Comments on: Gone in a puff of smoke: Why I jumped off a cruise ship

By: barbara

barbara — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:04:18 +0000

annita; i juat went through 56 reviews of the fortuna 37 were 4 or 5 starsthat included carribean and mediterranean; you were on the ship for two days ; do you think it is fair to evaluate based on two days; why didnt you speciffically describe the meals you were unhappy with; from the reviewsthe breakfasts sounded fine; fortuna is not listed as a nonsmoking ship; did you vist any of the ports of call ; did you pay for the cruise or was it a freebie .you as a cruise reviewer must have been aware that only 15 percent of its passengers were Americans; i think a simple i would not recommend this ship for people with serious issues on smoking been sufficient; what about your experience with entertainment,etc.your review was so biased ; 37 out of 56 is not a bad figure; did you go to any ports ; the price was fantastic considering children free ; use the wonderful facilities you described;you were just aggravated because of smoking and the lack of enough english speaking staff very provincial attitude.

By: barbara

barbara — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:59:41 +0000

oh anita you are a pill; now that most americans have quit guess what obeisity is way up; just as evil as cigarretes; your complaint about the bathroom being white big deal; how long were you in your state room; could you have not pointed your items out on the menu; or asked at the table if anyone spoke english or french; your ports of call should have made you quite content; maybe you should stick to a disney cruise; ill skip reading or even going to your blog.

By: Estuardo Zenteno

Estuardo Zenteno — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:39:30 +0000

John.
It happens all the time “they yell and get rude”……..I have a good solution:

Let’s all learn Esperanto ……..Problem solved!!!

Happy sailings to all

Estuardo

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:25:18 +0000

The American ships marketed towards Europeans either for Europe or the Caribbean crew memebrs DO NOT speak German/ Italian/ Spanish, just English, especially in the Caribbean , and you don´t see any European complaining that they don´t speak their language on board. It´s time to change your minds.
Regarding smoke, I think you should read the Fatasia Review Cruise Critic Message Board (the reviews for the maiden voyage are trrible, I admit) where the editor in chief gives a totally different point of view.

By: ALEX

ALEX — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:07:46 +0000

Anita: you said: “When the cruise is marketed towards U.S. Nationals it must have English speakers.” If this were true, then why do they market China or Greece or Turkey or the Machu Pichu ruins of Peru in the U.S., if they don´t speak English as their native language? You should remember that you are the visitors in Europe and you shouldn´t expect everybody to speak English. And if you refer only to cruises, let me tell you that NCL, for instance, markets Med cruises for Spanish people, but there are just a couple of crew members who speak it, and the daily onboard newsletter was so poorly translated, that those who failed to speak English didn´t even know lots of interesting things and activities on board.

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 04:19:26 +0000

There are lots of people in Europe that don’t smoke, and lots of them that hate the second hand smoke. This absurd story that “Europe is a smoking culture” is just a “smoke screen” to detract from the fact that cigarette smoke is bad for you, affects people around you and that Europe has some of the absolutly most inconsiderate smokers on the planet. It is not a “freedom of expression” to ignore a no smoking sign, it is simply ignorant. I agree that Americans shouting in English loudly is offensive, but I”ll take that anyday over a European who thinks it is their constitutional right to smoke wherever and whenever they want. I went to the Eiffel Tower on the top, which is a “non smoking” monument and there were no fewer than 8 smokers puffing away. There were ample signs at the entrance, if you want to smoke, don’t go up the tower. I’ll never set foot on that cruise ship and am very thankful to Anita for pointing it out. As for the two or three considerate smokers out there, yes please continue not smoking in the non smoking areas, I will avoid the smoking areas without complaint and both sides will be happy.

By: John F

John F — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:29:15 +0000

Estuardo…you are right and it is embarrassing (to me as an American) when they get rude because they don;t understand the native language. Ever notice that they tend to yell and get loud?

By: Estuardo Zenteno

Estuardo Zenteno — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:20:55 +0000

Annita
I understand your point I am from Mexico, so my main is Spanish, of course I understand perfect English, some italian etc. I cruised many parts of the world without problems comunicating. I travel with friends to South America, several times, and Princess even have Spanish menus….My guess is they should have menus in several lenguages, according to the are of the world, maybe there is a solution. It easier to print onboard….What i don’t understand is why so many US people think that is an obligation to speak only English….this I seen many times….I seen Americans very rude when they don’t uderstand

Thanks for your reply

Estuardo

By: Cynthia B

Cynthia B — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:06:06 +0000

The Fantasia sounds like a beautiful ship and I’d love to cruise on her “smoke and all”. My suggestion is that with all the technology out there maybe the waiters and anyone else that works on board that’s trying to understand multiple languages, ” ON ANY CRUISE SHIP OR OTHER WISE ” could have a device that translated any language into there own so there wouldn’t be such a language barrier. Call me silly, but I know there is such a thing as a voice translator! I don’t know why that hasn’t been implemented? When I book my trip I sure don’t want to spend have the time translating; which sometimes is kind of fun but when it comes to waiting for that mouth watering Lobster I just ordered I sure don’t want to be served with a bowl of chili

By: Anita Dunham-Potter

Anita Dunham-Potter — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:14:06 +0000

Hello Estuardo,
When the cruise is marketed towards U.S. Nationals it must have English speakers. The problem I found on MSC was that the majority of the crew was multi-lingual and that’s a very tough thing to do. I even tried French with one worker and he understood me better. The problem is when you tell a waiter your menu choices and they bring you the wrong thing each time there’s a problem. Of course there was the problem of trying to convey to the waiter that what he brought wasn’t what I ordered. It was frustrating. I’ve been on a lot of cruise ships but it’s clear that the Fantasia’s crew was overwhelmed and had only a basic grasp of English.

As for smoking, oh yes, I get the Euro smoking culture. I normally don’t have a problem with cigarette smoke. But the number of smokers on this ship was enormous. The big problem was my stateroom — that should not have happened. Now I understand this isn’t a problem on their Caribbean cruises because there is a bigger mix of North Americans onboard.

Best
Anita