Ahoy, readers! This is Isabel back with some more insight on one of the Walt Disney Company’s biggest business sectors, the Disney Cruise Line. As Carly beautifully summarized, the Cruise Line is complete with three ships that strive for environmental friendliness. However, what really sets Disney Cruise ships apart from other cruises in terms of fostering corporate citizenship is the Disney community on board each Disney Cruise Ship.

Disney Cruises emphasize creating a memorable experience for their guests, adults and children. But what really strikes me as the best way the cruise gives back to the community is what the Disney Cruise Line Ports of Call program engages in. While each ship is docked at a location and cruise guests engage in excursions, the Disney cast visits local schools, hospitals and care facilities to bring smiles to the faces of children least expecting it! The areas the cast frequently visits are cruise destination within Central Florida, The Bahamas, Caribbean and Mexican Riviera. While visiting these children, the Disney Cast usually organizes an activity, such as reading hour, to spark an educational enthusiasm of children in need. The program stands out to me because of how simple it is, yet a sick child in a hospital who is being visited by Goofy and Donald Duck could gain all the uplifting they need to becoming healthy. It is refreshing to hear that the Cruise Industry at Disney engages in the community it visits, making direct contact with children who need a little bit of happiness.

Additionally, each year the cast and crew members of Disney Cruise Ships engage in a 5K walk on Disney’s Island Castaway Cay to raise money for conservation programs supported by the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund. This event is an extra activity that the cast and crew choose to take part in, usually during their time-off from working. The fact that the island is being used for philanthropy rather than for the sole purpose being for cruise guests makes the creation of the island well worth it.

In terms of how the cruise ships maintain environmental friendliness, when the Island was created, island engineers and the cast and crew of the ships received over 500,000 hours of training to learn how to maintain the health and stability of the ecosystem. That way, the area around the island is not negatively affected or disturbed. The island engages in fuel conservation by converting trans fat-free cooking oil from the kitchens into biodiesel fuel for small vehicles on the island. Even this seemingly small gesture has conserved Disney approximately 8,000 gallons of fuel in 2008! This has also helped maintain a stable ecosystem in the ocean because of how harmful fuel emissions can be to ocean wildlife.

All in all, Disney Cruise Lines are a strong category in the corporate citizenship of the Walt Disney Company. The focus that the cast has on helping children they visit and support with the run really changes the entire focus of Disney Cruises. The Cruises are not solely for the purpose of vacation for its guests, but this business sector makes an effort to give back to the community and to the environment.