Priest on Board

[Sea and Me]

Sorry if this have been posted, haven’t read through the posts. Going on the Grandeur for 12 days out of Baltimore on 1/11/20. We were wondering if there will be a Roman Catholic Priest on board. Anyone know?? 

 

Thanks for your reply. Have a great day.

 

[Clarea]

Not usually. 

 

Only times I've seen priests routinely onboard are during Christmas, Easter, and transatlantic cruises.

[spookwife]

33 minutes ago, Sea and Me said:

Sorry if this have been posted, haven’t read through the posts. Going on the Grandeur for 12 days out of Baltimore on 1/11/20. We were wondering if there will be a Roman Catholic Priest on board. Anyone know?? 

 

Thanks for your reply. Have a great day.

 

only for High Holy days./. MAYBE

 

 and even then its a generic non denominational service.  

[mskaufman]

Was on the Grandeur Christmas week and there was a priest.  However, the indication I got was this is something they do for Christmas and Easter, but not on a regular basis. 

[Ocean Boy]

If there happens to be a priest on the sailing he may have made arrangements with the cruise line to say Mass. RCI does not place priests aboard their ships as a matter of routine.

[Xport]

Best I know, Holland America is the only cruise line that allegedly--I have no first-hand experience--has a priest aboard on every sailing...

[kernow]

Costa used to have a priest for all sailings but haven't sailed them for several years so don't know if it's still the case.

[SailingSal]

On RCCL We have always had priests during Easter break, and at other random times - but last year in May we had a priest for a 12 day sailing on Adventure.  It is hit or miss.  We always look at our sailings to see if we will be in port on Sundays and taxi to a catholic service.  We did a "non-denomination service" once when we were at sea without a priest - turned out to be a video of Joel Osteen and basically a commercial for his ministries! Good Luck!

[RocCruisers]

We were on the Celebrity Infinity last month that had a stop in Nassau on Sunday.  St. Francis has services at 8:30 and 11.  We were too late for the 8:30, but stayed for the 11 and what a welcoming experience!  You could tell who the six people from a cruise were. The music and liturgy was fantastic.  I can't wait to plan another Sunday excursion to a island church. 

[Homosassa]

1 hour ago, Xport said:

Best I know, Holland America is the only cruise line that allegedly--I have no first-hand experience--has a priest aboard on every sailing...

While there is usually a priest on Holland America sailings, it is not the cruise line that provides the priest.

 

The priests are supplied by an independent organization  that also pays the fare.

 

I don't remember the organization. It has been mentioned on the HAL forum by some of the posters that  tout giving donations to the group. 

[sparks1093]

I know a few priests who have cruised and said Mass while onboard. They enjoyed the experience. I'll have to ask them how they signed up.

[Tapi]

4 hours ago, Sea and Me said:

We were wondering if there will be a Roman Catholic Priest on board. Anyone know?? 

As others have mentioned, chances are that there won’t be one, but I do recommend that you look at your itinerary to see if there will be a church with mass services at one of your ports of call. I have used the Mass Times app several times, and it does have listings at international destinations although I don’t know if it will show every place that you’ll be visiting.

 

To follow up on the comment about all Holland America ships having a priest,  this is done not so much for the passengers, but for HAL crew members who are overwhelmingly Filipino and Catholic. But they do offer mass services for passengers multiple times a day, and based on what we saw, they are heavily attended.