General Immersion Thread (merged)

[coxswain]

LOL

 

 

A wee dram - glass of scotch/whiskey

 

 

A poke - icecream cone

 

Ok and in the UK Theatre ( comedian )

 

An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman were without tickets for the opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics but hoped to be able to talk their way in at the gate. Security was very tight, however, and each of their attempts was met with a stern refusal.

 

While wandering around outside the stadium, the Englishman came upon construction site, which gave him an idea. Grabbing a length of scaffolding, he presented himself at the gate and said, "Johnson, the pole vault," and was admitted.

 

The Scotsman, overhearing this, went at once to search the site. When he came up with a sledge hammer, he presented himself at the gate and said, "McTavish, the hammer." He was also admitted.

 

The Irishman combed the site for an hour and was nearly ready to give up when he spotted his ticket in. Seizing a roll of barbed wire, he presented himself at the gate and announced, "O`Sullivan, fencing." LOL LOL LOL

 

 

 

 

jj......

[PH8]

Looks like we have a new hot topic of the day.......what is this?? Thread number 4??;)

[kingsgirl]

Looks like we have a new hot topic of the day.......what is this?? Thread number 4??;)

 

A poll never hurt! Helps to get a census of how people feel. Plus maybe everyone can get questions answered here. I, for one, know very little about this!

[coxswain]

Yes yes yes !!

 

 

 

 

 

jj.....

[Gixer]

There are no alternative restaurants or even a Johnny Rockets on Legend is there?

 

 

Nope there isnt, and I feel bad for you. If I was in the same situation I know I would have to cancel, even though I had been planning/excited about the trip for ages, its just too much money and too far to travel to not have the experience you were hoping for. Really sorry that this happened to you, it sucks. :(

[marinearchit]

I can't really add to this list, but about half of those British words are pretty commonplace where I live in Pennsylvania.:D

Not so different after all.:D

[gooselover]

I've been following these two threads with interest. DH and I are booked on a TA from Southampton to Ft. Lauderdale. I know there seems to be alot of unhappy cruisers out there.

 

I've had a tad bit of time now to let this sink in with my "British Immersion". I'm the type of gal that looks at both sides. Truthfully, how bad could this really be??? I'm not sure. I am going to call RCL and find out what I can.

 

Now, if it were an immersion cruise say from Asia, etc., I don't think it would be a good thing for us...why? Because I don't know their language, food, etc. I would feel like a foreigner...and I don't want to feel out of place when spending my hard earned money and precious little vacation time that is so hard to come by. This is just my opinion and others' are entitled to theirs of course.

[lexisnana]

My Nana was from London, and when I was little I used to love going to her house and eating tongue sandwiches...until I found out that it was really a tongue. Ugh!!!

 

Lexi's Nana

(Now I'm Sienna's Nana, too)

[Cruise Junky]

British immersion, no problem. I wouldn't do the asian one though. It's not racist, but I'd want to be on a cruise where I could understand the language and communicate with my fellow cruises. I think it would be too isolating to not be able to communicate.

[marinearchit]

I'd definately try one, depending on the culture that they are bringing onboard (If that makes sense :D )

But, I suppose to North Americans, British, etc. an immersion cruise might also be Aida, Pullmantur (sometimes), and MSC (depending on the region).

[Cruise Junky]

Looks like we have a new hot topic of the day.......what is this?? Thread number 4??;)

 

Yeah, but what a great diversion from dress codes, calling people alcoholics and airline fees :)

[sea-cruise]

If I didn't understand the language spoken, I wouldn't enjoy a solid week or two of trying to grasp what everyone is talking about.

[Mark_K]

marci:

 

now that i am no longer really steaming mad at this, thanks for the humor. now that would definitely be something!

 

to the original poster:

 

when you finally simmer down (it took me a day and a half ish) you'll at least hopefully be glad that you found out now and not when you got onto the ship.

 

incidentally i did call rccl. the answer i got is that they can change the itinerary at any time. i told the person that my daughter didn't care where the ship was going, but that as a family we were not looking for an "immersion" of anything. i didn't know that changing the entire ship's feel was changing of an itinerary. here's the definition of "itinerary" that i got from dictionary.com.

 

1.a detailed plan for a journey, esp. a list of places to visit; plan of travel. 2.a line of travel; route. 3.an account of a journey; record of travel. 4.a book describing a route or routes of travel with information helpful to travelers; guidebook for travelers. –adjective 5.of or pertaining to travel or travel routes. 6.Obsolete

 

i'll let everyone here on the boards decide whether or not changing a ship to an "immersion cruise" is a change in itinerary....

The section of the cruise contract on changing the itinerary allows them to change more things than would would normally fall under a classic definition of itinerary changes. I bolded the part that would make it apply to changing a sailing to an immersion cruise.

Carrier may for any reason at any time and without prior notice, cancel, advance, postpone or deviate from any scheduled sailing, port of call, destination, lodging

or any activity on or off the Vessel

, or substitute another vessel or port of call, destination, lodging or activity. Carrier shall not be liable for any claim whatsoever by Passenger, including but not limited to loss, compensation or refund, by reason of such cancellation, advancement, postponement, substitution or deviation.

[jbond]

So that's what our TA cruise on Splendour from Santos to Lisbon on April 6 was called................an immersion of 1500 Brazilians!!

Hi Patti, now we know what it was and at least some folks are finding out ahead of time. Do you think all our complaints to RCI might have influenced them to announce ahead of time? I don't think we would have canceled, but it would definitely affect our decision if we were just booking.

[sea-cruise]

err....I'll have what the Brits are having! Yes, I'd book an immersion cruise if I understand the language the majority is speaking.....So bring it on UK! :D

[sea-cruise]

 

The Irishman combed the site for an hour and was nearly ready to give up when he spotted his ticket in. Seizing a roll of barbed wire, he presented himself at the gate and announced, "O`Sullivan, fencing." LOL LOL LOL

quote]

 

[marci22]

what about beansontoast?

[Ms Understood]

Thanks for the sympathy Gixer. We were in the Falklands in Feb on our way to Antarctica. Very kind and friendly people there. Not sure what we are going to do yet. Can't find any other cruise line doing this particular itinerary in 2009 so either we will suck it up and hope for the best or go someplace else entirely. If we go,I will surely post our experience.

[Cruise Junky]

Thanks for the sympathy Gixer. We were in the Falklands in Feb on our way to Antarctica. Very kind and friendly people there. Not sure what we are going to do yet. Can't find any other cruise line doing this particular itinerary in 2009 so either we will suck it up and hope for the best or go someplace else entirely. If we go,I will surely post our experience.

 

What about something like this in March 09 on the Diamond Princess? I would certainly cancel the cruise that you're on, what's the point if you don't speak the language.

 

1 Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand 12:00 AM 5:00 PM

2 At Sea

3 Singapore 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

4 At Sea

5 Ho Chi Minh City (Vung Tau), Vietnam 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

6 Nha Trang, Vietnam 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

7 At Sea

8 Hong Kong, China 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

9 At Sea

10 Taipei (Keelung), China 7:00 AM 5:00 PM

11 Okinawa, Japan 12:00 PM 7:00 PM

12 At Sea

13 Shanghai, China 7:00 AM 6:00 PM

14 At Sea

15 Nagasaki, Japan 7:00 AM 4:00 PM

16 At Sea

17 Beijing (Xingang), China 7:30 AM

[Mydnite]

I think RCCL are making a mistake, with the idea that immeriseion crusioing will appeal to people from the country that is making up a lot of the cruisers. As a UK resident I choose RCCL as an American cruise line, and to be honest I would worry about what they think is 'British'. I want to choose the typeof holiday I likem, and I like to see and experience other cultres, whicxh is why I do not want to choose a British cruise line.

 

 

I sounds like a cost cutting measure to make it easier to buy supplies and load them at the different ports fo call.

 

 

If they want to cater for different cultres than making some additons would be accpetable, but not making replacements.

[Gixer]

WOW thats some itinerary! I would love to do something like that in the future :)

[dathy]

and of course i'm going to respond since i'm the one that created the heat:)

 

i have always been the type of person that has said give me any voyager-class or any freedom-class ship and i would go anywhere and not care about the destination or whatever.

 

well, the "whatever" has just hit the fan when it comes to this immersion thing. 14 days is a long time to spend on a ship, not long enough for most of us, of course, but long enough for me to give this some thought.

 

here's what the problem is: i have no idea what rccl's idea is of a "british" immersion. in fact, british people probably don't have an idea of what this is either. all i was told was that the food, entertainment and even the shopping on board would be altered to suit the specific tastes of the british.

 

rccl told me that i would DEFINITELY notice a difference. in fact, the difference has got to be dramatic for the cruise line to pick up a phone and call me. i'm sure they probably called every single person on the cruise without a UK passport. If the ship holds 4,000 something and the ship is 80% british booked, my math tells me they called at least 800 people for my sailing. they probably called at least 800 for every single british sailing. that's a lot of people to call. in plain english, i certainly don't think that i would have received a phone call (how important am i?)UNLESS there is a MAJOR difference on the ship.

 

the biggest problem with this is that there are not enough reviews posted for me to make any sort of judgment as to whether or not this immersion thing would suit my ENTIRE FAMILY, not just ME.

 

look, this is why there is chocolate and vanilla in this world. not every cruise is for every person. our family would not be happy on this cruise. maybe another family would go and jump for joy. we have way too much money invested into this going on the ship with a big question mark on our minds. i have no intention of sitting on a plane for 11 hours, going to london for three days prior and then getting on a ship not knowing how rccl defines british immersion.

 

just my 2 cents.

[Mark_K]

I'm guessing RCI doesn't have a lot of options. They have ships all over the world, and with the price of oil and the weakness of the dollar they probably aren't getting filled with Americans. If they don't make it sound better to the people living where the ship is, they're going to be sailing with a lot of empty berths.

[Mydnite]

Trousers - Pants

Pants are underwear over here! (or a phrase to mean something is not very good)

the phrase over the moon, means really pleased,

then there is the cokeny rhyming slang, such as apples and pairs, meaing stairs etc!

 

 

Oh dear, if it is a British immerision cruise I am afriad thecoffe will be really naff!

 

 

Maybe they will decide this is all a bad idea. New and addional items are good, but replacment is not so good, maybe we will all just go to P&O or Curnard if we want the true Brit experience.

[dathy]

spirite:

 

it's people who post remarks like you did that keep a lot of people from posting any remarks. "stay home and eat taco bell and mcdonalds?" beyond insulting.