We have witnessed a normalization of Jew-hatred unlike anything since the National Socialist era.
“Cruise Company To Kosher Travelers: Stay Off,” by Jeff Helmreich, Queens Jewish Link, July 31, 2024:
Since the days of the fictional Love Boat, Jews who keep kosher have taken to the seas. The kosher cruise has become a mainstay of Jewish vacationers, a seafaring symbol of a wandering Diaspora with a special passion for the perfect resort experience.
Even with the recent spike in global anti-Semitism, the kosher cruise seemed a safe respite, a reliable escape. That, at least, is what some 140 vacationers believed as they booked tickets on the Costa Toscana for a weeklong tour.
They were wrong. Days before the voyage was to begin, tour operator Yossi Zablocki received a curt message: The ship’s crew refuses to cooperate with the provision of kosher food for the Jewish passengers at any point in the trip. Nothing a frantic Zablocki could suggest would alter their stance. “We simply will not do this,” he was told.
By this point, Zablocki had already purchased $22,000 of kosher product, ready to be loaded on the ship in Marseille, where it was docked for a day before it arrived in Barcelona. He also had the kosher certifiers, or mashgichim, cleared, medically checked and ticketed to accompany the trip and perform the ritual supervision that kosher cooking requires. And the kitchen was confirmed to have the necessary ovens, utensils and equipment.
None of these steps were new for Zablocki. A 15-year veteran of the hospitality industry who has run over 40 high-end kosher cruises, he knew the routine cold. Indeed, there wasn’t much to know, especially on the ship’s end: A standard cruise kitchen is already well-equipped to follow the simple steps that make it kosher, even if only for a portion of its clientele. That is, perhaps, why he never faced any resistance from any crew before.
The ship and its crew are operated by Costa Cruises, which is owned by Carnival Cruise Line. Zablocki had for years dealt with its US representative, who arranged the deals without a hitch. In the past year, however, Costa USA is apparently operating in large part from the company’s Brazil office, not a place especially known for kosher travel. That is the office that delivered the message on behalf of the ship’s staff, just days before the voyage, in terms so extreme that Zablocki and his customers were left speechless.
Not only would the crew refuse to dedicate any kosher sections of the kitchen, it said, but they also insisted that no kosher utensils or food with a kosher certification will be available on the ship. “The use of kosher china, pots, frying pans, etc. will not be allowed.” Anything kosher was in effect to be treated as forbidden on the ship. And no rabbi shall enter.
It was in part the extremity of such demands that suggested to Zablocki and a few of his customers that something more than an administrative dispute may lie behind the refusal.
“Nothing like this has ever happened,” he said, “and there was no credible reason that could even serve as a pretense for the crew’s outright – and sudden – refusal to accommodate us.”…
rick says
Wait a minute. The crew of the ship were dictating rules for the ship on an already completed contractual arrangement? Was the crew hired from Gaza ? No company would allow such an absurd thing to happen. Fire the crew and leave them on shore with zero pay. Then hire a new crew at obviously a very inflated salary and schedule the cruise with either a half refund or full refund to all of the Jewish passengers depending on the inconvenience to them. And that crew should be made known by each name to every cruise line operating except of course the “Palestinian Cruise Line For Jihad Against the Zionist Oppressors.”
By the way isn’t this the cruise line that had the Costa Concordia disaster on 13 January 2012, the seven-year-old Costa Cruises vessel Costa Concordia was on the first leg of a cruise around the Mediterranean Sea when she deviated from her planned route at Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, sailed closer to the island, and struck a rock formation on the sea floor. This caused the ship to list and then to partially sink, landing unevenly on an underwater ledge. Although a six-hour rescue effort brought most of the passengers ashore, 33 people died: 27 passengers, five crew, and, later, a member of the salvage team.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
This struck me as well. It reminds me of some occasions on 2017 when employees of certain stores would refuse to sell merchandise to well known conservatives b’cos they didn’t like their politics. What was a wonder was that such people apparently kept their jobs
HR of all companies need to be automated and reined in. Once upon a time, the only time employees would meet HR would be during on-boarding, any training sessions regarding benefits such as insurance coverage, and any special corporate training about things like branding and so on. Then when companies started outsourcing and offshoring many of their operations, HRs invented a novel way of keeping themselves “relevant” by introducing DEI and other woke stuff into the corporate workplace. That is what has given such entitled employees the idea that they have a say in final decisions, particularly w/ respect to outward facing activities, such as customers
If Costa Cruises management has not been hijacked, they need to have special re-orientation sessions w/ their Brazilian office, and terminate all crew members, who regardless of what they think about policy, had the temerity to say no to customers
DavidW says
I wonder what the reaction would have been if the food had been okay for Muslims to eat?
commonsense says
DavidW: Muslims are in fact permitted to eat kosher food. When the Muslim population in the U.S. was small and there were no foods available certified as halal, Muslims would buy kosher meat and poultry. Jewish dietary laws, however, are far more restrictive, and Jews cannot eat halal-certfied meat, chicken, etc.
Bull Herman says
Read Genesis 12.
One of these giant top heavy floating paradises will become an artificial reef. Hopefully innocents who disagree with this Kamala-Esque policy will make to life boats.
The rest? I’ll miss them about as much as I miss Ismail “now part of the wall” Hamiyah.
Carnival cruises are real fun let me tell you. An adventure on the seas. If you consider your chances of being robbed, raped, lost at sea, and then have Carnival play cover its ass with the law as an ideal vacation.
Carnival can keep its warped attitudes and Norco virus all to itself.
Peacelover says
Sad.
somehistory says
This reminds me of some old movies/tv programs where the hero is in a small town, needs his car repaired, can’t get that done for weeks; tries to rent a car, but none available; can’t make a phone call or get anything to eat. He can’t figure out why….until a kid or a waitress gets him aside and tells him the reason.
The reason for this cruise thing: everyone is choosing a side and many are choosing the side of evil.
KoshsShadow says
Major breach of contract lawsuit. The kosher cruise operator should get 3x all his losses, PLUS all the passengers 3x all their expenses, including replacing vacation time.
And I believe Costa only operates out of Europe, not the US, but their parent Carnival needs to be put on notice this is illegal in the US, and if this happens here, they lose rights to cruise to/from the US.
I note Jordan and Kuwait airlines cannot fly to/from the US because they refuse to carry Israelis.
(I note there seems to be no such problem with Emirates or even Qatar)
David Grisez says
What we are seeing here is plain outright antisemitism and outright hatred of the Jewish people. This serious problem is getting worse. The way things are going in this world it might not be long before genocide activity is started against the Jewish like happened in Nazi Germany during World War II under Adolph Hitler.
Mike says
It’s not hard to fathom. October 7th was a genocidal act against Jews and Israelis, and similar jihadist groups are currently waging genocide against Christians, Hindus and others in various places.
James Wasvary says
Holland America, another Carnival subsidiary, recruits most of its crew from Indonesia. They throw in a few Philippinos to work the bars as Muslims can’t touch alcohol. If the Costa crew is recruited from Indonesia this would explain their attitude, and there is nothing that can be done about it unless they change the crew for Christians, possibly Philippine.
SKA says
Time for a lawsuit and then for a boycott.
James Lincoln says
LAWSUIT!
Triple damages!
zigy says
the owner of carnival is an iaraeli,. she also own one of the largest banks there. her son owns the miami heat sp i doubt they are anti semites i believe he is also the president of carnival…..