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Hapag-Lloyd Cruises reveals dramatic growth in English-speaking passenger numbers


LauraS
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It's up to the moderator to move threads which are in the wrong place. So if it is not considered a luxury ship by CC, Laura can move it.

 

Agree but the luxury board consists of luxury cruise lines, premium plus cruise lines, a couple of river cruise lines and a board for Hapag-Lloyd. As wripro and I mention probably too frequently, this is confusing to people looking to compare luxury cruise lines (they obviously can check out the individual cruise lines on the dedicated boards - except for H-L and a few others).

 

If I want to learn about a specific cruise line, I should be able to go to that board and learn everything that I want know. Then, if I want to know the opinions of posters that have sailed Europa and Hanseatic, for instance, I would come here to read their experiences.

 

IMO, if a cruise line does not have enough posts/posters to warrant a dedicated board, why would posts not be put on the "Other Cruise Lines......." board? Perhaps there could be a board for "Other Luxury and Premium Plus cruise lines....." At least this would make the Luxury board easier to understand and navigate.

 

If we do not voice our opinions, H-L and others may never get their own board. So, IMO, it is in the best interest of all of us to speak up.

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Agree but the luxury board consists of luxury cruise lines, premium plus cruise lines, a couple of river cruise lines and a board for Hapag-Lloyd. As wripro and I mention probably too frequently, this is confusing to people looking to compare luxury cruise lines (they obviously can check out the individual cruise lines on the dedicated boards - except for H-L and a few others).

 

If I want to learn about a specific cruise line, I should be able to go to that board and learn everything that I want know. Then, if I want to know the opinions of posters that have sailed Europa and Hanseatic, for instance, I would come here to read their experiences.

 

IMO, if a cruise line does not have enough posts/posters to warrant a dedicated board, why would posts not be put on the "Other Cruise Lines......." board? Perhaps there could be a board for "Other Luxury and Premium Plus cruise lines....." At least this would make the Luxury board easier to understand and navigate.

 

If we do not voice our opinions, H-L and others may never get their own board. So, IMO, it is in the best interest of all of us to speak up.

You first expressed a view on the Europa 2 back in June 2013, so it is somewhat surprising that only recently have you found inclusion of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises on the Luxury Cruises Board to be confusing.

 

I don't recall anyone else expressing a similar sentiment, and frankly your recent posts are leading me to question their motive.

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You first expressed a view on the Europa 2 back in June 2013, so it is somewhat surprising that only recently have you found inclusion of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises on the Luxury Cruises Board to be confusing.

 

I don't recall anyone else expressing a similar sentiment, and frankly your recent posts are leading me to question their motive.

 

I only recently have spent more time on the Luxury board. And, only recently noticed that the majority of threads are about H-L.

 

Not surprised that others have not expressed a similar sentiment as very few luxury cruisers even bother to visit this board. It seems that the number of posters on this board that are posting about H-L is increasing (much to my dismay). The more people on either non-luxury cruise lines or cruise lines that do not have a dedicated board, the more confusing that it becomes.

 

Definitely no motive whatsoever. I simply want to enjoy this board for what I thought it was meant to be. As a luxury only cruiser, reading comparisons of luxury cruise lines is very interesting. It is due to comparisons that we first sailed on Silversea (three times).

 

If you look at this from the other side, would you want to read mostly about Regent on this board when your interests seem to lie elsewhere? I believe that this is a fair question.

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I'm not sure that I find anything confusing about any of these cruise critic boards, and as you can see, I have been on and posting for 18 years. We aren't researching cures for cancer.

I got here, researched, read and posted.

The search function is there if you want it.

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The English-only luxury lines have their own boards. Obviously, passengers interested in those lines will hang out on those boards and not a general luxury line board. They also post comparisons there.

 

Yes - "English-only" (which isn't accurate but will go with it) cruise lines have their own boards which does not explain why H-L does not have their own board.

 

I do disagree quite strongly that passengers interested in luxury cruise lines that have boards "will hang out on those boards and not a general luxury line board". Luxury boards tend to have considerably fewer posts/posters than premium cruise line boards dramatically less than mainstream cruise lines. For this reason, we go to the luxury board to learn the latest luxury cruise line news and Laura is kind enough to make sure we know what is going on.

 

Secondly, someone on the Regent board cannot ask for opinions on Seabourn vs. Silversea (for instance) as it is off topic. Obviously we can ask the question here (which is easier than asking the same question on both the Seabourn and Silversea board).

 

ededmd: Obviously Regent would not be on the "Other cruise lines....." board because they have their own board. The same cannot be said for H-L and others on this thread.

 

Jacqueline: It is good that you have never been confused on Cruise Critic's boards. For the most part, neither have I. However, when one cruise line (H-L) has both luxury and non-luxury ships and one is not familiar with the cruise line, I found it confusing. Since this is a luxury board (with a few exceptions), and H-L has luxury ships, it is not a stretch to assume that other H-L ships are also luxury. There was no reason for me to do research. Actually, H-L is the only cruise line that I am aware of that has luxury and non-luxury ships. Typically, as with Seabourn/HAL/Princess/Carnival.... and Regent/Oceania/NCL, they separate out the different "level" of cruise lines/ships.

 

My opinions of Hanseatic and H-L are simply my opinions. I'm not trying to convince anyone else to believe the way that I do. However, even when posters have an opinion opposite to mine, I learn something from their posts. If H-L management reads posts about their cruise line, it may be helpful to know what luxury line cruisers (particularly those in the U.S. and Canada since this is the market they are looking at) think of their policies.

 

The bottom line is that I appreciate when my understandings/assumptions are corrected. OTOH, arguing with my opinion or thoughts is not going to get any of us anywhere (JMHO).

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My specific questions relate to the Hanseatic which is a five star ship...

 

If you think that it is a five star ship, that is all that matters. It lacks the amenities that would make it a five star ship in my mind. And, the person whose ratings you think highly of is not someone that I agree with very often. Perhaps people in the U.S., U.K., Asia, Europe, South America, Africa, etc., have different definitions of what luxury is.

 

The only thing that I said that could be construed as really negative is the "look" of the boat/ship. I said that it made me laugh. Sorry, that is how I felt -- it is funny looking. The decor is not to my taste but that really doesn't matter. The lack of amenities, however, is a deal breaker (as is the size of the vessel).

 

It is likely that you could go on our favorite ship (Regent's Explorer) and not like it at all. And, if you want to call it dark or gaudy (it has been said about the ship), it would not bother me as we are all entitled to our opinions.

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If you think that it is a five star ship, that is all that matters. It lacks the amenities that would make it a five star ship in my mind. And, the person whose ratings you think highly of is not someone that I agree with very often. Perhaps people in the U.S., U.K., Asia, Europe, South America, Africa, etc., have different definitions of what luxury is.

 

The only thing that I said that could be construed as really negative is the "look" of the boat/ship. I said that it made me laugh. Sorry, that is how I felt -- it is funny looking. The decor is not to my taste but that really doesn't matter. The lack of amenities, however, is a deal breaker (as is the size of the vessel).

 

It is likely that you could go on our favorite ship (Regent's Explorer) and not like it at all. And, if you want to call it dark or gaudy (it has been said about the ship), it would not bother me as we are all entitled to our opinions.

 

You appear to be confusing the Hanseatic with the Hebridean Island Princess.

 

The Hanseatic is a 5 star expedition ship.

 

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26 days on Europa 2 last year. One passenger with USA passport.

16 days on Europa previous year. 4 passengers with USA passport.

Zero Canadians.

 

Good luck cracking the North American market. It's a poor effort being made and the passengers really do not enjoy the English speaking announcements on 2.

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26 days on Europa 2 last year. One passenger with USA passport.

16 days on Europa previous year. 4 passengers with USA passport.

Zero Canadians.

 

Good luck cracking the North American market. It's a poor effort being made and the passengers really do not enjoy the English speaking announcements on 2.

 

Following it's refresh, which commences towards the end of next month, the MS Europa becomes a German language only ship.

 

What is the basis for your comment 'and the passengers really do not enjoy the English speaking announcements on 2.'?

 

Any native German speaker contemplating a cruise on the Europa 2 knows that it is a wholly bi-lingual ship.

 

My on board experience interacting with German speaking passengers has been exemplary.

 

As for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises marketing towards English speaking clients it does appear that the emphasis is towards the UK market with the appointment in April of an International brand ambassador, and the launch of the enhanced 'Time Out' campaign with it's monthly newsletter.

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26 days on Europa 2 last year. One passenger with USA passport.

16 days on Europa previous year. 4 passengers with USA passport.

Zero Canadians.

 

Good luck cracking the North American market. It's a poor effort being made and the passengers really do not enjoy the English speaking announcements on 2.

 

Completely agree and understand your post. I would not be happy if my luxury line of choice was making announcements in other languages for only 2 or 4 passengers.

 

Also agree that H-L is unlikely to crack the North American market. Actually, I would think that there would be plenty of people in Europe that could fill their one bi-lingual ship (making the assumption that Europa 2 will be the only one). They really don't need North America.

 

This is a German cruise line - nothing whatsoever is wrong with that. There are British cruise lines, Italian and others. IMO, H-L should cater to their German speaking passengers - just as North American based cruise lines cater to their English speaking passengers.

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Travelcat, for someone not particularly interested in HL, and who has made clear you have zero interest in trying one of its ships, I do not understand why you spend so much time talking about it and tracking it! :confused: But you are right that so far it has been very easy for them to fill their ships with overwhelmingly German language pax so I have also wondered why they bother on the E2 and the Hanseatic, and plan to continue on the new expedition ship.

 

English Voyager, there are definitely some Germans who resent bilingual announcements on a bilingual ship, I have heard a few express annoyance, and a few have written about their annoyance on online reviews. But they appear to be a minority of crankpusses, as most are too busy having a good time to seriously care about announcements in English, as well-traveled rich Germans are used to hearing English everywhere they go.

 

I am counting down to my upcoming trip on the E2.

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English Voyager, there are definitely some Germans who resent bilingual announcements on a bilingual ship, I have heard a few express annoyance, and a few have written about their annoyance on online reviews. But they appear to be a minority of crankpusses, as most are too busy having a good time to seriously care about announcements in English, as well-traveled rich Germans are used to hearing English everywhere they go.

 

I am counting down to my upcoming trip on the E2.

 

On embarkation day there will be several announcements in English prior to the safety drill.

 

Thereafter, on an average day there will be the customary noon announcement from the bridge, and a pre-, and post, evening theatre show announcement.

 

Occasionally, if there is something of particular interest being passed, such as when we sailed through the Dardanelles, and passed Gallipoli, the port lecturer will give a commentary from the bridge.

 

Hardly angst inducing.

 

 

 

Have you long to wait for your cruise ?

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Travelcat, for someone not particularly interested in HL, and who has made clear you have zero interest in trying one of its ships, I do not understand why you spend so much time talking about it and tracking it! :confused: But you are right that so far it has been very easy for them to fill their ships with overwhelmingly German language pax so I have also wondered why they bother on the E2 and the Hanseatic, and plan to continue on the new expedition ship.

 

English Voyager, there are definitely some Germans who resent bilingual announcements on a bilingual ship, I have heard a few express annoyance, and a few have written about their annoyance on online reviews. But they appear to be a minority of crankpusses, as most are too busy having a good time to seriously care about announcements in English, as well-traveled rich Germans are used to hearing English everywhere they go.

 

I am counting down to my upcoming trip on the E2.

 

You are sort of correct but every time I go to the luxury board, there is H-L staring me in the face (numerous threads). I check some of them out to see if anything has changed which apparently it has (making Europa all German speaking). If they were not filling ships and decided to go all-inclusive and had at least 50% English speaking guests, I would be interested as I do feel that the ship is lovely.

 

BTW, I realize that luxury cruise ships have very few announcements so I'm not concerned about that. It is the general atmosphere of the ship, shows and interacting with the crew.

 

There is a great solution to those of us not interested H-L -- CC could give you a board. That would make everyone happy. Then, if there was a major announcement, Laura would likely put it on the luxury board. Other than that, I would to visit the H-L board.

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The officers speak excellent English, so you could certainly interact with them in English, (when I was on the Europa the CD was actually an ex-pat American), crew on the level of waiters and bartenders speak decent though not nuanced English unless it is food and drink related, and the lower base service people, e.g., those who dish out foods in the buffet areas or clean suites often speak better English than German, as they may be Filipino, like on Regent or SS, or are from other non-German countries where English and not German is their second language of choice. My stewardesses were Ukrainian and Filipino on the Europa, and they were pleased to have me talk English ( or Russian, with the Soviet-born Ukrainian) rather than German, but on the E2 the butler was from Berlin and his English was on the level of Filipino butlers on SS. He was reluctant to say anything about himself or his life in Berlin, so I did not force it, he was just all business.

 

Unlike on SS and Regent, and SB, however, I was told by a crew member that other than officers and bartenders and people in social positions, crew are not supposed to engage in chit-chat with pax, their supervisors frown on it, as that distracts from their duties, though they are instructed to be polite, friendly and responsive to requests. They are told they work for their affluent customers, they are not supposed to pretend they are their friends.

 

Some of us on English language lines have been annoyed when crew, e.g., bartenders, are busy socially chatting on and on with pax they know, (especially the important high-end regulars) rather than moving on to getting us our drinks and food, so on the one hand I like the business like approach, on the other I could see how regulars and those who have status and like to chat might be put off.

 

 

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The officers speak excellent English, so you could certainly interact with them in English, (when I was on the Europa the CD was actually an ex-pat American), crew on the level of waiters and bartenders speak decent though not nuanced English unless it is food and drink related, and the lower base service people, e.g., those who dish out foods in the buffet areas or clean suites often speak better English than German, as they may be Filipino, like on Regent or SS, or are from other non-German countries where English and not German is their second language of choice. My stewardesses were Ukrainian and Filipino on the Europa, and they were pleased to have me talk English ( or Russian, with the Soviet-born Ukrainian) rather than German, but on the E2 the butler was from Berlin and his English was on the level of Filipino butlers on SS. He was reluctant to say anything about himself or his life in Berlin, so I did not force

it, he was just all business.

 

Unlike on SS and Regent, and SB, however, I was told by a crew member that other than officers and bartenders and people in social positions, crew are not supposed to engage in chit-chat with pax, their supervisors frown on it, as that distracts from their duties, though they are instructed to be polite, friendly and responsive to requests. They are told they work for their affluent customers, they are not supposed to pretend they are their friends.

 

Some of us on English language lines have been annoyed when crew, e.g., bartenders, are busy socially chatting on and on with pax they know, (especially the important high-end regulars) rather than moving on to getting us our drinks and food, so on the one hand I like the business like approach, on the other I could see how regulars and those who have status and like to chat might be put off.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Very well said. Luxury to me is not having to interact and have the staff spend time hanging over our table asking too many questions. Do the job you are paid to do, and let us enjoy our evening.

 

Your posts on Europa have had me looking at cruising with them for some time now given the proper itinerary.

 

On most lines, the language barrier can be difficult and quite personally, as long as the service is excellent, I really do not care. I know they try and that is what is important to me.

 

I would mostly likely enjoy the German line because I like a ship that is run well. Just like my Grandparents of German decent. My family always ran a "tight ship" and I inherited that quality.

 

I enjoy many of your posts and what you offer on these boards.

 

Thank you.

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The officers speak excellent English, so you could certainly interact with them in English, (when I was on the Europa the CD was actually an ex-pat American), crew on the level of waiters and bartenders speak decent though not nuanced English unless it is food and drink related, and the lower base service people, e.g., those who dish out foods in the buffet areas or clean suites often speak better English than German, as they may be Filipino, like on Regent or SS, or are from other non-German countries where English and not German is their second language of choice. My stewardesses were Ukrainian and Filipino on the Europa, and they were pleased to have me talk English ( or Russian, with the Soviet-born Ukrainian) rather than German, but on the E2 the butler was from Berlin and his English was on the level of Filipino butlers on SS. He was reluctant to say anything about himself or his life in Berlin, so I did not force it, he was just all business.

 

Unlike on SS and Regent, and SB, however, I was told by a crew member that other than officers and bartenders and people in social positions, crew are not supposed to engage in chit-chat with pax, their supervisors frown on it, as that distracts from their duties, though they are instructed to be polite, friendly and responsive to requests. They are told they work for their affluent customers, they are not supposed to pretend they are their friends.

 

Some of us on English language lines have been annoyed when crew, e.g., bartenders, are busy socially chatting on and on with pax they know, (especially the important high-end regulars) rather than moving on to getting us our drinks and food, so on the one hand I like the business like approach, on the other I could see how regulars and those who have status and like to chat might be put off.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

We always interact with the officers and crew of our preferred luxury cruise lines, however, their work comes first and we would never interfere with them taking care of other guests. If I'm saying something to a bartender, for instance, and see a passenger waiting, I'm interrupt myself and tell the bartender to go and attend to her customer and we'll continue later. Some of these crew members have actually become friends that we have kept in contact with for years.

 

The cultural differences are what concerns me (as well as a language that we do not speak). These articles, IMO, express this well. The BBC article, IMO, this would be similar for those of us in the U.S. and Canada.

 

BBC News excerpt:

 

"There are Britons in Berlin who get taken aback by the directness of Germans. And there are Germans who get really annoyed when Britons (and Americans), in an effort to appear friendly, say things that they don't really mean. Some Germans call this 'lying'.

 

She found (or verified) that Germans really don't do small talk, those little phrases so familiar to the British about the weather or a person's general well-being, but what she describes as "empty verbiage".

 

Saying things like "It's nice to meet you" are rarely meant the way they are said, she says. 'It's just words. It's stimulating interest in the other person'. From a German perspective, this is uncomfortably close to deceit'"

 

Lastly, excepts from an article entitled "Communication Styles in Germany and the United States (from a class taught on "Intercultural Education in K-12 Classrooms"):

 

"Germans tend to say exactly what they mean and do not value superfluous "fillers" within conversations, Americans on the other hand, usually include these fillers without even realizing. Due to this cultural difference, Americans often see Germans as impolite and harsh.

 

I remember being startled the first time I called a friend's house in Germany and her father answered the phone by saying 'Linnemann' (his last name). There was no polite 'Hello?', only a quick confirmation that I had reached the Linnemann household. While this seemed unnatural to me the first several times it happened, I soon came to realize that the German way of answering the phone was not impolite, but efficient. The same can be said about their communication style in general; it is direct, clear and to the point.

 

There is one instance in which German communication is not so different from the United States. In both cultures, a lack of eye contact can be interpreted as a sign of weakness, dishonesty and poor self-esteem".

 

I learned a lot from these articles and wanted to share.

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Travelcat, that's actually pretty interesting. I am comfortable with the German style but can see it will be very interesting for my partner who is quite theatrical and talkative.

I had German aupairs in my home for years, and their families visited as well. The girls were the best drivers!

In part, my choice of the Hanseatic for Antartica is based on my comfort level with German competency and seamanship. The Silversea Cloud is doing a maiden voyage there next year and should be a magnificent ship . In my opinion, it's bad enough doing a shakeout season in the Caribbean. Not for me, but others are very excited about it.

The HL captains literally have 100s of voyages in both poles and I believe the Hanseatic will be at 200 Antarctic voyages next season.

My only reservation is that it is a long cruise with a lot of sea days at the end, as it is a repositioning cruise.

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1. EV, my cruise on the E2 departs ex-NYC 10/27. I will be meeting a German friend in NY a couple days early as she has never seen NY, and last time I was there people were preoccupied with the presence of a very large hole in the ground :(

 

I want to see the 9/11 memorial museum and the rebuild, and go to The Modern restaurant I have fond memories of, a couple museums, and also swing by the old area where my refugee immigrant parents lived a few years when they came to NYC and where my sister was born ( previously a cheap rundown area, but now gentrified and upscale)

 

The ships sits two nights in NYC after embarkation.

 

2. Jacqueline, I hope you have a lovely time on Hanseatic! Along the lines of warnings about what TC2 said about German communication style, you may wish to read parts of my MS Europa review from last year, about half-way down under the section labeled "GERMAN" I talk about communication, and the relative formality ( key issues are to not first-name someone without invitation, do not pry, do not act fake-friendly, and leave the flashy American style jewelry at home :)

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=547145

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