{"id":7271,"date":"2011-03-09T01:11:25","date_gmt":"2011-03-09T09:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/?p=7271"},"modified":"2011-03-09T01:11:25","modified_gmt":"2011-03-09T09:11:25","slug":"cruises-with-kosher-meals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=7271","title":{"rendered":"Making Kosher Food on the High Seas"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you probably surmised by our name, we are not Jewish. However, some of our best friends\u2026.no, that’s just a lame attempt at humor. Our son-in-law is Jewish. We have many friends who are Jewish. So we’re lucky enough to know a little about the religion, the customs and the differences.<\/p>\n

On cruise ships, one of those differences is the food. As in kosher.<\/p>\n

While we don’t eat kosher \u2014 in part because we eat just about anything \u2014 we have great respect for those who do. Obviously the cruise lines do, too, because it seems more of them are offering kosher food as an option, even as an attraction, in part because there are many cruises to the Holy Land.<\/p>\n

Norwegian, often the first to break barriers, has a 7-night Best of the Mediterranean Kosher Cruise on the Epic<\/a> in June, sailing round-trip from Barcelona<\/a>. It’s not cheap. Inside cabins start at $2,600 and balconies at $2,950, and if you think that’s too much you should know there is already a wait list for the balconies. And NCL<\/a> is sailing to the Holy Land for the first time in a decade.<\/p>\n

Most cruises lines offer pre-packaged kosher food, kind of like TV dinners, we’re told. They have to be ordered in advance, and there’s no extra charge. Heat and serve.<\/p>\n

Then there’s Celebrity<\/a>, which is going one step further and offering kosher food \u2014 \"\"<\/a>herb-roasted salmon, BBQ chicken, citrus-glazed tilapia, lox and bagels and more. It’s all Glatt Kosher certified, and made from scratch.<\/p>\n

“That means they have to have two kitchens,” says Aron, our son-in-law, who has never been on a cruise ship. “One for the meat, one for dairy products.”<\/p>\n

There’s an extra charge, which is already bringing criticism, but think about it. Because the foods can’t be mixed, the two kitchens have to be separate from the regular kitchens, and they have to be equipped with two of everything. They also have to be strictly supervised.<\/p>\n

“If you’re going to offer kosher food, you have to make sure it’s kosher,” says Aron.<\/p>\n

The kitchens must be on board, because orders can be placed 24 hours prior to dining, and the process is a specialized service. For anything extraordinary, there is generally a fee, not just on cruise ships but anywhere. The people who want it understand that.<\/p>\n

If they didn’t, the balconies on the Epic likely wouldn’t be sold out three months before the ship leaves Barcelona.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you probably surmised by our name, we are not Jewish. However, some of our best friends\u2026.no, that’s just a lame attempt at humor. Our son-in-law is Jewish. We have many friends who are Jewish. So we’re lucky enough to know a little about the religion, the customs and the differences. On cruise ships, one… Continue reading Making Kosher Food on the High Seas<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,36,19,15],"tags":[71,138,35,231,29,552,126],"class_list":["post-7271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","category-reviews","category-ships","category-stories","tag-celebrity","tag-celebrity-cruises","tag-cruises","tag-dining-on-ships","tag-epic","tag-kosher-food","tag-norwegian","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}