Aboard MV Nordic Empress (special) -- Judging by this Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Jewish singles are flocking to the sea to find adventure, friendship -- and jobs.

Thanks to the regular Friday night Shabbat service, Nancy and I met five upbeat Jewish crew members who told us that if a career-minded person likes to travel, doesn't mind long hours or close quarters, and has an outgoing personality, a life at sea may be for him or her.

The five perform a variety of jobs aboard this vessel where 667 crew members look after 1,519 passengers. Matthew Horelick and Jill Abrams are members of the youth staff. Nichola Hyman is part of the cruise staff. Adam Isban coordinates travel groups which come aboard the ship. And Daniel Poll, who conducted the recent seder for approximately two dozen passengers and crew during our roundtrip cruise from New York to Bermuda, is the crew relations manager.

Leading seders is not in Poll's job description; he does it as a volunteer. The native of Melbourne, Australia, said he's quite comfortable reading and chanting Hebrew, having being schooled at Mount Scopus College, a combination primary and secondary school which he proudly describes as "the largest Jewish school in the southern hemisphere."

Poll, 35, had followed a career in banking until six years ago, when "I decided that there is more to life than what was going on. I didn't have a special girlfriend, life was meandering along, and I wanted to travel more."

His first job at sea was with the Florida-based Premier Cruise Lines, where he worked as a purser handling the ship's paperwork associated with immigration and customs. Then he stepped up to the multi-ship Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, flying from Miami to Singapore to become part of the purser's (business office) staff on a cruise ship that was sailing on an Asian itinerary.

"I spent Yom Kippur in Hong Kong," he recalled. "I remember taking the ferry across in my suit-- it was very humid -- and I was trying to fast. It was difficult."

While he didn't get the day off exactly (days off at sea are quite rare), "I arranged to do a night shift as night purser, so I worked midnight to 7 a.m., , slept a few hours and went to shul in the afternoon."

Not a typical Yom Kippur, but when you're traveling at sea, one must be prepared to improvise.

Poll recalled that he was aboard another RCCL ship, The Enchantment of the Seas, one year as Chanukah approached. The ship's staff decided to host a Chanukah celebration for the passengers. The chef inquired of Poll how many he thought he should prepare food for. "Based on another ship which was bigger, I said maybe 70 or 80," Poll said. "So we made 1-2 announcements (over the ship public address system) and 250 people showed up.

"On the second night, a guy came up and thanked me with tears in his eyes," Poll said. "He said the last time he went to a Chanukah service was in 1941 or 1942 in Europe before his family was taken away by the nazis. He said that was the last time he had anything to do with Chanukah until he came on the ship. That had quite an effect on me."

What advice has Poll for people just out of college who might want a life at sea? "You have to be very flexible," he replied. "You have to work long hours withoug days off. You have to have an outgoing personality. I suppose you have to get used to missing home. But on the other hand, be aware that the people you meet on the ship are very friendly and outgoing and will become a pretty close family."

Jill Abrams, 22, a recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (and a product of Congregation B'nai Shalom in Rockville Center, New York, and Camp Akiva in the Poconos) is enthusiastic about her life as a member of the youth staff aboard the ship. "I am so happy, I really am," she said. "I try to describe it in letters and postcards to my friends but there is nothing that you can compare to this.

JILL ABRAMS Yuoth staff

 I thought maybe sleep-away camp, or maybe going away to college, dorm life and stufrf, but you can't compare it to anything. It is just that wonderful!"

While growing up, Abrams "went to day camp and sleep-away camp for 12 years, then I became a counselor and worked at recreation places. My degree is in education and recreation."

She was six weeks into her first cruise when I interviewed her. She told me that she had introduced children on board the ship to a new game - "Huggy Bear" -- in which "you yell out a number and the kids have to form a group in that number." She adds: "We never make anyone get out, because we want everyone to have fun."

Matthew Horelick, 26, grew up at Temple Beth Shalom in Las Vegas, and was graduated with a major in recreation from the University of Nevada at Reno. He has been on the Royal Caribbean youth staff for three years. 

Programs are provided aboard the ships for children ages 3 through 17. "There are four different age groupings: 3 to 5, 6-8, 9-12 and 13-17," he said. 

"We have theme nights every night, like country and western, rock and roll, and a big alien night. We have an adventure science program where the kids make slime and silly balls, blow up volcanos and solve mysteries. We do a lot of scavenger hunts, dancing games, arts and crafts. It is a lot of fun." Horelick says the part of the job he enjoys most is helping a shy child get over his or her fears and enjoy the cruise. "You have to make them feel welcome," he said. "It's a different environment, especially for the young kids who are not used to a staff, or facilities, or other kids. What I like to do is sit down and try to talk about something they

READY FOR SHABBAT--Making sure everything is in readiness for shabbat in a lounge on the stern of  M.V Nordik Empress were three Jewish crew  members. From left, thay are Daniel Poll, manager  of crew relations, Nichola Hyman, cruise staff, and  Matthew Horelick, youth staff.

 enjoy, whether it is a movie, Pokemon toys, and then try to draw them somehow into the programs."

What is typical with teens, he said, is "the first night they don't want to come in and you convince them to come in. And it is cool when some teenagers come up and say 'Thanks a lot, you made our cruise.' Or you get a letter from them, a few months later, and they say 'I really miss you guys and the memories I have.'"

Cruise staff member Nichola Hyman, 25, spent her childhood at Heaton Park Synagogue and the King David School of Manchester, England, and spent a year in Israel living on various kibbutzim. She also worked as a waitress in Eilat for five months.

Her first job in the cruise industry was a six-month contract as a shipboard cocktail waitress. She loved the life at sea, and upon her return to land, started applying to become a member of the cruise staff, which is responsible for leading adult passengers in fun activities. On any given cruise, she said, she will be "doing all the day activities with the passengers, such as the Bingo and the 60's night, the Western Night, the stretch classes," Hyman said. "Being with the passengers and making them enjoy their vacation -- that is what I am here for." Cruise staff positions are quite coveted because, as opposed to other shipboard jobs where contact is limited, there are many opportunities for interaction and forming friendships with the passengers. "For nearly two years, I was applying for this job,"

ADAM ISBAN Group coordonator

 she said. "Due to my persistence, I am here now." She added that although people who have backgrounds in recreation and entertainment may have an advantage for the cruise staff jobs, "I feel that due to my personality and outgoingness, I am able to do this job successfully."

For young, energetic adults out there who might want the same kind of job, Hyman advises: "Be yourself. Whatever you want in your life, you can do it. You just have to go for it. If you have the ambition, you can get what you want. If you have confidence, and don't give up, you can just get out there and give it your all."

As group coordinator, Adam Isban, 28, is something of a traveling ombudsman.

"I make sure the groups on board have a good time. I serve as their liaison to the rest of the ship. Say they come on board and they have arranged for a cocktail party or for meeting rooms-- things like that -- I tell the other crew members on ship what is needed, and they get it done." In one recent cruise, Isban had responsibility for 26 separate groups, ranging in size from parties of 8 to 126. A product of Temple Beth El in Merrick, Long Island, and a business school graduate

CRUISE SHIP SHABBAT--Passengers abrod the  M.V Nrdic Empress gather for a late friday  afternoon Shabbat sirvice first seating dinner  challah, wine, candles and siddurim are supplid by the ship for a Kabbalat Shabbat sirvice.

of the State University of New York at Buffalo, Merrick had worked in a variety of jobs for Regal Cruise Line, Commodore Cruises, and Carnival Cruises before joining Royal Carribean.

He started his career at sea on the purser's staff, then moved over to the gift shop. He was about to go on a Mediterranean cruise as a gift shop employee when he was transferred instead to the group coordinator position on this ship. Although he had been looking forward to the Mediterranean, the position meant a bigger cabin, more money and more fun.

Working with groups can be challenging. There was a time last summer, on a Vancouver to Alaska cruise itinerary, that two members in a group of 138 arrived from Spain with a serious problem. Somewhere en route from their country, their luggage with passports inside were either lost or stolen.

"We had to find some way to get them back into their country," Isban recalled. "We met with them, with United States Customs, Canadian Customs and called back to Toronto to the Spanish consulate, and were able to tell them what they needed to do .. and so unanticipated things do pop up."

In fact, he said, an unanticipated call recently came to his cabin at 5 a.m. "Some group leaders were complaining that room service hadn't been delivered to their cabins," Isban said. "Normally I don't deal with room service, but it's my job to solve problems.

"But this time, one of the problems was that at 5 o'clock in the morning, I am not conscious." He imitated himself talking groggily into the telephone: "What food? Room service? I don't want room service. Oh, you want room service! Okay!"