General Immersion Thread (merged)

[EmJakeBubbie]

I wouldn't probably eat a french fry sandwich, but here in Canada we also do french fries with vinegar and ketchup. I noticed in the US vinegar was never available :( Cidar vinegar or brown vinegar is even better!

Once, in Brussels, I saw a picture of what I thought was cheese fries, so I ordered up "that version" of pom frites, only to discover what I thought was cheese was mayo! yep, mayo on fries and y'know what? I liked it and now eat them that way. I feel so "immersed" ...:D (p.s. that was a land-holiday!)

[hcat]

Hope Dathy gets to cancel & find a nice alternate vacation--& that she does not lose that much money iin doin git!

 

The currency issue would be a deal breaker as well as the food & service

 

We went on QM2 to Canada & although I enjoyed the food, DH hardly ate--too many fish offerings--not so much beef.. & that was with the cruiseline trying to cater to American tastes with hot dogs cooked oddly for lunch... Always wondered why UK tablemates would choose pasta for dinner on cruises which is not very well prepared --guess they don't get it at home! Also the service on board was good but very distant.

 

At least this trip will be in English but imagine getting stuck on the other ones--hope they advertise all future such cruises in bold--guess the US economy has tanked so bad we are no longer able to fill the ships...can't blame the cruise lines but should not have changed after they advertised another product initially... In foreign ports (Spain Italy France, greece, for example) will they still provide Excursions with Eng, speaking staff & guides?

 

If my celeb trip from Rome goes this route--we'll be heading for another ship!

[kingsgirl]

Once' date=' in Brussels, I saw a picture of what I thought was cheese fries, so I ordered up "that version" of pom frites, only to discover what I thought was cheese was mayo! yep, mayo on fries and y'know what? I liked it and now eat them that way. I feel so "immersed" ...:D (p.s. that was a [b']land[/b]-holiday!)

 

Haha, I like that too! I've never had fries ordered with mayo on top but I've dipped fries IN mayo. It's actually quite tasty eh?

[Yvie]

RCI will not be so stupid to do a straight conversion something like a cocktail that cost $6 will now cost 6 Euro :eek:

When we fly Continental to the states a drink is $5 or £2.50p

 

We are on the Independence 14 June one of our excursions was priced in $ when I followed the booking procedure at the checkout the price was showing in dollars as $160 then when i went to pay it was converted at todays rate and came in at £82.28p.

 

Yvie

Have you been informed that you will be paying in Euro ?

Our cruise docs say USDollars

 

I cant really understand the outrage here.

 

There are similar threads on this topic. In one of them a poster stated they were told euro. I called and was told US. As is usually the case when you call RCI, you will get as many different answers as representatives you speak with. Maybe the currency will be in pounds. I will probably not find out until I am actually onboard.

 

For the purposes of planning it would be nice if we were informed ahead of time. Maybe more info will be in our cruise documents when we receive them.

 

I am going on my cruise and enjoying it with my family!

 

The outrage on this thread has been over the "bait and switch" tactics and the general misinformation and lack of information coming from RCI.

[house7]

They don't have pizza in Britain?

 

Look forward to a lot of boiled meat and peas. You can eat the peas with your knife if you use the mash as an adhesive. :D

Be sure that you don't switch your fork to your right hand after you cut your meat, they absolutely hate it when Americans do that.

 

They do and it is deep fried sometimes and it is great!!!!!:D

[Andrew9999]

[quote name='hcat']Hope Dathy gets to cancel & find a nice alternate vacation--& that she does not lose that much money iin doin git!

The currency issue would be a deal breaker as well as the food & service[/quote]

Firstly, please note that this post relates to 2008 European cruises on Independence only (wish they had not merged all the threads). I agree with many of the comments relating to Latin America or Asian cruises and I am not commenting on those here.

Will anyone take a charity bet with me?

I will bet anyone $100 or £50 that the currency on my 9 August 2008 Independence cruise will be US dollars. That's the cruise for which Cathy (the original poster on this thread) is probably going to cancel her booking.

The loser is on trust to pay this amount to the charity of the winner's choice.

Why am I so confident?

Apart from anything else, it is technically impossible to switch currencies mid-season. As an Accountant who works with computer systems every day I can assure you there is no way RCI could do this, even if they wanted to.

Of course, they could switch for the 2009 season as they would have sufficient time to implement the changes. However, why on earth would they use Euros? If they were going to switch then surely they would use pounds...

This whole "immersion" stuff is really getting out of hand. The internet at its worst! But, it does make good fun reading it and it's better than working!

I do agree with the points made by many on this thread, namely that RCI (or anyone) should not fundamentally change their product after it has been booked. However, where I differ from many posters is what I define as "fundamental". I am certain that the changes on my 9 August cruise will be minor and very similar to what I noticed when cruising on Jewel from Harwich last year.

Here is what will happen on my cruise:

1. The main meals in the Dining Room - hardly any change from normal as confirmed by several people on Independence last week.

2. The crew will not all be British - the majority will be from other countries but will speak English to the required standard in line with other RCI cruises.

3. Dollars will still be the currency.

4. Sorrentos will still serve Pizza, Chops and Portfino will still serve their wonderful steaks, pasta etc etc, Windjammer will still be buffet style and serve all the usual food items. There will be some additional food such as English bacon and sausages for breakfast. Note I said additional.

5. All prices on board will still be in US dollars.

6. You can still go to Johnny Rockets, pay the cover charge and enjoy hamburgers and fries and onion rings etc etc.

7. Entertainment will have some UK bias - say 5 nights out of 14. For example there will be British comedian(s) and the traditional band doing cover versions will be somebody like Abba or The Beatles rather than The Eagles or The Drifters.

8. All excursions will be conducted in English (unless an additional non-English tour is arranged for the tiny minority of non-English speakers on board. Note I said additional.).

9. All prices will be in US dollars (yes, I know I have said this three times, just trying to emphasise it!)


How do I know this? I don't. However, I just wanted to post it now so I can say "I told you so" later to all those who cancelled for such trivial reasons. Of course, if you consider the above reasons not to be trivial then I respect that, but please don't cancel for other reasons such as Euros being the currency - it simply is not going to happen.

(Acknowledgement to a post by "I Love Suites", from which I extracted some of the well-constructed list above.)

Well, anyone taking the bet? Dathy? Hcat? Yvie?

A very happy Bank Holiday Monday tomorrow to my UK readers (except Manchester United supporters :D) and a very happy Memorial Day tomorrow to my US readers.

Andrew.

[madforcruising]

[quote name='Andrew9999']...Will anyone take a charity bet with me?
...
Andrew.[/quote]


Sorry I can´t take this bet up with you as I totally agree with everything you said and to extend your points I like to add as far as I´ve read it so far we are not even talking about changing to immersion cruises completely sometime mid-season but in many cases we are talking about 1 or two cruises sometime middle of the season and after that back to regular.

I fully understand the gripes people have about this being announced after having booked. However the crew will not be exchanged for just a couple of cruises so the same English speaking folks will serve you. These ships carry international crew from all over the world on all their sailings and there has to be a common language the Captain and officers need to communicate with their crew and staff. This will be English and won´t change, so you can be sure the crew will be able to communicate with you.

The other point is like Adrew pointed out, much too much hassle and nearly impossible to change onboard currency for just short times back and forth.

[Pemcorgimum]

Andrew- good post and I agree with you too so not taking your bet LOL but I think you are a brave man ;)

Hope it is dollars- won't be the same playing blackjack with pounds or euros will it?:D

By the way sorry about Chelsea losing last week- you know I have a soft spot for them going back to 1970 :cool:

[Bobal]

Andrew - well said, nice to hear some common-sense amongst all the hysteria ;)

[temple1]

It is amazing how many on here accept as truth what other posters write. LOL - I'm always amazed at what people will accept as absolute gospel because it comes by way of the internet. :rolleyes: If you are that naive and gullible, have I got some land deals for you! ;)

For me - where do I sign up for the all things Greek cruise? I also read about someone all bent out of shape about Indian cuisine on a cruise - I want to go on that one too. It has been too many years since we've had a good murg sagwala, onion chutney or naan.

[nerysj]

Please, please please, all listen to Andrew.........he has it in a nutshell, so no bets on here! I wholeheartedly agree.........impossible to implement such 'changes' in such a short space of time. I am not even sure that there will be 'changes', but 'additions' to what is expected, or what is 'usual' on RCI. I, for one will not be cancelling anything.........I think everyone should 'immerse' themselves on other topics, as this thread has now run its course. Just MHO.

[jbond]

[QUOTE]This whole "immersion" stuff is really getting out of hand. The internet at its worst![/QUOTE]
I agree with you, RCI makes some kind of "premature" announcement and then all the "experts" put their 2¢ in. Unfortunately RCI has a habit of not informing their Customer Service staff of what is happening and this only compounds the uncertainty and speculation.
[QUOTE]A very happy Bank Holiday Monday tomorrow to my UK readers (except Manchester United supporters ) and a very happy Memorial Day tomorrow to my US readers.[/QUOTE]
Guess you must be one of those sore loser Chelsea fans. What did Mourinho say today, "Almost is nothing and Chelsea's season was 'really bad' and the campaign could only be described as great by someone with the philosophy of a loser". At least now they've fired poor old Avram, we won't have to listen to him whine about how unfair everything is. Glory,glory Man United.:D :D :D That's one smiley face for each time they've won the Champion's League.

[FOXTROT]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Here is what RCL has about a cruise we booked on.[/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS] "Please note: this product has been sold almost exclusively to guests from Latin America; therefore the services and product have been tailored to their cultural preferences in food and beverage, entertainment and retail. While English language assistance will be provided, the local language will be the primary language spoken onboard. Please check with your local consulate or embassy regarding visa requirements. "[/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS]We have not been notified of these changes, but read about them on the boards. Another person on the cruise, who RCL did call, was told they were changing crew prior to this cruise.[/FONT]

[Host Anne]

Hi all ~ I have read quite a bit of this thread (not all ... it's just too long) and did want to make a comment.

RCI may have the right to make changes to its cruises but when they do, they need to make absolutely certain that they have all their facts straight and that all their customer service reps have been versed in all those facts. When a customer calls with questions like dathy asked, she shouldn't get answers like "I don't know" or "it will be British food." They should have specifics in place before they make these decisions public. Failure to do so results in people becoming very upset and it's bad all the way around for passengers and the cruise line.

My guess is that Andrew9999 is probably in the ballpark of what will actually happen. However, RCI has an obligation, in my opinion, to give accurate info once they've made a change that impacts its passengers.

Communication - it can prevent and solve SO many problems!

[Cruise Cat]

[quote name='FOXTROT'][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Here is what RCL has about a cruise we booked on.[/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS]"Please note: this product has been sold almost exclusively to guests from Latin America; therefore the services and product have been tailored to their cultural preferences in food and beverage, entertainment and retail. While English language assistance will be provided, the local language will be the primary language spoken onboard. Please check with your local consulate or embassy regarding visa requirements. "[/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS]We have not been notified of these changes, but read about them on the boards. Another person on the cruise, who RCL did call, was told they were changing crew prior to this cruise.[/FONT][/quote]

FT - where did you read this about your cruise? Was it burried in your reservation online? I've looked in mine and don't see anything like this - yet.

[denhur]

any thoughts on the language of the cruise compass? we apparently are on an asian immersion cruise

[jbond]

[QUOTE]any thoughts on the language of the cruise compass? we apparently are on an asian immersion cruise[/QUOTE]
Just got off Splendour that was overwhelmingly Brazilian. The Cruise Compass was available in about six different languages and our steward always gave us the English version after the first day.:D Around the ship, Compasses were available multi language. Even though the number of English speaking people was low, quite a few times the announcements were in English first. On many occasions announcements were preceded in English with the statement "The following announcement is for Portuguese speaking passengers only". That way we knew we hadn't missed anything. Our menus were always in English. In the Windjammer, the signs telling you what each dish was, were multi lingual.
My big concern would be table mates. I think I would be very active on the Roll Call and try and set up something ahead of time.

[FOXTROT]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Cruise Cat I went into RCCL.com looked up the cruise like I was going to book it. This is what came up. No nothing like this appeared on our original booking of this cruise. By the way this is for the 1-18-09 sailing of the Vision out of Santo Domingo.[/FONT]

[Cruise Cat]

[quote name='FOXTROT'][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Cruise Cat I went into RCCL.com looked up the cruise like I was going to book it. This is what came up. No nothing like this appeared on our original booking of this cruise. By the way this is for the 1-18-09 sailing of the Vision out of Santo Domingo.[/FONT][/quote]

Thanks! I looked at ours and nothing like that. Since we are going to the Med to experience that area I would not be too upset - this time.

I live in Texas. The last thing I want going out of Galveston is a Texas themed cruise:rolleyes:

[flames]

[quote name='FOXTROT'][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Cruise Cat I went into RCCL.com looked up the cruise like I was going to book it. This is what came up. No nothing like this appeared on our original booking of this cruise. By the way this is for the 1-18-09 sailing of the Vision out of Santo Domingo.[/FONT][/quote]

The Jan. 18, 2009 is a Immersion cruise, I just look at it and it says right next to the Map, You better check again.

Carol:)

[timespliters]

Can I ask what is a [B]Immersion Cruise?[/B]

[G.M.T.]

[quote name='scotsman']I wish it was British Pounds :D

One thing I did enjoy when we were on the Independence 30th April for the naming ceremony was every cabin has a kettle,t bags,instant coffee etc.
In the Windjammer in the morning you had real back bacon plus that over processed stuff that passes for bacon, they also do real sausages as well.
Vive la Difference[/quote]
I would have thought with all these "troubles" there would have at least supplied an [B]Immersion[/B] instead of a kettle.:D

Ron

[G.M.T.]

[quote=EmJake's Bubbie;14774980]Once, in Brussels, I saw a picture of what I thought was cheese fries, so I ordered up "that version" of pom frites, only to discover what I thought was cheese was mayo! yep, mayo on fries and y'know what? I liked it and now eat them that way. I feel so "immersed" ...:D (p.s. that was a [B]land[/B]-holiday!)[/quote]
In England you get french fries (chips) with salt and vinegar (must be Sarsons Malt).

In Germany when ordering french fries (pomme frites) the standard question is:

"red or white".

Meaning to you want ketchup or mayonaise. BAH

Ron

[madforcruising]

[quote name='Blu*Donau']In England you get french fries (chips) with salt and vinegar (must be Sarsons Malt).

In Germany when ordering french fries (pomme frites) the standard question is:

"red or white".

Meaning to you want ketchup or mayonaise. BAH

Ron[/quote]


Hey it has to be ketchup [B]and[/B] mayo (Pommes Schranke)

Grüße nach Passau aus dem Ruhrgebiet;)
Greetings to Passau from the Ruhr area

[Mines]

[quote name='timespliters']Can I ask what is a [B]Immersion Cruise?[/B][/quote]

An immersion cruise is one where a sizeable majority of passengers come from one nationality or ethnic group. The cruise line takes certain measures to change things to suit that majority.

Strictly speaking, all cruises in the Caribbean or out of US ports are immersion cruises, as they are dominated by Americans. That is not what the thread is about though, as everyone knows that Royal Caribbean is an American cruise line. The worry for all is where Americans are not the dominant force and changes are made to make the majority feel more comfortable, often to the detriment of the minority.

Such changes can be:
[LIST]
[*]meal times;
[*]language used onboard;
[*]types of food on offer;
[*]menus in specialist restaurants;
[*]entertainment;
[*]on-board activities;
[*]predominant staff nationality;
[*]types of products served in the shops;
[*]onboard currency.[/LIST]If you are on an immersion cruise (i.e. one that is not predominantly American) any or all of the above changes could be made. If you have any problem with these, it is best to check beforehand.