ColinIllinois Posted July 24, 2016 #26 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Some of the best times I have had in my travels is meeting other folks and we don't speak each others languages except for a few words. It's amazing the "conversations" you can have non verbally. Food, drink, dancing and having fun is a language all unto itself. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting_Cruiser Posted July 24, 2016 #27 Share Posted July 24, 2016 (edited) 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. Comments like this make me sad and embarrassed for my fellow Americans. Honestly, most of us are just as civilized and polite as people from other cultures. Sigh. Unfortunately it seems that some are quite ignorant and they seem to cruise! Hehe, well that's the best compliment a tourist can get in Amsterdam! :D Try Youtube for some classes! :) I've always considered it a compliment! Even when I was in Haarlem and inadvertently entered the exit of a gelato shop and the woman behind the counter screamed at me in Dutch. LOL. I went back out and through the entrance and when I made it to the front of the line she apologized when she realized I'm not Dutch and it was simply a mistake. LOL. Edited July 24, 2016 by Quilting_Cruiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fshagan Posted July 24, 2016 #28 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Comments like this make me sad and embarrassed for my fellow Americans. Honestly, most of us are just as civilized and polite as people from other cultures. Sigh. Unfortunately it seems that some are quite ignorant and they seem to cruise! Doesn't just a little part of you wonder if the person making the comment has a preconception about Americans and then reinforces that prejudice with observations? A little bit like noticing just how many cars are on the road of the same make and model you just bought when before you don't remember seeing any? I think it's called confirmation bias. I have talked to several "ordinary folks" from other countries who were familiar with tourists in their home countries and they all said the same thing: one certain nationality was worse than others. They never agreed on the nationality, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreeYark Posted July 25, 2016 #29 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Curious on the Epic sail in Mediterranean how many passengers speak English? Is it a very international group? I was on a B2B two weeks cruise on the Epic at the end of June last year, and from what I saw (and mostly heard!), it varies a lot from week to week. In my 1st week, I heard a lot of spanish, probably people from Spain itself, embarking in Barcelona. School must have ended there a week earlier than North America. On the second week, no spanish at all, it was mostly english, except for the group of dutch people that took over the Studio Lounge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreestyleNovice Posted July 25, 2016 #30 Share Posted July 25, 2016 I was on a B2B two weeks cruise on the Epic at the end of June last year, and from what I saw (and mostly heard!), it varies a lot from week to week. In my 1st week, I heard a lot of spanish, probably people from Spain itself, embarking in Barcelona. School must have ended there a week earlier than North America. On the second week, no spanish at all, it was mostly english, except for the group of dutch people that took over the Studio Lounge. A Dutch group cruise? Whoa. Must be a first heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BamaVol Posted July 25, 2016 #31 Share Posted July 25, 2016 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… What they did have were photocopied sheets of paper with Chinese characters taped to every door that was not accessible to guests. And box upon box of green tea bags at the buffet. At one event, the cruise director was calling out Chinese names to come and play the game. Not a single one stepped up to the stage. He solicited help from a bilingual guest whose pronunciation was much more correct. They finally got a guy. However, the guest still didn't understand the game and gave up halfway through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BamaVol Posted July 25, 2016 #32 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Doesn't just a little part of you wonder if the person making the comment has a preconception about Americans and then reinforces that prejudice with observations? A little bit like noticing just how many cars are on the road of the same make and model you just bought when before you don't remember seeing any? I think it's called confirmation bias. I have talked to several "ordinary folks" from other countries who were familiar with tourists in their home countries and they all said the same thing: one certain nationality was worse than others. They never agreed on the nationality, however. They would have had they sailed with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don1976 Posted July 26, 2016 #33 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Doesn't just a little part of you wonder if the person making the comment has a preconception about Americans and then reinforces that prejudice with observations? A little bit like noticing just how many cars are on the road of the same make and model you just bought when before you don't remember seeing any? I think it's called confirmation bias. I have talked to several "ordinary folks" from other countries who were familiar with tourists in their home countries and they all said the same thing: one certain nationality was worse than others. They never agreed on the nationality, however. No preconception, just an observation of my week on the Epic. My work leads me to deal with plenty of Americans, in addition we have family living over there so we know it's not the majority of Americans that behave like we've observed. It's interesting to know if cruising brings out the worst in Americans, or alternatively perhaps just attracts them. Or, going back to my first comment, we may have simply been unlucky this week. Sent from my ONE A2003 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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