As soon as the tall immigration official spotted our Israeli passports, he took them away and told us to wait on a bench.
We’d unknowingly arrived in Ghana in the middle of a diplomatic kerfuffle. Three days earlier, Israel had detained seven Ghanaians – including four parliamentary staffers en route to a cybersecurity conference in Tel Aviv – and deported three of them.
We were in Accra preparing to embark on a 12-day “Wellness at Sea” cruise down the west coast of Africa. After three anxious hours on the bench, with the help of the cruise line’s local representative and the Israeli Embassy, we finally got our passports back and were on our way – but three other Israelis were deported from Ghana that day, as The Jerusalem Post reported.
‘Crystal Symphony’
Our frazzled nerves were soothed with kir royale cocktails as soon as we boarded the Crystal Symphony, a mid-sized luxury cruise ship that can accommodate 606 guests.
Our Sapphire Veranda suite was about 40 meters square, with a separate living room and dining area.
The beds were made up with hand-embroidered Italian Jesurum Venezia 1870 linens, and the pillow menu offered a range of options from fluffy to firm.
We were provided not just one but TWO robes each – a plush terry cloth wrap and a lightweight kimono for trips to the pool and spa (plus slippers, of course).
The bathroom was stocked with toiletries from Ortigia – a small Italian soap and scent company that uses natural ingredients indigenous to Sicily.
But the most impressive feature of our suite was our butler, Greg, a charming Polish gentleman dressed in a tailcoat.
He made dinner reservations, took care of our laundry, found me an adjustable desk chair and extra-spicy ginger ale, delivered afternoon canapés, and (I suspect) assured our complimentary box of chocolate truffles was magically refilled.
Hanukkah at Sea
Crystal generally has a rabbi on board its ships for Passover, the High Holy Days, and Hanukkah.
Rabbi Edward Goldman, a Talmudic scholar and professor emeritus at Hebrew Union College, led Shabbat and Hanukkah services on our cruise – lighting electric “candles” because open flames aren’t allowed.
The ship served a special treat for each night of Hanukkah, including latkes (twice), sufganiyot (round, fried pastries), a dreidel-shaped cake, kosher wine, and a challah in the shape of a menorah.
The rabbi’s wife, Ronit, arranged a communal Shabbat dinner on our second Friday at sea. The menu in the main Waterside dining room that night featured kosher chicken with latkes and applesauce.
Food, glorious food
In addition to the Waterside, the Crystal Symphony has three specialty restaurants:
• Umi Uma is the only Nobu restaurant at sea, with Japanese-Peruvian cuisine, including sushi.
• Osteria D’Ovidio offers traditional and updated Italian dishes from the Michelin-rated Alajmo brothers.
• Beefbar’s menu includes upscale versions of street food and comfort food – such as chicken fried in Kobe beef tallow and bao buns made with Wagyu beef.
The ship also has a bistro café, a grill, a buffet, a gelato bar supplied from Badiani in Florence, and 24-hour in-room dining. (Matzah ball soup is on the room service menu.)
Because this was a wellness cruise, many of the menus featured lighter and healthier options.
Although the ship’s kitchen isn’t normally under rabbinical supervision, kosher meat can be requested at least 90 days before sailing.
Pickleball and sound baths
My mornings often started with breathing and stretching exercises in the Palm Court, with a 180-degree view of the ocean, under the direction of a genial Finn named Magnus.
After breakfast, it was time for Pickleball lessons with Chip, who teaches the sport at the University of Alabama. The rocking deck and wind that could stop a ball in mid-air added to the challenge.
The schedule for one typical sea day included yoga, a body sculpting boot camp, a golf clinic, acupuncture, aquatic fitness, ping pong, nutrition consultation, a line dancing class, making bracelets with baobab nuts, a core values workshop, and a sound bath.
Evening entertainment included movies, musical performances, dancing, and the casino.
For those who preferred quieter pursuits, the library was well-stocked with books and games, and there was also a hot tub, steam room, and sauna.
Cotonou, Benin
Arriving in the city of Cotonou in the West African country of Benin, we drove past a vibrant graffiti mural – almost a kilometer long and created by 40 artists from Africa and abroad. The immaculate beachfront was lush with palm trees and flowering shrubs.
Next to the Convention Center, in the Place de l’Amazone, a 30-meter-tall statue honors the legendary Dahomey Agojie – the all-female army founded in the 17th century depicted in the 2022 film The Woman King.
A quick stop at an open-air market was followed by a dance performance.
São Tomé
São Tomé and Príncipe is an island nation about 250 kilometers off the coast of Gabon. With a population of about 200,000, it’s the second-smallest African country.
It’s one of the least-visited places on the planet, with only about 13,000 visitors per year. It’s home to almost 200 endemic species – more per square kilometer than anywhere else on earth, another world record – and is a burgeoning ecotourism destination, with jungle trekking, volcanic peaks, waterfalls, and whale-watching.
The country also has a tragic Jewish history. In 1496, King Manuel I punished Portuguese Jews who refused to pay a head tax by deporting almost 2,000 Jewish children to the islands.
These children – age two to ten – were forced to convert to Catholicism and put to work in the sugar trade. Only 600 of them survived their first year. Somehow, their descendants managed to maintain some of their Jewish practices until at least the 18th century.
Luanda, Angola
Luanda is the capital and largest city of Angola, with a population of more than 8.8 million. The cityscape combines striking modern architecture with well-maintained colonial-era buildings.
The Museum of the Armed Forces, inside the Saint Michael Fortress built by the Portuguese in 1576, provides a panoramic view from its ramparts.
In addition to military artifacts (from cannons to airplanes) and displays on Angola’s wars, the museum has a large room lined with hand-painted blue-and-white Portuguese tiles (azulejos) that tell the story of Angola and illustrate the native flora and fauna – including a shy warthog.
Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, Namibia
We started our Namibian tour by visiting flocks of flamingos in a lagoon. Flamingos aren’t born pink – the babies we saw were grey. The birds turn pink because they eat brine shrimp, and the shrimp eat algae loaded with natural pigments called carotenoids that also make carrots orange and tomatoes red.
We then explored the Namib Sand Sea – a UNESCO World Heritage site of towering dunes – and had the opportunity to climb Dune 7 (383 meters tall). (It’s also possible to go on ATV and camel rides and paraglide down the dunes.)
The Namib is an extremely dry desert, with only 5 mm of rainfall per year on the coast. It’s almost completely devoid of vegetation.
However, local wildlife has adapted to live on the moisture that comes ashore as fog.
The native fog-basking beetles come out at night to climb the dunes and stand on their forelegs to capture water droplets that run down their bodies into their mouths.
The Namib sand gecko has oversize eyes that help it detect prey. Like most geckos, it doesn’t have eyelids, so it cleans its eyes by licking them.
Our delightful guide, Björn (an 8th-generation Namibian), regaled us with stories about growing up on a “farm” that raised the “big five”: lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, and Cape buffalo – the most dangerous and difficult animals to hunt on foot.
His family sold the animals to other wildlife preserves – never to zoos or for hunting.
Our next stop was Swakopmund, a coastal resort founded by German colonists in 1896 and still occupied by many of their German-speaking descendants. A New York Times article described the town as having “the dislocating feel of a Baltic Sea resort set in the tropics.”
The local architecture includes brightly colored shops, a neo-Baroque church, an Art Nouveau former brothel, and an adorable half-timbered prison – still in use.
We were treated to tastings of local gin and craft beer. Björn told us that when British tourists find out that the local beer only costs about one British pound, they often buy rounds for the bar – making them very popular with the locals.
Cape Town and Stellenbosch, South Africa
The ship arrived in Cape Town half a day early, giving me time to visit the South African Jewish Museum and Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Center. The museums share a walled garden with synagogues, a Jewish library, a kosher café, and a gift shop where you can find African-themed Judaica such as a gold-beaded lion Hanukkiah.
A cheap Uber ride took us to the base of Table Mountain where, sadly, the rotating cable car to the summit was closed due to high winds. The “table cloth” of clouds pouring over the mountaintop into the city below is one of the world’s most stunning natural wonders.
After leaving the ship on the last day of the cruise, we sampled local vintages on the way to the airport at the Boschendal Winery founded in 1685.
We then toured Stellenbosch, a university town founded in 1679 and known for its oak-shaded streets, cafes, boutiques, galleries, and Cape Dutch architecture.
Stellenbosch Synagogue is home to a congregation founded in 1900. The university, with about 150 Jewish students, also has a Chabad rabbi.
Cruising with ‘Crystal’
Crystal was voted the Top Midsize-Ship Ocean Cruise Line in the Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards 2025 readers’ survey. Afar Magazine recently named Crystal Symphony as being one of the best cruise ships in the world.
Crystal will be spending 2026 cruising around Africa and the Indian Ocean, Asia, Alaska, North and South America, and the Caribbean.
“Wellness at Sea” voyages from Vancouver to San Diego and San Diego to Guayaquil, Ecuador, are scheduled for August.
For more information, visit crystalcruises.com.
The writer was the guest of Crystal.