German language onboard?

[classy_cruiser]

A friend of ours from Germany decided to join our Greek Isles cruise this fall. There is a German version of the NCL website and they were able to make their booking in German and a German PCC already reached out to them and everything. So there must be some Germans abroad. My question is, how easy will it be for them to navigate by themselves onboard the ship and get on/off the ship? They unfortunately don't speak any English at all and are resistant to the idea of trying to learn due to bad past experiences. Thank you! 

[KeithJenner]

There will be dailies printed in a variety of languages, including German, and many announcements will be made in multiple languages. For example, the Muster Drill often takes a long time in the Med due to the instructions being repeated in a variety of languages.

 

Communicating with staff will vary, but I am very often surprised how well bar staff, for example, do when serving people who don't speak English. A lot of the bar staff take the time to learn the basics of many languages, so whilst they may not be able to hold a conversation they can usually fairly easily get a drink.

 

There will likely be quite a few people (I'd say 10-20%) of people who don't speak English as a first language and many of them don't speak it at all. They should always be able to find a German speaker amongst the staff and will be able to get by with many others.

[valleyvillage]

"The main language used on board is English. However, we offer our international guest service in German and Spanish on all fleetwide sailings and in French and Italian on all sailings in Europe and select worldwide itineraries." NCL FAQ

[classy_cruiser]

8 minutes ago, valleyvillage said:

"The main language used on board is English. However, we offer our international guest service in German and Spanish on all fleetwide sailings and in French and Italian on all sailings in Europe and select worldwide itineraries." NCL FAQ

Thanks, I did see that. It's not really clear what "international guest service" means exactly. Could just be one person who speaks German at the guest service desk. It sounds like they have the newsletter and critical announcements in German per the poster above which is great. I''m wondering whether they have translated menus and things like that too. 

[valleyvillage]

https://www.ncl.com/fr/en/language-service-en

This sounds like French is covered, but other languages seem to be part of the page. 

[classy_cruiser]

Ooh thanks this does give me hope! I tried to get to that page through the German website and it threw an error.  I will confirm with our PCC too. 

[All-ready2cruise]

If I could just add a little to the info here, I'd recommend that your friend have a device with an automatic/manual language translator.  My smartphone has a program which allows me to text a message and translate it into a different language... just something to consider for your friend. 

 

I doubt your friend will have any issues on the cruise.  

Hope you all enjoy.

Cheers

[don't-use-real-name]

Anywhere there is internet there are translation services:

 

LINKS to some of these (I recommend Google and use it frequently):

 

Google:  Google Translate

 

Bing:  Bing Microsoft Translator

 

Babelfish:  Babelfish.com

 

Online:  PROMT.One Translator - dictionary and online translation into English, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Ukrainian and other languages (online-translator.com)

 

This should get you on your way to communicating !

Dies sollte Sie auf den Weg zur Kommunikation bringen!

You are welcome !

 

Bitte schön!

 

[casofilia]

The Freestyle Daily will almost certainly be available in German as will the MDR menu.   Guest Services will have a German speaker almost certainly.

[KeithJenner]

One other thing I meant to mention earlier, I’m booked on the Jade to Greece and Turkey next year and when I check the shore excursions, a number of them are offered in multiple languages, including German.

[steamboats]

Remembering my cruises - as said before - the Freestyle Daily and restaurant menus are available in German as well as at least one international host (who speaks sort of German as the host must not be a native speaker). As for the security instructions - there should be a German video on the TV running when you enter the cabin. Shore tours - there might be a limited number of German shore tours depending on the number of German guests. There might be only one tour in German and this might only be operated when a minimum of passengers have signed up. Or they might have a "mixed" tour meaning a bilingual tour for German and - let´s say - French speaking guests. This is pretty hard to say as pretty likely NCL has to work it out right now and they are not yet cruising.

 

steamboats

[TrumpyNor]

12 hours ago, classy_cruiser said:

Thanks, I did see that. It's not really clear what "international guest service" means exactly. Could just be one person who speaks German at the guest service desk. It sounds like they have the newsletter and critical announcements in German per the poster above which is great. I''m wondering whether they have translated menus and things like that too. 

It just means that the staff at guest services on board are of many different nationalities and often speak several languages, and there are definitely always someone in their staff that speaks one or more of the following languages in addition to English: French/Spanish/English/German - I actually think it is part of their job requirement to speak several languages. Not everyone speaks all languages of course, so sometimes your friends may have to come back at a later time to speak to someone in German. 

Edited June 19, 2021 by TrumpyNor

[mking8288]

Ditto -

 

While onboard and in "foreign" ports where another native language is commonly used and spoken ashore, popular smartphone/iPhone-based apps are available to help with translation, not just while online or connected, but also OFFLINE - just a matter of being comfortable with one or two of the well-known apps.  I prefer using Google Translation with its wide choice of multiple language modules, free to download, pre-install and use anywhere.  G's "Translate" App can be installed on iPhones and iPads (and oh mine ... iOS 15 and iPad 15 will still run on my secondary backup iPhone SE from 2016, how cool is that 😉 ) - it can come in handy in many situations, places and of course, for emergencies, etc.

 

Onboard these cruise ships, guest services will probably have multi-lingual staff that cover 5 to 10 key languages around the world, if not more - and it's not unusual for the crew to represent 60 to 70 nationalities & can be called upon, sometimes.  

 

Getting around the ships, signage and off the gangways and returning, should not pose to be a major obstacles for ship's passengers - directions and locations onboard are often supplemented with the use of "info-graphic" symbols in signage.  Relax and just plan to sail on a healthy & safe cruise.  

 

Besides, OP, aren't you going to be your friend's volunteer escorts and guides anyway - sailing together #hint #hint

 

[classy_cruiser]

Thanks for all the feedback. Of course most of the time we will do things together, but there is a large age gap so there may be some days where we do separate activities. The translation apps are a good idea, this person is not super smartphone savvy but maybe we can get them started. Not a bad idea for everyone to have that app while traveling Greece anyway!

[oliver67]

The daily schedule and menus are available in German. It is sometimes a quite funny translation for a native German speaker and it happens that items are missing, so I prefer the English original, but the translation definitely helps you through the day. 

[FreestyleNovice]

Speaking Dutch between us at the table sometimes ends up in waiters handing us German menus. 

 

Dutch and Deutsch can be easily mistaken for an outsider. Of course we don't think they are but.. 

 

The wait/bar staff is very professional with international guests in our experience. Guest services should not be a problem at all, shore excursions and gangway experience neither. It might not be all covered in German but your friends will surely manage as said by posters above.

 

Your room steward might be less experienced with foreign languages, sometimes we've found (cruising in general) small things got lost in translation but that might be on our end too. 

We're not the average loud American. 

 

Question for the OP: some (European) travel agents send a native host with sailings where they have a large number of bookings on, especially for what you mention. They are paid by the travel agent and act as a guide. Perhaps booking their cruise that way might help?

[CPT Trips]

On more than one of our cruises out of NYC major announcements have been made in German. We were told that there were a large number of Germans on board. Interestingly, there were also a large, and more noticeable, number of Québécois on board yet no French announcements. 
 

It would probably be worthwhile looking for independent tours that are in German  rather than ships tours. 

[callmebetty]

A funny story...

We met some Germans on our last cruise and became friendly. One day, they were very confused as the dailies translated Beanbag Toss in English to the equivalent of testicles in German...it took a creative version of charades to explain this game had nothing to do with male anatomy!