A new player is entering the field of river cruises for the Jewish religious public. This is the French cruise company CroisiEurope. It started its marketing cruises in the Israeli market about ten years ago, and in the year before the Covid pandemic it sold quite a lot here through the Israeli cruise wholesalers

Before the pandemic, about 10,000 Israelis traveled on river cruises every year. In the religious community, only a few choose to travel in this way, due to kosher and Shabbat constraints. Recently there are solutions for this. Now that the epidemic is behind us, Croisi is returning to Israel and has received requests for Kosher cruises, so is trying to penetrate the religious public as well

CroisiEurope is the largest cruise line company in Europe, with a fleet of 55 rivers, canals and sea ships. Its ships sail on all navigable rivers in Europe and on other continents. This is the only company that offers a Paris by night tour under 27 bridges in Paris’ water with their own ships. Croisi is the only company that can sails to Honfleur on the Seine river because the size of their ships is built according to the river, which they navigate. It also prides itself on the quality of the superb French cuisine served to passengers, which has excellent French chefs working in the kitchen on every ship

The river ships are luxurious "floating hotels" that sail slowly along the rivers in Europe for a journey of 3-21 days. It's like an organized trip, but without the tedious need to pack and unpack luggage every day, for the "hotel" accompanies us. The river cruise experience is unlike experiences on other vacations. River cruises are suitable for people who have already traveled the world, and now want to indulge in a relaxing vacation, without the stress of travel and traffic jams and parking problems

I was invited for an introductory familiarization cruise on the ship MS Symphonie along the Rhine River, from Amsterdam to Strasbourg. 3 countries in 6 days

The rivers in Europe are wide and meander between verdant mountains. Cruising the Romantic Rhine Valley, we see from our room window and French balcony beautiful views of forests, with cows grazing in the meadow, fields and vineyards, slopes and cliffs. Some of them cannot be reached by bus or car. Up in the mountains, we also see ancient castles. Along the riverbanks we see picturesque villages, with houses decorated with colorful flowers and bright red geranium bushes on the balcony railings and window sills. This lovely green landscape inspires us with a pleasant peace

We hear the sound of the river and the silence, breathe the clear cold air deep into our lungs and enjoy the smells and sights

I especially enjoyed lounging on a Sun deck situated on the top floor of the ship, watching the views, and letting the light breeze caress my face and blow my hair. The feeling is like being in paradise

Almost every day the ship docks in a different town, and the passengers disembark for "Shore Excursions" by foot or by bus. Such a tour lasts 3-4 hours, then we return to the ship for lunch and to rest. It is also possible to wander independently in the colorful towns

In the first two days of the cruise I was invited to, the ship docked in Amsterdam. I was told in advance that there are only 55 rooms on board, which is about half the number of cabins on standard river ships. So I expected to see a small ship but I was surprised to see on the dock an ordinary riverboat more than a hundred meters long

I expected that the rooms would be double the usual size, but I found that my single cabin was just a little more spacious than I'm used to

It turned out that this ship only has two decks, compared to the 3 decks I know from other river ships

At the front of the ship is the lounge with a bar and sofas, a dance floor, and tables and chairs. In the stern area is the dining room. It is a little smaller than usual, but very spacious because it has fewer dining tables. On other river ships we know, the dining room is on the first floor and the lounge on the second

The itinerary

After boarding the ship and settling in the cabins, we were welcomed with a cocktail aperitif and a presentation of the crew in the lounge bar

After dinner we were invited to a night cruise in the Amsterdam canals

The next morning a bus took us to the known tourist attractions of Dam Square, the flowers market, and the diamond museum. The tour also passed by the Portuguese synagogue and the monument of the broken mirrors in memory of the Holocaust victims

We were brought back for a lunch on the ship, and then driven to see authentic Dutch villages, such as the ZAANS with its windmills, dairies and yellow cheese boutique factories, and typical Dutch wooden shoes

In the evening we arrived by bus to the city of Utrecht, where we boarded the ship which left immediately for the next station

These extensive shore excursions created an expectation to continue rich sights, but in the following days I was disappointed. The ship sailed up the river for about 20 hours continuously without stopping. We saw beautiful villages and ancient castles from the window. The speakers played explanations about sites that are visible from the river, but we were not allowed to get off

At first, I was enthusiastic about the pastoral landscape and took pictures of every such village, but later on it starts to repeat itself. A row of houses next to the river, and sometimes behind them another row or two. In every such village we see a church steeple. Most of them also have an ancient castle surrounded by a wall up the mountain. All the villages are similar, only the names are changed. When this view comes sparingly it is charming and exciting, but after we see 10-20 such villages the enthusiasm has become small

Thus, the cruise continued continuously until Koln. The only tourist attraction there is the huge ancient cathedral, but it might not be that interesting for us Jews. We were given 4 free hours to wander around the city. But there is not much to do in this city for 4 hours, so most of the passengers returned to the ship

On the fourth day of the cruise, we passed by the Loreley cliff near the town of Zanket Gowerhausen. The cliff rises to a height of 132 meters. This is the narrowest and deepest point of the Rhine River

According to a local legend, there once lived here a beautiful girl who was betrayed by her sweetheart and was accused of bewitching men and causing their death. Rather than sentence her to death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery. On the way thereto, accompanied by three knights, she comes to Loreley rock. She asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. She does so, and, thinking that she sees her love in the Rhine, falls to her death. The rock ever afterward retained an echo of her name

This place gained worldwide publicity thanks to a well-known poem by the Jewish poet Heinrich Heine, which was translated into dozens of languages, including 15 translations into Hebrew. When our ship passed in front of the statue of the girl from Loreley, some of the passengers started singing Heine's song in French. It was an exciting and unforgettable moment

We continued to the town of Rüdesheim in Germany. A town of about ten thousand inhabitants that hosts about 3 million tourists a year. The town's economy is based on the wine industry, and it also has a museum of ancient musical instruments

In the late evening we went to hang out in a local nightclub. The way from the ship to the pub and back passes through romantic and charming alleys, which emphasized the feeling of missing out on walking like that also in other villages and towns we passed by

On the fifth day we sailed to Strasbourg in France. On the way we passed cities and towns that you really want to go to for shore tours, such as Speyer or the city of Mannheim, which is close to the beautiful Heidelberg. I was a bit puzzled about who planned this itinerary

In the evening we arrived in Strasbourg, and we were supposed to sail for a night canal cruise. But it was canceled because the municipality of Strasbourg decided to turn off the lighting of the streets and canals to save electricity costs. The next morning we disembarked with our luggage and were taken on a guided tour around the city

What? it's over already? After all, I got used to the comfortable life on the ship and have no desire to part with it

On this Fam Trip, we were lucky that the weather was kind to us. No rain during the cruise. The ship's crew said they had never had such pleasant spring weather in autumn in early November 

The potential of the Jewish orthodox market

Croisi's head office is located in Strasbourg, France. The international sales representative, Julie Tran, visited Tel Aviv & Jerusalem in late September 2022, to develop and promote business with Israeli travel agencies, tour operators and the media. In this framework, she has also shown interest in the religious community, which she considers "a very good niche market."        i

She's familiar with our constraints and requirements regarding kosher and Shabbat observance. "There are religious F.I.T passengers who want kosher food that we cannot provide, so they order vegetarian food in advance."        i

I prefer that Orthodox passengers arrive in an organized group, and preferably charter an entire ship" says Julie Tran. "We are in the process of learning about the needs of religious travelers. I am learning that you have many types of kosher- regular or Mehadrin or Bagats- and we are not able to deal with them. That is why I prefer that the tour operator takes care of the kosher meals and order them from local catering companies suitable for his customers or buys the meats and pastries from accredited kosher along the route. We would consider making the kitchen to be Koshered, and the group's chef would be brought on board with a kosher supervisor. On Kosher cruises, we would use only new dishes from the package, which have not been used before. After the kosher cruise, we would store them in the company's warehouses in Strasbourg until the next kosher cruises."            i

The Croisi management is also working to allow groups to observe Shabbat on cruises. "On charter cruises we can anchor for the entire Shabbat, but not on regular cruises. The non-Jewish passengers should not suffer," says Julie. "In addition, we will offer a magnet to neutralize the electric lock of the room doors, the operation of which involves the desecration of the Sabbath".        i

The Israeli religious tourism company, Asia Travel, is currently conducting advanced negotiations to lease an entire ship from Cruises for 3 consecutive weekly cruises. CEO of Asia Travel, Mr. Nissan Niazov, says that on these kosher cruises, everything is expected to be at a premium level, including kosher gourmet meals that will be prepared by the chef of Croisi along with a chef and a Mashgiah by Asia Travel. These first test of Israeli kosher cruise might be in August on the Rhine River on a 3 deck ship MS GERARD SCHMITTER

These cruises will also show flexibility regarding the itinerary for religious groups. For example, the ship will also anchor in Speyer (Shpeira), one of the cities of Sh"um. There, the passengers will go on a bus trip between 3 Sh"um cities, Shpeira, Vermeiza and Magentza, and will visit Rashi's synagogue and the mikvah named after him, and Jewish cemeteries where the important Rabbis are buried, such as the Maharam of Rothenberg and others. These cruises will not anchor in destinations like Cologne, which have nothing to offer Jewish tourists

I reported to Julie that Israeli tourism wholesalers told me that Cruise's prices are expensive compared to the competitor. She explained: "We should have products that are of the same standard, i.e. same route, same stopover, same category of a vessel and also see all the services included in the price. And it would be the correct comparison. Our price includes many things for which our competitors might charge you an extra fee. For example, our beer and hot drinks are free, while our competitors might charge a fee in a different way or some services on board. Our Wi-Fi is also free. Those who do the math at the end of the cruise can find out that with us it would be a better ratio price/quality compared to other companies."   i

CroisiEurope proposes many cruises destinations including the Nile River in Egypt which some Israeli travel agencies are interested to promote, to see the "Yehor" and the pyramids that our ancestors built. The Nile tour is an 8-day cruise from Luxor to Luxor with the possibility of a 3-day pre-tour in Cairo. Another destination has been proposed to the Israeli travel agencies, the cruise on the Mekong River from Siem Reap in Cambodia to Hô Chi Minh City in Vietnam, her homeland country

When you plan your spring or summer vacation, you should also consider a kosher river cruise as written in our holy Bible: "Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy" (Psalm 98/8)