Our May 23rd call to Haines was special for the small Alaskan village, as we were the very first cruise vessel to visit for the 2012 season! We had a really fun welcome back celebration by way of a community vs. crew showdown! Members from the tourism board arranged locals to meet us in Tlingit Park for a variety of physical activities ranging from tug of war, a bigfoot relay race (where participants wore very large rain boots), “Banana Olympics” which involved several events with the fruit, and a bucket brigade with the passing of water from cup to cup over your shoulder. Everyone had a great time, and we enjoyed the interaction with the community members who came out to show their support for us.
Brandi E. Johnson is Zaandam’s human resources manager.