Back in April I was all packed up and ready to be one of the first passengers aboard the Fathom Adonia as she sailed into the Dominican Republic for a week of “impact travel”, whatever that meant.\u00a0 Of course, that voyage was not meant to be and lead to a great adventure in Colombia<\/a>.\u00a0 Fast forward to June 5th, when I was finally able to make up for lost time and board the Fathom Adonia.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n April 10th was slated to be the maiden voyage for Fathom, so no one knew quite what to expect.\u00a0 A couple of months later, there had been 4 previous sailings on this exact itinerary and many of the people I had met on the first sailing had been rescheduled to those.\u00a0 I had seen photos inside the beautiful ship and heard first hand stories about the cruise experience, but I still largely did not know what to expect.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is “Impact Travel?”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n What makes Fathom<\/a> different from other cruise lines, specifically on the Dominican route, is it’s focus on impact travel.\u00a0 The idea that you could travel and really connect with the people and the place, and perhaps even leave the community a little better.\u00a0 This is a novel concept, especially on a cruise ship.\u00a0 The typical cruise ship passenger spends their days sipping margaritas at a Senor Frogs<\/a> in any nondescript port in the Caribbean.\u00a0 This is not that kind of vacation.<\/p>\n Fathom does offer more traditional excursions, such as snorkeling or a city tour,\u00a0 for a fee, but the emphasis is on their impact activities, which are mostly offered to guests for free though there are a few that cost around $20 for materials.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Experience on Board<\/strong><\/p>\n I already had high expectations for the staff based on their stellar handling of the cancelled cruise back in April.\u00a0 Everyone was wonderful this time as well.<\/p>\n The boarding process was a breeze.\u00a0 I drove straight from my brother’s college graduation in Savannah<\/a> to Miami to board the boat, in the nick of time.\u00a0 I was able to walk right on with little delay, though that was maybe due to the boat’s capacity.\u00a0 The cruise line is still new and the boat was nowhere near full, which was actually pretty nice, kinda felt like having a ship to myself.<\/p>\n