Syrian rabbi Eli Mansour wrote in a daily email titled "Boat Travel on Shabbat," that an observant Jew should not plan to be on a boat during Shabat, particularly if the boat is owned and crewed by non-observant Jews.
The reasoning: "Hazal enacted this prohibition forbidding boarding a ship within a few days of Shabbat because doing so will likely interfere with one's "Oneg Shabbat" – the enjoyment of Shabbat. It often takes several days to accustom oneself to sea travel and overcome seasickness, and so the Sages forbade boarding a ship too close to Shabbat in order to ensure that one will be comfortable and at ease on Shabbat."
He did note that "Rabbi Moshe Halevi (Israel, 1961-2001), in his work Menuhat Ahava (1:2), raises the possibility that this enactment of Hazal might not apply nowadays, when boats are very large and stable. Furthermore, most people who travel on cruises are accustomed to sea travel and thus do not become seasick. Nevertheless, the vast majority of Halachic authorities dispute this position and forbid boarding a ship after Tuesday (or Wednesday), unless one travels for the purpose of performing a Misva."
We have acquaintenances who traveled on a cruise that included Shabat.
All the men are observant.
In order to "make" Shabat, they brought everything they would need; candles, wine for kiddush, and a sefer Torah which one of them read. It goes without saying - but I'll write it anyway - that these people also brought their own food.
Not only did they celebrate Shabat, but it was a memorable Shabat.
We have other acquaintenances who, as this is written, are on a recently boarded ship headed for Alaska. The husband has a unique diet - no meat, no fish, no eggs; the guy lives on breads. His wife will "make do" with salads and fish cooked in a foil cocoon. It might not be acceptable in Deal, but all things considered . . . The couple is armed with candles, wine, and all the other requirements to "make" Shabat.
During a Wife-to-Wife call on Thursday, my wife asked if the couple had found any other Jews on board. I don't know if they had, but they were looking, so not only would they celebrate Shabat "by the book" (they don't have a sefer Torah, ergo not "by The Book"), but others would have a chance to join them. Maybe they can find a minyan. Maybe there will be someone with a sefer Torah! But even if they don't, Shabat still will be "special" for them.
The days of dinky ships tossing and turning with every wave are, at least for the cruise industry, long gone.
Today, all three of Columbus' boats could be stowed on board the 5,000 passenger Oasis of the Seas owned by Royal Caribbean. Add to the 5,000 passenger capacity a crew of 2,150. (The ship's specifications are at http://tinyurl.com/3ss97sm.; the ships of Columbus' 1492 "cruise" are described at http://tinyurl.com/3sq4f4d.)
We've come a long way from the days when Hazal (a general term referring to the sages of Talmud, and other rabbinic literature from the times of Second Temple until the 6th century CE) ruled that taking Shabat on a ship was not only dangerous but, if the seas were a little rough, most uncomfortable. We all recall the story of Yona who "elected" to finish his journey in the belly of leviathan rather than suffer the tribulations of the ship he had boarded.
According to jweekly.com, it seems Reform and Conservative rabbis have the cruise business in their pockets. Many observant Jews can get along very nicely sans a rabbi or cantor - at least in the Sefardi community we generally are self-sufficient. (We need our rabbis to answer questions.)
The Web site notes that some cruise ships even have a sefer Torah on board. Kosher meals - airline meals, by and large - are available on most cruises on request.
Maybe it is time for the Sefardi and Ashkenazi Orthodox rabbinute to re-examine Shabat on board a ship, especially if the rabbi can serve double duty as a mashgeach (kashrut supervisor).
