goldstein travel, inc.
Thank You, Royal Caribbean
The Marco Polo in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
several days before the actual de-
parture. They wanted both to ex-
plore the places of interest in that
city and to "check out" the Bel-
mont Hotel — an establishment
certified by the local rabbinate —
which prepares, seals and freezes
kosher meals for South African
Airlines and for the cruise lines
whose vessels depart from Cape
Town.
Promptly at at 5:15 p.m. that
first evening aboard the ship, Mr.
Jacobs, covering his head with
a tallit, led a minyan of a dozen-
or-so men, as well as their wives,
in the first of four Sabbath eve
services. The ship had reserved
a room on the upper deck, print-
ed copies of a basic Orthodox sid-
dur and set up a table with
Sabbath candles, challah (pre-
pared by a kosher bakery in Cape
Town) and bottle of Zandwijk
wine, a kosher product from Stel-
lenbosch, the wonderfully fertile
wine region immediately north
of Cape Town.
The initial service was one of
a number of inspirational gath-
erings — for the Sabbath, for kad-
dish prayers and for shore visits
to places of Jewish interest in the
various ports visited. These ac-
tivities brought together Jews
from all parts of the world, Amer-
icans, English, South African.
The ship's daily bulletin car-
ried announcements of the week-
ly services, for example. The
voyages had not realized how
many Jewish passengers were
aboard; until reading the an-
nouncement,s, they, in turn, had
not known that there would be
Sabbath worship.
Ian Vella, the food-and-bever-
age officer on the Marco Polo, had
ordered something like 600 indi-
vidual platters of kosher food
from the Belmont Hotel, as well
as a supply of plastic plates, glass-
es and cutlery — more than
enough for the four Americans
and for the several English cou-
ples, who began to order kosher
meals when they discovered that
such food was, indeed, available.
The food packages were color-
coded: red for Beef Wellington
dish, green for a baked chicken,
blue for a inatzah ball soup and
so on. They were presented with
a daily menu to remind them, by
name and color, of the wide vari-
ety of soups, entrees and desserts
from which they could choose.
Seated, by choice, at their own
table, the Jacobs and Schreibers
were then served — with the same
panache which prevailed for all
the ship's passengers — their
meals-of-the-day, heated and still
wrapped, ready to be opened by
one or another of the Filipino wait-
ers in attendance on them.
Mr. Jacobs, speaking for the
four, declared the meals "superb,"
as good as they had ever eaten,
far superior to kosher airline food.
The three-score or more par-
ticipants in Rabbi Marvin Tokay-
er's summer cruise aboard the
Marco Polo, "Southeast Asia
Through Jewish Eyes," will en-
joy kosher food at the next high-
er level: Meals will not be
delivered frozen and heated to or-
der but will be cooked on board,
from fresh ingredients to finished
products, under the supervision
of mashgiach and in a specially
kashered section of the ship's
kitchen.
Additionally, the Orient Line
will unseal and set aside pots,
dishes, glasses and silverware for
the exclusive use of observant
passengers. All cutlery, dinner-
ware and other utensils will be
washed with kosher soap in sep-
arate, kashered dishwashers.
For trips ashore, kosher box
lunches will be provided. In Bali,
where passengers will spend an
overnight, vegetarian meals will
be served at the Bum-Bum
Restaurant; its menu is Buddhist
— so strictly vegetarian that all
dairy products, including eggs,
are banned as, in effect, treife.
Cruise dates are July 12-
30.The itinerary: Singapore, Se-
mang (Java), Bali, Kota Kinabalu
(Malaysia), Ho Chi Minh City
(Saigon) and Bangkok; the all-in-
clusive price, $5,545-$6,990. De-
tails on this and other "Jewish
Eyes" tours — Italy, Aug. 28-
Sept. 13; India (for solar eclipse),
Oct. 18-Nov. 2 — are available
from Michael Kong of Lotus
Tours, (212) 267-5414; fax, (212)
608-6007.
for the wonderful time you gave our
72 person group aboard the Sovereign of the Seas!
Pictured above is Regina Goldstein with part
of the group at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
27080 Evergreen Rd.
Lathrup Village, Lathrup Landing Shopping Ctr.
Ph. (810) 559-2770
Fax (810) 559-2784
r y
LtRET dorm.
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