Jewish Sabbath Services aboard Celebrity Silhouette sailing 5, January 2012

[Fixit2010]

Now I am not the most religious person in fact I am probably near the least, however on the 18th Dec 2011 Solstice sailing, I was taken a back on 2 occasions with just how many of us there were on one ship.

 

Firstly the first night Channuka service not only filled every seat in celebrity central but there were a lot of people standing. If it seats 250 then I would say there were at least 300 in there for the first night service.

 

Secondly someone organized a Champaign reception near the end of the cruise again in celebrity central and again it was a full house.

 

Just goes to show you, if you promise donuts and latkas, we will come.

 

However I did think, there we were, on a ship, in the middle of the Atlantic, 300 Jewish people from around the distant corners world, coming together, to freely practicing a belief, laughing and joking as if everyone already knew each other, was something thing that I was glad to experience and probably unlikely to experience again. I certainly felt a sense of unity those nights.

[May B]

All posters, I must say how much I have appreciated hearing all of your comments. Fixit kind of summed it up. Without ever having met each other before, here we are, chatting away like old friends.

 

CC.com tends to do that -- but there was Fixit on his Solstice cruise, finding the same experience.

 

Btw, Fixit, you're probably not the least religious. That person wouldn't have been enticed by donuts and latkes.

 

Well ... probably not! :)

[curiouscat]

Great to see so many posting... Just an FYI there is a Cruising Jewish thread in the Floataway lounge where we all can share...:)

 

 

CC

[May B]

What's the Floataway Lounge?

[curiouscat]

What's the Floataway Lounge?

 

It's under the Cruise conversations message boards....

 

 

CC

[Fixit2010]

If im not the least then I am fairly low down the list of practicing my beliefs. However even I recognize that even I need an identity and that in this day and age, we need to stand together and its nice when it just happens without motivation too.

[May B]

Some totally disavow their roots. Luckily the rest of us are around so there's still Jewish survival. Yes, Fixit, you included! Thank you for being counted with us.

[May B]

Thx for helping to eat the donuts and latkas!

[KURLYLOX]

I WANT TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO EVERYONE WHO RESPONDED TO MY QUESTION. :)

Celebrity listed the time and place of Friday services in the daily. They had plenty of books, We had a large group and a crew member ran to bring them to us.; however, Kippot were in short supply. We were on a 12 day cruise, 2 sabbath services and we brought extra kippot with us to the next service. Hey, what can I say? I pack everything! Celebrity is a 5 star experience because the crew is actively interested in knowing their passengers..

Again thank you to my fellow cruise critic team for helping with this experience.

[Fixit2010]

was on the solstice over 25 Dec.

There was a Channuka service in celeb central and it was packed with about

300 of us in there.

[May B]

Thanks for stopping by with your reports!

 

A friend reported to me that there was no listing in the daily program on Eclipse for Fri. evenings, which was very strange, I thought.

 

Our Century from Sydney to Auckland had them listed.

 

Btw, if anybody goes to the botanic gardens in Wellington, there's an old cemetery nearby with some very old Jewish graves. Good quick way to learn a bit about the early Jews in NZ.

 

In Sydney, the Jewish museum is the place to learn.

 

Shalom, y'all.

 

--May

[Maya57]

The only time Celebrity holds any religious services is during a religion's special holy days such as Christmas, the High Holy Days and perhaps Easter. They've never "hosted" Sabbath. They don't provide anything but they will allow passengers to do "do it yourself" services by providing a room.

 

This is not quite correct.

Every cruise line and ship I have been on supplied challah, wine and a room for sabbath services. 90% of the time services were conducted by a passenger althou a Rabbie was on board a few time.

[bloom]

Thanks for stopping by with your reports!

 

A friend reported to me that there was no listing in the daily program on Eclipse for Fri. evenings, which was very strange, I thought.

 

Our Century from Sydney to Auckland had them listed.

 

Btw, if anybody goes to the botanic gardens in Wellington, there's an old cemetery nearby with some very old Jewish graves. Good quick way to learn a bit about the early Jews in NZ.

 

In Sydney, the Jewish museum is the place to learn.

 

Shalom, y'all.

 

--May

 

I'll back that up, we have been to both and they are both very interesting the Graves are so well kept and as for the museum in Sydney how well it is laid out on 4 floors.

 

If you are in Athens, check out the Jewish museum well worth a visit.

 

When we were in India Feb 2011 we visited 3 working shuls in Mumbai and met the president of one of the shuls, now that was interesting well worth a cruise to India which took in Kochin and another shul which is some 500years old, and as a by, on the ship we had 2 beautiful Friday Shabbat services, Challah, battery candles, Kippot, kosher wine and sidderum, Thank you Celebrity you never let us down.

 

Shabbat Shalom