Here's some information from an article about it:
"ACCOMPANIED by acting principal Mrs. Christa Thornhill and a small group of teachers, a group of over seventy students from the Christ Church Girls school toured the “Freewinds” cruise liner on Thursday morning.
The tour was the latest of the community outreach initiatives of FirstCaribbean’s “Unsung Heroes” winning finalist, Mr. Randolph Smith. According to this community-minded philanthropist, “the idea [for the student tour] was given to me by former Deputy Chairman of the Port Authority Mr. Victor Roach [since] “Freewinds” was willing to put the vessel at the disposal of local schoolchildren, by providing educational tours.”
Proceeding sedately in pairs, the class three pupils all aged between 9-10 years, at first expressed a mixture of apprehension and excitement at what, for some of them, was their very first visit aboard a ship. The approximately two-and-a-half hour tour was conducted with much interactive hospitality and gusto by Port Captain Ludwig Alpers, who informed that he had been sailing with the “Freewinds” for over 16 years. This year will make 15 years that the vessel has home-ported in Barbados and, according to Anders, “we will be celebrating this occasion in June.”
The fact that he admitted to “loving” his job, especially the student-tour aspect of it, could have been otherwise perceived by the instant rapport established between the Port Captain and his Christ Church girls visitors.
Consequently, somewhere between his “pop-test” quizzing of the students on the nature and workings of the ship, and the rapturously received three-song-presentation by lead singer Heather and the Freewinds Band, all initial fear was lost, as the students sang along to popular hits such as Alicia Keys’ “Falling,” Desiree’s “You Gotta Be” and a reggae-styled version of the John Lennon’s “Imagine”.
At the end of the tour, Acting Principal Mrs. Christa Thornhill was presented by Port Captain Alpers with a framed photo of the “Freewinds” as a momento of the tour.
Built in 1968, the 36-year-old vessel is 440 feet (ft) long by 65 ft wide and with a maximum berthing capacity set at 780 persons. The usual passengers-to-crew ratio was however cited as that of 300 to 220." The Barbados Advocate
Here's a picture of the children:
Here's a picture of the "Freewinds:"
From a Cruise Ship's Schedule 2004
