Himself Posted February 26, 2020 #1 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Greetings my friends on the Cruise Critic. I am currently sailing on the Koningsdam. Some of you who follow Scrapnana's post on Ft. Lauderdale noticed we were a bit late leaving Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday night, We were way late. The problem was we were ready to go by 4:15PM but had to wait our turn. We were hemmed in by a Celebrity ship and she had to move out so we could turn and the Celebrity ship was very late leaving. We ran into strong head winds and that made the journey bit tougher. Consequently we were an hour and a half late arriving at HMC. however, the Captain gave us an extra hour at HMC and then we headed to Grand Turk. We were docked by a little after 10 and we were not due until 11:00 AM. It was a nice warm day in Grand Turk. It sure beat snow! Last night we put the clock ahead one Hour and today we backed into Amber Cove. Ir is sunny and warm and I have not yet left the Ship. We had 55 at Mass Sunday night and 43 at Mass on Monday at five. I figured with us in port until 5:30PM attendance would be light We had 48 At Mass. Today we sail at 5:30 and I suspect we will be quite busy at the 5PM Mass. That is it for now. I will report in later.. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ger_77 Posted February 26, 2020 #2 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Good to hear from you Father, enjoy the cruise! Smooth Sailing! 🙂🙂🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leerathje Posted February 26, 2020 #3 Share Posted February 26, 2020 I'm sure you will! Father, do you bring ashes with you for today? L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasick Sailor Posted February 26, 2020 #4 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Great showing at Mass! I was going to also ask if you brought the sacred burnt palms with you? Joy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HALrunner Posted February 26, 2020 #5 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Father, how long will you be sailing on the Koningsdam? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare puppycanducruise Posted February 26, 2020 #6 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Thanks for sharing your cruise, I'm looking forward to reading more. Smooth sailing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted February 26, 2020 #7 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Thanks for checking in. I was able to stay with the sail away on Sunday and saw you leave late. It was a busy day with 8 ships and long waits in between for them to leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vict0riann Posted February 26, 2020 #8 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Happy sailing, Father! I'm sure you will have a good turnout for Mass today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seagarsmoker Posted February 26, 2020 #9 Share Posted February 26, 2020 I hope you are having a great cruise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madera1 Posted February 26, 2020 #10 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Enjoy your trip Father. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted February 27, 2020 #11 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Thanks for checking in Father. sounds like you are having a good turn out at Mass 😄 Hope you have a wonderful cruise and time on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doone Posted February 27, 2020 #12 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Enjoy the Koningsdam Father, she’s a beauty.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnydrk Posted February 27, 2020 #13 Share Posted February 27, 2020 I love cruising during Lent and having the opportunity to go to mass. Have a great cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petronillus Posted February 27, 2020 #14 Share Posted February 27, 2020 3 minutes ago, sunnydrk said: I love cruising during Lent and having the opportunity to go to mass. Have a great cruise. I know that other cruise lines make efforts to bring a priest from ashore for Sunday Mass, but is HAL the only one that routinely makes arrangements for an onboard chaplain? Mass-goers are a relatively small but fiercely loyal demographic imho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Himself Posted February 27, 2020 Author #15 Share Posted February 27, 2020 On 2/26/2020 at 9:01 AM, leerathje said: I'm sure you will! Father, do you bring ashes with you for today? L. No,, but I should have done it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vict0riann Posted February 27, 2020 #16 Share Posted February 27, 2020 I keep meaning to ask you, Father, how much interaction do you have with the Filipino staff on board? I understood that is the main reason there is a Catholic chaplain on board is because most of them are Catholic, so it's not just for us Catholic passengers, but I know they don't get a lot of free time, and Masses for them are usually late at night? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnydrk Posted February 28, 2020 #17 Share Posted February 28, 2020 10 hours ago, Petronillus said: I know that other cruise lines make efforts to bring a priest from ashore for Sunday Mass, but is HAL the only one that routinely makes arrangements for an onboard chaplain? Mass-goers are a relatively small but fiercely loyal demographic imho. We have been on Celebrity 2x for Lent and 1x at Christmas, each of those times there has been a priest onboard offering daily mass. That has not been the case when we cruised during other times of year. :( At Christmas there was a minister on board, he offered non-denominational Christian services (not daily though). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Himself Posted February 28, 2020 Author #18 Share Posted February 28, 2020 10 hours ago, sunnydrk said: We have been on Celebrity 2x for Lent and 1x at Christmas, each of those times there has been a priest onboard offering daily mass. That has not been the case when we cruised during other times of year. 😞 At Christmas there was a minister on board, he offered non-denominational Christian services (not daily though). Celebrity used to take a priest several years ago but they stopped for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Himself Posted February 28, 2020 Author #19 Share Posted February 28, 2020 21 hours ago, Petronillus said: I know that other cruise lines make efforts to bring a priest from ashore for Sunday Mass, but is HAL the only one that routinely makes arrangements for an onboard chaplain? Mass-goers are a relatively small but fiercely loyal demographic imho. On this cruise we had 55 on Sunday, 40 on Monday, foty on Tuesay, 120 on Wednesday d 38 on Thursday morning. We had about 25 at the Crew Mass at 11:15PM Sunday night. Not such a small group for the Passengers but fiercely loyal. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petronillus Posted February 28, 2020 #20 Share Posted February 28, 2020 2 hours ago, Himself said: On this cruise we had 55 on Sunday, 40 on Monday, foty on Tuesay, 120 on Wednesday d 38 on Thursday morning. We had about 25 at the Crew Mass at 11:15PM Sunday night. Not such a small group for the Passengers but fiercely loyal. May the Lord bring to fulfillment the good work begun in you! On our last two cruises we had Father Eloi (from Puerto Vallarta by way of Prince Edward Island) and Father Tamiru (from Atlanta by way of Ethiopia), both of whom are good and holy shepherds who leave a lasting imprint. I continue to hope that HAL appreciates how much good will it garners from its association with the Apostleship of the Sea. I always give the chaplain a favorable mention in my post-cruise evaluations/satisfaction surveys. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Himself Posted February 29, 2020 Author #21 Share Posted February 29, 2020 On 2/27/2020 at 2:17 PM, Vict0riann said: I keep meaning to ask you, Father, how much interaction do you have with the Filipino staff on board? I understood that is the main reason there is a Catholic chaplain on board is because most of them are Catholic, so it's not just for us Catholic passengers, but I know they don't get a lot of free time, and Masses for them are usually late at night? A good amount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Himself Posted February 29, 2020 Author #22 Share Posted February 29, 2020 We arrives at the Island of Bonaire around 7:30 this morning and began docking procedures. All Aboard was at 7:30 this evening and all were on by 7:15 this evening. We let loose the mooring lines and by 7:35 PM we were on the way to our next port of call. 40 people went to HolyMass this evening. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Himself Posted February 29, 2020 Author #23 Share Posted February 29, 2020 Catholics are bound under pain of sin to go to Mass on Sundays an Holy Days of Obligation When I first doing these Chaplancies, HAL took a Minister on cruises of 10 days or longer. I met some wonderful Ministers in those days. I was sorry to see those days come to an end.. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkacruiser Posted February 29, 2020 #24 Share Posted February 29, 2020 On 2/27/2020 at 2:07 PM, Av8rix said: I've seen interdenominational Christian services scheduled in the When and Where. And every Friday there is a venue provided with necessary items to conduct the Jewish sabbath service (I'm Jewish so I'm certain about this). Edited Thursday at 07:08 PM by Av8rix This post is correct. From my Protestant (Methodist) perspective, the quality of my experience in such interdenominational services depends upon "who" leads the service. If the Priest aboard leads the service, usually it is worth attending. If the service depends upon some guest(s) aboard to lead the service, well.... Have all Protestant Ministers led worthwhile services? Yes, some have; there was a gentleman who was on one of my long cruises whose sermons were something that I looked forward to hearing. There was another on a Christmas/New Year's cruise on the Prinsendam who only offered Communion on each Sunday as well as during the Christmas Midnight Eve Service. No message whatsoever. Neither my traveling companion nor I attended after the Christmas Eve "service". It's disappointing to me--and I suspect to others as well--that at least on our Protestant Holy Days such as Christmas and Easter a well qualified Protestant Minister is aboard my HAL ship when I am cruising at that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAL4NOW Posted February 29, 2020 #25 Share Posted February 29, 2020 7 minutes ago, rkacruiser said: It's disappointing to me--and I suspect to others as well--that at least on our Protestant Holy Days such as Christmas and Easter a well qualified Protestant Minister is aboard my HAL ship when I am cruising at that time. One difficulty is that we protestants don't all define "a well qualified Protestant Minister" the same way. Congregational led services can be hit or miss, but what are you bringing to contribute? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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