Apparently Central and South American countries have a great deal of Nationalism. I discovered this on our Royal Caribbean cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas out of Colon, Panama. Each time there was a big gathering on the ship, they MC would ask what countries people were from, naming Central or South American country names. Great applause and cheers went up when a group's country was mentioned.
We had a great time, visiting Cartagena, Columbia, the islands of Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba. We were traveling with another family that are also good friends. They have a son the same age as our own and they are best buds. How can we not have fun?
On this particular cruise, English speakers are a minority on the boat. The ship had around 4200 travelers on board, of which about 1% were English speaking. Most of these were Canadian as far as I could tell. I was a bit disappointed with Royal Caribbean at first. There was no indication on the website about being mostly Spanish on this ship. For that matter, RC cruises don't show mostly English either.
I like venturing to new destinations, discovering different cultures and living the life style when abroad. I speak just enough Spanish to order a meal or ask where something is. I've been to Mexico or Baja California over 20 times in my life. However, on a cruise ship what does this mean? All the ship announcements are done in Spanish, then English. Shows and events were all MC'd in Spanish, sprinkled with English for the rest. As a result, we didn't attend many of the shows. My 13 year old son and his buddy were quite dejected the first night when they visited the Teen Club and couldn't communicate with the other kids.
How do we cope? Quite frankly I probably wouldn't make too many new friends on a cruise. On a cruise, I like going to dinner or the hot tub and chatting with others about what makes their life interesting. On this cruise we already had good friends to hang with and we met a few to chat with. Our son's had a good time too. Our boys are taking some Spanish classes in middle school, and likewise, the Latino kids take English classes. Both nationalities just needed to overcome the shyness of speaking in a foreign tongue. Some of the kids were even from Miami. Our kids ended up having a great time.
I'm hoping to write more of an observation for other potential travelers, rather than complain. I probably should have surfed the web to look into what was the primary language of the ship, but never thought to do that. I'll note this for next time.
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