Love and kindness is indeed in the air at Hornblower! This past Valentine’s weekend Captain Gaetano Balistreri was recognized for his excellent guest relations on board the whale watching cruise on Adventure Hornblower. While boarding the AM Whale Watch trip one of the guests informed Gaetano that her mother who was wheelchair bound was celebrating her 100th Birthday that day on Feb. 17th. Captain Gaetano escorted them to an accessible area and made sure they were comfortable then went back to boarding. A few minutes later a group of 8- ten- year- old girl scouts boarded the boat and he noticed they were all singing together. After completing the boarding and getting underway Captain Gaetano called the Girl Scouts up to the pilot house and asked them if they would like to sing to a 100-year-old celebrating on board that day? They were all excited and agreed. So they set them up with 2 microphones and let them sing Happy Birthday over the Public address system on board. The Birthday Girl was in tears, she was so happy! Crew reported that these girl scouts could really sing! They sounded like a choir!I was there to witness the disembarking of passengers and the Birthday Girl still had tears in her eyes when she thanked Captain Gaetano as she was disembarking! This was truly Hornblower customer service at its kindest and what an Amazing Experience!

Nominated by Director of Operations, Captain Anthony Sardina