Issues involved with traveling on Shabbat
1) Riding the boat
This is discussed in the Mishneh Brura, perek 248. You can ride
on a boat on Shabbat if the bottom of the boat is more than 10 tfachim about one meter) above the bottom of the water, because then you would not be considered to be going outside the tachum. If you get on the boat before shabbat, and establish the boat as your shvita (the place you are staying for Shabbat), then there is no problem with the boat leaving port on Shabbat. Some authorities even allow getting on the boat Friday afternoon, staying there until nightfall and making kiddush there, then returning home to sleep and boarding the boat Shabbat morning before it
leaves.
2) Boarding 3 days before shabbat, issue of Ong Shabbat
There is a problem with boarding a boat within three days before Shabbat on an ocean voyage, since you would then likely be seasick and this would ruin your oneg Shabbat. But for a dvar mitzvah, this is allowed.
3) Carrying on Shabbat on the ship
Carrying on a ship on Shabbat is not a problem if everyone eats their meals in a common dining area, which is usually the case on cruise ships. Even if that weren't the case, I suppose you could make an eruv, as you could do in a hotel.
4) Getting off ship on Shabbat
I know that in practice, people don't get off boats on Shabbat, if the boat did not arrive in port before Shabbat. And I know that people who are forced to get off irplanes on Shabbat (which would present the same halachic issue, since airplanes are more than 10 tfachim above the ground) stay confined to the terminal they are in until after Shabbat. I assume the reason is that at the beginning of Shabbat, when the tachum of each person is established, the boat or airplane did not have a tachum, since it was more than 10 tfachim above the ground (or bottom of the water). Someone in the city where the boat docks, on the other hand, is allowed (for a dvar mitzvah, if I am remembering this correctly) to go on board the boat on Shabbat
while it is in port, but not to leave on the boat on Shabbat, since the ship is within the tachum of the city, even though the city is not within the (non-existent) tachum of the boat.
These are just some of the halachic issues that one should be aware of before boarding a cruise. Be sure that the agency you are traveling with is aware and dealing with these and other issues.
Reproduced with permission from the STAR-K. Thank you to Rabbi Zvi Goldberg, Star-K Kashrus Administrator for his article "Don't Miss the Boat:Halachic Guidelines of Kosher Cruises"
This is discussed in the Mishneh Brura, perek 248. You can ride
on a boat on Shabbat if the bottom of the boat is more than 10 tfachim about one meter) above the bottom of the water, because then you would not be considered to be going outside the tachum. If you get on the boat before shabbat, and establish the boat as your shvita (the place you are staying for Shabbat), then there is no problem with the boat leaving port on Shabbat. Some authorities even allow getting on the boat Friday afternoon, staying there until nightfall and making kiddush there, then returning home to sleep and boarding the boat Shabbat morning before it
leaves.
2) Boarding 3 days before shabbat, issue of Ong Shabbat
There is a problem with boarding a boat within three days before Shabbat on an ocean voyage, since you would then likely be seasick and this would ruin your oneg Shabbat. But for a dvar mitzvah, this is allowed.
3) Carrying on Shabbat on the ship
Carrying on a ship on Shabbat is not a problem if everyone eats their meals in a common dining area, which is usually the case on cruise ships. Even if that weren't the case, I suppose you could make an eruv, as you could do in a hotel.
4) Getting off ship on Shabbat
I know that in practice, people don't get off boats on Shabbat, if the boat did not arrive in port before Shabbat. And I know that people who are forced to get off irplanes on Shabbat (which would present the same halachic issue, since airplanes are more than 10 tfachim above the ground) stay confined to the terminal they are in until after Shabbat. I assume the reason is that at the beginning of Shabbat, when the tachum of each person is established, the boat or airplane did not have a tachum, since it was more than 10 tfachim above the ground (or bottom of the water). Someone in the city where the boat docks, on the other hand, is allowed (for a dvar mitzvah, if I am remembering this correctly) to go on board the boat on Shabbat
while it is in port, but not to leave on the boat on Shabbat, since the ship is within the tachum of the city, even though the city is not within the (non-existent) tachum of the boat.
These are just some of the halachic issues that one should be aware of before boarding a cruise. Be sure that the agency you are traveling with is aware and dealing with these and other issues.
Reproduced with permission from the STAR-K. Thank you to Rabbi Zvi Goldberg, Star-K Kashrus Administrator for his article "Don't Miss the Boat:Halachic Guidelines of Kosher Cruises"
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