompetitive 5k walk on every sailing aboard all Holland America Line ships — nearly 500 sailings each year. The walks raised over $6 million for cancer research and today, the walks include a focus on urgent causes such as Direct Relief’s efforts to provide medicines and supplies to Ukrainians displace by war. 

On Deck for a Cause™ gives Holland America Line the opportunity to partner with leading causes important to our guests and the communities we visit while providing its guests the opportunity to share stories and connect in doing good together.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/our-company/social-responsibility.html

P&O Cruises Australia

P&O Cruises Australia has a proud history of more than 90 years of sailing from Australia to island nations in the region including New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. As Australia’s favourite cruise line, P&O has acted on a pledge to ensure that island communities can share in the economic benefits of cruising. This includes support for communities in the region via a guest-funded initiative, the P&O Pacific Partnership, which has spearheaded a wide range of programs. In recent years we have supported UNICEF Australia in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, through the ‘Saving Lives, Spreading Smiles’ program. This program distributes Kangaroo Care kits to parents, to help save the lives of premature or underweight newborn babies.

There is also a strong community connection in Vanuatu with support for the ProMedical Vanuatu ambulance service where we have donated ambulances and trained paramedics as well as provided maritime safety training and lifejackets to the community of Aneityum. We also support the Vanuatu Women’s Beach Volleyball team who can use their position within the community to provide wellbeing and nutrition advice.

In Papua New Guinea, P&O Cruises proudly supports the conservation of local turtles via the baby turtle protection program.

Signature Program:

The P&O Pacific Partnership is our way of giving back to the Pacific Island communities that have welcomed our ships and guests for so many years. The Partnership has raised around two million dollars since its inception with a one-dollar donation from each adult guest. Initiatives that have been supported range from funding health clinics and kindergartens to supporting families during times of natural disasters.

https://www.pocruises.com.au/about/pacific-partnership

Princess Cruises

Princess Cruises Community Foundation celebrates its 15th year in its mission to touch the lives of the people in the places we travel, the places we are from and the places where we live through a wide range of initiatives, including environmental awareness, education, preservation of natural and historical global landmarks, disaster relief efforts and supporting our global homeport and port of call communities.

Foundation grants are used to raise awareness of the importance of protecting our planet for future generations, provide for the needs of underserved children and families, and aid in disaster relief, among other initiatives. The Foundation’s ability to provide grants is a direct result of the generosity of our guests and teammates, both on board and ashore, and their strong desire to help others. 

Employee engagement is another key element of the Princess Cruises giving program, where employees donate their time and talent in support of our communities. From partnering with Homes 4 Families to build homes for the military and sponsoring LA Pride in support of the LGBTQ+ community to collecting school supplies and holiday toys for the Junior Welfare Society youth empowerment organization and volunteering at the Include Everyone Foundation’s summer camp for children with special needs, Princess and its employees are committed to making our communities a better place to work, live and play.   

In addition, our Community Affairs team regularly donates cruises to non-profit organizations for use in auctions and other fundraising events.

Signature Program:

Princess Cruises Community Foundation supports a variety of charitable causes and organizations, most notably the Fort Lauderdale-based Seafarers House which hosts more than 150,000 crew visits a year – more than any other mariner support organization in North America – providing practical care and spiritual support to crew members from more than 100 countries. Princess was instrumental in the construction of a new 4,200-square-foot facility that offers services such as free Wi-Fi to connect with friends and loved ones back home, wire transfer services, and an international convenience store, as well as access to chaplains who provide spiritual support and host multi-faith religious services. Princess is proud to support Seafarers House’s mission of serving the international seafaring community, improving their quality of life, serving their needs, and telling their story.

Disaster relief efforts are another area of focus for Princess and its employees. In addition to providing financial contributions and donations of food, water and other essential items, Princess Cruises Community Foundation forges relationships with key stakeholders in the Caribbean and has supported a number of on-island initiatives, including funding permanent interactive displays at the Virgin Islands Children’s Museum, and underwriting their Museum for All program providing access to low-income families. 

http://www.princess.com/princess_community_foundation/

Seabourn

Seabourn is committed to being a responsible community partner, and for many staff, giving and volunteering is a way of life. Employee generosity and initiative continue to create positive change in our headquarters community of Seattle, Wash.

Seabourn provides a select number of cruises either in-kind or at a reduced rate to charitable causes throughout the year to support nonprofit fundraisers. 

Signature Program:

During their Northwest Passage itinerary in September, Seabourn Venture team members delivered food donations via Zodiacs to two isolated Canadian ports: Pond Inlet and Cambridge Bay.

Pond Inlet and Cambridge Bay are welcoming, small, Inuit towns that offer our guests an insight into how people survive in the remote and harsh environment of the North. Provisions are understandably hard to come by in these regions. Donations were given to the local food banks of these communities and included items like canned peaches, apricots pears, and tomatoes, tea, 15 kg of decaf ground coffee, dry goods like rice and beans, whole wheat spaghetti, 75 kg of various flours, and sugar.

Community Involvement and Support are a pillar of Seabourn’s sustainability aspirations. We are committed to supporting the well-being of the people in the communities we touch and serve. 

Great job team! This is an inspiring reminder that Seabourn Moments and service excellence extend beyond our guests.