Kosher Cruiser

Choosing the correct departure port is one of the most important aspect of your cruise. It could be even more important than choosing your cruise line, cabin, and itinerary. Getting to your port Where your departure port is and how you get there can affect your cruise and budget more than you might realize. If you need to fly to your port, you will have the added expenses of the airfare, parking and taxis. There will parking fees at a port you drive to as well, and potentially a large gas bill. Check the rates of both the airport and cruise terminal parking when budgeting, and do you best to estimate the rest. If you choose to fly, I highly recommend always flying in the night before your cruise rather than the morning of, even though this adds the expense of a hotel to your trip. If the last time to board the ship is 3pm, you want to get there no later than 2pm. Taking into account potential travel delays and traffic getting from the airport to the cruise terminal, you...

Both embarking and disembarking are nearly impossible to do on Shabbos, if not outright impossible. For obvious reason you cannot embark on a cruise on Shabbos. You would have too much difficulty with getting to the port, carrying your luggage to a port, giving a credit card to the cruise line (for your on board account), etc. There just is no feasible way to make that work. For these same reasons, its just not practical to have your final day of the cruise be a Saturday either. In addition, Chazal ruled that you may not leave on a journey by sea within 3 days of Shabbos. Therefore, if you cruise goes over Shabbos it is best to look for a cruise with leaves your original destination Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Cruise ships do not allow you to get off in port without your cruise card and some form of ID. If you are at the cruise lines private island, however you only need your cruise card. Your card and documentation create problems, as most ports will not be within an eruv...