Easter on Riviera

[Zesty Italian]

My husband and I will be on our second cruise with Oceania on the Riviera ship.  We will be at sea on Easter and wonder what will be done to celebrate the holiday?  Specifically, if a priest would celebrate mass.  On our last trip 3 years ago, the crew had a prayer service that was very nice, but being a religious holiday, I wondered if more would be offered.  I did search the forum awhile back, and only found answers from 3 years ago.  Was hoping for something from the last year.  At that time, an Episco. priest said mass and a Good Fri. service was held.  Also, a brunch was offered.

 

My second question is about the library.  We visited the lovely library a few times on our first trip, but didn't know how to take the books out.  No one was ever there to ask about checking them out and most cabinets were locked.  It would help to be able to check out some as I wouldn't have to pack so many books for the transatlantic trip.

Thanks for your help.

[sitraveler]

 Can’t help you with a priest, but you take books from the library by taking them. There is no checkout. Honor system plus who would want to take them home. 

[ORV]

If the doors were locked on the cabinets odds are there was some type of elevated virus level going on. 

 

As far as the priest goes I'm pretty sure if there happens to be one onboard they are welcome to hold a service, but I don't think Oceania makes sure there is one onboard for these type religious holidays. Someone that knows better can correct me if I'm wrong. 

 

 

[Paulchili]

In case there is no priest (or a rabbi for Jewish holidays) they will ask for volunteers to conduct the services - usually with success.

I think it’s the spirit of celebrating these holidays that counts.

Truly religious/orthodox people do not travel during major holidays.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Paulchili

[Zesty Italian]

Thank you for your replies.

We didn't realize it was Easter and at sea when we booked.  Thought about not going, but our priest was actually siding with the "it's the spirit that counts" so that was nice.

As for the books, I didn't want to take them without signing if that was needed, and didn't know for how long. The locked doors made us think that wasn't allowed.  Hopefully, we can take advantage of the nice library this time.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Zesty Italian said:

As for the books, I didn't want to take them without signing if that was needed, and didn't know for how long. The locked doors made us think that wasn't allowed.  Hopefully, we can take advantage of the nice library this time.

Was there   noro or other virus going around on your cruise or the one before?

 

I have never found the doors locked  in the library 

We usually go up there  on boarding  to pick up a couple of books for the trip

Are you thinking of  HAL?? They do lock the cabinets

 

[sitraveler]

BTW, the library on Riviera or Marina doesn't compare to the library on the other ships.  Almost the only bad thing there is.

[KatieBelle]

We were also onboard and at sea on Easter Sunday several years ago.  Like your experience we also attended a non-denominational prayer service.  There was nothing offered for a Good Friday service.   

 

Oceania does not make an extra effort for religious observances.  That said, the cruise director will often make some effort to lead or assist others in an informal observance. 

 

If you are sailing on Easter Sunday, I would be almost certain that there will be a beautiful brunch in the GDR.  

 

Katie

[Zesty Italian]

No, there was no noro or viral problem on our cruise.  It was Oceania as it was our first cruise with them. On Norwegian, and other lines, there was a person acting as librarian and we signed books out.  As it was our first Oceania, I didn't know if locked cabinets were the norm and no one was there to ask.  

[Andee]

KatieBelle, I have to disagree about Oceania not making extra effort for religious observance.

On each of our 6 Oceania cruises, every Friday they announced Shabbat services in Currents, provided a room, prayerbooks, wine for Kiddush, and challah for Motzi. I can't think of any more they could have done.

[Jay23]

Zesty Italian.........   If you encounter any difficulty on board, in your case locked library cabinets, go to the reception desk and ask for assistance  It will soon be sorted.......   Never leave the ship feeling in the slightest bit disappointed .....  

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, Jay23 said:

Zesty Italian.........   If you encounter any difficulty on board, in your case locked library cabinets, go to the reception desk and ask for assistance  It will soon be sorted.......   Never leave the ship feeling in the slightest bit disappointed .....  

Agree. They are not usually locked and if they are it is easily solved.

My pet peeve is that there are certain books (travel guides, reference, dictionary, etc) that are to be used in the library only. Some selfish people ignore that and remove the pertinent travel guides for the duration of the cruise into their cabins for private use thus denying others access to them in the library.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Paulchili

[ORV]

3 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Agree. They are not usually locked and if they are it is easily solved.

My pet peeve is that there are certain books (travel guides, reference, dictionary, etc) that are to be used in the library only. Some selfish people ignore that and remove the pertinent travel guides for the duration of the cruise into their cabins for private use thus denying others access to them in the library.

Perhaps the problem on that Paul is that there are no posted instructions in the library, just like the previous poster didn't realize they could just take a book. Some people may be taking the reference books through ignorance.

 

Or is there a notation on the reference books? Something like "Please do not remove from Library!"  Nah, that would be using too much common sense. 

[Zesty Italian]

Oddly enough, Paul, there was one cabinet I found open and it had travel books which wasn't the kind of reading I wanted.  Since there were no instructions, I read one in the library and put it back.  I will know better this time and go to the desk if problems.  I do agree it would be so simple to put up instructions.

 

As for religious observance, I did not see much effort.  I am glad they did better with Jewish tradition.  On Disney and HAL we had mass every time.  I realize that is getting to be a thing of the past, just hoped for a major religious holiday like Easter, there would be one.  Who knows maybe there will be.

 

 

[KatieBelle]

12 hours ago, Andee said:

KatieBelle, I have to disagree about Oceania not making extra effort for religious observance.

On each of our 6 Oceania cruises, every Friday they announced Shabbat services in Currents, provided a room, prayerbooks, wine for Kiddush, and challah for Motzi. I can't think of any more they could have done.

 

Thank you Andee for the correction.  But one question:  Did Oceania provide the prayer books, wine, and challah?  Or were they possibly provided by a Rabbi/passenger?  

 

I am not saying the Oceania is opposed to religious services of any faith.  We just have not seen a lot of proactive pre-planning.  However, it may be that Oceania does so for some Jewish holidays.  

 

Either way, we enjoy traveling and will continue to do so even if the itinerary of choice spans religious holidays.  We will observe them in our own way as best we can.  Anything that Oceania provides is a bonus for us, but it would be appreciated.

 

Katie

 

 

[Andee]

As I said, Oceania provided everything listed every Friday night that we have cruised with them.

Nothing was provided by a Rabbi or other passenger.

With 30 to 50 Jews in attendance, it's easy to get someone to volunteer to lead services.

[Paulchili]

2 hours ago, ORV said:

Perhaps the problem on that Paul is that there are no posted instructions in the library, just like the previous poster didn't realize they could just take a book. Some people may be taking the reference books through ignorance.

 

Or is there a notation on the reference books? Something like "Please do not remove from Library!"  Nah, that would be using too much common sense. 

I never use the library on the O ships - they are beautiful but useless.

It’s been a while since I’ve cruised on an R ship but I thought there used to be a note in the travel guide section about using those books in the library - maybe it’s not there any more or maybe my memory is not there any more 😀

[Mura]

Paul, I haven't taken out books from the library since I got my first Kindle, but my recollection is that yes, indeed, you could take a book with you ... just be sure to return it!  This goes back to Renaissance and early Oceania days, but if I was breaking any rules I wasn't aware of them.  And books in the travel section always disappeared on the first day (unless they were not pertinent to the itinerary in question), so again, I don't think there was ever a problem borrowing books.  The book exchange is another situation since you are expected to "trade".

 

If the library had locked cabinets on Riviera, I'm wondering if indeed there wasn't some sort of cleaning going on.  But if that were the case surely it would have been mentioned in Currents ... wouldn't it?  Now, I can see a passenger missing such an announcement ... but if it wasn't there, it certainly should have been.

 

I've never used the library on the "O" ships because I love the library on the "R" ships so much.  That is my favorite space on the "R' ships.  I can't recall ever seeing locked cabinets there ... then again, I was never on an "R" ship when there was noro (or some other intestinal problem) rampant on the ship.  Those were the days ...

 

Mura

 

P.S.  Just saw the note from the poster above about not removing travel books from the "R" ship library.  I never saw such a notice so that must have been an "improvement" since my first Kindle days.  It was always frustrating not to be able to find a book on upcoming ports when that was what I needed.  Then again, these days with the internet maybe the books are no longer so essential.

[Mura]

Back to the original topic!

 

I remember that when we were on the QE2 they DID have a Christian minister on board -- whether R.C. or Protestant, I don't recall.

 

As to Renaissance and Oceania, I don't think so.  As has been said, they welcome volunteers to lead services.

 

On our first Oceania cruise in early 2003 (or maybe 2004) a proessional cantor was on board and she was happy to lead services.

 

Mura

 

 

[Zesty Italian]

Out of curiosity, why the comments about the O ship libraries being useless, but R ships better?  What's the difference having never been on R ships?

[Paulchili]

22 minutes ago, Mura said:

And books in the travel section always disappeared on the first day (unless they were not pertinent to the itinerary in question), so again, I don't think there was ever a problem borrowing books. 

That's the whole point - that section should have a notice on it saying - "Do not remove these books from the library". Imagine that you are cruising the Greek Isles and there is only one book covering that region. On day one someone removes it to their cabin and returns it on last day of cruise. So only that one single selfish person benefits from that book instead of looking up whatever he/she wanted to know and leave the book there for everyone else to take advantage of.

As far as taking out regular books - I have no problem with that - first come, first served.

[Paulchili]

3 minutes ago, Zesty Italian said:

Out of curiosity, why the comments about the O ship libraries being useless, but R ships better?  What's the difference having never been on R ships?

O ship libraries look very nice but are impractical. Hard to get to the books. poor lighting, little sitting space, difficult navigation from one section to the next, a lot of through traffic in the nearby corridor (with noise). R libraries are very user friendly and inviting - sometimes too much so that people fall asleep there 😊

[Mura]

+1!  It was always frustrating for travel books to be gone on the day of boarding.  A sign should have been there.

 

As for the regular books, no problem as well.  How am I to know that others want to read that book by the cabin stewardess who survived the Titanic and Britannic?

 

My biggest complaint about the library on an "R" ship was that one cruise where a woman came in, took a plush seat and immediately starting snoring ... No one ever work her up and asked her to stop!  Including me ...

 

Mura