?Language Barrier

[Maeshel]

Was on RCI website and looking for a retirement cruise 2016 or 2017. Saw a cruise that went from Italy, Spain, Portugal and ended in New Jersey. I don't speak a lick of Italian and very very little Spanish. Had some French in high school and spent a summer in Quebec in my younger years. Wouldn't consider myself fluent in French either. Would I have trouble on this cruise as far as communications? Same questions with ship shore excursions?

There was another cruise that I looked at that went from England to USA by way of Ireland and Iceland.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Maeshel

[cuddylier]

I'm going on a cruise to Italy, Spain and France later this month and am from the UK. In my past experience, we didn't have any problems whatsoever. On the ship itself, everything was primarily in English, announcements were done in multiple languages to try and cover at least Spanish. In terms of at the actual ports, you'll find most people will speak at least some useful English up to perfect English.

 

As for shore excursions, the tour guide in most tours will speak all languages, usually primarily English so it won't be a problem whatsoever.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I don't think it will be a problem. I was talking with the cruise activities staff member managing the tender line at Icy Straight Point who was from the UK while we were waiting for the go ahead to go downstairs. She was telling me the ships she's worked on for Royal (I asked), and when I mentioned I'd booked Brilliance for next year she said that she and some of the other activity staff would love to move to her, but since she's out of Barcelona, the crew is required to speak Spanish because they get a big portion of Spanish cruisers. I guess I looked slightly panicked because she said "Oh no. Don't worry. They'll all speak English most of the time. But because there's a high percentage of Spanish cruisers on those out of Barcelona, they want to have crew that speaks it in case of emergencies."

 

I've been playing with DuoLingo to learn some Spanish anyway, and will use it to brush up my French and Italian (my scheduled cruise goes to Nice and various ports in Italy) so I can speak the basics, but yes, most people will speak some English. I have found in traveling that at least showing an attempt to speak the language can go a long way in establishing rapport (I know the shopkeepers and restaurant staff I encountered in Italy were extra super helpful when I attempted Italian), but it's pretty much not necessary in major tourist areas. And yes, unless otherwise noted, I'd say the ship excursions will be in English.

[SonicShip]

I believe Royal Caribbean does not do any immersion cruises in the med, so you will be ok. The first announcements on the ship are normally in English followed by other languages. Make sure that any activities you sign up for are in English. For example shore excursion in English rather than German.

 

Have a great cruise.

[cb at sea]

I don't speak anything but English...it's all good...

[denatravels]

I was just on a cruise to Greece RT from Rome. More than half of the passengers were American. They made announcements in English first, then other languages. Make sure you sign up for "English speaking" tours-- if you book cruise line excursions, there is an option for this when you book in the cruise planner.

[ehfl]

Fun is fun no matter what language. English is widely spoken, so I'm sure you'll find English speakers as you travel. Plus there are apps for language translation...even ones that don't require an Internet connection. Go where you want to go, and things will work out with a little patience.

[klfrodo]

Was on RCI website and looking for a retirement cruise 2016 or 2017. Saw a cruise that went from Italy, Spain, Portugal and ended in New Jersey. I don't speak a lick of Italian and very very little Spanish. Had some French in high school and spent a summer in Quebec in my younger years. Wouldn't consider myself fluent in French either. Would I have trouble on this cruise as far as communications? Same questions with ship shore excursions?

There was another cruise that I looked at that went from England to USA by way of Ireland and Iceland.

 

Im in the same boat language wise as you.

 

I recently went on a business trip that took me to France, UAE, and into Nairobi, Kenya. I also was concerned about communications and not being a complete fool.

I even downloaded a free translation app on my phone.

In France, I got off the plane and was standing near the flight boards. A number of people from various countries walked up to me and asked in broken English if I could help them. Hell,, I was lost. Went up to an employee at the airport and before I could even try to say excuse me in French,, he asked if he could help in English.

In Nairobi, I had a 4 hour layover. I'm a smoker, if nothing else, we're sociable when we meet in the smoking lounge. There were people from all over the world in there, the fall back language for communication was English. Broken English? Yes, but way above my Cantonese, German, French, and Portuguese.

[gi_pam]

Can't speak about Europe, but we were on Mariner in March, Singapore, Vietnam and China. The ship was basically bilingual - everything in English and Mandarin. Signs were all in both, crew spoke English to the same degree they speak English in the Caribbean.

 

Shore excursions - we booked privately in Vietnam, the guides spoke English. Did a ship excursion in Hong Kong with recorded narrative in multiple languages. Mainland China, it wasn't too hard to figure things out.

 

We definitely made sure we had a few key words prepared in Mandarin and Vietnamese, just in case (words like police, taxi, ship, restroom/toilet, how much?, the names of the ports, etc.) but we didn't find we needed them. The locals were very good at figuring it out. I would also take pictures of things on my phone (in airplane mode) along the way to help us communicate if needed. For example, I took a picture of the ship, so that if worse came to worse, I could show a taxi driver the picture of the ship and I would hope he'd be able to figure out where we needed to go!

 

We had one bad experience in Beijing - the taxi driver wouldn't take us because we didn't speak English. We had the name and address of our hotel on a business card, plus a very helpful young Chinese lady tried to help by talking to the cabbie for us. He still refused. I was extremely annoyed, but in the end not overly inconvenienced. Most taxi drivers were fine with us showing the name of the hotel on the card.

 

Tourist phrasebooks, or just Google, are a big help.