Its the little things that drive you nuts!

[Blamar]

Now I know alot of you may not like this, but I thought it might be a good topic to bring up. One of the little things that drives me nuts is on the last formal night on board, the cruise line carries on a hyper "pro-American" evening. Now I am not knocking Americans. I consider them friends and allies, but it seems to me odd that the cruise line would 'honor' America by dressing up the foriegn wait staff in red, white and blue, and then sing "God Bless America" with their Romanian, Phillipine and Italian accents. It appears to me like they are a group of trained squirrels performing "land that I Love" in mock sincerity. We asked a Maitre'D about this little song and dance and he said it is thought of as just a charade to keep management happy.

 

Now in honesty, we do counter this by slipping our blue balloon under the table so that there is a red and white one left over to show we are Canadian and celebrate in our own quiet style.

 

Any how, that's me and one of the things that drives me nuts, how about you?

[WCAB]

Never thought of this but you do have a point. Why should Americans get all the special attention? I know we are a big part of the market and they appear to be catering to the masses. My husband is from Canada, I will have to watch what he is doing to the blue decorations, next cruise. He did become a U.S. citizen, so his loyalty may be divided.

 

Carol

[edYYZ]

Now in honesty, we do counter this by slipping our blue balloon under the table so that there is a red and white one left over to show we are Canadian and celebrate in our own quiet style.

 

Hahaha, that's great - I wish I thought of that 2 weeks ago!

 

But seriously, I found this a little strange on our Coral cruise too. Especially the timing of it. The "Americana" night was on the last night of the cruise, the one night we were no longer in the United States. I thought to myself, well now that we've moved from Alaska to British Columbia, it seems more appropriate to do a "Canadian" theme :). I know the timing only happens like this for southbound, but I really did wonder.

[Dihead]

well, if they do this on my cruise coming up, then i'll hide the blue balloon too!!

 

hehehe..

[ourlol]

Like Carol said, I too "have never really thought about it".

 

I wonder though, if on the British Isles itinerary, they will have a Rule Britannia night - complete with Union Jacks and red, white and blue balloons?

[kendon]

I agree that they could leave the song out. Just as they have Italian night, Continental night, why not American night? But, the themes should be strictly for the menus and nothing more than that.

[ghgeckos]

Have you ever tried telling the wait staff that you don't want Baked Alaska? I did and you should have seen the look on thier faces. I don't care for the dessert and wanted to finish the cruise the way it started, with a Love Boat Dream.

[Crown Prince]

My Map tells me that Canada is on the North AMERICAN continent. I did not know that Canadians so alienated themselves.

[Casshew]

I'm going to hide the blue balloon next time! LOL

 

:D

[cruiseryyc]

Hey Crown Prince - if the evening celebrated North America complete with both Canadian and USA flags then there would be no problem. We may share the same continent but we are two separate and distinctly different countries.

[regnig]

I see no reason why not have an "American Night". Princess also does Italian Night, French Night, Caribbean Night to name a few. These nights allow them to present different themed menus. If Canada has country specific foods why not suggest it to Princess and maybe they will come up with a "Canadian Night" too.

 

The placement of these themed nights will vary ship to ship and itinerary to itinerary. A lot of time "American Night" is the last (and casual) night of a cruise.

[Globaliser]

I wonder though, if on the British Isles itinerary, they will have a Rule Britannia night - complete with Union Jacks and red, white and blue balloons?

If they did that, I think that I would die of embarrassment.

 

But that just goes to show the cultural differences that divide the UK and the US.

My Map tells me that Canada is on the North AMERICAN continent. I did not know that Canadians so alienated themselves.

Au contraire, it demonstrates precisely why it might give offence: The examples quoted are of the word "America" being used interchangeably with the words "United States". Some people might think that it was Canada that had been overlooked by its southern neighbour.

 

I think I'll go along with the blue balloon hiding, for solidarity. :D

[spongerob]

I don't mind the balloons and decorations, but the singing...? Sorry, that's a little too much.

[argosy]

It's just a gimmicky thing. If they ONLY did American Night, and left out Italian and Continental Night...then I'd probably agree with the OP.

 

Although...what does bug me is that they changed the name of French Night to Continental Night. I'm sure it had something to do with the whole anti french sentiment in DC awhile back.

[Toto2Kansas]

I never have given it a second thought. I don't let little things bother me on a cruise or get under my skin. I just go with the flow and remember, if I don't like something, it will be over with in a short time.

[jff50]

What I find most interesting is that it is referred to as American, but is really United States oriented. As if Canada and Mexico don't even exist. Playing on the fact that we tend to be self-centered.

[madelinerose]

Is this singing thing done in all of the diningrooms or only in traditional?

[Mary Ellen1]

Blake, I totally agree with you. I absolutely cringe. And I'm a proud (United-States-of-) American!! But it is so blatantly false and patronizing. We're on international waters, for heaven's sake, and none of the people singing are from the U.S. I think it caters to the perception of USA citizens as untraveled, unworldly and provincial. It's so embarrassing!

 

Just my $.02.

 

Mary Ellen

[Cinnamon2]

uuhhh, 'scuse me but are we talking about cruises that originated in Ft. Lauderdale, Galveston, Miami, New York, Seattle or Long Beach? In my little unworldly world most of them do - and my last recollection was that these cities are in the US of America. So what's the big deal about the waiters singing a song about America?

[calikak]

If there was an American night on our British Isles cruise last month, I missed it. We ate in the dining room all but 2 nights (Dublin we stayed in port late, and one night we ate at Sabatini's), so maybe it was one of those nights, or maybe they didn't have it at all? They did have one night (the night after 2nd formal night) when it was International night and one of the items on the menu was from the USA (surf & turf) but I don't recall any other night where we had a USA theme or there were US flags on the table or anything like that. Maybe it's because we sailed out of the UK and not the USA.

[catdancers]

What ship does the singing? We've been on 7 Princess cruises (mostly late traditional) in the last 3.5 years and have yet to encounter this.

[LARGIN]

In all of my 15 Princess cruises on 6 different Princess ships, I have never encountered singing like the OP stated.

[Twaincruisers]

I have become more concerned about this lately as I have met more Canadians and British on my cruises. Even though most cruises are in the Caribbean and leave from US cities a high proportion of passengers are from Canada and UK and other places, too. I believe the music and the spirit of the cruise should be international.

 

Due to the dropping value of the dollar this is just my 1.75 cents.

[land lover]

On the larger ships pick PC dining and no more songs its as simple as that...

 

I think the thing that bugs me is that at so many airports prices are in american dollars........my last two trips Mexico(MAR) and Jamaica(APR) it was this way.. I would hate to be a clerk and deal in currency that wasn't my own. :(

[Bob-A-Loo]

I have also been on 16 plus Princess cruises and have never heard anyone sing "God Bless America" - the only time I ever heard it was on Carnival.