We wanted a little abroad, we got an Israeli neighborhood: on the cruise from Haifa to Cyprus
Yoav Itiel just wanted to "escape" abroad a bit, so he paid $330 for 4 days and boarded a cruise from Haifa to Cyprus. He discovered 2,000 Israelis on a ship that was "crowded", including the dining room, oriental music in the pool, rude speech to the crew and felt more Like in the Eilat hotel on the sea, than in Europe
Yoav Itiel
09/22/2022
Thursday, September 22, 2022, 12:22 p.m. Updated: 1:07 p.m.
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Cruise on Royal Caribbean's "Rhapsody of the Seas" (Photo: Yoav Itiel)
"Passengers who cut to the head of a queue or those who shout obscenities between decks are not commented on, nor are those who record or listen to WhatsApp messages on a loudspeaker"
Royal Caribbean flows.
The cruises to Cyprus that she now operates from Haifa with the ship "Rhapsody of the Seas" are a tribute to the popularity of the Israeli audience, to fans of the genre.
By the magnitude of Mickey Arison's most Israeli product.
If his sister had Bank Hapoalim, he now has Anit Hapoalim.
So the dinner dress code is not observed, passengers who cut to the head of a queue nonchalantly or those who shout profanity between decks are not noticed, nor are those who record or listen to messages on WhatsApp, on loudspeakers, in this or that lobby or in the corridors, and silently absorb rude speech to crew members .
At the same time, you will massively increase the presence of security personnel in uniform, especially in the pool and on the sun decks, disaster prone areas.
The security officer in charge of everything is someone who knows - an Israeli himself.
This is a ship built in 1997, the oldest of the foreign cruise ships visiting Haifa port this year.
In 2012 and 2016 she underwent a general renovation and more cosmetics, but her extreme age (for its double meaning) is felt despite this.
It is built for 1,998 passengers who are served by 765 crew members.
The trend in the cruise ship industry is for ships that are getting bigger and bigger.
Unfortunately, the Haifa port is still not able to receive the largest ones.
Rhapsody of the Seas is a relic of the old world of relatively small ships, but the expectation of the class was not realized.
The oldest of the foreign cruise ships visiting Haifa port this year.
"Rhapsody of the Seas" ship (Photo: Yoav Itiel)
The biggest ships are still not able to be accommodated here.
Haifa Port (Photo: Yoav Itiel)
On the sunbathing decks in the pool, the presence of security personnel in disaster-prone areas will increase (Photo: Yoav Ityel)
With all this Israeliness around me, the feeling of being abroad was lost
"For many, the main attraction of the ship is the casino, a popular one too, with the ringing and flashing of the slot machines around and the card tables in the center, including heavy cigarette smoke that the dealers try to minimize the damage to themselves with the help of corona masks"
In American English, a short vacation is called an "Escape".
Bottom line: I couldn't escape.
Newly I fantasized about sailing on an American luxury liner.
I did not take into account that all the passengers who would be interested in sailing from Haifa to Haifa, with a few hours' stopover in Limassol, would be Israelis.
The black clothing.
The bald spots, the tattoos, the grumpy looks and the loudness, all these accompanied me on a voyage in the middle of the sea.
The ship itself "Goira" includes a kosher or almost kosher dining room (and it turns out that at the same table you can have kosher or not kosher, but for the passenger public it is kosher enough, apparently), prayers three times a day, Shabbat elevators, electric Shabbat candles, signage in Hebrew and in the background, In the lobbies and the main pool on the upper deck, which is not so big - oriental music.
For many, the main attraction of the ship is the casino, a popular one too, with the ringing and flashing of the slot machines around and the card tables in the center, including heavy cigarette smoke that the dealers try to minimize the damage to themselves with the help of corona masks.
Those who want proof that 1,000 Israelis on board feel more crowded than 7,000 Americans can, like me, compare sailing on the Rhapsody of the Seas last weekend to the one on the Wonder of the Seas I did during the summer from Barcelona.
Breathe a little abroad on a cruise between Haifa and Haifa. Arrival at the port of Limassol (Photo: Yoav Itayel)
And it turns out that on the same table you can have kosher or non-kosher.
The dining room in Cruise (Photo: Yoav Itiel)
In the pool on the upper deck, which is not so big - oriental music (Photo: Yoav Itiel)
"Like the familiar Israeli Cruze, but only with an American logo"
With all this Israeliness around me, the feeling of being abroad was lost, and the whole thing feels more like an Eilat or Tiberiani hotel on the sea, than a weekend in Europe.
An Israeli island in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea.
The problem is that many of the Israeli passengers also want something different.
Again and again I heard the same grievances from passengers on the ship.
What did Gracho Marx say?
"I am not ready to be a member of a club that is ready to accept people like me."
"Like that," concludes N. from Haifa in an interim summary when we meet randomly at the outdoor bar of a good restaurant in the Limassol marina.
"Especially the population," she points out, "I have a hard time with the overcrowding. Even in a room with a window, but with a child it still feels claustrophobic and even when you leave the room, everyone is on top of you. You sit with the baby outside and Omer Adam's music starts. I don't think it's relevant."
Another passenger, a resident of Kiryat Yam, expresses a similar feeling: "It feels like an Israeli cruise ship that we know, but only with the American logo. They just adapted the atmosphere to the Israeli audience and it's not necessarily in our favor. The noise, the crowding. The food also doesn't know what. Feels different Very much of Royal Caribbean's service in the Caribbean."
"Trash can," say two passengers from Haifa who waited behind me in a long line at the entrance to one of the dining rooms, when time after time we were cut off by those who got smart and moved forward, "everything. The rooms, the public areas. This ship is older than us. They will have no choice, they will bring a ship upgraded".
She's not a trash can, but it's the conversation of the day at the table next to me at Mochas dinner. "What's going on here doesn't make sense," the diners complained about the slow service, perhaps because Mochas Israelis sit for hours and talk.
This is nothing compared to what happened at my table, where I actually dined solo.
"Chicken noodle soup" of an unrecognizable flavor with a few noodles of an average length of one centimeter, and then a green stain in the dish of "grilled beef fillet".
One waiter tried to explain that it was Pitria, a senior waiter who was called to the table believed that it was a chemical reaction to the sauce, and after the chef was called to the table he claimed that it was the kosher seal, "and calm down" that it is not toxic.
Is that how you serve it?
"A mistake," he admitted.
"What would you like instead?"
I couldn't touch anything anymore.
"Just adjust the atmosphere to the Israeli audience."
Bartender on the ship (Photo: Yoav Itiel)
Sunset from the ship "Rhapsody of the Seas" (photo: Yoav Itiel)
Excellent restaurants, but expensive
Apparently this is an excellent deal.
A three-night cruise (four days: Friday-Monday) at a price that starts at about 330 dollars for an interior cabin (no balcony and no windows) small but well-equipped, comfortable and clean.
The problem is in the public areas and those who don't want this sticky and noisy Israeliness with the sexy man contest or belly jumping into the pool, have to find alternatives.
Royal Caribbean would do well if they actually distributed to guests a page of such recommendations for "escape" from the oriental music hits at full volume in the main pool, to the quiet solarium area on the same deck 9 and separated by transparent doors (and it also has "Park-Cafe", a not bad buffet for light meals on deck), to the prestigious spa, or to the cafe "Latte-Tude" (a pun on the drink and the English word denoting latitude) on deck 6 adjacent to a cute little Ben and Jerry's ice cream parlor, and behind it a quieter lounge of the "Schooner- Bar" in the evening also turns into a piano bar.
At night it is recommended to go to a second showing of the not bad shows, at 22:00 no more screaming children come and neither do their parents who are already with them in the room at that time.
These late shows tended to have a small crowd and you could relax on three padded seats.
It is also recommended to escape from the standard dining rooms to restaurants such as "Chops Grill" on the same deck, where I had a very good classic American steak dinner and on the 12th upper deck an excellent Japanese sushi dinner at the "Izumi" restaurant.
In these restaurants you have to add 30-60 dollars per meal per diner.
Worth every cent.
Even on the beach, in Limassol, where shuttle buses are waiting, you can escape the crowds that flock to the mall and, although another meal awaits after the departure, you can indulge yourself at an affordable price in the marina of the billionaires and oligarchs, for example at Jamie Oliver's bistro restaurant and take advantage of the strong exchange rate of the shekel against the euro. Converting it to calamari or sea bass in the oven, both were excellent, alongside ouzo with red grapefruit.
Excellent sushi meal.
"Izumi" restaurant on the ship (Photo: Yoav Ityel)
Rhapsody of the Seas will end the Israeli sailing season in November, when the Mediterranean Sea begins to sulk.
She is expected to sail in the Caribbean and we hope that Royal Caribbean will return next summer as well, or even earlier, after a round of improvements.
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