Cruise food options

Posted: Mon, Nov 16 2009, 6:35 pm Post subject: Cruise food options

I have gone on two cruise companies so far with my cute dh, he has a knack for finding good prices so we sneak away.

A. Carnival, it's a bit lower class style. But, the rooms are nice and they give bathrobes to walk around in. They do have kosher foods from Webbermans, but if you call Webbermans they will tell you that they purchase the "cheap" kosher meals, so honestly they are edible but not great. What we loved is that they allowed us to bring our own food on the ship, so we would buy food from a caterer or restaurant or make our own. Triple wrap it and they would store it in their freezer and warm it up for us for a meal. We gave them instructions to not touch the wrapping and we put stickers so that we would know if they fiddled with it. B"H it worked great! Also they let us bring our own bottle of wine, and as many drinks were enough for one person (I.e. if you drink 2 cokes a day and it's a 5 day cruise 10 cans of coke).

Most of the shows were women dressed not very tznius, but there were plenty of other things to do on the cruise. Like mini golf, watching everyone make fools of themselves at various competitions, etc etc. We got plenty of exercise on shabbos thanks to the stairs, and there are plenty of of non-electronic doors for going to different areas of the ship.

B. Royal Caribbean - this is our most recent

They used to only purchase from Webberman's, but I think due to the economy they are now purchasing another company that was disgusting! It was inedible!! No taste, nasty over cooked food.

Webberman's was delicious!! We got a nice soup (lentil, they were out of matza ball), meal (brisket, ribs, chicken, blintzes). Royal carribean used to order the more upmarket Webbermans which included soup, meal and a desert. But if your not so lucky to get webbermans just bring on some cup of soups incase they have the nasty food, but believe me we are complaining!! Half way through they only had the nasty food, and I have to say it was unenjoyable having to eat cup of soup. But the fruit and veggies were ok.

They did have challah rolls, they were ok. They did have a shabbos friday night prayer, honestly was mostly reformed people and it was really uncomfortable but we stuck it out. My husband gave a nice dvar torah, and said kiddush for them and then we shared our kosher challah rolls as the cruise made some sort of braided bread (but the thought was nice) and they gave a free bottle of kosher wine ($36 a bottle). They do not let you bring on your own wine, food or extra drinks. They only allow snacks (I.e. chocolate, chips etc). If you try to bring a bottle of wine, w/out writing for permission, they will confenscate it prior to boarding the ship.

Also, on any of these cruises the toilets are vaccume, so you cannot flush them on shabbos, or so I was told so that was an another adventure all it's own.

But honestly, it was nice to get away, have room service for breakfast (cereal, fruit, coffee, juice). Sleep in, and relax all day long.

Platinum Member Joined: Jun 22 2008 Posts: 6433

sounds nice, thanks for sharing.

Posted: Tue, Nov 17 2009, 12:00 am Post subject:

wow.

Sounds nice.

Platinum Member Joined: Feb 07 2006 Posts: 5709

thank you for posting this information

Posted: Tue, Nov 17 2009, 7:52 pm Post subject: re: Cruise food options

well if you consider this..

Kosher cruises are really expensive.

where as Carnival, you can go on a 5 night cruise for $119 each (some were even $99 each!!). And bring your own food, or eat theirs if you can handle airplane style food for 5 days.

Royal Caribean, 4 day cruise was $225 each. Cannot bring your own food, take a chance.

Prices right now are so cheap on regular cruises, they are desperate to fill ships, it's nice to get away.

Senior Member Joined: Feb 04 2009 Posts: 138

how do you get such great deals? we're always looking at cruise websites and can't figure out how it works. and at the risk of sounding ridiculous: what to you do all day on the ship? sitting by the pool gets boring eventually and the off-shore trips can be quite costly. what about shabbos? and don't forget airline tickets to get to the port city.

Posted: Thu, Nov 19 2009, 1:31 am Post subject: re: Cruise food options

There are ships that leave from local ports where I am, there are ships that leave from New York, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego..

Maybe because I live in LA it's easier for me.

My husband signed up at the carnival site to receive emails from them for discounts.

As for what to do, as I posted above they always have activities on the ship. Bring a book to read if you bore easily. I find it very relaxing, to have nothing to be accountable to or for just to relax.

As for shabbos, like I said a lot of doors are not electronic so you can walk around freely.

One trip we took a cruise from LA up to Vancouver, and it was wonderful. We were even able to eat at a kosher restaurant that was at port.

Just research your trip carefully.

we did have one cruise where we were stuck on the ship for shabbos and it kind of stunk. But it was still relaxing to get away.

Executive Member Joined: Jan 28 2009 Posts: 334

1. Cruises are REALLY relaxing--you can't do anything that you usually feel you MUST do.

2. What to do--if you check online (you can google the name of a place the ship will stop and find "WHAT TO DO IN ! DAY IN ______ (PLACE) or check Tripadvisor for a place. Excursions planned through the cruise line are expensive but I've found great suggestions online and been able to duplicate a lot of the excursions on my own through reliable vendors/taxicabs once we're off the ship. EX: in Barbados, we took a taxi to the old synagogue and cemetery (really interesting and we got the idea by doing a search online for frommers or Fodors and barbados. We then saw a terrific monkey and turtle preserve. On another island, we took a local tour to a volcano and through a rain forest. No swim suits required.

3. About Shabbat services with mostly reform families--you did a major mitzvah. The families cared enough to show up and you served as examples to them and made them feel more connected to klal Yisrael. Yashir koach!!