Spoken language on Mediterranean cruises

[ATCMickey]

To anyone with experience...

 

If we take a Mediterranean cruise sailing out of either Spain or Italy, what language do you find most often spoken by the crew (cabin attendant, dining room staff, guest services) when interacting with passengers? English is my primary language and I'm trying to gauge whether that might be any kind of a barrier on a Med cruise. Also, on excursions, are the languages spoken by the guides English or are they the local language? I know Royal Caribbean is an American company, but I wouldn't want to presume that that means English will be the primary language spoken by the crew, or local guides, on a European itinerary.

 

Any insight would be most appreciated,

 

ATCMickey

[steveru621]

English will be the primary language spoken by the crew, or local guides, on a European itinerary.

[MADflyer]

Royal Caribbean is an international company and while they do have personnel onboard and the position of International Ambassador often speaks several languages, English is the main language onboard.

 

The main edition of the Cruise Compass is always in English, while they do distribute one page versions in up to 8 other languages for the convenience and consideration of those passengers.

 

Sometimes RCI will have shipboard activities for German, Spanish, Italian or Norwegian passengers depending if those nationalities are a very large group of the total passengers on that particular cruise, but they always have the full schedule in English.

 

Popular shore excursions often offer a German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean or Chinese bus where the tour is conducted in those languages with the guide speaking the local language and the tour language at a minimum. The majority of the busses leave only with a English guide.

 

Fortunately, RCI ships tend to only repeat something in the entertainment venues if the other language is an extremely large group unlike say MSC where every show is presented in a minimum of 4 languages. It gets very monotonous, especially when one understands all the languages.

Edited April 13, 2015 by MADflyer

[ATCMickey]

Thanks so much for your responses :)

[JVilleGal]

English!

[tidygirl]

Just did a cruise out of Barcelona (sept) main language was English. At the shows in the evening they did have a person speaking Spanish repeating what the cruise director said.

[griffy116]

The only place we noticed multiple languages was the muster drill. Otherwise, English. We did private excursions in each country and they also provided us with an English speaking guide.

[ssb]

The only one I know English!

[chipmaster]

FWIW on Princess everyone on board spoke English. The makeup of the crew didn't see any different than other cruises in Alaska, Caribbean, etc. etc. The ships carry mostly same crew on all their cruises.

 

As to passengers, much more Spanish, German, and French than on my Alaskan and Caribbean.

[critterchick]

The International Loyalty Ambassador gets a workout on the European cruises - the initial announcements are made in English, and then repeated in other languages depending on the nationalities onboard (our record was 6 other languages last fall).

 

If you pre-purchase an excursion, I believe that you have the option of selecting the language of the tour - English is always available.

 

On the ships that summer in Europe, the crew are pretty much the same people who sail the ships from US waters in the winter - they go over on the TAs and stay onboard until their contracts are up.

 

You shouldn't have any issues onboard or on tours. :)