Options
Israel/Jordan Waldorf Astoria for Shabbat Dinner April 30th thru May 13th 2023
All these posts have been a wealth of information and I thank you for all of them! One question left as leaving tomorrow ~ just how dressy is the Shabbat dinner at the Waldorf? I know you should not wear black, and that every guest (locals) arrive impeccably but not sure what to pack for this one occasion 🤦‍♀️
0
Comments
We recently returned form this tour, can’t recall a Shabbat dinner, but can tell you the service at the Waldorf was terrible. Apparently staff change frequent and it shows.
Thank you. Our TD WhatsApp’d us as this would be the night to really dress up. Well, take me as I am! I guess I dress more California ish🤷‍♀️ Good to know about service. Thank you once again.
There was a Shabbat dinner at the Orient Jerusalem when we were there on "Jerusalem, the Red Sea & Petra." It wasn't part of the Tauck tour, which began the following night, but I was chatting with a woman in the lobby who was headed to the dinner. She was wearing a nice dress, but nothing fancy. Her husband and yeshiva-student son wore jackets and ties.
Thank you MCD
We took this tour one year ago. We were not in Jerusalem on Friday night, so did not experience Shabbat there. We were able to choose one of three nights to have the included dinner at the Waldorf. Perhaps different arrangements are made for Shabbat. We enjoyed our stay at the Waldorf and did not experience any problems with service. In Tel Aviv, we saw people going to Shabbat dinner. They were dressed nicely, but not fancy.
This is a wonderful tour. Enjoy.
I’m in Jerusalem right now and the weather is sunny and hot ~ 90 degree’s. The morning was hectic and we covered the Old City through the Gates of Jaffa, The 4 Sephardic Synagogues and The Western Wall. Lots of walking, but at a reasonable pace with a lunch break at a great café overlooking the Dome of the Rock and Mount of Olives. Some nice time this afternoon to relax before Shabbat Dinner at Hotel (Waldorf Astoria). The Waldorf Astoria has been wonderful with very attentive staff.
JDallas - Have you or will you be seeing the laser light show at the Tower of David? I really enjoyed it.
We saw it in April.
The Waldorf must have had some more staff training. It took my husband three tries to order coffee at breakfast and at our dinner there, nothing special, one of the waiters dropped a full tray of champagnes drinks nearby. Our TD said the turnover of staff is high.
BOOKING AIR FOR APRIL 2024
any suggestions on how soon and which airline to book. Tauck has only United at a very high price as of last Friday.
We flew Qatar
I flew Turkish Air
Smiling Sam—what was your experience on Turkish Air. Just flew to Istanbul on it from Boston. Service was wonderful and food was very good but interior plane configuration seemed to be from another century. Wide body with 2/2/2 side by side across in business. Lie flat seats but less than ideal. And plane interior colors were very dark. Boston doesn’t always get the best planes even on Qatar and Emirates so just trying to figure out if it’s that or whether that is their operating mode. My seat mate was also surprised and said it’s supposed to be a 5 star airline but it doesn’t feel that way, does it?
I had a wonderful flight on Turkish back from Amman to Boston (with stopover in IST, of course). I slept well on the lie-flat seat on the Boston leg. I don't like the 2-2-2 configuration, but that's the same configuration that I had on Emirates flights. When that is the configuration, I choose one of the seats in the middle, so I'm on the aisle and no one is climbing over me to get to the aisle.
Thanks, MCD. Agree that is the same configuration I’ve had on Emirates. Not my favorite especially after experiencing the joys of Q suites on Qatar. I am going to ask if others on this journey who took Turkish Air had different planes and different configurations. Even British Air seems have updated their seat configurations but my last flight on them may have been a one off.
I flew Air Canada going and returned on Lufthansa/United.
OP - Suggest you use Google Flights.
voikk32 - We flew Turkish to/from Toronto. I don't remember the planes configuration, but I do recall that the service was very good. They had a large number of flight attendants so each attendant didn't have to serve a large number of people. I reviewed my pictures, but I didn't take any pictures inside the plane. I do recall that the business class lounge in Istanbul was probably the best lounge I've ever been in and that includes the Qatar lounge in Doha.
If you aren’t limited to a specific US gateway city, you can often get 1-2-1 seating in business in one of Turkish’s newer aircraft. It doesn’t always work due to flight changes, however. Our home airport is RDU, but we flew to Atlanta first for our outbound Turkish flt to Istanbul and Amman at the start of J&E. We flew home via JFK. Initially, we were supposed to fly out of Chicago, but Turkish changed the aircraft assigned.
Check the web for the latest on Turkish new aircraft purchases, leases, and route assignments. Both Boeing and Airbus have accelerated deliveries and many carriers are getting new deliveries now that COVID is over and travel volume is up.
We stayed at the Waldorf for the weekend. It was great! For the Shabbat dinner, all Tauck guests were accommodated in a private room adjacent to the mainlining area. Everyone dressed in a business casual mode. Men wore nice slacks and shirts. ladies wore dress slacks or simple dresses.
We found the people celebrating Shabbat to be quite friendly. It was interesting to observe.