It was a little painful bending over to tie my shoes this Monday morning. It’s all good, though. I was just sore from playing pond hockey two days in a row, three to four hours per day, with my two young boys. Ponds don’t often freeze over thoroughly in the Washington, DC area, and last year when our pond did, it was ‘un-skateable’ with three to five feet of snow on it. This weekend it was skateable and we jumped on the opportunity, bringing out the old ice skates and hockey sticks.
Does the Holiday Season stress you out and leave you feeling beyond exhausted when it’s all over? Well, a few lucky Cruise Web employees were able to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and set sail on a cruise vacation. While the rest of the office was tired and cold from the holiday, these employees came back relaxed and well-rested. They were able to share the joys of traveling during the Holiday Season. I wouldn’t be surprised if next year a few more employees escape during the holidays for some rest and relaxation!
The Cruise Web employees have decided to share with you some of our New Year’s Resolutions for 2011. We all hope to keep them and will encourage each other to achieve our goals throughout the year ahead! We would love for you to share your resolutions for 2011 so we can encourage you to achieve yours too!
While the holidays are a good time to count our blessings and reflect on the past year, it’s important to remember those that may not have been so fortunate. Keeping that in mind this holiday season, The Cruise Web decided to reach out to Bright Beginnings, a local child development center in Washington, DC, and offer a little holiday spirit. After establishing a company goal for donations, it was exciting to watch our company pull together for a better cause. Altogether, our employee donations, which were matched by The Cruise Web, exceeded our original goal! We used the donations to buy clothing, toys, shoes, diapers, and other much-needed items for Bright Beginnings, their children and families.
My sweet, tiny, late Swedish grandmother, Svea, was the most giving person that I’ve ever known. “Mormor” (translated “Mother’s-mother”), as my siblings, cousin and I called her, grew up in the small southern Swedish seafaring village of Brantevik. There, she found her love, my “Morfar” (“Mother’s-father”), Lennart Larsson, a marine painter and artist, before marrying and moving to the bigger cities of Eslöv and then Malmö, where they raised two beautiful daughters, Lena Ingegerd and Ann-Marie. When the girls reached teenage years and Svea had extra time, Svea leveraged her studies in child-care to begin caring for neighborhood children from her home.
“Tant Svea” (“Aunt Svea”), as all the neighborhood children called her, was everyone’s favorite. She always had little snacks in her coat pockets for every smiling face, and no tiny neighbor could pass by her kitchen window without being invited in for a cookie and some hot cocoa. Svea was always kind and sweet, taking joy in the happiness of every child, and feeling any child’s hurt as if it were her own. When discipline was required, Svea had to force herself to try to seem sterner – yet she always betrayed her efforts with soft caring eyes that just couldn’t play along.
November and December tend to represent for many a time to give thanks and to celebrate varied religious and cultural rituals. However, for me, it is not only a time of celebration, but also a time of reflection.
I began to think about how much I as an individual and we as a company offer up ourselves for the good of others. I thought about some of my colleagues who do great work outside of The Cruise Web. Colleagues who give up a few weekends a year to serve our country, those who spend nights at local firehouses doubling as volunteer EMTs, those who take time after work to coach our children, feed the hungry and care for older citizens.
A handful of Cruise Web employees recently returned from the inaugural cruise of the brand new Celebrity Eclipse. The inaugural, which sailed out of Miami, provided an opportunity for employees to experience the ship before the general public. The following employees were nice enough to share their impressions:
Several lucky Cruise Web employees recently experienced the brand new Allure of the Seas during the ship’s inaugural out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Upon their return, we asked them to share their impressions of the new ship with highlights from their cruises:
