HANUKKAH on HAL

[LorriSG]

Has anyone sailed on Hanukkah? Does HAL do anything special?

[Bill S]

We were on the Amsterdam last year from Dec 18 to Jan 8 and they was a rabbi on-board to conduct Hebrew services for the holiday. There also were a Catholic priest and a Protestant minister on-board. I hope this helps!

[jhannah]

From the HAL website -- A Sabbath Eve is held each week. Anyone wishing to volunteer to lead this service should contact the Cruise Director. A Rabbi is on board for High Holiday services.

[enjoycruises]

We were cruising on Carnival one Channukah. The Captain had a party for us and served latkes, wine and donuts. He even made the brachas with all of us! His family was in attendence too. We thought this was quite nice of the cruiseline.

[stanjj111]

What are the holiday dates this year?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Hanukkah begins at sundown on December 7 this year.

[enjoycruises]

channukah is early this year while Peasach is going to be late. Hubby's birthday is beg of April and usually we can't do much for his birthday. A real birthday cake is usually out of the question and a Peasach cake is not too pleasing to the palette.:mad:

[LorriSG]

Thanks for the info, all.

We have sailed on Carnival too during the holiday and it was so nice to have the Large Menorah in the atrium, CruiseDirector, and Latkes and Applesauce. I am hoping for a similar celebration on HAL

[sail7seas]

I don't think you will find much celebration of Hanukkah on HAL.

We have been aboard ships at Christmas and at Thanksgiving and the week following when holiday decorations were up. We never noticed Hanukkah decorations among all of the Christmas ones. More often than not, Hannukah is over before Christmas Day and if they were going to put up decorations for that holiday they would have gone up not long after Thanksgiving.

[arzz]

We have sailed Christmas cruises many many times. Often Hannukah overlaps these days. If I recall HAL correctly, and I assume this will vary by ship, the usual Friday night service led by passenger volunteers was there -- as well as a nightly gathering to light candles (which pleased me greatly as I am not excited by the idea of every passenger actually lighting candles each evening because of the fire risk -- we bring a menorah with that does not involve actual fire when the two holidays are concurrent) -- many ships also have an electric menorah that they place in a public location and they change the number of lights each day -- but my HAL memory is not real clear as it was about 7 years ago.

I do remember that on Royal Caribbean we not only had candle lighting and a Friday night service led by a member of the Pursar's staff who was from "down under" which was a delight in its self -- but they fried latkes and other treats which were laid out as a buffet for us on the night of the first candle.

[the2ofus]

When we sailed on the Noordam 12/5 - 19/2001 there was an electric menorah on the desk at the Front Office. There was a rabbi on board. He was with a large party at a table near us in the dining room. The Sabbath service was at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 7 and 14 in the Princess Theater. On Sunday, Dec. 9, Chanukkah - 1st Candlelight was at 7:30 p.m. with the Candlelight held each of the following 7 nights as well. These services were also in the Theater.

I did not find any special Hanukkah food on the menu. There may have been something special at the Services, but we did not attend, so I can't say.

I did not notice any other Hanukkah decorations. There were no Christmas decorations on that cruise either. However, I wonder if there was much attention to decoration by the HM and staff on that particular cruise anyway, as the flower arrangements were all allowed to die and dry up. These were the big ones outside the dining room entrance, etc. Even the one on the Front Office desk dried up, and when I pointed this out to the desk clerk she acted as though she didn't even see it.

We saw them bring fresh flowers on board at one port, Barbados, I think, but the only place they appeared was on the dining room tables. Now that I think of it, the dining room was very nicely decorated for Dutch night, Spanish night and Black and White Ball night.

What a pleasure it has been to pull out the information and relive that Southern Caribbean trip!