Religious Expression on Cruises

[RevNeal]

Ok .... here's a new poll. In what kinds of religious expression do you engage while on a cruise???

[Kami's pal]

I suspect that most of us find that we are moved to prayer by the awesome beauty of the natural world. A regularly scheduled service helps us find a way to express that in community. I do attend an interdenominational service once in a while.

[CruisinMatt]

I enjoy going to mass on Costa Cruise Line, the entire service is in Italian!

NCL did not provide any services on the cruises I was on.

Does HAL do a daily service? :o

[Lois R]

Hi:) looks like the last choice is leading the pack at the moment. I don't participate in any religious activities here at home and have no wish to do so while I am on a cruise either.

[debblue]

yes hal does offer interdominational services as well as jewish services i have attended both and hope they continue with this.

[Sage]

We try to attend Mass each day when offered.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Do not attend services while on vacation.

[BCEagle78]

Every HAL cruise I have been on has included a Catholic priest who offers daily Mass.

[ekerr19]

We do not attend services while on vacation either.

[tomc]

I am in a business (radio news) where life can seem bleak if it were not for my faith. I try to carry this over to vacations.

[Charlie2na]

OH LOOK , a can of worms...... wonder whats inside ! Probably shouldn't go there, but can't resist. Honestly , I for one ,would feel very uncomfortable , and a hypocrite if asked to join in any prayer at the dinner table.

[Stevesan]

Ok .... here's a new poll. In what kinds of religious expression do you engage while on a cruise???

MYOB

 

Oops. That is your business.:)

[trustee55]

Hi!

We go to Mass whenever it is offered on HAL cruises.

Over the years, we have met any number of interesting priests, and on a Meditteranean cruise on the Noordam in 2003, our celebrant was the retired auxilary bishop of Aukland.

We feel it is wonderful that HAL offers this service.

 

Best regards and happy sailing,

 

Carol Ann

[kryos]

Ok .... here's a new poll. In what kinds of religious expression do you engage while on a cruise???

This was a difficult one for me to answer ... based on the poll's responses.

 

When I was on my Rotterdam cruise last March, I didn't get to attend any services ... they always seemed to conflict with sessions of the writer's conference I was onboard to attend. However, on my upcoming cruise I plan to attend whenever they have a service available.

 

I do pray silently not just before meals, but at other times too. I like to think I have a personal relationship with the lord, and because I am particularly prone to doing something sinful around every corner, I like to keep an open line of communication at all times! :) I also pray whenever I am about to do what my dad calls "one of them dumb things" ... parasailing, scuba diving, or whatever other trouble I can get myself into during a short cruise. :)

 

But, the main thing I do ... other than read scripture ... wasn't mentioned in your poll. I have many CD's of "teachings" of the various radio ministeries that I listen to. I spent a good two hours last night going through these and selecting about 30 of them to bring along. Before turning in at night, I like to listen to them ... sometimes in the morning too. Can't imagine a better way to start and end one's day than in the Word.

 

As to praying aloud before meals ... I guess I'm not mature enough in my faith yet to have the courage to be so bold as to do this. I guess I would worry about offending my table mates who may not be prone to want to do this. :(

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Tvisitor]

I voted in your last category, though that may be misleading. My remembrances of God tend to be spontaneous, and inwardly expressed. I might have been wrong to say I don’t engage in any expressions. However, though I read scriptures, and exegesis of scriptures, with great regularity while not on vacation, I don’t take Books with me when I am on vacation, and I felt your other choices implied prayers that are more formal than mine.

[kelmac]

I'm with you Charlie! I've got no problems with Jesus, it's just some of those fan clubs that make me nervous.

[tomc]

I've got no problems with Jesus, it's just some of those fan clubs that make me nervous.

Darn, that's good!

[Tvisitor]

OH LOOK , a can of worms...... wonder whats inside ! Probably shouldn't go there, but can't resist. Honestly , I for one ,would feel very uncomfortable , and a hypocrite if asked to join in any prayer at the dinner table.

I'm with you Charlie! I've got no problems with [God], it's just some of those fan clubs that make me nervous.

You shouldn’t feel like a hypocrite. When the people who think others are going to Hell because of religious differences (or the doctrine and dogma of their particular faith says they are) turn around and ask the same folks they condemn to join in a prayer before a meal, who is the hypocrite?

 

Of course you feel uncomfortable. So do I.

[saltydog28]

I do believe in the power of prayer. And I do feel I would be an empty and shallow person if I did not have my faith. I don't mind sitting at a table where someone says Grace....BUT...I don't want to hold their hand and I don't want to be preached at.

I grew up in a family where, every holiday and during the summer, all my aunts and uncles and other family and non-family members gathered at my grandmother's.

There were three topics that were sure to get hot and heavy and the 'discussions' would last into the wee hours. Religion was one of them. What I learned from this was,

~Everyone has a point of view, and everyone thinks their opinion is the right one.~

Pat.

[RevNeal]

OH LOOK , a can of worms...... wonder whats inside ! Probably shouldn't go there, but can't resist. Honestly , I for one ,would feel very uncomfortable , and a hypocrite if asked to join in any prayer at the dinner table.

 

I didn't intend to post a can of worms. :) I specifically made the questions general to see about people's preferences in the area of religious expression while on a cruise.

 

As I essentially said on a different thread, I think that someone asking others -- whom they don't really know -- to hold hands and pray with them in public can be intrusive into those other people's rights. And, I most certainly would expect someone to be uncomfortable with it ... I am, myself, and I'm a minister! Indeed, it may be because I'm a minister that I'm uncomfortable with it. That is, however, a different issue than the question I asked. :)

[RevNeal]

MYOB

 

Oops. That is your business.

 

Actually, Stevesan, you were correct the first time. You are perfectly free to share what religious expressions, if any, you engage in on a cruise; likewise, you're perfectly free to keep that your own business and refrain from making any remark at all. Indeed, you can vote on the poll without people knowing how you voted. I made SURE that was kept private.

 

I simply posted this poll, and asked the question, in order to give people the freedom to address this issue in a somewhat more neutral environment than a thread in which someone had expressed pain over the loss of a child.

[RevNeal]

I voted in your last category, though that may be misleading. My remembrances of God tend to be spontaneous, and inwardly expressed. I might have been wrong to say I don’t engage in any expressions. However, though I read scriptures, and exegesis of scriptures, with great regularity while not on vacation, I don’t take Books with me when I am on vacation, and I felt your other choices implied prayers that are more formal than mine.

 

I understand. Based upon what you state above, it sounds to me like the option "pray privately in cabin" would be closer to what you intend. My intention for saying "privately in cabin" was not so much to intend WHERE as to provide a contrast with the more public expressions and to highlight that the fact that it is YOUR personal, private expression, and not necessarily some kind of structured service ... though it MIGHT be that, too. I say compline every night, on my own, in my cabin ... which is a structured service. However, I also have found myself saying a silent, private prayer -- all of a sudden -- when inspired by an amazing view while up on the forward observation deck. And, that is very much "in private," even though also public.

 

Sorry for the limited number of choices.

[the2ofus]

On longer cruises I have attended Protestant services on Sunday when they are offered. I usually pray privately in our cabin, just as I do at home. I have also been known to offer silent prayers of thanksgiving for the beauty of this world and for the opportunity to observe it from the deck of a cruise ship as I walk the Lower Promenade deck.

[RevNeal]

I've got no problems with Jesus, it's just some of those fan clubs that make me nervous.

 

LOL ... not to mention some of his Cheerleaders ... eh? :D ;)

[cactuslady]

Does singing "Nearer My God to Thee" count?

 

(Hope I don't have to do that!) ;)