UK Blog Post: Can Americans enjoy cruising a British cruise line?

I am sure a lot of Americans would find cruising on a British cruise line very good. There are many false perceptions about British people which take a bit of understanding but we are generally friendly although sometimes hard to understand. We are not all English and those that are speak in a wide range of accents only some of which are totally incomprehensible. P&O (UK) is probably the most almost exclusively British line as it is not generally marketed much outside the UK. The kettle in your cabin for that early morning cuppa is not available on all cruise ships and the comedians will not always make sense but ventriloquists totally attacking an audience member is universally understood. I thoroughly recommend anybody from the US or other countries for that matter giving this a go.

Regards John

"ventriloquists totally attacking an audience member is universally understood"

I don't know where you get that from ! If a ventriloquist attacked me he's likely to get a bunch of fives. When Michael Parkinson was attacked by Emu he wasn't best pleased with Rod Hull either.

Sorry to our American cousins for this British reference, but rest assured that you won't be attacked by anyone on board -- we're quite a civilised lot really !

"ventriloquists totally attacking an audience member is universally understood"

 

I don't know where you get that from ! If a ventriloquist attacked me he's likely to get a bunch of fives. When Michael Parkinson was attacked by Emu he wasn't best pleased with Rod Hull either.

 

Sorry to our American cousins for this British reference, but rest assured that you won't be attacked by anyone on board -- we're quite a civilised lot really !

In reality it's the dummy verbally attacking people. Just though I needed to explain this to people who might not have understood.

Regards John

Just remember that Fred Olsen is a somewhat lower end cruiseline with a much older clientele.

I suppose preconceived perceptions of Americans and Brits on cruises is talked about on both sides of the pond ?

I would never go on a Caribbean cruise on RCI, because of the numbers of Americans. But my family disagree and are trying to persuade me to change my mind !!!

But we prefer RCI in the Med !!!

I must admit that the thought of cruising with Carnival makes me shudder. From what I have read I imagine it to be one long party full of noisy Americans.

Don't get me wrong, have sailed with RCI and Celebrity which have been full of Americans and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, but the way Carnival market some of their cruises....

We have talked to a number of staff on INDY and they said that they prefered it when the ship was in Europe because of the numbers of Brits compared to Americans. But they probably said the opposite when cruising in the Caribbean and the majority of the ships population is American !!! LOL

has been bookmark, this seems like a very interesting thread

We are British but prefer to cruise on American lines (particularly out of America) because they have more Americans and less British. We've found the Americans we've cruised with more fun in general. British people on cruise can be quite miserable and moan a lot and are obsessed with where they can get a cup of tea! Lol! Lots of generalisations I know but overall we've just found the atmosphere better on mostly American ships. We are sailing from Southampton on the Ventura with p&o this year. I hope it doesn't live up to my stereotypes!!

I must say....first off..... not a carnival cruiseline lover because of my US brethren. In my mind I have seen some pretty sweaty tacky DRUNK folks poolside:eek: Now that I think of it that is why I no longer sit poolside because of that element no matter the cruiseline:rolleyes:

People are people UK or US haven't felt the difference. Asses cross over all borders!

But my fave folks to travel with because they are not pretentious are the Australians! They are so much fun and my DH and I have traveled on many cruiselines and always had a ball with them. They were always inclusionary not exclusionary!

We are British but prefer to cruise on American lines (particularly out of America) because they have more Americans and less British. We've found the Americans we've cruised with more fun in general. British people on cruise can be quite miserable and moan a lot and are obsessed with where they can get a cup of tea! Lol! Lots of generalisations I know but overall we've just found the atmosphere better on mostly American ships. We are sailing from Southampton on the Ventura with p&o this year. I hope it doesn't live up to my stereotypes!!

I find your thoughts mirror mine generally. I'll copy and paste a post I posted in the Royal Caribbean thread earlier today:

I was asked recently on a FB group why I would never sail on a UK based cruise, specifically referring to Anthem, and I was asked to explain why. I'm copying and pasting my reply here as I think it might also help explain why Anthem currently has a lot of negative reviews.

 

Firstly, I ask that you remember that I am British when reading this. In my own experiences (and I'm aware this is a sweeping statement and won't apply to everybody) I tend to find Brits are more selfish, snobby and impatient when holidaying in comparison to international holidaymakers - and not just on cruises.

 

The posts on CC (and in the FB group where I originally posted this message), for example, constantly mention a lack of sun beds on board Anthem and this example highlights my point exactly; it's common knowledge that people are waking up early to reserve sunbeds and then going back to sleep until the middle of the day. While I'm not saying this doesn't happen at all on ships that sail out of the USA, it is nowhere near as big a problem as far as I'm aware. My latest sailing was on the Allure last year, you could get sunbeds constantly, including peak time on a "sea day." You might say that there are more sunbeds as its a bigger ship, but then there are more guests on board.

 

I use the word snobby for this reason: My siblings and I bought my parents a cruise (P&O UK) in January of this year sailing to Spain, Portugal and Morocco from Southampton. She was seated with two or three other couples at dinner who were quote: "more concerned with outdoing each other's cruise stories," and when she was asked about her previous sailings the other guests didn't appear interested and then didn't believe her when she did manage to utter the words "Allure of the Seas." As a result of this instance, I can't even say it's just a Royal Caribbean problem as like I say, this was with a different company.

 

I appreciate this probably doesn't come across well and probably look quite harsh saying this. I'm not saying this to offend as that is not my goal. As mentioned earlier, this is my admittedly harsh opinion on why I will never cruise from the UK personally but I am curious to see what people think when Anthem is repositioned in America. I'm more than happy to eat a slice of humble pie if I'm wrong. We can only wait!

As such, it appears I'm not the only one who thinks like this! I'd rather save twice as long to be able to afford the airfare across so I can cruise from the USA.

I find your thoughts mirror mine generally. I'll copy and paste a post I posted in the Royal Caribbean thread earlier today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As such, it appears I'm not the only one who thinks like this! I'd rather save twice as long to be able to afford the airfare across so I can cruise from the USA.

I'm glad it's not just me who thinks this [emoji6]! I'm still hoping to have a good cruise from Southampton this year. My daughter has a health condition which means long haul travel might be tough so I think I'm going to have to get used to it or not cruise [emoji53]

I'm glad it's not just me who thinks this [emoji6]! I'm still hoping to have a good cruise from Southampton this year. My daughter has a health condition which means long haul travel might be tough so I think I'm going to have to get used to it or not cruise [emoji53]

Might it be worth sailing from a European port, say Barcelona?

Might it be worth sailing from a European port, say Barcelona?

We probably will in future although we aren't flying with my daughter at the moment.

We are Americans flying to England this September to travel on the CMV Magellan. We had never heard of this line in the US, but we are joining two delightful British couples for a cruise reunion of sorts. We were lucky to be on a Princess Cruise in the Caribbean that was promoted in Britain. It was at least 50% British. We had more fun on that cruise. The Brits were so much fun. This was about 10 years ago and our friends have been to Seattle and we have been to Bath. Can't wait to meet more fun loving Brits next month.