On their voyage to the Dominican Republic, Fathom offers shore excursions similar to other cruises, but also hosts activities focused on creating a social impact. Passengers are escorted into local communities for hands-on projects involving education, reforestation, economic opportunities, and sanitary conditions. With their booking, passengers can select about three or so impact options. In picking mine, I weighed over what I wanted to do and how I thought I could be helpful with. Or at least I felt comfortable doing.

Our options were:

• Reforestation and Nursery (Yes)
• Community English Conversation and Learning
• Student English Conversation and Learning (Yes)
• Concrete Floors in Community Homes
• Water Filtration Production
• Recycled Paper and Crafts Entrepreneurship (Yes; I was a last minute signup)
• Cacao and Women’s Chocolate Cooperative (Yes)

Most of what I learned about these excursions happened when our ship was en route from Miami to Puerto Plata. Passengers are divided into section groups where we meet with a Fathom Impact guide to learn more about its mission and the Dominican Republic. There were other info sessions such as a Spanish 101 lesson and guidance on practicing English with students.

On land, Fathom collaborates two nonprofits: IDDI (which focuses on transforming rural and urban communities for the better) and Entrena (whose mission involves education and training.) Their reps joined us for our activities, giving background history, and acting as interpreters when needed.

So, how do it go? Here’s my quick recap.

Reforestation and Nursery
On Tuesday afternoon, after docking in Puerto Plata, my group headed to a tree nursery where mahogany and orange tree seedlings are prepared to go be permanently planted in a hillside forest region. Our IDDI guide gave us insights about how clearing trees for agriculture led to erosion and other resulting environmental impact overtime. On the site ground relating to this project, we worked in various teams handling different tasks. Some of us dug up seedlings from existing trees and transplanted them in a shade house where they will mature a bit before being planted at their new home. At the shade house, we worked in teams to put fertilized soil into bags and then putting seedings in these bags. We found out that the next scheduled excursion would head to the forest areas where these seeds/seedlings would be placed. I worked up a good sweat, got a little dirty, and felt I played a valuable contribution.

Cacao and Women’s Chocolate Cooperative
Two days later, I visited Chocal, a women’s chocolate cooperative in the town of Altamira that provides local women with meaningful work without having to go far from their home and families. We got to meet these employees and were shown step by step of the production process. We learned that nothing goes to waste here, as cocoa nibs are also sold and discarded shells are made into fertilizer. Our work involved tasks such as making chocolate molds and sorting and separating good beans from bad ones. With the latter, I wasn’t sure if I was picking the right ones or the wrong ones – our guide was pretty quick with going through her pile – but hoping that I didn’t make extra work for Chocal. We were mainly given about 20 minutes or so per project, but it seemed our contributions helped lightened their load.

Recycled Paper and Crafts Entrepreneurship
With this excursion, I met the women who work for RePapel, a co-op which recycles discarded office paper and turns it into products such as sheets and greeting cards. These ladies were lovely, greeting us with a lively introduction, and breaking out into singing while we worked. At each station, they showed us to process from A to Z. We saw the salvaged office paper get shredded by hand (literally, these women rip paper apart), and then scraps get mixed with water to form a pulpy solution. The solution goes into a container that gives the paper its base. Once it dries out, it gets flatter. Our assembly line was going quickly, but I got to work on a few sheets. RePapel also produces handmade coasters and jewelry, but our allotted time and my slow hands didn’t get me far on this end. But the enthusiasm of the ladies of RePapel made our experience a fun one.

Student English Conversation and Learning
On our final day in Puerto Plata, my group headed to a grade-level school about 20 minutes or so from our port. Led by Entrena, my group met with students from different grades that appeared to have had previous instruction in English. We begun with a warm-up group session where we introduced ourselves, and then begun our first lesson paired up with about two or three students. I joined two other women in going over letters and numbers with two girls, and, then after a short break, two boys. We referred to our instruction manual to guide us in the lesson, but also adjusted it to fit with maybe a word or number that needed more practice. What really helped was that the students were polite and eager to learn – we even wrote in their school notebooks a mini progress report.

Wrapping Up
Fathom’s impact activities are scheduled during the morning and afternoon daily. However, it’s good to allow yourself some downtime, to rest and see the local area. Overall, I would say that Fathom is off to a good start, but I would suggest some tweaks such as more detailed explanation about the activities and perhaps allotting more time on specific tasks as supposed to doing a mix of everything. As for the ship, the Fathom Adonia features amenities including a library, spa, gym, a buffet area, two restaurants (one with a $25 per person surcharge), wine bar, and a pool/hot tub area.

If you’re interested in taking an upcoming cruise, click here for a savings discount.

Disclosure: I was invited to attend this Fathom excursion and share this discount link. However, this review is entirely of my own opinion.