Images of Lord Shri Jaganath and Shri Mandir in Royal Caribbean Cruise 🚢: ( by Lokanath Mishra ): Jai Prabhu Shri Jaganath ! On 27.09.2023 my family ( my self, wife, son, daughter in law, grand daughter, grandson total six) joined the Explorer of the Seas in Galveston , Houston, USA by Royal Caribbean cruise ship 🚢 From here I along with my family headed across the Sea to Mexico. No stops – just water. It’s not a typical cruise experience but it gives me a good chance to explore what there is to do on the sea. Very interestingly, I found the images of lord Shri Jaganath and Shri Mandira in different places of the cruise ship. I was very much surprised to see such beautiful images of Prabhu Shri Jaganath in the Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship. I inquired from different sources to ascertain about such images but no one was able to furnish any information about such images. However at last one Mr. K. S. Patil ( a inhabitant of Goa) who is working in the housekeeping section of the cruise ship since last five years has thrown light about such images. He has said the following: - -/-That The Royal Caribbean’s cruise 🚢 which is running in between USA ( Galveston) and Mexico ( Cozumel ) can carry more than 5,500 guests and more than 1,600 crew members. During the year 2020 this cruise ship had a major outbreak on board, with the ship quarantined from 24 February 2020 for about one month and detained at Cozumel. Of 7,100 passengers and crew, around 400 people became infected in Covid-19. This fact was reported in media . During that particular incident one Patel’s family was traveling in the cruise ship and this family was consisting of 12 members including children. This family was also detained along with 7,100. During that particular time every one in the cruise ship were panicked along with the chief except the Patel’s family members who constantly looking at the images of lord Shri Jaganath and started making prayers to save all the 7,100 persons. All the family members also did Hare Krishna bhajan in front of the image of lord ShriJaganath in the deck . All the family members seemed very calm and they were engaged with the bhajan happily. To this many co passengers went upto the family and saw the picture which was of the two round eyes of Lord Jagannath. The Patel family told them that they are worshipping the lord as they believe that they all will be definately saved by Lord Jagannath. The family informed that earlier in their lives they had overcome many difficulties situations by the blessings of the Lord Shri Jaganath. Other passengers were shocked to see such a deep believe . Though many passengers and crews were of other religious origin such as Christians and Muslims etc but they made 200 nos of copies of images of lord Shri Jaganath and all sat in halls and prayers room and started praying Lord Jaganath by keeping His image in front of them . All the people of the cruise ship joined them too for prayers and bhajan . After a few days the passengers found that all the affected passengers were completely cured from Covid-19. All the 7,100 people deeply overwhelmed and emotional and thanked the patel family. Many people told them that their deep believe and devotion led to Lord Jagannath save them all. Since then many images of lord Shri Jaganath are still visible in this cruise ship 🚢— The above 👆 one is the fact about finding of images of lord Shri Jaganath in the cruise ship 🚢. Now let’s see the other aspects of the cruise ship. There are grey skies when I board in Galveston in the afternoon . An ominous sign – perhaps of the hair colour of my fellow passengers. I head straight up on deck and… it’s empty. A cold wind blows across and drags with it the music from a sad speaker. The bar is closed, there’s nobody in the pool. On third day we along with most of the passengers were using the day in port to go out and explore mexico. By the afternoon, the sun has come out and the passengers have come on board and many are up on the top decks. The bars are open and a band is playing calypso pop in front of the pool. There’s movement and noise everywhere and, as we start to pull out of port, I get rather excited. I run around, trying to look at everything from different angles, waving to the people I imagine are on shore, thinking about what suckers they are, not here on this enormous cruise ship. Hasn’t my tune changed!! By definition, a cruise ship is designed to take you to new places. One of the great appeals of travelling like this is that you never have to change rooms but you can be in a new city every day. It’s a bit like teleportation – just with a bit of a longer wait and more bingo. So it’s a strange experience for me to have several days where there is no new place. Although, having said that, the Explorer of the Seas is a new place for me so I decide to treat the ship as the destination. Life on a ship is different to life on land. You lose perspective. Everything you need to know is contained within this metal hull. You lose sense of time and even sense of the date. Luckily there is a reminder on the floor of every elevator of what day it is. (I don’t know who replaces them but they seem to be up to date even minutes after midnight.) Royal Caribbean clearly realises that cruise ships are more than transportation these days and they have decked out the whole vessel with things to do. Up top there is a putt putt course (from which I lose a ball somewhere overboard…), a surf machine called a Flow Rider and even a climbing wall. All of them are relatively empty for the days I am on the cruise because this trip is aimed at an older market. Now that it’s based in Australia and it becomes more of a family and party ship, I imagine this will be a popular. Of course there are pools and hot tubs, conveniently located close to bars and the self-serve ice cream machine (I swear someone filled up a pint glass and not a cone one time!). But these are standard fare on cruise ships these days. Explorer of the Seas takes the facilities even further – with an ice rink and a 3D cinema a few floors below. Some people choose not to use any of them, it seems. As I mentioned, the passengers on this trip are older than usual – mainly because of the length of the route In fact, about 900 of the 3000 passengers have come all the way from Southampton in the UK – more than two months at sea. So it makes sense that many people just spend their days sitting on a deckchair reading a book, doing crossword puzzles, or crocheting . But you can’t do that all the time and if the surf machine and the climbing wall aren’t your style… well, then there’s the social agenda! A chirpy blonde young British woman is reading out the answers to the evening’s trivia competition at one of the bars on level four. There are several trivia events each day and they each have a different theme. This one is ‘Eighties Music’. (I think it is referring to the decade, not the age of the participants.) The blonde compere reveals one of the answers from a musical question: “Yes, it’s ‘Land Down Under’ by Men at Work.” Someone quickly shoots up their hand, and shouts out even faster: “Excuse me. I think you’ll find that the correct name of the title is just ‘Down Under’, thank you very much!” Some people take their social events at sea very seriously. And fair enough – after all, there are some free Royal Caribbean pens on offer as a prize! Every evening a programme of events for the next day is delivered to your room and it’s an impressive collection of activities. There are the aforementioned trivia competitions and bingo games. There are lectures from experts and, interestingly, casual debates where people sit around one of the bars and are led through a discussion on a topic. (I’m amused, as I wander through the ship trying to find a good spot for wifi, that I stumble upon a debate going on in a pub about whether constantly being connected online is a good or a bad thing.) There are organised gatherings for people with different interests and even a regular lunch for those who are travelling solo, so they can get to know some of their fellow passengers. When I see groups of people sitting at tables around the ship playing cards together, I wonder whether they knew each other beforehand or met on board. If I had to bet, I would guess the latter. (Well, if I really had to bet, I would go to the casino – have I mentioned there’s one of them on the ship too?) One evening I meet an Australian woman who has been on several cruises but tells me this is her first one alone. She’s had a great time so far, though, and has made plenty of new friends. She’s alone right now, though, because she wanted to come and listen to the performer at one of the pubs. This singer/guitarist plays most nights and has a loyal following amongst the passengers. I can see why – when I come back the next night he has learned a couple of songs that I requested the previous evening that he didn’t then know. There’s no shortage of entertainment on Explorer of the Seas and different venues across the ship have singers, comedians, cabaret artists and dancers all throughout the day and well into the night. It’s impossible to see it all and, even within the one ship, you would feel lost if you tried. I do feel lost at first and, to get my bearings, I use the main eating area as a navigation point. (My room is down 6 floors on the right; the gym is on the 10 th level towards the front; the library is… oh, I don’t think I ever found the library.) My son’s cabin is in 8th floor. It makes sense to use this restaurant as a constant reference because I am there constantly. One of the things I love about being on a ship is I don’t have to go out in search of food three times a day (as I usually do when travelling on land). I know that when I’m hungry, all I have to do is walk in to Windjammers (as it’s called) and there will be a buffet selection to choose from. Oh well, I had two breakfasts as well so I might as well just succumb to cruising life and keep on eating. I imagine it would get a bit tiresome to go to the buffet three times a day (or more, if you’re like me) if you’re on a long cruise. Which is why there are a few other options on board. There is a more formal restaurant spread over three levels where you will be served courses at your table, rather than having to go up to the buffet. The food is of a similar quality (very good, I must say) and I feel that you would come here for a change of scenery and style, more than anything else. But there are also new dining experiences that have been added to Explorer of the Seas that I think are pretty impressive. I try out three high-end restaurants during the time I’m on the ship. First there’s the steak restaurant where the meat is cooked perfectly, there’s the Italian restaurant where (like most Italian meals) there’s much more than I can finish eating, and then the Japanese restaurant with fantastic sushi and sashimi. (When the ship lurches a bit while at dinner, I joke with my travel companions that we just hit a whale and it’ll be on the table soon. I am sure the waiter laughs and then looks nervously at the kitchen!) The meals at Windjammers and the other main dining room and free (well, included in the cruise ticket), but these other restaurants have an extra cost. At the Japanese restaurant, you pay by the item – but the other two have a fixed extra cost (about US$25-$30) and then you can order as much as you want from the menu. Ultimately it’s this variety on the ship that we find so pleasurable during the cruise. Oh, and we also like the familiarity and routine. I guess it’s that combination. When you don’t want to think, you don’t have to. You can wander up to get food without making a decision, you can sit by the pool and read a book, you can find the guitarist at the same pub doing the songs you asked for the night before. You don’t even have to choose new requests! But when you get a little bored or feel like doing something fresh, there are always plenty of options available to you. The mind can be challenged at trivia or at a debate; the body can be invigorated climbing up a wall or on a surf machine; social skills can be put to good use with new friends. Jai lord Shri Jaganath.