The effort was organized by company president, Robin Tauck, who traveled on the cruise and oversaw the distribution of the materials. "Our Norwalk employees, and our guests from 15 different states really came through," said Tauck, who had notified passengers of the donation effort prior to the cruise's departure. "One of the biggest challenges we faced was getting all of the donations ashore using small zodiacs and outrigger canoes."

Twenty boxes of supplies donated by Tauck employees were collected in Norwalk, and shipped to Orion in advance of the voyage. Items donated by Tauck guests aboard the cruise were brought from the U.S. to the ship in guests' luggage. However, luggage was limited to just 44 pounds per-passenger, due to restrictions on the charter flight to Papua New Guinea. Nonetheless, said Tauck, the guests made their donations a priority. "Some of our guests brought 25 pounds of supplies to be donated. Americans are incredibly caring, and I was deeply touched by our guests' desire to 'give back.'"

Equally touching were the needs of the villagers, and their reaction upon receiving the donations. "The school huts and aid posts we saw were totally barren," said Tauck, "and the response from the tribes-people was incredibly heartwarming. They thanked us with handcrafted gifts and ceremonial dances unique to their villages, but the smiles we saw would have been thanks enough."

Located northeast of Australia, Papua New Guinea has over 600 islands and hundreds of local tribes living as they have for centuries. Donations were provided to villages including Watam, Tufi, Kitava and Panapompom Island. The voyage was one of just two exclusive cruises to Papua New Guinea offered by Tauck this year as part of their "Tauck At Sea" portfolio of small-ship cruises. Over 80 guests and Tauck staff traveled on the 15-day itinerary which began in Cairns, Australia and ended in Rabaul, New Guinea.