Epic passenger mix?

[Brookefairway]

Curious on the Epic sail in Mediterranean how many passengers speak English? Is it a very international group?

[KeithJenner]

Curious on the Epic sail in Mediterranean how many passengers speak English? Is it a very international group?

 

 

 

In my experience it's very English speaking.

 

We have always gone on the Epic during British school holiday in May, which probably does skew things a little bit, but not too much (it isn't as if there are loads more English people onboard).

 

The Spirit and the Jade in the Med appear to have more non English speakers onboard compared to the Epic. Perhaps it's my perception that's wrong, but foreign languages seem to be much more noticeable on those ships.

[BamaVol]

I knew something was up when the Barcelona Port announcements were in English, German and Cantonese, but not Spanish.

 

I think it will differ from cruise to cruise. We had no problem finding fellow English speakers from the US, Canada and UK. And of course any crew I had contact with spoke English.

 

Our sailing was somewhat unusual in that it was a sales award for about 2,000 Chinese cosmetic salespeople, mostly women. The few that appeared to speak some English did so with difficulty. You are likely to find a much different mix than we did.

[Seafan22]

I took the Epic out of Barcelona last year and it was an overwhelmingly English-speaking crowd. There is a nice mix of people from other countries on board, and the crew is able to accommodate them perfectly well; but as on all Norwegian ships the announcements, shows, and staff all begin with English.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I was on the Epic in March and I don't recall ever having trouble communicating with anyone, but that's most likely because so many Europeans speak English in addition to their native language. I was in the Ice Bar and a couple starting chatting with me in German asking if I'm Dutch (I'm not, but people ask me all the time if I am because I'm ridiculously tall). I responded in English and they immediately started speaking to me in English. We tried a little French, too, but I haven't spoken French in about 30 years! LOL. Anyway, as others have said, lots of English speakers. But, I heard other languages being spoken as well.

[hawkeyetlse]

Curious on the Epic sail in Mediterranean how many passengers speak English? Is it a very international group?

It is a very international group, and you will certainly hear groups of travelers speaking another language among themselves (which does not necessarily mean that they don't also speak English).

 

Speaking from experience, if you don't speak English, you lose out on a lot of information and on-board experiences: most announcements are made only in English, shows/activities are usually only in English, the Freestyle Daily, menus, etc. are only translated into a couple of other languages, and the translations are generally poor to incomprehensible. The only language you can expect every crew/staff member to speak/understand is English (although of course collectively they speak a huge number of other languages).

 

On the smaller ships like the Jade, I have seen accommodations for large groups of non-English speaking guests, like bilingual trivia games and other activities. I've never seen that on the Epic. Even when they had 2000 Chinese cosmetics salespeople on board, I doubt they offered trivia in Cantonese…

[jjikids]

We cruised a few years ago. Guest services told us the ship was full and Americans were only 20 %. There was never a problem with the language. There were people from many countries traveling.

[Feebs2015]

A few weeks ago there was a considerable amount of Spanish families....big extended families.

As a result it was very busy later at night in the dining room. Suited us fine as we like to eat early.

[Tiggertastic]

We've had a real mixture in the med on ncl. Some cruises were mostly English speaking. One trip on epic in May had a large number of Spanish but as it went out of Barcelona that's not a surprise and we had a big number of Italians but again we were on jade sailing out of Venice. All of them had very large numbers of Americans and British

[insanemagnet]

When I sailed on Epic last May from Barcelona I felt the mix was around 80℅ American, 15℅ Spanish, and the remainder British, Italian, and other European.

 

Announcements were either in English or Spanish.

 

All the menus were very definitely in 'American' though.

[karoo]

I've done a lot of Med cruises and the mix differs each time, but I've never done a cruise where English wasn't in the majority. All announcements are spoken in English first and then it goes according to the mix of other passengers. Many Europeans speak English as their second language.

[FreestyleNovice]

.. asking if I'm Dutch (I'm not, but people ask me all the time if I am because I'm ridiculously tall).

 

Thumbs up LOL :D

[ighten]

Found them to be mainly UK/US/Canadian then a good mix of europeans/ and parcels of Indians/Eastern EU

Edited July 23, 2016 by ighten

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Thumbs up LOL :D

 

LOL! I've been to Amsterdam four times and each time when I go into a store, they first speak to me in Dutch. I really need to learn the language! :D

[SwissLe]

It does depend; on my post-New Year cruise the majority of passengers were Russian, followed by American and then British. The next cruise was majority American, then Spanish and Chinese.

 

It depends on what holiday/celebration coordinates with your departure.

[bluemooner]

Hi Brooke

I was going to ask the same question

we are heading out out out of Barca on 07th Aug

We are from England(Manchester)

Id imagine the passenger mix will be European and American ?

[kathybelcher2433]

Mine in February was US, Brits, and Canadians making up 75% and the rest largely other Western European countries.

[BirdTravels]

Our experience is mostly english-speaking passengers. All of the ship's presentations are done in English. Announcements in English, Spanish, and German.

[ExpatBride]

I'd say the majority of people on my January Eastern Med sailing were American or British with a fair number Canadians and Aussies in the mix. Most Europeans speak English anyway.

 

It didn't seem very international, my city seems more international than my shipmates did. But it probably depends on the sailing.

Edited July 24, 2016 by ExpatBride

[don1976]

I'm just off the Epic today. The proportion of nationalities is difficult to assess properly.

Whilst a huge proportion of the passengers seem to be European, some nationalities make their presence known more than others; the 'louder' of the nationalities make you think that there are more of them.

 

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[hawkeyetlse]

Agreed, the only way to sort of get a reliable answer would be to ask NCL for the passenger stats (breakdown by country), and even then, the fact that someone checks in for the cruise with a US or UK passport etc. does not mean that English is their primary language.

 

I'm not sure if the OP is asking out of simple curiosity, or if they are worried about not being able to communicate on board. As already mentioned, English is the main language on board, and in many situations, the only language. But they will hear many other languages being spoken, and if they are in the habit of chatting with fellow passengers, it won't be long before they come across someone who doesn't speak Englsh.

[FreestyleNovice]

LOL! I've been to Amsterdam four times and each time when I go into a store, they first speak to me in Dutch. I really need to learn the language! :D

 

Hehe, well that's the best compliment a tourist can get in Amsterdam! :D

 

Try Youtube for some classes! :)

[EllieinNJ]

Not the Epic, but I will be on the Jade in September and besides my roll call, I had been reading all the roll calls for the Jade for all sailing since May. They were very quiet and I don't believe any sailing (except for the TA) had or will have a M&G until the second leg of my sailing. This makes me believe that the majority of passengers are mostly non first language English speaking or just not into cruise critic.

[KeithJenner]

Not the Epic, but I will be on the Jade in September and besides my roll call, I had been reading all the roll calls for the Jade for all sailing since May. They were very quiet and I don't believe any sailing (except for the TA) had or will have a M&G until the second leg of my sailing. This makes me believe that the majority of passengers are mostly non first language English speaking or just not into cruise critic.

 

 

 

From my experience, you will find that there are a high proportion of non English speakers on the Jade. That will show itself in two ways. You hear a lot of other languages being spoken and will also see lots of examples of a lack of understanding of the virtues of queueing. :)

 

This has been my experience on all of our Med cruises (Spirit and Jade) except for those on the Epic, where other languages have been notably less common in our experience.

 

As I said, I don't know whether that is an Epic thing, or due to the fact that all our Epic cruises have been at the same time of year.

[don1976]

You hear a lot of other languages being spoken and will also see lots of examples of a lack of understanding of the virtues of queueing. :).

 

Perhaps we were unlucky this week on the Epic, but the majority of the people lacking queue etiquette had American accents, as opposed to non-english speakers.

From my experience, you will find that there are a high proportion of non English speakers on the Jade. That will show itself in two ways. You hear a lot of other languages being spoken and will also see lots of examples of a lack of understanding of the virtues of queueing. :)

 

This has been my experience on all of our Med cruises (Spirit and Jade) except for those on the Epic, where other languages have been notably less common in our experience.

 

As I said, I don't know whether that is an Epic thing, or due to the fact that all our Epic cruises have been at the same time of year.

 

 

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