October 10, 2025
Cebu greeted our Ship with a big warm welcome, despite having just been rocked by a major Earthquake, days before our arrival. The Minister of Tourism arrived with a motorcade and she proceeded to chat with the residents and thank us, for all our support.
Our residents rallied to contribute in a variety of ways i.e. cash donations, volunteer work, prayers and spending lots of dollars in Port, to support the local economy. I went to a local college and volunteered my time, with several other residents, to help with emergency provisions any way we could. Our Ship's Purser was able to procure a truck load of food staples and we were able to sort them into care packages, for the affected families.
Above some photos of our volunteer groups. Some cut tarps and rolled into useable bundles. We packed bags with water, bug repellent, blankets and sanitary products. We chatted with the local college students who organized things in their main building. World Central Kitchen, had volunteers on site to coordinate food efforts. We formed a large human chain to get all the organized supplies off the 2nd floor, down to the waiting trucks. It felt good to help in any way they needed!
Afterwards we went to the Mega Mall near the Port and did some shopping and was so excited to find our favorite dumpling restaurant to have a great dinner. We thought we had said goodbye to DIN TAI FUNG in Taiwan, but Hooray, they have tons of locations!
