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Himself is on the Koningsdam

Himself

By Himself,
in Holland America Line

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Himself

Himself

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Greetings my  friends on the Cruise Critic.  I am currently sailing on the Koningsdam.

Some of you who follow Scrapnana's post on Ft. Lauderdale noticed we were a bit late leaving Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday night, We were way late.  The problem was

we were ready to go by 4:15PM but had to wait our turn.  We were hemmed in by a Celebrity ship and she had to move out so we could turn and the Celebrity ship was very late leaving.   We ran into strong head winds and that made the journey  bit tougher.  Consequently we were an hour and a half late arriving at HMC. however, the Captain gave us an extra hour at HMC and then we headed to Grand Turk.  We were docked by a little after 10 and we were not due until 11:00 AM. 

It was a nice warm day in Grand Turk.  It sure beat snow!   Last night we put the clock ahead one Hour and today we backed into Amber Cove.  Ir is sunny and warm and I have not yet left the Ship.

 

We had 55 at Mass Sunday night and 43 at Mass on Monday at five. I figured with us in port until 5:30PM attendance would be light  We had 48 At Mass.  Today we sail at 5:30 and I suspect we will be quite busy at the 5PM Mass.

That is it for now.  I will report in later..

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Petronillus

Petronillus

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3 minutes ago, sunnydrk said:

I love cruising during Lent and having the opportunity to go to mass.   Have a great cruise.  

 

I know that other cruise lines make efforts to bring a priest from ashore for Sunday Mass, but is HAL the only one that routinely makes arrangements for an onboard chaplain? Mass-goers are a relatively small but fiercely loyal demographic imho.

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Vict0riann "Live from...." Rare

Vict0riann

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I keep meaning to ask you, Father,  how much interaction do you have with the Filipino staff on board?  I understood that is the main reason there is a Catholic chaplain on board is because most of them are Catholic, so it's not just for us Catholic passengers, but I know they don't get a lot of free time, and Masses for them are usually late at night?

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sunnydrk

sunnydrk

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10 hours ago, Petronillus said:

 

I know that other cruise lines make efforts to bring a priest from ashore for Sunday Mass, but is HAL the only one that routinely makes arrangements for an onboard chaplain? Mass-goers are a relatively small but fiercely loyal demographic imho.

We have been on Celebrity 2x for Lent and 1x at Christmas, each of those times there has been a priest onboard offering daily mass.  That has not been the case when we cruised during other times of year.  :(
At Christmas there was a minister on board, he offered non-denominational Christian services (not daily though).

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Himself

Himself

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10 hours ago, sunnydrk said:

We have been on Celebrity 2x for Lent and 1x at Christmas, each of those times there has been a priest onboard offering daily mass.  That has not been the case when we cruised during other times of year.  😞
At Christmas there was a minister on board, he offered non-denominational Christian services (not daily though).

Celebrity used to take a priest several years ago but they stopped for some reason.

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Himself

Himself

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21 hours ago, Petronillus said:

 

I know that other cruise lines make efforts to bring a priest from ashore for Sunday Mass, but is HAL the only one that routinely makes arrangements for an onboard chaplain? Mass-goers are a relatively small but fiercely loyal demographic imho.

 

 

On this cruise we had 55 on Sunday, 40 on Monday, foty on Tuesay, 120 on Wednesday  d 38 on Thursday morning. We had about 25 at the Crew Mass at 11:15PM Sunday night.   Not such a small group for the Passengers but fiercely loyal.

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Petronillus

Petronillus

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2 hours ago, Himself said:

 

 

On this cruise we had 55 on Sunday, 40 on Monday, foty on Tuesay, 120 on Wednesday  d 38 on Thursday morning. We had about 25 at the Crew Mass at 11:15PM Sunday night.   Not such a small group for the Passengers but fiercely loyal.

 

May the Lord bring to fulfillment the good work begun in you!

 

On our last two cruises we had Father Eloi (from Puerto Vallarta by way of Prince Edward Island) and Father Tamiru (from Atlanta by way of Ethiopia), both of whom are good and holy shepherds who leave a lasting imprint. I continue to hope that HAL appreciates how much good will it garners from its association with the Apostleship of the Sea. I always give the chaplain a favorable mention in my post-cruise evaluations/satisfaction surveys.

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Himself

Himself

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On ‎2‎/‎27‎/‎2020 at 2:17 PM, Vict0riann said:

I keep meaning to ask you, Father,  how much interaction do you have with the Filipino staff on board?  I understood that is the main reason there is a Catholic chaplain on board is because most of them are Catholic, so it's not just for us Catholic passengers, but I know they don't get a lot of free time, and Masses for them are usually late at night?

A good amount.

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Himself

Himself

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We arrives at the Island of  Bonaire around 7:30 this morning and began docking procedures.  All Aboard was at 7:30 this evening and all were on by 7:15 this evening. We let loose the mooring lines and by 7:35 PM we were on the way to our next port of call.  40 people went to HolyMass this evening.

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Himself

Himself

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Catholics are bound under pain of sin to go to Mass on Sundays an Holy Days of Obligation

 

When I first doing these Chaplancies, HAL took a Minister on cruises of 10 days or longer.  I met some wonderful Ministers in those days.  I was sorry to see those days come to an end..

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rkacruiser

rkacruiser

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On 2/27/2020 at 2:07 PM, Av8rix said:

I've seen interdenominational Christian services scheduled in the When and Where.  And every Friday there is a venue provided with necessary items to conduct the Jewish sabbath service (I'm Jewish so I'm certain about this).

Edited Thursday at 07:08 PM by Av8rix

 

This post is correct.  

 

From my Protestant (Methodist) perspective, the quality of my experience in such interdenominational services depends upon "who" leads the service.  If the Priest aboard leads the service, usually it is worth attending.  If the service depends upon some guest(s) aboard to lead the service, well....

 

Have all Protestant Ministers led worthwhile services?  Yes, some have; there was a gentleman who was on one of my long cruises whose sermons were something that I looked forward to hearing.  There was another on a Christmas/New Year's cruise on the Prinsendam who only offered Communion on each Sunday as well as during the Christmas Midnight Eve Service.  No message whatsoever.  Neither my traveling companion nor I attended after the Christmas Eve "service".  

 

It's disappointing to me--and I suspect to others as well--that at least on our Protestant Holy Days such as Christmas and Easter a well qualified Protestant Minister is aboard my HAL ship when I am cruising at that time.  

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HAL4NOW

HAL4NOW

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7 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

It's disappointing to me--and I suspect to others as well--that at least on our Protestant Holy Days such as Christmas and Easter a well qualified Protestant Minister is aboard my HAL ship when I am cruising at that time.  

One difficulty is that we protestants don't all define "a well qualified Protestant Minister" the same way.

Congregational led services can be hit or miss, but what are you bringing to contribute?

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