Chanukah - apparently doesn't exist on RCI

I am so disappointed.

We have sailed during Chanukah through the years - on HAL and NCL. In all cases Chanukah was celebrated nightly - with appropriate foods, a menorah and more. I just heard from RCI that there is NO celebration on board the Anthem. Considering all of the money spent on the beautiful Christmas decorations (which we do enjoy) - it would cost very little to recognize our celebration as well. We chose this sailing as a Birthday/Chanukah present and never thought that it would be omitted from the many offerings of this mega ship!

if they cannot get a rabbi, there will be no services. FTR it is becoming more rare to see christian services as well

They didn't have a rabbi for the Shabbat (Sabbath) service earlier this year, and it was lovely. A rabbi was nice to have, but not essential.

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I am so disappointed.

 

We have sailed during Chanukah through the years - on HAL and NCL. In all cases Chanukah was celebrated nightly - with appropriate foods, a menorah and more. I just heard from RCI that there is NO celebration on board the Anthem. Considering all of the money spent on the beautiful Christmas decorations (which we do enjoy) - it would cost very little to recognize our celebration as well. We chose this sailing as a Birthday/Chanukah present and never thought that it would be omitted from the many offerings of this mega ship!

Have not been on Anthem during the holiday season or at all but on other Royal Caribbean ships I have been on they had some type of Chanukah decoration up and they did have a Menorah with nightly lighting.

I am so disappointed.

 

We have sailed during Chanukah through the years - on HAL and NCL. In all cases Chanukah was celebrated nightly - with appropriate foods, a menorah and more. I just heard from RCI that there is NO celebration on board the Anthem. Considering all of the money spent on the beautiful Christmas decorations (which we do enjoy) - it would cost very little to recognize our celebration as well. We chose this sailing as a Birthday/Chanukah present and never thought that it would be omitted from the many offerings of this mega ship!

Not true. We sailed last year on Grandeur, and there was a nightly lighting of the menorah with an appropriate reading (at least I thought it was). It was in the Centrum, along side the Christmas decorations. I thought it was a nice touch.

Regards,

Mike

Not true. We sailed last year on Grandeur, and there was a nightly lighting of the menorah with an appropriate reading (at least I thought it was). It was in the Centrum, along side the Christmas decorations. I thought it was a nice touch.

 

Mike - I wish it were not true - but this is the response that I received today via email:

Please be advised that while Passover is generally held onboard, we do not typically have Chanukah services or celebrations. We apologize for any disappointment this may cause.

Not true. We sailed last year on Grandeur, and there was a nightly lighting of the menorah with an appropriate reading (at least I thought it was). It was in the Centrum, along side the Christmas decorations. I thought it was a nice touch.

 

Mike - I wish it were not true - but this is the response that I received today via email:

 

Please be advised that while Passover is generally held onboard, we do not typically have Chanukah services or celebrations. We apologize for any disappointment this may cause.

 

Generally, take email responses (and phone responses) with a grain of salt. The people at the call center and even at headquarters often don't know what's going on on specific ships.

 

One could also read that email response as saying specifically there are no rabbi led Chanukah services on board. Decorations, lighting the menorah, and doing a reading may not be considered a "service or celebration" but still take place.

There was nightly electric chanukiah lighting (candles are a no no) on Enchantment when we went in 2014, and there were sufganiot. It was held in the Windjammer annex and provided by the ship.

One does not need a rabbi, and there is no service per se. Just light the lights and say the brachot. Maybe sing a song or two. Just like at home.

Worst case scenario, bring your own electric chanukiah and grab some donuts from the buffet.

I would read the response as typically it is not celebrated, so it might be up to the individual ship. I have been on several different ships, and I have come to realize that, aside from the itinerary, I book the ships based on my experiences with the crew. I have heard reports that Anthem's crew is less friendly, and I will see this first hand next year, but I can tell you that Grandeur's has got to be one of the best. It may not be the biggest, newest ship that RCCL has, but I think it is one of the best.

I also agree, that take with you those items so you can celebrate in private if nothing public is offered. Reach out in your roll call as well to see who else might want to celebrate with you. A public display and rabbi would be nice, to be sure, but those things are not required to celebrate the holiday.

I would read the response as typically it is not celebrated, so it might be up to the individual ship. I have been on several different ships, and I have come to realize that, aside from the itinerary, I book the ships based on my experiences with the crew. I have heard reports that Anthem's crew is less friendly, and I will see this first hand next year, but I can tell you that Grandeur's has got to be one of the best. It may not be the biggest, newest ship that RCCL has, but I think it is one of the best.

 

I also agree, that take with you those items so you can celebrate in private if nothing public is offered. Reach out in your roll call as well to see who else might want to celebrate with you. A public display and rabbi would be nice, to be sure, but those things are not required to celebrate the holiday.

We had no problem with any of the crew on Anthem; in fact, two of our best experiences with members of the photography crew was on Anthem, and our waiter on Anthem was probably tied with our waiter on Jewel for our favorite wait staff.

Crew changes happen so frequently it's hard to characterize an entire ship's crew.

 

Generally, take email responses (and phone responses) with a grain of salt. The people at the call center and even at headquarters often don't know what's going on on specific ships.

 

One could also read that email response as saying specifically there are no rabbi led Chanukah services on board. Decorations, lighting the menorah, and doing a reading may not be considered a "service or celebration" but still take place.

 

I would also take the reply to mean there is no Rabbi onboard. I think the Cruise Directors arrange for onboard activities and the calling centers don't know what goes on.

Generally the daily lists religious events as passenger led and where they will be held. They do that for Shabbat and for the other Jewish holidays, so there is an excellent chance they will do that with Chanukah. If that does not happen, There is a community board where you can post (or see if someone else has posted) plans for some way of acknowledging the holiday. There should be no problem at all bringing an electric menorah on board. The traditional foods thing may not pan out though, unless the windjammer suddenly starts serving latkes at dinner ; )

I am surprised as I have had some form of a Jewish holiday service on all ships/lines I have sailed if we were onboard at the appropriate time.

I was on Carnival 2 years ago during Chanukah and every night they we did a lighting. They had an electric menorah and they even gave us wine and latkes. It was run by the assistant cruise director. My only beef with it was 3 of the nights they forgot to put it in the daily newsletter. But it was still nice of them to do.

I can't remember if there were latkes or not, but there was definitely deep fried dough coated in sugar that was served in the meeting place for the lighting.

The frozen hash browns are usually a bit greasy and they also serve donuts at breakfast. Us Jews have been known to make do with what we have available for centuries. :)

I am so disappointed.

 

We have sailed during Chanukah through the years - on HAL and NCL. In all cases Chanukah was celebrated nightly - with appropriate foods, a menorah and more. I just heard from RCI that there is NO celebration on board the Anthem. Considering all of the money spent on the beautiful Christmas decorations (which we do enjoy) - it would cost very little to recognize our celebration as well. We chose this sailing as a Birthday/Chanukah present and never thought that it would be omitted from the many offerings of this mega ship!

We were on the Grandeur the last 2 Decembers and they celebrated Chanukah every night .We will be on there this December as well and I will be very disappointed if they do not celebrate it .

One year we were on a HAL ship and they did not have a service .i spoke to the CD and he said"We do not do Jewish."

I sent a letter to the HAL CEO after the cruise ended and the next time I was on a HAL ship with the same CD it was celebrated.

I was on Anthem two years ago and there was a service every night with a Rabbi and also a Menorah on Deck 5 near the Excursion Desk that was lit every night. I think what others said is true that there would need to be a Rabbi on board wanting to do the service as they did manage to have Chalah, Sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) and wine with the lighting service every night. There were so many that attended that we took over an entire back section of the Windjammer. In fact they had to move us after the first night because there were so many that attended, they needed more room.

I was on Anthem two years ago and there was a service every night with a Rabbi and also a Menorah on Deck 5 near the Excursion Desk that was lit every night. I think what others said is true that there would need to be a Rabbi on board wanting to do the service as they did manage to have Chalah, Sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) and wine with the lighting service every night. There were so many that attended that we took over an entire back section of the Windjammer. In fact they had to move us after the first night because there were so many that attended, they needed more room.

We had services without a Rabbi .We had a Cantor on one and several Yeshiva educated men on others .

We had services without a Rabbi .We had a Cantor on one and several Yeshiva educated men on others .

That is good to know. Maybe what is happening is that there is no official planned services BUT if someone approaches them that they would be interested in conducting one, RCCL would work with them.

I wonder if the cruise lines are having more passengers asking for services in their specific faiths.

It may be that RCCL is just not able to accommodate everyone so has decided to provide for none.

I wonder if the cruise lines are having more passengers asking for services in their specific faiths.

 

It may be that RCCL is just not able to accommodate everyone so has decided to provide for none.

People would boycott if the ships weren't decorated for Christmas. I think RCI is just being a bit tone deaf or cheaping out on its clientele here honestly.

I was on Anthem two years ago and there was a service every night with a Rabbi and also a Menorah on Deck 5 near the Excursion Desk that was lit every night. I think what others said is true that there would need to be a Rabbi on board wanting to do the service as they did manage to have Chalah, Sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) and wine with the lighting service every night. There were so many that attended that we took over an entire back section of the Windjammer. In fact they had to move us after the first night because there were so many that attended, they needed more room.

In my experience, the non-Jews hear that there are latkes and sufganiyot (even if they just know that they are jelly doughnuts) and starting coming after the first night. ;) :D

That is good to know. Maybe what is happening is that there is no official planned services BUT if someone approaches them that they would be interested in conducting one, RCCL would work with them.

Based on what I have observed on various ships and various times of year with celebrations for various faiths, I would say this is the case. Sometimes there is a crew member who arranges things, often there is a priest, minister or rabbi or even layperson sailing who speaks to cruise staff on day one (or emails ahead) and is able to arrange to have space and support for servies (support like appropriate food, etc and being listed in the compass). On our recent TA there were two priests and a minister onboard so there was even an earlier mass with one priest and a later with the other. On that particular cruise I did not notice anything more than a lay led Sabbath service for Jewish cruisers---but anytime we have been on RCL during Passover or Chanukah we've seen daily ceremonies or services or some type offerd. (we've never been on Anthem though)

I wonder if the cruise lines are having more passengers asking for services in their specific faiths.

I think the general response of "if you organise it yourself and don't spoil things for other passengers" would work well; this is basically what they do now.

Imagine if the whole ship had to put up with the celebration of Matariki? Presumably, RCL could make a few dollars off all of those who would need to Google to find out what it is.

My experience is that the only thing RCL arranges is for a priest to be on every sailing, and he is in charge of anyone considered "Christian." He serves daily mass for the Catholics and then offers a Sunday service that is non-denominational. Unfortunately, it is woefully "Bible lite" . On our last sailing, the message was based on the wisdom of Erma Bombeck and Eleanor Roosevelt. Since this was a 22-day cruise, a group of Christians organized a sea day study after attending this service, but the ship was remarkably unhelpful. It seems that they won't accommodate groups unless you make arrangements before the sailing. NCL put out a request early on for an ordained clergy member to officiate on Sundays and that worked out wonderfully well.

Talking to the activities director was like talking to a brick wall. They guaranteed we could have the chapel at a specific time for a Bible study and then guaranteed it to another group (nothing religious about their group- they just wanted a meeting place) at the same time. They would not let us have an unoccupied conference room because we didn't make the arrangements pre-cruise. They also didn't quite see that a priest wasn't quite appropriate for Protestants. Then, they posted a "self-led Bible study" in the chapel at a time that a Chinese/Cantonese Bible Study was going on (for 2 1/2 hours). No one led it. I tried to explain that two former Bible studies in different languages couldn't go on together in the small chapel. They didn't understand that. Go figure.

RCL posted a self led Sabbath in the chapel, but that is all.