Cruise #3 – Caribbean 2004

Due to two weddings and two ordinations, our next cruise had to wait until January, 2004… 8 years is just way to long to go without, but family is most important. Although we tried to keep up with our goal of one cruise every two years, it wasn’t possible.

My brother and his wife are both Rabbi’s and live in South Florida, (They are actually In-Laws but in this family, we do not use the term “In-Law”.)

Since it was very close to Hanukkah, the Temple put together an 8 day cruise to the Caribbean on the Carnival Legend, So the cruise was 8 nights as is Hanukkah. For those not up of the story, among other things, there was enough oil to light candles for 1 night but the oil lasted 8 days. I told my brother that during his first sermon he should tell his congregants that in keeping with the Hanukkah spirit, since we are on an 8 night cruise, he asked the Captain to only have enough fuel in the ship for 1 night…

Having a Hanukkah celebration was something Carnival had not really done. Carnival provided an electric Menorah. My brothers congregation printed out prayer books and my brother came prepared with his recipe for latkes (potato pancakes).

On the first night, we all met in the Atrium. There were about 50 congregants but as the service continued, more and more guests arrived and participated. By the final night, every deck overlooking the atrium was packed. After every service, the staff prepared latkes. At the end of the cruise, we provided the copies of the prayer books to Carnival if they wanted to do this every year.

This cruise was my introduction to “The Veranda Life”. No more outside Staterooms. We ended up with three balcony staterooms together. Suzi, Cousin Jerry and I had the middle one. Suzi’s folks were on one side and our brother, sister and their young son on the other side. Once you go balcony, you never go back…

The itinerary was St. Marteen, Barbados and Martinique. We took an excursion we booked through Carnival in St. Marteen that circled the island so we could see the Dutch and French sides. Beautiful.

In Barbados, we took a cab into Bridgetown and walked around a bit. Not too impressed. Really pushy vendors telling me I really must not love my wife unless I bought something my wife didn’t even want…

Martinique… The three of us, Suzi, Jerry and I met up with a family of 4 all looking to hire a tour. We met a very well dressed gentleman with a Mini Van. He spoke fluent English and offered a great price, so we piled in and started the tour. Jerry sat up front with the driver. Both Jerry and the driver spoke several languages, so they began speaking in Spanish, German and French. The rest of us were constantly interrupting them and saying “please speak English…” It was a great tour. He took us all around the island then up into the mountains and back.

As for the ship, the entire congregation had late seating dinner in a Private room. Our servers were a brother and sister team, Eva and I. Super personalities and great service. Suzi generally puts in a standing order and has the same things every night. Steamed veggies, baked potato, soups and sauces to dunk everything in. Eva and I were always on top of things and suggesting things she might like.

So this cruise raised the bar. No more Outside Staterooms (Inside is too claustrophobic anyways) and nothing shorter than 8 days. Here we go!