kosher on the gem?

[marsipan]

hi guys, first post here :) we will be on the gem in october, cruising for the first time! when booking, we asked about a kosher menu to our travel agent, and she confirmed the NCL does offer it. i was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with kosher dining? thanks in advance!

[Yankee123]

You have to request a kosher meal with the ship. I forget exactly who but you have to send an e-mail with your reservation number and name to the ship coordinator (I think) and request Kosher meals, and I assume they serve this in the main dining rooms.

 

I tried to do that on the Pearl, and my TA sent me the e-mail of the ship coordinator. I sent them an e-mail and they were more then happy to do it. I backed off only because they had a lot of vegetarian options for us.

 

May be someone else can provide you with better details, I just wanted to provide you hope that I think it can be done.:D

[ZoneHPH]

hi guys, first post here :) we will be on the gem in october, cruising for the first time! when booking, we asked about a kosher menu to our travel agent, and she confirmed the NCL does offer it. i was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with kosher dining? thanks in advance!

 

well if you go to the Floataway Lounge...i believe there is a thread there called Cruising Jewish (or something similar).

 

i can confirm that on my Sky sailing last week, NCL does make accomodations for kosher meals. in fact, there was a very large family of conservative (i won't guess how conservative, but i'm thinking maybe a level below hasidism)...anyway...it was a large family.

 

so yes...they do.

 

 

i think the best approach (unless someone has a better idea) would be to email the group event coordinator for the ship you will be sailing on. groupevent(your ship)@ncl.com

[Giantfan13]

It depends on how Kosher you are. We keep Kosher in and out of our house, but we will eat fish (fillets, of course), and any vegetarian type meals. Some who keep kosher, will not eat anything that is not glatt Kosher. If you order Kosher from the ship, what you get are pre cooked meals in foil or cardboard packaging. We tried tham on a couple of occassions, and to me, they were unfit to eat.

On cruises, it is too hard to explain to others, why we don't eat any meats, so we jsut tell people we are vegetarians.

 

Again, like a previous poster said, if you can eat foods like fish, pastas, salads, vegetarian, then you will be fine on any cruise. Even if you don't like the fish meal of the day, you can always order Salmon.

Eating is a definite part of any cruise, and if you had to eat strictly the Kosher food that may be provided, you might be better off taking a 'Kosher Cruise'. There are a couple of ships that have been made Kosher and everything on them is glatt Kosher. That you would have to google to find out more info.

[marsipan]

thanks so much for the responses!

we're muslim actually, but are allowed to eat kosher meat as well as halal meat. after researching a bit more and hearing how not so great the kosher meals might taste, we think that the vegetarian/seafood options might work out just as well :) hopefully there's a decent amount of selection!

[jp2001]

There usually is a different Vegetarian meal every night and also a fish an/or seafood option so you will get a few options every night. If nothing appeals to you on the menu, the buffet also has some choice of vegetarian meals and a good salad bar.

[tokidoki]

;););) Hi, I am taking my 8th cruise with NCL, and they do kosher the best!. Your TA will order them and the first day, run to the open dining room, confirm your meals and enjoy your lunch. You will pre-order your meals the evening before. The menu changes cruise to cruise and ship to ship. They are glatt-kosher by Weberman, and we love them. I always have a side salad and my husband loves their tomatoes! You can order a variety of meals with each meal, don't be shy, everyone is shoveling the food onto their plates and eating throughout the entire day til the wee hours! ENJOY!!!!!!!!! Any questions, I will answer!

[Yankee123]

thanks so much for the responses!

we're muslim actually, but are allowed to eat kosher meat as well as halal meat. after researching a bit more and hearing how not so great the kosher meals might taste, we think that the vegetarian/seafood options might work out just as well :) hopefully there's a decent amount of selection!

 

We are Muslims also, and there are plenty of sea food, lots of variety and lots of options. Plus you always have the vegetarian options. You will not go hungry.

 

A big plus, is that half the cooks are of Indian decent and there are a lot of Indian vegetable and lentil option in the buffet.

 

My father in law is a strict practicing muslim, and trust me he never goes hungry, always finds more options then he should.;)

[newmexicoNita]

thanks so much for the responses!

we're muslim actually, but are allowed to eat kosher meat as well as halal meat. after researching a bit more and hearing how not so great the kosher meals might taste, we think that the vegetarian/seafood options might work out just as well :) hopefully there's a decent amount of selection!

 

I think you are going to be just fine with the vegetarian dishes and seafood. Yes, the truely Kosher meals will not be the most exciting. ALl cruise lines do their best of accommodate everyone but there is a limit to how much they can do.

 

Nita

[garycarla]

You rec'd some great answers here.

 

I hesitate to add this, because somebody will chastise me for it, but if you want to find more experiences from people that are not currently active here, you can do a search using the term kosher and find additional information.