A Sense of Community
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 1:49 pm
By Tim Rubacky, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Development
What is more important, more rewarding, more fulfilling or more comforting that a sense of community? As children, we often had that sense from our families. Just knowing that we would all be together at the holidays or that every Sunday we would go to our grandparents for a family dinner gave us a sense of security that everything was OK. Tthere was nothing in the world to truly fear as long as you had your family around you. It was a time of innocence but often born of that innocence is an innate sense of what we will find important as adults.
As we grew, that sense of community attached itself to our circle of friends, our school, our little league teams, tennis club, church or other social affiliations. But if you think about it, what was the essence of that sense of community we began to feel later in life?
For most of us, it was the shared experiences. Lifelong friends from college or the armed services have remained close through the decades simply because, for a period of time, we all experienced the same things at the same time. We could compare our mental notes and view those experiences from the viewpoint of others and because the experiences themselves were the same, it gave us a sense of the human community as well. We saw the same things, felt the same things, ate the same things, laughed at the same things and cried at the same things. And we did it all together. As a surrogate family.
As an adult, some of our closest friendships are born on vacations. How many times have we kept in touch with a fun couple we met while traveling? Sometimes we even plan a vacation together in the future or visit one another’s homes. I suppose some would attribute that feeling of belonging to the fact that vacations spur happy memories and friendships often spring from good times. But I would disagree. I think we all know that friendships also spring from difficult times as well. If that’s the case, then what explains the friendships that develop on vacation?
I think the key is the fact that we are having shared experiences. We are seeing the same things in the same places but through different eyes and, in doing so, we learn so much more about a person than we can from a conversation. We see and feel what we see and feel and then we realize that those around us see and feel that experience from their own unique perspective. Sitting back, comparing notes, talking about the similarities and the differences is such a core emotion that we can immediately bond with those around us.
In my position at the Great American Steamboat Company, people often ask me what makes American river cruising unique. On the surface the answer is obvious. There is nothing like the American Queen afloat today with her countless Victorian details and the history she represents. And then there are the river communities, many of which are not flashy destinations but instead exude down-home truth, honest and, yes, a sense of community. There’s the attentive American service, the amazing cuisine and the entertainment that honors the destinations. But if we really dig deep, all these things are the icing on the cake.
A Mississippi river cruise is a niche experience. If you choose a Great American Steamboat journey, you automatically will have something in common with the other 200 couples on board. And choosing the precise itinerary or theme cruise that you did means you have even more in common. There are already shared interests. But because a river cruise is a more intimate way to see America and the very size of the American Queen, despite being the grandest steamboat ever built, is on a human scale, you will have those shared experiences. You will see and experience your vacation at the same pace as your fellow travelers. We give you many dining options, but ultimately, you will all enjoy some of the same meals and make friends over dinner.
Contrast that with a vacation in Las Vegas or on a modern mega-cruise ship. Vegas is an overwhelming destination. The lights, sounds, architecture and people are eye-popping. But, at the same time, there are so many choices, so many restaurants, casinos, shows and attractions that what you choose to do is unique and not the same as those around you. Everyone arrives and departs a hotel on different days. Sure, you can make friends, but where is that sense of community from shared experiences? As impressive as today’s modern cruise ships are, something has been lost as the sizes increased and the options grew. If there are 17 restaurants, 11 night clubs with entertainment and 4,000 other people on board, what are the odds that you are going to be sharing the same experience as others? It is a wonderful option to create your own vacation as you go along but, I would argue, it is also terribly isolating.
With a river cruise on the American Queen, there are just enough options to keep things interesting. Will you attend the nightly show in the Grand Saloon or perhaps enjoy an after-dinner drink in the mahogany sanctuary of the Mark Twain Gallery or a spirited jazz quartet in the Engine Room Bar? But no matter what you choose, you will run into like-minded couples with frequency and you will easily share the same onboard experiences.
Ashore, you will also build a sense of community with your fellow guests. To foster that sense of community, we bought our own tour busses. We’ve called them “Steamcoaches” and they will follow the American Queen from port to port so that you will have the same tour guides throughout your vacation. There is something comforting and familiar about boarding the same coach the next day with a driver who smiles and knows your name. You can get to know your driver and they can get to know you. And, of course, with just a handful of other guests on each coach, you get to know each of them as well.
Yes, a sense of community is, in my mind, the key to a truly memorable vacation and to developing friendships that, like the memories, will last a lifetime. And you develop that sense of community, that sense of belonging, by sharing the same experience at the same time as those around you. In today’s world with people driving while texting and sitting in restaurants talking on cell phones, we are losing our sense of community and our shared experiences. Maybe it’s a bit old-fashioned to long for the past, but often the past has something to teach us today. And on a river cruise, that shared experience, sense of community and new friendships spur those feelings of security, comfort and belonging we once knew as a child. More than anything, that is what we take with us when we leave the American Queen at the end of the voyage.
They say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. And maybe that’s just the way it should be. From my perspective of the sense of community and lifetime friendships that develop on a river journey, I don’t want to leave behind those new friendships, the warmth, the hospitality or that Southern trait of feeling like you’re part of a family. Those are precisely the reasons why I choose to cruise on America’s rivers.
What is more important, more rewarding, more fulfilling or more comforting that a sense of community? As children, we often had that sense from our families. Just knowing that we would all be together at the holidays or that every Sunday we would go to our grandparents for a family dinner gave us a sense of security that everything was OK. Tthere was nothing in the world to truly fear as long as you had your family around you. It was a time of innocence but often born of that innocence is an innate sense of what we will find important as adults.
As we grew, that sense of community attached itself to our circle of friends, our school, our little league teams, tennis club, church or other social affiliations. But if you think about it, what was the essence of that sense of community we began to feel later in life?
For most of us, it was the shared experiences. Lifelong friends from college or the armed services have remained close through the decades simply because, for a period of time, we all experienced the same things at the same time. We could compare our mental notes and view those experiences from the viewpoint of others and because the experiences themselves were the same, it gave us a sense of the human community as well. We saw the same things, felt the same things, ate the same things, laughed at the same things and cried at the same things. And we did it all together. As a surrogate family.
As an adult, some of our closest friendships are born on vacations. How many times have we kept in touch with a fun couple we met while traveling? Sometimes we even plan a vacation together in the future or visit one another’s homes. I suppose some would attribute that feeling of belonging to the fact that vacations spur happy memories and friendships often spring from good times. But I would disagree. I think we all know that friendships also spring from difficult times as well. If that’s the case, then what explains the friendships that develop on vacation?
I think the key is the fact that we are having shared experiences. We are seeing the same things in the same places but through different eyes and, in doing so, we learn so much more about a person than we can from a conversation. We see and feel what we see and feel and then we realize that those around us see and feel that experience from their own unique perspective. Sitting back, comparing notes, talking about the similarities and the differences is such a core emotion that we can immediately bond with those around us.
In my position at the Great American Steamboat Company, people often ask me what makes American river cruising unique. On the surface the answer is obvious. There is nothing like the American Queen afloat today with her countless Victorian details and the history she represents. And then there are the river communities, many of which are not flashy destinations but instead exude down-home truth, honest and, yes, a sense of community. There’s the attentive American service, the amazing cuisine and the entertainment that honors the destinations. But if we really dig deep, all these things are the icing on the cake.
A Mississippi river cruise is a niche experience. If you choose a Great American Steamboat journey, you automatically will have something in common with the other 200 couples on board. And choosing the precise itinerary or theme cruise that you did means you have even more in common. There are already shared interests. But because a river cruise is a more intimate way to see America and the very size of the American Queen, despite being the grandest steamboat ever built, is on a human scale, you will have those shared experiences. You will see and experience your vacation at the same pace as your fellow travelers. We give you many dining options, but ultimately, you will all enjoy some of the same meals and make friends over dinner.
Contrast that with a vacation in Las Vegas or on a modern mega-cruise ship. Vegas is an overwhelming destination. The lights, sounds, architecture and people are eye-popping. But, at the same time, there are so many choices, so many restaurants, casinos, shows and attractions that what you choose to do is unique and not the same as those around you. Everyone arrives and departs a hotel on different days. Sure, you can make friends, but where is that sense of community from shared experiences? As impressive as today’s modern cruise ships are, something has been lost as the sizes increased and the options grew. If there are 17 restaurants, 11 night clubs with entertainment and 4,000 other people on board, what are the odds that you are going to be sharing the same experience as others? It is a wonderful option to create your own vacation as you go along but, I would argue, it is also terribly isolating.
With a river cruise on the American Queen, there are just enough options to keep things interesting. Will you attend the nightly show in the Grand Saloon or perhaps enjoy an after-dinner drink in the mahogany sanctuary of the Mark Twain Gallery or a spirited jazz quartet in the Engine Room Bar? But no matter what you choose, you will run into like-minded couples with frequency and you will easily share the same onboard experiences.
Ashore, you will also build a sense of community with your fellow guests. To foster that sense of community, we bought our own tour busses. We’ve called them “Steamcoaches” and they will follow the American Queen from port to port so that you will have the same tour guides throughout your vacation. There is something comforting and familiar about boarding the same coach the next day with a driver who smiles and knows your name. You can get to know your driver and they can get to know you. And, of course, with just a handful of other guests on each coach, you get to know each of them as well.
Yes, a sense of community is, in my mind, the key to a truly memorable vacation and to developing friendships that, like the memories, will last a lifetime. And you develop that sense of community, that sense of belonging, by sharing the same experience at the same time as those around you. In today’s world with people driving while texting and sitting in restaurants talking on cell phones, we are losing our sense of community and our shared experiences. Maybe it’s a bit old-fashioned to long for the past, but often the past has something to teach us today. And on a river cruise, that shared experience, sense of community and new friendships spur those feelings of security, comfort and belonging we once knew as a child. More than anything, that is what we take with us when we leave the American Queen at the end of the voyage.
They say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. And maybe that’s just the way it should be. From my perspective of the sense of community and lifetime friendships that develop on a river journey, I don’t want to leave behind those new friendships, the warmth, the hospitality or that Southern trait of feeling like you’re part of a family. Those are precisely the reasons why I choose to cruise on America’s rivers.