Question for Catholic Cruisers

[Texan920]

Originally Posted by TrixieM

We are sailing on the 3/29 Magic cruise from Galveston. I confirmed with DCL that there will be a Catholic Mass on Easter. I didn't ask about daily Mass.

Wow, I'm so glad to hear this, this is one of my concern for not having Mass for Easter Sunday since we are at sea and get to port in Florida on Monday.

Thank you so much for the infomation, I just booked my first DS for March 29 a week ago.(used to booked one when Disney just came to Galveston, I wanted for 18 months for Thanksgiving cruise, however, due to some urgent family matter I have to cancelled that.)

[ImDMous]

We sailed in early May on the Fantasy and there was Mass held on Sunday morning. There was no holiday that week so I assume there just happened to be a priest sailing who volunteered. I guess it's just luck of the draw for non-holiday weeks.

[Meliss32]

I'm quite amazed at reading this thread- Disney sure goes the extra mile!

[betsy918]

I've been on five Disney cruises in the last year, and the only one with mass celebrated was the Christmas cruise on the Wonder.

[ilovetexas]

Originally Posted by Meliss32

I'm quite amazed at reading this thread- Disney sure goes the extra mile!

I'm fairly certain most cruise lines do these things. Celebrity and RCI for sure. I understand that HAL and Cunard have clergy on board all the time, not just holidays. A quick search on Cruise Critic revealed that much and if I keep looking, I guarantee there are more. It is great that these cruise lines respect their passengers faith enough to make services and clergy available!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

[kcashner]

The problem becomes how many and which expressions of faith to provide clergy for. They walk a fine line between recognizing important days and offending those of other persuasions.

[kathie859]

One of my favorite cruise memories is celebrating Mass in one of the cocktail lounges on a Carnival ship several years ago. On the Fantasy this past October, there was no Mass. I also cruised Uniworld last year( on a river cruise in Europe) and there was no Mass.

[ilovetexas]

.

[auntie]

I'm curious, would anyone happen to know if Disney provides a non denominational Christian service for those who observe Ash Wednesday, and Easter but are not of the Catholic faith? (there are us Protestants after all, lol!)

[GusGus77]

If we could afford it, we would just bring a priest with us to ensure Mass! Alas, we can't afford that! (And none of the priests we know would really be able to do that anyway with the shortage at local parishes and such.) Unfortunately you have to assume that Mass will NOT be celebrated when on board (unless you know of priest who will be on your cruise.)

Although I am probably sure this isn't your concern, your obligation to attend Sunday Mass is waived when there is no Mass available to attend. We were fortunate our last cruise left on a Sunday so we were able to attend Mass for embarking. Next time our cruise leaves on a Saturday, so we won't be so fortunate.

It is nice to see people on the Disboards concerned about such things!

[lovetotraveltx]

Our cruise leaves on a Friday. So, before reading this thread I just assumed there would be a Sunday mass. And, it Mother's day! I guess we have to wait and see if we get lucky!

[JulFromMD]

On the 7-day Fantasy cruise we did last May, there was an "Interdenominational Service" on Sunday and Jewish Sabbath on Friday. From what I've heard, that's more the norm than lots of very specific religious services.

[lanejudy]

Originally Posted by auntie

I'm curious, would anyone happen to know if Disney provides a non denominational Christian service for those who observe Ash Wednesday, and Easter but are not of the Catholic faith? (there are us Protestants after all, lol!)

I'm sure they do for Easter, but not sure about Ash Wednesday.

[mdsoccermom]

Originally Posted by Meliss32

I'm quite amazed at reading this thread- Disney sure goes the extra mile!

It's nothing new in the cruise industry. My first cruise was on Home Lines in 1987. My best friend's dad was an ordained minister and was asked to officiate on the Easter cruise and they invited me along.

We sailed on Royal Caribbean over Hanukkah, and the cruise line had a cantor onboard to conduct a service and menorah lighting each night. He told us that he has officiated services on many different lines.

[Bunless]

On HAL they always make sure to have some sort of clergy on all cruises over (I believe) 10 days, although the exact length of cruise might be different. They have a long, long list of retired clergy who cruise free of charge in exchange for their service.

The only reason that I know this is that my dad just applied to the list after he retired this summer.