This entry was created during the time airlines refused to fly to Lod.
CONSIDER THIS
The airlines have, for safety reasons, ceased flying into Lod and Eilat. Whether it is a legitimate concern or not is "out of scope" for this blog.
But Israel is not isolated.
If I was, say, Nefesh b'Nefesh or a tour organizer or even an Israeli returning home to join my Tzhal unit, I'd fly from "wherever" to Italy or Greece, then take a ship to Haifa. (Ashdod is too often a target of Hamas' unguided missiles.)
Who has ships that might serve the purpose?
In a pinch, maybe a ZIM Integrated Shipping Ltd. (Zim) vessel could transport people, but most of Zim's ships are not "passenger friendly." (Truth in blogging: I once worked for Zim in Norfolk VA.)
A better option is to "draft" a cruise ship.
Carnival ships come to mind.
Micky Arison is Chairman of the Board of Carnival Corporation & plc; he owns, according to Wikipedia, 47% of the business. Carnival was founded by his late father, Ted Arison; there is an "Israeli-connection."
Carnival is one of the world's largest cruise ship business; its holdings include the Italian-based Costa Cruises.
Zim acquired its first ship, the SS Kedma, and sailed to the future state of Israel in the summer of 1947. During the 1948 war, the company was the sole maritime connection with the state of Israel, supplying food, freight and military equipment.
Zim S.S. KEDMA, c 1947
In 1953, some of the money from the reparations agreement between Israel and West Germany was allocated to the purchase of new ships. The SS Bergensfjord, renamed Jerusalem, sailed the Israel-New York route, Another ship purchased with reparations money was the SS Etzel. The SS Dolphin IV, acquired in 1956, was renamed SS Zion.
In 1950s and 1960s, ZIM concentrated on passenger ships, alongside a constant expansion of the cargo shipping business. Passenger liners were a common means of international transport before the emergence of cheap air transport, and pleasure cruises were also popular. ZIM sailed the Mediterranean Sea, as well as having regular routes to the United States. Some of its ships cruised to the Caribbean during the winter. 1964 saw the completion of the ocean liner SS Shalom, which turned out to be a failure, marking the end of the ZIM passenger shipping era.
(The Zim history, above is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zim_Integrated_Shipping_Services)
The bottom line was that, until the mid-1960s, arriving in Israel onboard a ship was probably more common than arrival by plane.
The Costa Cruises division of the Carnival organization owns 14 ships sailing from multiple European ports (as well as other locations).
If Arison and company were willing, it seems reasonable to fly to a Mediterranean destination and board a Carnival/Costa ship for Haifa.
While it only takes (roughly) 5 hours to fly from a Spanish or Italian airport to Lod, the trip to Haifa via a cruise ship, even at maximum speed, would be measured in days, but travel by "boat" keeps Israel accessible despite terrorists' rockets.
The other alternative would be to fly to Amman and then cross into Israel by bus near Jericho on the Allenby/King Hussein bridge..
Frankly, I'd LIKE to sail to Israel; if not from my home ports (Fort Lauderdale and Miami Florida) then a fly-and-cruise: fly to Europe and sail to Haifa. (Costa sails from Amsterdam, home of a favorite airport.)
