General Immersion Thread (merged)

[jbond]

[QUOTE]meal times[/QUOTE]
On our recent transatlantic, the meal times were 7:30 for main seating and 10:00 for second seating.
The shows for main seating started at 10:30. On some evenings the shows for second seating started at midnight.
We always have dined second seating, but for this cruise we switched to main seating.

[Ephraim]

[quote name='jbond']On our recent transatlantic, the meal times were 7:30 for main seating and 10:00 for second seating.
The shows for main seating started at 10:30. On some evenings the shows for second seating started at midnight.
We always have dined second seating, but for this cruise we switched to main seating.[/quote]

For the Spanish, 10PM is pretty normal for dinner. Lunch is usually sometime between 2PM and 3:30PM and is the main meal.

There were a major amount of complaints from the Spanish about having to have dinner as early as 8:30PM. You can hardly find a restaurant open at that early an hour in Spain, other than tourist traps.

[timespliters]

[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]


Same in Belgium the have mayonaise with fries/chips and they were good:)

[zantedeschia]

[quote name='Mines']
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,
[/QUOTE]
Is it? I think people are missing the point. When Royal goes to a foreign market, I don't they're doing so to provide Americans access to new ports, I think they're doing it to provide their cruises for the residents of that area. If they are going to immersion cruising, it makes me think that their saturation in Europe hasn't been as successful as they'd like us to believe.

It's kind of like how there are threads complaining about too many Puerto Ricans on cruises out of Puerto Rico. Well duh. Cruises out of Galveston are about 80% comprised of Texans to no one's surprise.

On a recent cruise, a crew member mentioned to me that the cruises in South America were losing money. I asked her if that meant they would bring Splendour back in the near future. Certainly not, she emphasized. *sigh*

[ddean52]

there seems to be many undercurrents to this thread!
1) a sensitivity on the part of Euros that we Americans
would rather travel in Europe with only Americans- which is patently unfounded!
2) a anti-american theme-a resentment of our 'attitude"-what ever that is.
3) Euro resentment that once our paid for cruise was 'changed" many of us complained and posted here. Again, the complaining was taken, in error, by some Euros as knock on them-which it was not!

I state categorical that anyone who has ever booked RCCL cruise knew for the most part what they were buying, essentially a english speaking crew with a more or less generally understood menu with is a mix of regional and traditional foods (yes, US/English type).

I feel the 'immersion cruise" concept is great but should be marketed as such, I would even have a interest in such a cruise and perhaps pay a premium for such an adventure!

[B]The single biggest issue is that this cruise was sold by RCCL as a typical cruise and was only changed after final payment were made,

When RCCL has a members cruise they make you clearly aware of this fact, starting with its name "member's cruise"! OMG why would they not do the same with a "immersion cruise"???????[/B]
Let your flames begin!!
Dean

[ddean52]

Sorry, the cruise im refering to is Jewel of The Seas 6/27/08 out of Harwich port.

[dathy]

it has been really interesting reading everyone's opinion on what happened to me and other cruisers. i like getting what i paid for, uh, what was advertised. as i said earlier, i had a business relationship with rcl that was based on trust. i've cruised with this cruse line since the early 90s and have always found that the product the shipline advertised is the product that i received.

here's what my problem is: by switching my cruise to an immersion cruise and now hearing talk of using euro on the ship, i can no longer trust the cruiseline. i also read that the infant policy has now changed on the ship. what else would they like to change?

i cannot book a vacation with a cruiseline that obviously is having serious thoughts about the way they do business.

who knows what else they're going to change? until they settle down, forget it.

[Ephraim]

[quote name='dathy']it has been really interesting reading everyone's opinion on what happened to me and other cruisers. i like getting what i paid for, uh, what was advertised. as i said earlier, i had a business relationship with rcl that was based on trust. i've cruised with this cruse line since the early 90s and have always found that the product the shipline advertised is the product that i received.

here's what my problem is: by switching my cruise to an immersion cruise and now hearing talk of using euro on the ship, i can no longer trust the cruiseline. i also read that the infant policy has now changed on the ship. what else would they like to change?

i cannot book a vacation with a cruiseline that obviously is having serious thoughts about the way they do business.

who knows what else they're going to change? until they settle down, forget it.[/quote]

Sorry you feel that way. Of course, you do realize that it won't change anything. The company needs to make money and if Americans aren't filling the rooms... they need to find others to fill those rooms and keep the company profitable.

So you think that Europeans on a ship leaving out of Europe should be carrying US dollars? I couldn't figure out how RCL was going to handle VAT in USD, they did... but it was just ODD.

[OPSoccermom]

[quote name='house7']What is well ahead of time? What is letting everyone know? From what some posters are saying they got phone calls. I know I got a phone call when they needed to put a ship I was booked on in dry dock and wanted to change my cruise sailing date. They even gave me OBC and a better cabin. Not sure if they are doing that with these imersion cruises but it doesn't hurt to ask.[/QUOTE]
They haven't contacted everyone...

We are on the June 14th IOTS cruise which is now "immersion" per the RCCL website. We have yet to be contacted, most likely because we have paid in full long ago and they know we cannot do anything about it (not that we would - we are still looking forward to the trip). Those that have received calls received them prior to final payment - at least they might have a chance to re-schedule if they care to.

For me, the issue is that a change has been made to my vacation that is only 2 weeks away and we have paid almost $20,000 (2 JSs for 14 day cruise) for. I understand that RCCL has a right to do so, but is it too much to ask for them to inform us before we read it on their website?

[OPSoccermom]

[quote name='Jeka']Uhm, what if the majority of the passengers happen to be from these "unfamilar cultures"? Not sure what ships this is happening on but the Brilliance and the Independence are operated by RCI/UK as opposed to RCI/US. If that's the case, seems the US passengers have chosen to cruise on UK ships. Correct me if I'm wrong.[/QUOTE]
Those who booked BOTS and IOTS last year did not "choose" ships operated by RCL/UK. The switch from RCI/US to RCI/UK was announced after booking for this European season was opened up.

[madforcruising]

[quote name='OPSoccermom']Those who booked BOTS and IOTS last year did not "choose" ships operated by RCL/UK. The switch from RCI/US to RCI/UK was announced after booking for this European season was opened up.[/quote]

The immersion cruise are new but Brilliance of the Seas has been operated and owned by RCCL/UK since she started sailing.

[OPSoccermom]

[quote name='madforcruising']The immersion cruise are new but Brilliance of the Seas has been operated and owned by RCCL/UK since she started sailing.[/QUOTE]
Thanks - you're correct. BOTS is noted as governed by RCI/UK, but the RCI website did not at the time we booked and actually still does not have IOTS listed as operated by RCI/UK in the "our company" portion of their website. We learned this after we booked in March 2007.

[Mines]

[quote name='OPSoccermom']Thanks - you're correct. BOTS is noted as governed by RCI/UK, but the RCI website did not at the time we booked and actually still does not have IOTS listed as operated by RCI/UK in the "our company" portion of their website. We learned this after we booked in March 2007.[/quote]

I am not sure what difference this will make in practice. Naturally, operating out of Southampton, there will be a predominance of British passengers, but there are not too many cultural differences between the UK and USA to make anyone feel like cancelling their cruise. I have been on many cruises where Americans and British co-habit very comfortably. They even have a roughly similar language.

Although these two ships may be offically "governed" by RCI/UK, in practice all of the deecisions are still made out of Miami. You will not be sailing on a British ship, as one poster questioned, all of the shis are registered in the Bahamas:rolleyes:

[jzygail]

[quote name='Mines']I have been on many cruises where Americans and British co-habit very comfortably. [b]They even have a roughly similar language.[/b]
[/QUOTE]

:::snerk::: That actually made me snort loudly enough that my boss asked if I was feeling well :D

[nikkicattrell]

[quote name='zantedeschia']If they are going to immersion cruising, it makes me think that their saturation in Europe hasn't been as successful as they'd like us to believe.
[/quote]

Surely they are doing immersion cruising because they HAVE been successful and hence are looking towards catering to the higher percentage of passengers that are coming from the local countries. :)

[Andrew9999]

[quote name='dathy']here's what my problem is: by switching my cruise to an immersion cruise and now hearing talk of using euro on the ship, i can no longer trust the cruiseline.[/quote]

Sorry to hear that you have cancelled (I presume you have??). I am sure you will find an alternative which you are more comfortable with.

Does this mean you are going to take up my bet?

[URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=14777917&postcount=681[/URL]

Andrew.

[Mines]

[quote name='nikkicattrell']Surely they are doing immersion cruising because they HAVE been successful and hence are looking towards catering to the higher percentage of passengers that are coming from the local countries. :)[/quote]

It is the result of diversifying. With the new mega ships in the Caribbean, the older ones are going to more exotic places. It is impractical, however, to think that you could fill up a cruise ship sailing out of Shanghai with only Americans. They are obviously trying to tap the increasingly more affluent Chinese market.

Incidentally, the ports chosen for immersion cruises are:

Southampton, England
Santo Domingo, Dominican Rep.
Colon, Panama
São Paulo, Brazil (Splendour of the Seas only)
Shanghai, China (short cruises)

[jbond]

[QUOTE]Sorry you feel that way. Of course, you do realize that it won't change anything. [/QUOTE]
That's a very sad statement, if it's correct. So, you think that RCI will continue to sell cruises with their current advertising here in the US and then at the last minute (after final payment) infom passengers that it's an immersion. Pretty unethical, don't you think.

[Ms Understood]

[quote name='Mines']Incidentally, the ports chosen for immersion cruises are:

Southampton, England
Santo Domingo, Dominican Rep.
Colon, Panama
São Paulo, Brazil (Splendour of the Seas only)
Shanghai, China (short cruises)[/quote]

Mines, where did you get this info? we are on 14 nite from Singapore to Shanghai and my TA got a telephone call advising that our specific cruise is now an immersion, so how do they define "short cruises"?:confused: :rolleyes:

[NoOneWillAnswer]

[quote name='Mines']Incidentally, the ports chosen for immersion cruises are:

Southampton, England
Santo Domingo, Dominican Rep.
Colon, Panama
São Paulo, Brazil (Splendour of the Seas only)
Shanghai, China (short cruises)[/QUOTE]


Incomplete list. Received notification by phone that the 1/31/09 LOS Singapore-Shanghai (long cruise) would be immersion. Language to be Mandarin Chinese. As of this morning the website does not yet reflect that.

If anyone has received anything in writing from the cruiseline on this sailing, would you please post details?

Thanks.

[NoOneWillAnswer]

Such changes can be:

• 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.

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.

 

Can you cite the written material from Royal Caribbean you used to compile this list? Trying to find anything in writing from the cruiseline on this subject. If you can cite a source or sources, would appreciate it.

 

Thanks.

[Ephraim]

That's a very sad statement, if it's correct. So, you think that RCI will continue to sell cruises with their current advertising here in the US and then at the last minute (after final payment) infom passengers that it's an immersion. Pretty unethical, don't you think.

 

It's clearly written on the RCL website, right next to the map. These cruises aren't strongly marketed in the US. I don't see many Americans getting on a 3 or 4 day cruise from Brazil.

 

RCL must make money. That's the reality. If Americans aren't travelling and filling the ships then they must do something.

 

As far as unethical, I don't think so. They will still have service in English. The menus are in English. They will have some local favorites mixed with international fare. They will seat you with other English speaking people. And you still have the run of the ship and English excursions. That you aren't the majority of the cruisers... that you won't be. And the prices will be in the local currency.

 

Next you are going to tell me that you think that stores in Europe should put up prices in USD while you are on vacation. The ship is in Europe or Brazil (for example) why should the currency be the USD? Until I can cruise and pay for everything in CAD... this argument doesn't hold any water whatsoever.

[Mines]

Can you cite the written material from Royal Caribbean you used to compile this list? Trying to find anything in writing from the cruiseline on this subject. If you can cite a source or sources, would appreciate it.

 

Thanks.

 

No, unfortunately I do not have access to this information and I guess that very few people have, which is why there is so much confusion wth TAs and RCL personnel. I am just citing my experience from having been on one and a half immersion cruises.

 

We do know which cruises are immersion cruises, because they have the message written next to the map. What they change is left open, perhaps for the local hotel managers to decide depending on final booking numbers.

 

You have to remember that theoretically an immersion cruise in South America could be booked up by 100% Americans before the Brazilian travel agents wake up. What would RCL do then? Presumably remove the immersion status.

[Mines]

Mines, where did you get this info? we are on 14 nite from Singapore to Shanghai and my TA got a telephone call advising that our specific cruise is now an immersion, so how do they define "short cruises"?:confused: :rolleyes:

 

I just got this from reviewing which departure ports showed the message next to the map. The longer cruises from Singapore and Shanghai (i.e. 12 to 14 nights) did not have the message, so they are not immersion cruises. This could change, however, depending on bookings.

 

Do not forget that the definition of an immersion cruise is where one nationality or ethnic group is predominant (excluding Amercians, of course).

[ddean52]

We do know which cruises are immersion cruises, because they have the message written next to the map.

 

Not true in all cases. Our 6/27/08 Jewel of The Seas cruise is an immersion cruise but there is no notation on the web site to this effect!