Aboard MV Island Princess (Special) -- The old television series, The Love Boat, focused on the lives of five characters: the captain, the cruise director, the doctor, the assistant purser and the bartender. On our cruise aboard the Love Boat's twin sister, Nancy and I took particular interest in the lives of three real people: the captain, the tour director and the piano player.

Island Princess was built in 1971 to the same architectural standards as Pacific Princess, which was used in The Love Boat series. Compared to the 2,500-3,000-passenger floating hotels they are building today, the 640-passenger Island Princess is a tiny seagoing inn. To our way of thinking, that's an advantage. You really can get to know the crew members as well as your fellow passengers. This 17-day cruise went from Mumbai (Bombay), India, through the Suez Canal to Civitavecchia,

Island Princess at dock in Haifa, Israel

Italy,  the port which serves Rome. (We made excellent connections on Delta Airlines between San Diego and the two cities on either end of the cruise.) For most passengers, the highlight of the trip was a day-and-a-half stopover in Haifa, providing sufficient time for them to take tours to Jerusalem, the Galilee and other points of religious interest.

As many of the passengers were first-time visitors to Israel, this part of the cruise was quite emotional. For Christians, it was seeing the places where Jesus lived and died. For Jews, it was the opportunity to pray at the Kotel, or simply to be in the only land where Jews comprise the majority of the population.

What intrigued Nancy and me was the fact that the captain, the tour director and the piano player each had a personal, familial sense of connection to Israel--although Eric Rosenberg, the piano player, was the only Jew among them.

Captain Roger Knight told me one of his fondest memories was drawing water from the River Jordan and transporting it in a plastic bottle back to England in time to be used for the christening of his daughter.

The ceremony was held aboard another P&O ship, the Novato, and "traditionally you put the ship's bell upside down, then you put the water in it, and the baby is baptized in the ship's bell," Knight recalled. "The Missions-to-Seamen padre in Southampton did the service for me. He brought as a dipper his nautilus shell from Fiji. We had the ship's bell, a nautilus shell for the dipper, and Jordan River

Captain Roger Knight on Island Princess bridge

water. So I got this bottle of Jordan water, and the day before we got to Southamption I thought we better have a look at this, so I opened the top and there were all sorts of wiggly wigglies swimming around in it."

Ever prepared, the captain boiled the River Jordan water, then let it cool to a proper temperature, before the ceremony.

Knight has worked for the Pacific and Orient line since 1959, when he was graduated from nautical college at Southampton University. He began his career as a cadet aboard freighters and tankers, gradually working his way up to passenger ships.

"While I was an apprentice and a junior officer, you went from one to the other," he explained. "When you got senior in rank, you were on the white (passenger) ship. Then you got promoted, and you were junior in the next rank, and you went back to a tanker or a freighter, and that is how you see-sawed up the ladder."

About 1971, P&O decided to "divisionalize," putting all its passenger ships in one division, all its commercial ships in the other. "Things were getting a bit more technical in the carriage of liquid gas and petroleum products and things like that," Knight said. "So you couldn't be a long time away from those ships and just come back."

P&O employees were asked to choose which division they wanted to serve in, and Knight picked the passenger division, which today includes the ships of Princess Cruises. By 1980, he was promoted to the rank of deputy captain (today called staff captain), and in 1990 he became a full captain. His first time in command was aboard the Pacific Princess on an Amazon River cruise.

In most ports of our cruise, an immigration official would come aboard the Island Princess and, after a brief time, it would be announced that the formalities had been completed and passengers could go ashore. In Haifa, however, the procedure was quite different. Tables were set up in a ship's lounge for Israeli immigration officers. Thereafter, the passengers had to present themselves, with passports, in person. 

Although time-consuming, the process was pleasant enough, as passengers chatted and traded stories with each other while in line. I heard very few passengers complaining. They had been warned that Israel is very serious about its security, so therefore the passengers considered the procedure part of the adventure--a story to take home.

"Security in Israel has always been tight," Knight said. "They always have been very security conscious. The company's policy--because of the pass system you have to go through on the gangway--is not to allow visitors on the ship. A few passengers normally have friends in Israel and they say 'can we have them on board?' Well, from my company's point of view, I can't allow it. But, on the other hand, the security in the port wouldn't allow it anyway. So it is a double 'no' for the visitor. I do have discretion to say 'yes' in various ports, but I couldn't in Haifa because they wouldn't be able to get to the gate."

Sometimes Island Princess docks in Haifa, other times it docks in Ashdod, depending on where an Israeli berth is available. From the standpoint of proximity to Jerusalem--by far the tour destination most often selected by passengers--Ashdod is preferable. But for the charm of being in a beautiful setting, many passengers love Haifa.

Trixie Geller has been a tour director for four years aboard Princess Cruises ships. She spent her earlier career in the food and hotel management business, getting her start at the Nut Tree Restaurant in Northern California, located on the highway between San Francisco and Sacramento. From there, she went to Yosemite National Park to run a chefs and vintners program, gradually becoming interested in backpacking. Next she began guiding visitors from Great Britain around the United States, and subsequently was hired by Princess to administer tour programs on the "exotic" (non-Caribbean, non-Alaska) itineraries. Most of the tours offered by Princess Cruises in Israel focus on the Christian shrines in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth because, according to Geller, about 90 percent of the people

Tour Director Trixie Geller

who take organized tours are Christians, while only 10 percent are Jews. Although the percentage of Jews aboard the ship may be higher, she said, "many have friends or family in Israel, so they prefer to do things on their own." Her description fit Nancy and me perfectly, as we met our daughter in Haifa and visited cousins in nearby Yemin Orde. 

There is, however, one tour offered by Princess which focuses specifically on places of Jewish interest: "We call it 'Eternal Jerusalem,'" Geller said. "We go to the walled city and the Kotel; we walk through the Cardo area (the old Roman section in what is today the Jewish quarter of the walled city); we see the Holy Land model (which depicts Jerusalem in the days of the Temple), and then we go to Yad Vashem (Israel's Holocaust Museum and Memorial), and then have shopping and lunch."

Curiously, the shopping stop is in Bethlehem, a city of intense Christian interest because it is where Jesus was born. It is located within the boundaries of the new Palestinian Authority. I asked Geller why on a "Jewish interest" tour, passengers are taken there? 

She responded that from the standpoint of security, Bethlehem is considered safer than the souk in the old city of Jerusalem, because it doesn't have so many by-ways and therefore tourists are less likely to get lost. I suggested that Ben-Yehuda Street in Jerusalem might be a far more preferable alternative, as it would involve less driving and is more Jewish in character. She promised to make a note of the suggestion.

Geller is the product of a mixed marriage. Her father came from a Jewish family in Vienna, and "most of them were lost in the Holocaust, so I hardly know anybody." Her mother is Episcopalian, "and I went to a Catholic school growing up. It makes it very interesting when I travel. I learn about many cultures."

The tour director said visiting Israel can be overwhelming. "For me, going to Jerusalem was. With everything I had read or seen, but not knowing much about my background, going to a place like the Western Wall was very emotional."

As Princess ships call in Israel quite regularly, Geller has come to know an Israeli family which helps to coordinate the land tour arrangements. Now she is beginning to see Israel, and Jewish life, through their eyes. Recently, the family lost a child and Geller was exposed for the first time to Jewish mourning customs.

The crew member with whom we interacted most often, by far, was Rosenberg--not because he is the piano player, but because he runs the ship's weekly Shabbat services and also is the ship's e-mail maven. Over the 17-day cruise, we celebrated three Shabbats aboard the ship, and sent material to HERITAGE, with Rosenberg's help, from Salalah, Oman, and from Port Said, Egypt.  After graduating from the University of Cincinnati's music program in 1993, Rosenberg went to work almost immediately for Princess Cruises - not on the basis of the audition tapes which he sent out to all cruise lines, but because his younger brother, Jonathan, had met a juggler who was working on Premier Cruise Line.

Eric Rosenberg leads  Shabbat service

The juggler in turn recommended Rosenberg to his boss and he was hired- sort of. The piano player he was to replace decided to stay on. So the folks at Premier told the folks at Princess they had a piano player available...and Rosenberg has been pursuing the life at sea ever since. 

Rosenberg's brother, who also is a musician, meanwhile became increasingly traditional in his Jewish observance, first studying with Chabad in the United States, and later moving to B'nai B'rak, Israel, where he has become a yeshiva bachur.

Whenever the cruise ship calls in Israel, Rosenberg visits his brother, who recently made a gift to him of an Art Scroll siddur. Rosenberg compiled a Shabbat service using this and other sources as well, with the idea being that the service should take a little from Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Reform traditions.

Rosenberg's Shabbat services usually are held at 5 p.m., prior to the first dinner seating and while it is still light. It begins with a candle lighting -usually performed by a female member of the ship's congregation. Next comes an appropriate responsive reading: "Almighty God, Creator of the universe, as we assemble from distant places on the Sabbath eve, having embarked upon this journey upon Your majectic ocean...we declare in the words of the Psalm, 'Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice, let the sea roar and all within it give praise, the world and all that dwell within.'

"We thank You for this life we enjoy and the beautiful universe You have blessed...We shall strive in the observance of Your law to preserve all life and make our world a better place in which to live for all mankind....May the spirit of this Sabbath voyage on the sea give us rest and refreshment and also heighten our awareness of the sacred dimensions of life...So that our world shall be filled with the spirit of peace, brotherhood and compassion this Sabbath, and every Sabbath of the year. Amen."

Often a rabbi, cantor or lay leader of a congregation will come aboard the ship as a passenger, and Rosenberg will tailor the service to his or her needs. If a Jewish group is traveling aboard the ship, Rosenberg makes certain that all Jewish passengers--not just the group--feel welcome at the Shabbat services, which are followed by an oneg that includes two loaves of challah, Kosher wine and other light refreshments.

In the evenings, Rosenberg plays with the orchestra that accompanies the dancers in Princess' various production shows. Because the same shows get repeated cruise after cruise, Rosenberg says the only time he needs to practice is when new singers, dancers or band members come on board, so they may become familiarized with the routine. 

His daytimes therefore are ordinarily free, so Rosenberg signs up to be an escort on bus tours in port. "They always want to have a crew member on the tours, just in case. It's a great benefit for us, because we don't have to pay for the tour; it's a job. If a passenger is going slow, we stand next to him to make sure he keeps up with the group. If there is an accident, we are there to record exactly what happened."

Wherever he goes, "I like to know if there is a Jewish community there," Rosenberg said. "I went to Gibraltar and I found that there was an Orthodox community there. I never knew it. It was wonderful walking through Gibraltar bumping into the frum (religiously observant) people. I remember in Spain, we stopped in a beautiful Sephardic synagogue. Every time I see something Jewish, I want to see another thing Jewish."

Rosenberg was chosen crew member of the month recently because of the service he performs for fellow crew members. He types up their e-mail messages on his laptop computer, then sends them out whenever he can find a telephone hookup for his modem in a port. At the same time, he downloads all the e-mail messages sent to crew members in his care. Thus, Rosenberg is the ship's electronic mailman, bringing crew members closer to their families back home. It's an interesting form of tzedakah.

Normally, Rosenberg eats in the crew mess, but this Passover, he will eat in the dining room with the passengers.

The ship offers passengers the option of a specially designed Passover menu, with which not all the waiters (from Portugal, Italy and other parts of the world) are very familiar. So when a passenger leans over to a waiter, and says: "I'd like some matzo, gefilte fish and some good strong crane (horse radish)," the waiter can say "very good, ma'am" and then go to Rosenberg to learn exactly what the passenger is talking about.