TRAVEL
using the ships of the world-renowned
Eddie’s Travel
• By JOCHANAN ALTMAN
I
n the past, observant Jews who
wanted to take a holiday had a
problem. It was nearly impossi-
ble to get a package deal that
included kosher food. This was
especially true with regard to the
cruise market. Ships were not
equipped with kosher kitchens. The
most that was offered was canned
food. Not very appetizing on a sea
voyage, where a major selling point is
the sumptuous meals.
One of the entrepreneurs who
changed the holiday market as far as
kosher food is concerned was the late
Eddie Freudmann. He pioneered qual-
ity kosher travel in the 1950s and
played a key role in its worldwide
popularization. In the early 1990s,
Freudmann pioneered kosher kitchens
on cruise ships.
Today, Eddie’s Travel offers kosher
food and a Jewish environment in
many destinations. To enable obser-
vant Jewish clients to plan where they
can spend their next holiday, Eddie’s
Travel operates a Web site for the
deluxe kosher travel industry
(www.koshertravelers.com), where
travelers worldwide can find out
about the latest in luxury kosher trips.
Glatt kosher dining aboard a luxury
liner began 15 years ago on the
Cunard’s five-star Vistafjord ship, and
then on the two luxury ships of the
Orient Lines – the Crown Odyssey
and the Marco Polo. They were the
first cruise ships to offer glatt kosher
14 | The Jerusalem Post Travel Magazine
gourmet meals freshly prepared in a
separate kitchen. A special dining
room was set up for the observant. It
included new dishes, silverware and
glassware and a team of mashgichim
to provide kashrut supervision.
Observant travelers were finally able
to enjoy a first-class cruise with
deluxe meals and service of the high-
est quality.
Eddie’s Travel is one of the only
kosher cruise operators in the world
that brings its own chefs on board to
prepare all cuisine daily. Other cruise
operators use the ship’s chefs to finish
and garnish pre-frozen main dishes.
Eddie’s executive chef is Ariel Porat,
executive chef of the five-star Dan
Acadia hotel in Herzliya.
Another extra touch that Eddie’s
provides is personal service. The gen-
eral manager hosts the tours and cruis-
es, in addition to the expert guides and
world-renowned personalities that are
brought along to enrich the groups’
experience.
After 15 years of running up to nine
kosher cruises in a year, Eddie’s
Travel is no doubt not only the pio-
neer but also the world’s most experi-
enced kosher cruise operators.
Setting sail
This season Eddie’s Travel is organ-
izing glatt kosher cruises, as well as
glatt kosher guided tours. Tuvia Fish,
general manager of Eddie’s Travel,
says, “We have made a great effort to
give our clients excellent cruises and
tours in a Jewish ambience. We are
Italian cruise line Costa, which are
famous not only for their luxurious
settings but also for the high quality of
their service, as well as another luxu-
rious Italian cruise line the MSC.”
This year the company is organizing
five glatt kosher cruises. On July 29,
there is a cruise to Spain and Italy on
the Costa Concordia, with calls in
Spain, Tunisia, Malta and Sicily. On
August 5, a cruise embarks on the
Baltic on the Costa Magica, which
includes St. Petersburg and four Baltic
capitals – Copenhagen, Talin
(Estonia), Stockholm, Helsinki and a
former capital city, St. Petersburg. A
cruise of the Norwegian fiords on the
Costa Magica takes in Norway’s
spectacular coastline; and a cruise to
Italy and Greece on the Costa
Mediterranea includes Venice, Bari
Dubrovnik in Croatia, and the Greek
Isles. The last is a cruise on the MSC
Musica: a tour of the Canary Islands,
Spain and Italy; it will also include
Barcelona, Malaga, Genoa, and
Civitavecchia, the port of Rome. The
cruise will also include a visit to
Gibraltar, a center of Jewish life and
learning for the past 300 years. The
small 650-strong community boasts
four ancient synagogues.
Besides the above cruises, Eddie’s
Travel is organizing a glatt kosher
guided tour cum cruise to the
Galapagos Islands, probably the last
unspoiled place on the planet. The
tour will include Quito – the capital of
Ecuador – and Costa Rica. The com-
pany is also organizing a guided tour
to Australia. ■
Communicated
June 15, 2007