Mass on a Cruise Ship

[Padres1969]

Has anyone else ever had the opportunity to attend mass on a ship or cruise ship? I just completed a cruise on Holland America and they offered daily mass during the week and both a Sunday night and Saturday Vigil mass. They apparently bring on priests from a ministry at sea called Apostleship of the Sea free of charge (though the priest has to pay his own way to the ship).

I attended the Vigil Service out of curiosity and it was quite nice, and more well attended then I would have expected. It was a little odd out of necessity, such as the candles being those little battery powered tea lights, the Nicene Creed was left out, and the crucifix also being an anchor. That and the priest was required to wear a plastic glove while handling the host (the blood was a complete no-no) due to a norovirus concern. In fact the priest made a point to express his happiness he was able to distribute communion at all since he’d been forbidden to do so during the week.

The priest was also very keen to ask for our support in expressing to Holland America appreciation for maintaining chaplains on board. They’re apparently the last major cruise line (or at least US owned line), the still has chaplains after Cunard dropped chaplains last year for more casino staff (and by extension HAL is the last line offering any kind of regular religious services (they also have a non-denominational service on Sunday as well).

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

Has anyone else ever had the opportunity to attend mass on a ship or cruise ship? I just completed a cruise on Holland America and they offered daily mass during the week and both a Sunday night and Saturday Vigil mass. They apparently bring on priests from a ministry at sea called Apostleship of the Sea free of charge (though the priest has to pay his own way to the ship).

I attended the Vigil Service out of curiosity and it was quite nice, and more well attended then I would have expected. It was a little odd out of necessity, such as the candles being those little battery powered tea lights, the Nicene Creed was left out, and the crucifix also being an anchor. That and the priest was required to wear a plastic glove while handling the host (the blood was a complete no-no) due to a norovirus concern. In fact the priest made a point to express his happiness he was able to distribute communion at all since he’d been forbidden to do so during the week.

The priest was also very keen to ask for our support in expressing to Holland America appreciation for maintaining chaplains on board. They’re apparently the last major cruise line (or at least US owned line), the still has chaplains after Cunard dropped chaplains last year for more casino staff (and by extension HAL is the last line offering any kind of regular religious services (they also have a non-denominational service on Sunday as well).

Been on Holland a number of times, Masses were nice, sometimes well attended, sometimes not. My understanding has been that the priests are there because of contractual obligation to provide religious services to the Filipino crew, with the passanger component being a by-product of that. Always get a kick out of the battery-operated candles.

 

[Padres1969]

Been on Holland a number of times, Masses were nice, sometimes well attended, sometimes not. My understanding has been that the priests are there because of contractual obligation to provide religious services to the Filipino crew, with the passanger component being a by-product of that. Always get a kick out of the battery-operated candles.

I believe they only hold one mass during the week for the crew. And our crew was mostly Indonesian, so I doubt the priest was there for their benefit.

 

[Catholic1954]

I haven’t been to Mass on a cruise ship, but we had a retired priest in residence several years ago who used to celebrate Mass for one of the cruise lines. I think it was on a rotation schedule and he either got the trip for free or at a nice discount. It was his fun job!

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

I believe they only hold one mass during the week for the crew. And our crew was mostly Indonesian, so I doubt the priest was there for their benefit.

I was told of the crew contract by two different priests. Perhaps more of the Fillipino crew are behind the scenes. As Muslims don’t handle alcohol our experience has been that the bar and much of the waitstaff are Fillipino, although the mix might vary by Holland ship. Since Cunard is also owned by Carnival Corporation - which also owns Holland America, Carnival Cruise Lines, and several others - and with Cunard apparently having dropped priests except at Easter / Christmas - perhaps the fuse is burning on Holland also. They have certainly economized in other areas since we started sailing with them. Hope they keep the priests.

 

[Padres1969]

I was told of the crew contract by two different priests. Perhaps more of the Fillipino crew are behind the scenes. As Muslims don’t handle alcohol our experience has been that the bar and much of the waitstaff are Fillipino, although the mix might vary by Holland ship. Since Cunard is also owned by Carnival Corporation - which also owns Holland America, Carnival Cruise Lines, and several others - and with Cunard apparently having dropped priests except at Easter / Christmas - perhaps the fuse is burning on Holland also. They have certainly economized in other areas since we started sailing with them. Hope they keep the priests.

Yeah I think it would behoove anyone who cruises, or that likes the idea of a ship having a chaplain on board, to contact Holland America and make it known you appreciate that they still have them. The priest did imply that it’s not something they’ll be keeping without support from the public seeing as every other line has done away with them.

 

[ProVobis]

Yeah I think it would behoove anyone who cruises, or that likes the idea of a ship having a chaplain on board, to contact Holland America and make it known you appreciate that they still have them. The priest did imply that it’s not something they’ll be keeping without support from the public seeing as every other line has done away with them.

I was going to say perhaps contact a bishop but in whose diocese would a cruising ship be in?

 

[Chatter163]

Why was the priest forbidden to distrubute communion during the week? Where does the priest have faculties?

 

[Padres1969]

Why was the priest forbidden to distrubute communion during the week? Where does the priest have faculties?

The ship had just suffered a norovirus outbreak the cruise before ours. Hygiene and Sanitation were very strict on our cruise. You had to wash your hands with special hand washers to enter the buffet. Everyone had to use Purell before entering the restaurants. Only certain members of the crew with gloves on were allowed to handle any consumables before you got them (ie: it wasn’t a true open buffet).

They didn’t want the priest distributing the host for the same reason as he wasn’t a crew member strictly speaking and the host is a consumable. He appealed to them however during the week and was finally allowed to distribute during the Vigil on Saturday as long as he wore the food service glove on his distributing hand (since frankly is whole trip would have been somewhat pointless otherwise).

Made for an interesting service actually as he had to pause the mass momentarily to put the glove on after the blessing of the gifts (and it didn’t go on easily). But it added a little levity to the mass which if I’m honest was a little strange all around anyway. Since there’s no place to kneel, the Nicene Creed was forgotten, there were clearly a bunch of Catholics who hadn’t been in a long time since the predominant response to “Peace be with you” was “And also with you”, and of course since there’s no tabernacle the poor priest had to eat any hosts that weren’t consumed by people in the congregation who didn’t go up for communion (of which there were quite a few despite him counting out the number of people in the assembly before hand (except me as I waved him off since I knew I wasn’t going to be receiving for obvious reasons).

That said despite it’s oddities, it was still a nice service for the line to provide, and the priest did his best to make it a reverent but also festive occasion seeing as it was the Epiphany.

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

I was going to say perhaps contact a bishop but in whose diocese would a cruising ship be in?

“Cruise ship priests” are generally registered to, and screened / accredited by an organization called “Apostleship of the Sea.” It’s got a website. I believe it operates under the auspices of a specific bishop, but not sure who/where.

 

[Padres1969]

How big was the ship you were on if you don’t mind my asking? The ship I was on had maybe 40-50 for the Vigil mass (and the priest mentioned even less went to the daily), but we were on one of the older and smaller ships in Holland America’s fleet that only has about 1400 passengers. I’d imagine the mass would draw more on one of the larger boats.

 

[Padres1969]

Ah that explains it. Westerdam (and her 3 sisters) are some of the line’s larger ships of the Vista Class. I was on the lowly old Veedam.

 

[Brendan]

We went on a cruise ( Royal Caribbean) last year, and there was a priest on board, who said daily Mass.

It was Liberty of the Seas, about 3600 passengers.

A retired priest we know was part of that ministry, specifically with Royal Caribbean. The cruise line keeps a list of priests, mostly retired. To get on the list, their bishop has to send a letter attesting to their status and granting his permission.

The cruise line publishes a list of cruises, and if a priest is available, he lets them know. They will fly him to the departure point, give him a cabin ( it’s a small, inside cabin) and provide vestments, sacred vessels, etc.

 

[Marie5890]

Yes, I have.
There is an apostolate, I believe out of the CA, that tries it’s best to make priests available for cruises.

aos-usa.org

 

[Padres1969]

We went on a cruise ( Royal Caribbean) last year, and there was a priest on board, who said daily Mass.

It was Liberty of the Seas, about 3600 passengers.

A retired priest we know was part of that ministry, specifically with Royal Caribbean. The cruise line keeps a list of priests, mostly retired. To get on the list, their bishop has to send a letter attesting to their status and granting his permission.

The cruise line publishes a list of cruises, and if a priest is available, he lets them know. They will fly him to the departure point, give him a cabin ( it’s a small, inside cabin) and provide vestments, sacred vessels, etc.

Interesting to hear that Royal Caribbean does have priest on board some time. It must be a sporadic thing as available unlike Holland who tries to have a priest on every cruise.

Holland America does have a somewhat deserved reputation as the “old persons” cruise line (I can confirm on my two most recent cruises which were on HAL that the clientele did skew toward retirement age and beyond) and their programming reflects that. I would hope having a regular chaplain isn’t indicative of the older skewing programming but sadly I suspect it probably is given the trends in the industry.

And yes the priest on my ship was from the Apostleship of the Sea. He had a specific vestment provided that actually had their logo on it that was novel to see.

 

[Brendan]

Interesting to hear that Royal Caribbean does have priest on board some time. It must be a sporadic thing as available unlike Holland who tries to have a priest on every cruise. .

From what I gathered talking to Fr Dan, it’s on a volunteer basis. They publish their cruise list, and cover all the costs (including travel to\from) but it is up to the priests to schedule themselves.

If no priest signs up for a particular cruise, there is not much they can do.

 

[peter26]

A priest who helps out sometimes at my parish volunteered for a cruise like this over Christmas, with P&O.

The liturgical geek in me can’t help but wonder what a priest on a cruise ship saying Mass would saying during Eucharistic Prayer II…which bishop?

 

[Padres1969]

A priest who helps out sometimes at my parish volunteered for a cruise like this over Christmas, with P&O.

The liturgical geek in me can’t help but wonder what a priest on a cruise ship saying Mass would saying during Eucharistic Prayer II…which bishop?

The priest on my cruise left out a specific bishop. He jumped from Pope Francis to “All bishops and clergy serving as Christ’s messengers on Earth”

From what I gathered talking to Fr Dan, it’s on a volunteer basis. They publish their cruise list, and cover all the costs (including travel to\from) but it is up to the priests to schedule themselves.

If no priest signs up for a particular cruise, there is not much they can do.

Nice that Royal Carribean includes to/from travel costs. Holland America may have the chaplains scheduled regularly (and yes they are also volunteers often retired clergy), but they have to pay their own way to and from the ship. The priest on our ship is allowed to have a collection box at mass on Sunday, or Saturday Vigil depending on the cruise departure date, only and the ship’s purser splits the proceeds from that 50/50 between the priest and the Apostolate. The priest uses the proceeds to cover his costs. Though many parishioners were bypassing the box and giving the priest funds directly.

 

[ProVobis]

A priest who helps out sometimes at my parish volunteered for a cruise like this over Christmas, with P&O.

The liturgical geek in me can’t help but wonder what a priest on a cruise ship saying Mass would saying during Eucharistic Prayer II…which bishop?

Good question for any Eucharistic Prayer. My only “ocean” Mass was conducted back in the 50’s when we came to the states via the SS United States. Of course it was in Latin for all the immigrants.

 

[porthos11]

We went on a cruise ( Royal Caribbean) last year, and there was a priest on board, who said daily Mass.

It was Liberty of the Seas, about 3600 passengers.

A retired priest we know was part of that ministry, specifically with Royal Caribbean. The cruise line keeps a list of priests, mostly retired. To get on the list, their bishop has to send a letter attesting to their status and granting his permission.

The cruise line publishes a list of cruises, and if a priest is available, he lets them know. They will fly him to the departure point, give him a cabin ( it’s a small, inside cabin) and provide vestments, sacred vessels, etc.

I also just came from an Royal Caribbean cruise (Vision of the Seas) of the Mediterranean, but alas, there was no priest, and therefore, no Mass.

We did not pass it up on account of that, and I obtained a dispensation for myself and my wife prior to departure. Embarkation was a Sunday so we did get to hear Mass in the beautiful Barcelona Cathedral; there was no excuse otherwise. But at sea, we just couldn’t. We were on guided excursions which did not allow for Mass.

What I did do, however, was express to them in the feedback form that I was disappointed that Mass was not offered, and told them that the availability of Sunday Mass would be a major factor in the selection of our next cruise line.