In the United States, the Thanksgiving weekend is the symbolic start of the holiday season. This year I am happy to be joining our guests for Thanksgiving dinner onboard AmaSonata while Rudi celebrates the holiday with our AmaCerto guests. I enjoy being onboard this special week sharing in the fun with the many groups of friends and extended families who join us to relax and spend quality time together before the busy Christmas period starts. Creating a homey feel onboard our ships, we celebrate the occasion with a festive Thanksgiving dinner and warm décor which our crew magically transform, in a wink of an eye, into a wonderland of Christmas sparkle.
Thanksgiving signals a time for reconnecting with family and friends and reflecting on all we have to be thankful for. As I’m sure most are aware, the period leading up to this holiday season has been a very difficult time for the communities in California affected by the devastating wildfires. Despite the heroic efforts of our firefighters and first responders, there has been a great loss of lives, homes and businesses.
Our Calabasas office was evacuated and while the flames came incredibly close, thankfully our office building was not damaged and our employees and their families are all safe. I am very proud of our teams who sprang into action and worked together to create two temporary satellite offices from where they were able to continue to provide sales and operational support to our guests and travel partners across the country. We are so grateful for all the kind messages we received from guests and travel partners and deeply appreciated everyone’s patience and understanding during this time.
In the spirit of the season and on behalf of Rudi, Gary and myself, I want to give thanks to all our teams who have displayed such loyalty, professionalism and commitment onboard the ships and in the offices.
We are truly blessed to have you as part of our AmaWaterways Family.