The Philadelphian's experience Machol Yam, Israeli dancing on the Liberty Of The Seas

From left to right, we see Wendy, Elaine, Esther, Elana, David, John, Menachem and Aaron. Missing is a picture of Iris. Except for Aaron, all were part of the cruise with Aaron being part of a pre cruise marathon. The Friedmans and Franks are regulars at the Germantown and Beth Sholom sessions. The Franks, with the addition of the others (Elana, Iris, Esther and Menachim) are also regulars at the Thursday Israeli dance session at Adath Israel.

And, of course, if you are going to do quite a bit of Israeli dance in workshops, it's not a bad idea to have choreographers and instructors accompanying you. Above, we see Gadi Bitton, Yaron Ben Simhon, Yaron Carmel and Maor Ben Ami bookended by pictures of them all leading a dance session on land the night before the cruise begins.

Below, we will be discussing the Liberty Of the Seas in more detail and we will give more details of the cruise, but ships must be based at a harbor to restock all the provitions needed for these types of trips. Ships of this size can't be based just anywhere. Up to 2009, you could board this ship in Port Miami but presently the port that houses this ship through the winter and spring months is Port Everglades which is designated as being in Fort Lauderdale. Ths port is so big that several municipalities could and do claim ownership. The port, somewhat north of Miami and about half an hour from that city by car, started as Lake Mabel and has had a continuing ongoing dredging operation which allows deep depth ships, like the Liberty Of the Seas, easy navigation. This seaport is relatively close to Ft Lauderdale/Hollywood international airport and shuttles provide frequent service to the port. In addition, many hotels and motels abut the port location. You can see the port in operation through a 24 hour web cam at www.porteverglades.com which is represented by the third shot above. The final shot is of Fort Lauderdale's beaches as the cruise gets underway.

Here's the trip particulars: The cruise was for what is designated as five days, departure evening of Feb 9 though the morning of Feb 13 with the ship visiting Cozumel, Mexico (an island south of Cancun and across from Playa Del Carman) in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. On the night before the cruise, Feb 8th, an Israeli dance marathon was held on-land at the JCC in North Miami Beach where Peggy Elimelech holds her sessions. The pictures above show these festivities as they are underway. Even those not on the cruise were in attendance and here's where we see Aaron Rosenberg, who recently moved into Florida after having lived for a while in the Philadelphia area. Readers of this web site are familiar with Aaron as the host of several successful Israeli dance marathon 'oldies' events.

Publicity for the cruise had dated back for a few months. For many of the participants this could substitute as a winter vacation. No doubt it might have been better attended if it had been synchronized with the President's Day weekend occurring a week later. Of course, you never know what obstacles per price and/or availabiity that would have precluded this. Above we see some of the prior publicity including the workshop scheduling.

On the night of Feb 8th, as indicated in a prior montage and the schedule above, a pre-cruise marathon was the order of that night. Our intrepid group, most of whom had flown down that day, participated in this pre-sail marathon as you can see above in several pictures. Like many of the pictures in this script, these are stills derived from a video.

And, the next day, it was boarding the ship for the cruise to Cozumel. For those unaware, cruise ships today are like little cities providing all sorts of facilities. In terms of sports, wall climbing, basketball, pools with surfing possibilities, fully equipped gyms are the norm. On many cruise ships, including this one, abundant shopping is found in the middle of the ship on what is called 'the promenade'. This acts like an American Mall. And, for those inclined, there is substantial space on one floor (On ships this is called a deck) dedicated to a casino. Ballrooms are available for shows. Massages are readily available. And of course, food is a given, and besides the big dining room, alternative dining areas are available. It really becomes a resort on the seas.

Royal Caribbean has been doing this for many years. Theoretically the company is Norwegian but it is split between offices in London and Brazil. Research, which has not been verified, indicates that it operates over 40 ships around the world. Starting in 1999, the 'Seas' designation was applied to a class of super large cruise ships (the company calls these the Freedom class) and the Liberty of the Sea is one these ships of the Freedom class. This ship currently uses Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades as its home port (as indicated above) for about seven months of the year and it was reportedly the largest cruise ship in the world when built and when it entered service in 2007 although this has been eclipsed by newer ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet. Above, you can see some of Royal Caribbean's advertising to the left and to the right are additional pictures of the ship taken by members of our group.

For those studying architecture (and especially naval architecture) the size of these ships are astounding. During World War II, somewhat over 60 years ago, the most massive ship was the Japanese battleship, Yamato, sunk during the battle of Okinawa in 1945. The USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz aircraft carrier and the heaviest ship in the US navy is about 20% heavier than the Yamato. But, these are light weights compared to the Freedom class of Royal Carribbean ships, of which the Liberty of the Seas is a part, weighing more than double the Yamato. But even the Freedom class is dwarfed by the Royal Caribbean Oasis class which in itself is 50% larger. How have these larger weights and size been possible as far naval construction is concerned? Technology is all the rule here. Our intrepid group probably didn't realize that changes in construction techniques involving more advanced drydocks, changes in propeller construction and design for rotatability and onboard computer systems which control navigation have allowed for these giant behemoths. In the ports, dredging operations have allowed for more depth and these ships have taken advantage of this in depth underwater. But, like all cruise passengers, this is not what is impressive to our group: it is the many amenities provided on and by the ship and the crew.

One of the amenities, as indicated above, has to do with food. The above pictures show members of our intrepid group sampling and sipping various fares. There are a lot of possibilities per food and drink for those passengers for whom the dining room is both the be-all and end-all of a cruise. But, in this case, while the Philadelphia based dancers appreciated the variety of food available on board, their main focus was on learning, perfecting and doing the israeli dances presented. And, anyone who has studied this web site knows that israeli dancing is not sedantary. Just the fact that our group enjoys the pursuit of Israeli dance tells you that they would also be interested in other non sedantary activities.

With the size and glamor of this ship, one would expect the rooms to be large and well appointed. Discussions with our group as they returned proved that noone's expectations were disappointed. But all remarked about the figurines in various forms that one would see around the ship. Above, we see such. The first are figurines adorning one of thpools. The last two are figurines made up of towels and linen hanging in staterooms.

The pictures above in this montage are an example of what we are talking about per non-sedentary activities. This is the morning stretching regimen offered on the ship. These pictures capture Wendy exercising and partnering with Gadi Bitton which may have been the highlight of the cruise for her. This is a natural activity for Wendy (can you tell by her flexibilty) as she is an aerobics instructor in the Philadelphia area. But the others also partook of the many available activities afforded on the ship. For example, Iris reports that she tried wall climbing, the surfing pool, basketball on the court and the gym. Active people need active pursuits both in their everyday life and while on vacation.

The main site for dancing was the ship's stage. Every evening, the ship's performers would put on a show. This show would be performed after all the dinners had been served, consumed and cleaned up. These shows might go on for an hour if not more. You can see from this time schedule that it wouldn't be that far from 12 midnight that the final bow was taken. After the performances, the stage was rearraged for Israeli dancing. Since the dancing couldn't start much before 12Am, it would go on into the night. Above, to the left, you can see the stage as decked out for the nightly performance, and then to the right we see other shots of dancers on stage as things get organized for dancing.

Whatever the delay, eventually the dancing begins as shown above. You can see the edge of the stage quite clearly and the stage is pretty packed. We don't think anyone got hurt by falling off the stage but no doubt this was a concern to many dancers. This web site is required to be truthful in its reporting and one of dancers was not pleased with this crowded space. This dancer considered this to be a facet of poor planning by the workshop organizers. We should also report that the others that we talked with are hoping that the organizer of this cruise/workshop will do this again so they can redo this adventure. Obviously, we do know that many were satisfied.

The Franks and the Friedmans are regulars at the Sunday morning Germantown session. That session has many favorites and one of these dances is Tagidi Lo, choreographed by Gadi Bitton, and known affectionately at that session as 'Ling Ling'. Since Gadi was one of the instructors of Machol Yam, many of his dances were played and we have been told "Ling Ling" was played at each session. David Friedman took a video of Wendy and John being in the center of the circle during one of the late night sessions on the ship. Above, we have made stills of this video and give you a participant's view of Wendy and John (and about 140 others) dancing 'ling ling' one night.

This cruise centered around the 2nd weekend of February 2012. For some of the dancers, Friday night was reserved for more serious matters which included a formal get together. Above we see some pictures of this. These ships, beside dining areas, gym and sports facilities, and entertainment areas also have plenty of space for what could be considered as community rooms if this was occurring on land at a residential complex.

The Liberty of the Seas makes four and five night cruises for most of the year (October through end of April) from its base in Fort Lauderdale. During the summer months, the ship crosses the Atlantic and provides cruises throughout the Mediterrean from its summer base in Barcelona, Spain. While based in the US, the ship makes many a call on Cozumel, an island resort just south of Cancun in the Yucatan, the portion of Southern Mexico that juts out into the Gulf. Cozumel was established by the Mayans. Since the 1960's, the Governement of Mexico has spent considerable time and effort making this part of Eastern Mexico a destination for travelers looking for a luxurious R & R. We assume that the harbor has been prepared for behemoths such as the Libery Of the Seas, a very different breed of transportation from the canoes the Mayan indians would have used for their initial visits. Using the official Cozumel website (we hope they don't mind that we have borrowed a few of their pictures) we present some pictures of the resort above.

Our intrepid group of dancers took enough time from their passion and hobby to explore the wonders of this island. Above, through the courtesy of the Franks, are some pictures they took as they were exploring. We have no word whether Cozumel has the answer to the riddle of what happens on Dec 22nd of this year when the Mayan calender runs out. But from what we can see, per the pictures taken by everyone, that this was not a concern for the Frank's as they explored the island or during our group's stay on the ship.