Crystal Cruises food bank volunteers

The Los Angeles–based cruise line Crystal Cruises has announced new voluntourism opportunities for passengers traveling on its fall itineraries in New England, Canada and the Caribbean.

The fall 2011 programs and destinations in which they’re offered are:

- Cradles to Crayons, Sept. 16 and Oct. 8, Boston: Prepare vital winter items, from schoolbags to warm coats and shoes, for homeless and low-income children.

- Romero House, Sept. 30, St. John, New Brunswick: Provide kitchen aid for a housing community that assists less-fortunate locals and resettling refugees.

- Feed Nova Scotia, Oct. 20, Halifax: Help with food bank preparation and distribution.

- Donkey Sanctuary at the Antigua & Barbuda Humane Society, Oct. 31, Antigua: Feed, clean or walk the shelter’s stray donkeys, dogs and cats.

The activities are part of Crystal Cruises’ “You Care, We Care” program, which launched in January and offers volunteer options to passengers for free on all sailings.

“While we always seek unique adventures for our guests, we created this program as a very personal way for Crystal travelers to give back to the many destinations that have given us so much through the years,” says Thomas Mazloum, senior vice president operations. “We’ve already seen incredibly positive ripple effects in peoples’ lives, and we can’t wait to continue our efforts through the year.”

Crystal’s voluntourism efforts in 2011 already have helped orphans, animals and the environment. Current summer-sailings projects include caring for cats and birds at one of the oldest independent animal protection organizations in Norway, and rehabilitating an eco-friendly salmon hatchery and education facility in Alaska.

Photo: Crystal Cruises

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spent their first overseas trip, from June 30 to July 10, 2011, in North America. The enormous interest in all things Will and Kate with 1,300 journalists following them around has brought the destinations they visited a windfall in free publicity.

Kate & Wills

But Will and Kate divided their time between Canada and California, so which “CA tourism” made the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

For starters, the California Travel & Tourism Commission (CTTC) and VisitBritain teamed up to push the royals’ July 8 to 10 stay in Los Angeles as benefiting both California and Britain.

“We consider the Duke and Duchess’s visit a true hallmark, once-in-a-generation event that will benefit the state with a halo effect for years to come,” said Caroline Beteta, CTTC president & CEO. “Their visit also highlights the enduring positive relationship our state has enjoyed with U.K. travelers.”

Karen Clarkson, VisitBritain’s vice president for North America, explained the view from the other side of the pond. “Their popularity in the U.S. helps to keep the spotlight on Britain and showcase all of the exciting reasons why Americans should visit now,” said Clarkson. “The U.K. offers travelers choice, value and unforgettable experiences, rooted in our rich history, heritage, arts, culture and sporting traditions.”

The CTTC also launched a Royal Summer campaign which includes hotel packages inspired by Will and Kate’s visit. In a matching move, VisitBritain is offering “Royal Summer” travel tips on visitbritain.us for inbound U.S. travelers.

But while the CTTC and VisitBritain are busy patting each other on the back, Canada looks to be the destination that ends up with the biggest slice of the royal-tourism pie.

The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) set the ball rolling with a dedicated website and an accredited video crew, editor and two bloggers following Will and Kate around and producing daily “Royal Tour” material for website visitors and the media.

The regional tourism bureaus in Canada, whether by design or luck, ended up with great footage of the royal couple attending their most popular events and destinations.

They arrived in Ottawa on June 30, which happened to be Canada Day. The royal couple joined hundreds of thousands celebrating in the capital with fireworks and a rock concert, and the downtown core around Parliament Hill turned into a huge street party with Ottawa hotels completely sold out.

On July4, they were in Charlottetown for dragon-boat racing on Prince Edward Island. Kathy Hambly, executive director of the greater Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce, said it was fantastic to have Prince Edward Island showcased by the international media—not to mention the fact that images of Will and Kate competing against each other in a dragon-boat race will be useful as promotional material.

Banff National Park came into the limelight when the royal couple made a last-minute decision to spend the night of July 6 at the secluded Skoki Lodge near Lake Louise, which quickly had a $4,800 bathtub specially installed for the royal couple. Travel Alberta CEO Bruce Okabe noted that the lodge got more publicity in one day than it had in the last 50 to 60 years.

Calgary hotels likewise enjoyed a nice bounce July 7 and 8 for the 2011 Calgary Stampede, with iconic pictures of Will and Kate donning white cowboy hats. Tourism Calgary CEO Randy Williams said the 10 gallon hats they wore helped put Calgary on the map.

Alberta’s biggest markets just happen to be the United Kingdom and the United States, where interest in the royal tour of Canada was peaking at the right time when the couple were in Alberta, just before their arrival in Los Angeles. All said and done, it was a very well-timed royal tour, and the concerned destination organizations made the most of it.

Photo – VisitBritain

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On June 15, 2011, riots broke out in downtown Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins. At least 140 people and nine police officers were injured in the riots, and 117 people were arrested during and afterward.

Vancouver Stanley Cup riots

It’s kind of a big deal because Canadians are perceived to be a very nice and polite society which looks down on its brash neighbors south of the border.

So there’s a worry that this riot will change peoples’ perceptions not just about Vancouver, but Canada and Canadians in general.

Jimmy Kimmel hit a raw nerve with a section on his show (see video) where he says “I like angry Canada…It makes me feel less bad about our behavior.”

Kimmel then played a fake Canada tourism ad, which shows video footage of the riot with a narrator saying, “Canada… Where the people aren’t nice anymore.”

On the other hand, there has been an outpouring of emotion and love for Vancouver from the locals, who turned up to clean the streets and scrawl their thoughts and regrets about the riots on downtown storefronts.

This is where Tourism Vancouver comes into the picture, with a new online platform (www.thisisourvancouver.com/) for channeling these emotions and allowing people to share the pictures and videos online.

Vancouver Stanley Cup riots message

“Last Wednesday Vancouver was reeling from a blindside,” said Tourism Vancouver president and CEO Rick Antonson. “Today, Vancouver’s integrity shines again. ‘This Is Our Vancouver.com’ is our way of helping the world know that Vancouver’s greatest asset is its people.”

The site, set up by Tourism Vancouver and its creative agency DDB Canada; plenty of users have posted items and photos directly connected to the riots.

“As a creative agency, our world is about harnessing emotion. We mobilize people around sentiments that hold real meaning for them,”  explains Lance Saunders, executive vice president and managing director of DDB Canada’s Vancouver office. “This is about celebrating Vancouver and restoring its image to where it deserves to be.”

It’s also, clearly, a good opportunity to kick-start a social media aggregation site where citizens and visitors can share their thoughts and media about the “real” Vancouver, on an ongoing basis.

Photos: Elopde; Clayton Perry

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Mother’s Day is just a week away, so there’s been a recent surge of hotel deals hitting the market for the big weekend. The common denominator of 2011 Mother’s Day packages seems to be one three-letter word: spa. Day spas and destination hotels will feature discounts on spa packages, as well as treatments designed specifically for the holiday.

Boca Raton, Florida: Boca Raton Resort & Club is giving moms a 25 percent discount on all spa services at Spa Palazzo, as well as 25 percent off golf greens fees and tennis fees. Room packages start at $219 per night at the resort, $249 at the club.

New York City: The Affinia Dumont, a “wellness-themed” hotel in Midtown, will offer a $250 nightly rate over Mother’s Day weekend in a package that includes a 30-minute express service from Oasis Day Spa, an eco-friendly reusable water bottle and a room customized to guest preferences. (Upgrades for longer spa treatments are available.)

Horseshoe Bay, Texas: The Horseshoe Bay Resort in Texas Hill Country has a special package for mothers-to-be that includes 20 percent off all spa services. It also focuses on mother/daughter activities over the holiday weekend, including a golf clinic, bingo and a ping-pong tournament.

Marco Island, Florida: Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort will feature a “Spa Ritual” package designed for moms at its Balinese-style spa. The deal, starting at $519, includes two nights lodging, breakfast each day in Tropiks restaurant, daily spa membership and choice of one spa treatment per guest. This package is available through September 30, 2011.

Maui, Hawaii: The Grand Wailea Resort on Maui’s south coast will offer a Mother’s Day Champagne Brunch on Sunday, May 8, along with numerous “Mom & Me” activities, such as lei-making demonstrations, beach yoga, a botanical tour and hula lessons. Spa Grande has a special Ohe Bamboo Massage in honor of the day.

Whistler, British Columbia, Canada: Scandinave Spa Whistler, best known for its outdoor eucalyptus steam baths, is offering Mother’s Days deals starting at $169, which includes an hour-long massage, access to the baths and a snack from the “health bistro.”

Photo: Courtesy of Boca Raton Resort & Club

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