Holy Week Services Aboard

[DCThunder]

Hi all...

 

I'm booked on the TA cruise of Enchanted Princess to Copenhagen.  We'll be at sea over Holy Week and I'm wondering if Princess makes any effort to have an Easter Service aboard.  If anyone who's cruised over Easter before can enlighten me as to your past experiences on this, I'd appreciate it.  I can always live stream a service in my stateroom but would prefer a live service if available.

 

Thanks.

[skynight]

Princess does not place clergy on board. If there is clergy on board as passengers then those persons may hold an Easter service.

Many times one of the crew holds a non denominational service. You will have to watch the Princess Patter. The activity schedule should be on the medallion app a few weeks before your sailing. So bottom line is nothing is fixed. You will have to watch the activity schedule or and ask once on board.

[rkacruiser]

At one time, there were retired clergy aboard.  The Protestant Minister held a very meaningful Good Friday Service as well as a Sunrise Easter Morning Service that was supposed to be on deck, but had to be moved into a lounge because it was too windy.  Later on Easter morning, both the Protestant Minister and the Catholic Priest held a non-denominational deck on an aft deck with the Captain giving the sermon.  This experience took place on the original Royal Princess, so, it's been awhile ago.  

[cruzsnooze]

With so many denominations it would be prohibitive for any business to have a religious leader hold services. If someone on board wants to lead a service the cruise line will give you a place and time to do independently. They will also supply any needed foods such a wine or Challah which I observed on a Friday night.

[suzyed]

3 hours ago, DCThunder said:

Hi all...

 

I'm booked on the TA cruise of Enchanted Princess to Copenhagen.  We'll be at sea over Holy Week and I'm wondering if Princess makes any effort to have an Easter Service aboard.  If anyone who's cruised over Easter before can enlighten me as to your past experiences on this, I'd appreciate it.  I can always live stream a service in my stateroom but would prefer a live service if available.

 

Thanks.

Years ago there was a Catholic mass on Easter.  It was very nice.  I imagine it depends on what clergy is onboard.

[mtnesterz]

We must assume from what you wrote that you meant Catholic, meaning "in general," or, "of the whole." There is always an unhosted non-denominational Bible study group on Princess cruises.

Specifically a Catholic Priest on board, Princess stopped during Covid. You can resource which lines still have a priest here: http://www.aos-usa.org/

If you want Catholic services on (most) all sailings these days, the only line I know of is HAL.

[WoodstockGirl]

We've had the opportunity to experience several Sundays at sea, and always look for a Christian Sunday service on the schedule. Every time Princess offered a general ("non-denominational") service.

Twice an officer from the crew led songs (traditional Christian) and readings from a written program.  No sermon or teaching, per se, but the readings were good and appropriate. One time a passenger led - it wasn't spontaneous, it was obviously planned to be him - which I wondered how that happened.  He was enthusiastic, but long-winded and a bit too particularly slanted towards his own denomination for a general Christian gathering.  We recently were on the Regal for a Sunday at sea. A "non denominational" service was scheduled. We went - and although there was a crew member there to man the sound board for the microphone and piano music, no one led. It was only after we went back to our room that we realized that although the time was set aside, and support was provided, it was "no host" service. If we'd realized it at the time, we would've offered some little something. It was like mtnesterz mentioned above - like the daily unhosted bible studies offered - instead of what we'd experienced in the past for Sunday service.  Next time we will be more prepared for that to be the case and be prepared to lead general singing and such. Song sheets are always provided. 

Would be interested in hearing back what turns out to be your experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[skynight]

11 hours ago, mtnesterz said:

We must assume from what you wrote that you meant Catholic, meaning "in general," or, "of the whole." There is always an unhosted non-denominational Bible study group on Princess cruises.

Specifically a Catholic Priest on board, Princess stopped during Covid. You can resource which lines still have a priest here: http://www.aos-usa.org/

If you want Catholic services on (most) all sailings these days, the only line I know of is HAL.

Princess stopped placing clergy, catholic priests or other clergy, on board years and years before covid. Probably at least 10 years.

[Roberto256]

Holy Week ... this is the week with the Superbowl, right?

Edited February 7, 2022 by Roberto256

[suzyed]

16 hours ago, mtnesterz said:

We must assume from what you wrote that you meant Catholic, meaning "in general," or, "of the whole." There is always an unhosted non-denominational Bible study group on Princess cruises.

Specifically a Catholic Priest on board, Princess stopped during Covid. You can resource which lines still have a priest here: http://www.aos-usa.org/

If you want Catholic services on (most) all sailings these days, the only line I know of is HAL.

Not sure what you mean when you say "in general"....we had a Catholic mass with a Catholic Priest.....And I said it was a while ago.  
I would say Hit or Miss as far as "what" clergy is on board.

[mtnesterz]

1 hour ago, suzyed said:

Not sure what you mean when you say "in general"....we had a Catholic mass with a Catholic Priest.....And I said it was a while ago.  
I would say Hit or Miss as far as "what" clergy is on board.

The word Catholic derives from the Greek word Katholikos, meaning on the whole, universal, or in general. Nothing implied. Word origins just interest me.

Unlike Skynight, we have seen a Priest onboard within the last 10 years, it was a repositioning TA over an Easter week.  But Princess is not mentioned on the AOS site anymore.

 

[DCThunder]

I was specifically looking for an Episcopal service, but the answers were essentially what I thought they would be.  Fortunately, I can participate in the on-line service from the National Cathedral in Washington.

[Mike45LC]

We have attended non-denominational Christian services for Christmas on two Princess ships.  Neither was led by clergy.  One was officiated by the Cruise Director and the other by a crew member.  Both services were very nice, and both had a choir that was beautiful.  [There are many Filipino crew members, and Filipino culture emphasizes singing.  So whenever you have a lot of Filipinos, you will have some wonderful singers.]  

 

This was separate from, and in addition to, the Christmas caroling that took place.  The caroling was fun, and they had song sheets so we all had the words available.   There are too many carols whose words I don't know as well as I should.

 

Because there was no Catholic clergy, there was no Mass on board on Christmas day.  We attended Mass at a local church at the next port of call.  There were a small number of passengers and a number of crew (the Filipinos are mostly Catholic) attending Mass with us.

 

Princess did far more than simply provide a space for the Christmas services. 

 

For Friday night Jewish services, if someone steps forward, Princess provides a room and some prayer booklets, kippahs (I think), Challah and wine.  No real candles, but electric ones.  A passenger needs to step forward to officiate.

 

I have been on board for Hannukah.  Many years ago, Princess provided an electric menorah and latkes.   A passenger officiated.  Just a couple of years ago, there was a large menorah (electric) in the atrium along with the Christmas decorations, but I do not recall if there was any service.

 

[Tapi]

As others mentioned before, the only cruise line that I know of which still has full time clergy (Catholic priest) onboard is Holland America. They offer daily mass services on most of their sailings (both a Catholic mass and a non denominational service). 
 

On our last cruise aboard the Nieuw Statendam, we actually attended mass as the ship sailed away from Ft Lauderdale. It was definitely a different kind of “sail away party”. 

Edited February 8, 2022 by Tapi

[pipparh63]

On 2/7/2022 at 12:00 PM, DCThunder said:

I was specifically looking for an Episcopal service, but the answers were essentially what I thought they would be.  Fortunately, I can participate in the on-line service from the National Cathedral in Washington.

Hi,

I have been on a few Princess cruises since the Covid break, including one at Xmas, and the Princess Patter lets you know in advance what will be held. In all cases, there was a daily Bible Study (Inter-denominational) and over Xmas, a special Xmas service. As Palm Sunday is so close to the departure, you can check at the customer service desk what will be on offer (I suspect like the above) There'll be time to change or organize more for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. (FYI, I am also Episcopalian)

[Eglesbrech]

On 2/7/2022 at 8:00 PM, DCThunder said:

I was specifically looking for an Episcopal service, but the answers were essentially what I thought they would be.  Fortunately, I can participate in the on-line service from the National Cathedral in Washington.

The folks on the current transatlantic don’t appear to have WiFi, there have been posts on here about it. You may want to check that your trip will have it so that you can actually join services on line.

 

If WiFi is not available at least you have a chance to download some resources in advance of the trip.

 

[Baystate]

We were fortunate enough to have a Catholic priest on board for vacation a few years ago and he held Mass on both Saturday nights, but that was the only time that we experienced that.

[CineGraphic]

On 2/7/2022 at 3:00 PM, DCThunder said:

Fortunately, I can participate in the on-line service from the National Cathedral in Washington.

 

I was the bass-baritone soloist there for several years.

Such a wonderful place.

Every year they make the Christmas Day service available via satellite for free to any network wishing to carry it.