Spreading Holiday Cheer

As a part of their holiday initiative, the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) held its annual gift giving ceremony at the Freeport Harbour for approximately 200 school children on Grand Bahama Island.  

This year, members of the Norwegian Sky Cruise-line disembarked their ship to spread holiday cheer as children from local primary schools received a free meal provided by the Ministry of Tourism and a special gift that was donated by the association.  

As this event has become one of the most festive occasions of the season, the Ministry of Tourism & Aviation looks forward to the time when staff members can celebrate the joyous moments with so many children.  

Nuvolari Chotoosingh, Manager, Niche Markets, MOTA said, "This is a wonderful event every year that we get together with the FCCA, and we work very closely with them on as far as the cruise element is concerned, and every year they want to give something back to the islands. It's a very nice give back to the kids on the islands and it's important to keep doing it."  

With 95 students in attendance from over five primary schools on the island, children cheered as Santa and Mrs. Clause paid them a special visit to hear their wish for Christmas.  

Those in attendance also had a chance to participate in a game of musical chairs and dance the ring play with many of Santa's elves.  

Captain Stefen Nording, Norwegian Sky Cruise-line, said, "We're here every week more or less, so it’s very important that we also give something to the community, especially around Christmas time."  

Nording added that the best part of the event is seeing the smiles that they are able to put on the children's faces as a lot of planning goes into executing the gift giving ceremony.  

Representatives from schools that were selected to participate in the ceremony were on hand to collect gifts for the students that could not attend due to school closure. The gifts will be distributed to those students at a later date. 

The Ministry of Tourism and Aviation is a proud partner of the FCCA and looks forward to next years' gift giving ceremony during the holiday season.