Galaxy out of San Juan: ethnically diverse passengers?

[johno95]

I spoke to a fried of mine who took an RCCL ship out of San Juan. She was quite disappointed because the passengers were 90 percent hispanic, were quite rude (according to her), and dominated the ship. The music played in the various venues catered to the hispanic passengers. Etc...

 

Has anyone had any experience with the Galaxy going out of the same port? What percentage of passengers were from Puerto Rico? Do you feel that the entertainment, activities, general atmosphere, or (your) enjoyment had changed from the average Celebrity sailing?

 

Thanks.

[cruisinelsewhere]

In years gone by, Galaxy Southern Carribean was always my favorite cruise. Great ports, grand ship. That being said, I have not been on her in 4 years....at that time what you discuss was not an issue, I have no idea now. I moved to Florida a few years ago and tend to cruise out of here (no air hassles....though I SO miss the So. Carribean)

[babylene]

We will be sailing on the Galaxy from Puerto Rico in Feb. after spending one week in San Juan. Except for the rudeness, I wouldn't mind a "Spanish" cruise at all. They probably would add a lot of "life"! We love Spanish music, especially Salsa. We buy CDs in many countries that we visit. The RUDE part has to be a generalization. They can't ALL be rude.

[drfun48]

We will be sailing on the Galaxy from Puerto Rico in Feb. after spending one week in San Juan. Except for the rudeness, I wouldn't mind a "Spanish" cruise at all. They probably would add a lot of "life"! We love Spanish music, especially Salsa. We buy CDs in many countries that we visit. The RUDE part has to be a generalization. They can't ALL be rude.

I wasn't there so I really can't judge and I suspect it may be more a matter of cultural differences than actual rudeness BUT ...even if all the passengers on a cruise that you were on were not rude.,what percent would it take to ruin your cruise...10% 25% 50% ???

I've been on a cruise where one rowdy inconsiderate group of perhaps 20 people ruined the cruise for many.They were only twenty but they seemed to be everywhere.

[wvufan]

I grew up in PR, and find they are no ruder than folks from Maryland. I appreciate Dr Fun's comment about cultural differences. Latinos are typically a fun energetic group, and their exuberance may seem to be a bit overwhelming to some. However, if you try to learn to sing, dance, laugh, enjoy life as they do, you might be in for one heckuva good cruise.

 

Let's see-if the majority of the passengers are from PR, then shouldn't the music etc. be targeted toward them?

 

OOOEEE:D :D Bob and Phyl

[babylene]

Wvufan...aren't you on our cruise?

 

I think the rowdiness Drfun is referring to may be that of a GROUP...which can be from anywhere. Groups, by their nature, tend to be noisy. Imagine sitting next to a large table in a restaurant. It will be louder than sitting next to 2 or 4 people. They get excited. They want to talk and laugh. They can't hear eachother. They raise the volume!!!!!

 

Rudeness is another story. Usually it's an individual thing. There are nasty people in this world...and some of them take cruises!

 

Cultural difference is yet another story. That is what makes life interesting. Isn't that why we travel? To see new and different places. To meet new and different people? Learn about their language, history, food, SHOPS!!

 

Looking forward to meeting you on the cruise!

[thatbloominplace]

i can't speak of the galaxy, but last year we cruised out of san juan on the aos. we had heard these same comments about the ship being overwhelmed by last minute cheap fare "locals". i can't say that i experienced this at all. first off, 90%!! does that mean no one from usa wants to take this cruise? for some people, even an influx of 10% of a group who are speaking spanish ruins their cruise because they feel everyone onboard should speak english. i personally did not find the cruise we took catered to the spanish-speaking passengers nor did i find that they "took over the ship".i also have been on cruises that had parties of 40 or more people traveling together and have found it tough to get out of their way. i don't know if this helps, but keep in mind that we are now booked on galaxy this jan. after taking the aos out of san juan last year. and we do not speak spanish ourselves.

[RichardK]

I've sailed out of San Juan many times, on many different cruise lines, including the Galaxy in 1999.

 

Great port, and have always made it a point to arrive a few days early, pre-cruise, and explore Old San Juan. The culture, architecture, history, etc., I never get tired of………….

 

Back to the original question>>>On all of my cruises I can't remember noticing any overwhelming local "influence". Might of been......but, maybe I was having such a good time enjoying the Southern Caribbean, and my surroundings, I didn't notice, or wasn’t bothered by it.

:)

[Hflors]

I don't think you need to worry about a lot of "ethnically diverse passengers" aboard these cruises. Sure there will be some "local" people" after all they don't need to go anywhere else to board much as people from Florida tend to board ships locally, but the Galaxy only sail 10 and 11 day cruises. Not many people in this area can afford that many days off from work and the fare is a bit more from what I can see.

 

MY two cents. As long as they are not rude people, don't let their children go crazy and don't bother me I don't care if someone is from Mars!

 

I'm not trying to be rude, but what other music did the ship play for "hispanic" people. Doesn't the ship play carrebbean music? Is there something else?

 

I have four months until I board the Galaxy and I'm counting every day!

[Desertbelle]

Every cruise I have been on has played music and had entertainment that had something to do with where the cruise left or was going.

 

Hawaiian cruise = Hawaiian music and entertainment

Caribbean Cruise = Caribbean Music

Cruise leaving from Texas = Caribbean music with a huge helping of Country Western music (not my favorite but somehow I lived AND had a great cruise :)) Talk about a fun loving group of people....those Texans have it going on!!

 

Our worst cruise as far as how the people were rude, almost to the point of affecting our enjoyment of the cruise, was our 11 day, one-way to Hawaii cruise that left from Ensenada. The cruise line (Royal Caribbean) was offering a promotion of free air from New York and Miami. I had never saw so many loud, obnoxious, old people all in one place before.

 

I am looking forward to our Galaxy cruise in the Spring. All these negative things about it don't worry me at all.

[caviargal]

I have done half dozen San Juan sailings. On some, they offered specials at deep discounts to fill cabins close to sailing. These resulted in a ton of families aboard and lots of kids, which I prefer to avoid.

 

My high season cruises from SJU have been a lot of fun, with a mixture of latins and those from the mainland. These have been fabulous cruises as I personally enjoy the energy, music and food of Puerto Rico and felt the influence on each of these sailings. They love to dress up at night as well, which was great fun, and the dancing went on to all hours. It was very festive and a couple of these cruises rate as all time favorites.

 

I find SJU is much like anywhere else where cruise ships are home ported; if a line starts dumping cabins at cheap prices to sell space, the ship will become crowded with large groups of folks that can drive to the ship and take advantage of the low prices. This is not necessarily the type of crowd I prefer, as the atmosphere changes from a crowd that plans cruising for its own sake, to one that is there because it is cheaper than staying home.

 

JMHO based on my own experiences.

[Arubalisa]

For more info, I believe we had the same discussion not too long ago :D ...

A question for the experts here on CC

[Texed]

Cruise leaving from Texas = :)) Talk about a fun loving group of people....those Texans have it going on!!

 

What a nice thing to say.:)

[Arubalisa]

Talk about a fun loving group of people....those Texans have it going on!!

Yes, I agree, Texas IS one of the warmest spots in the US, and I am NOT referring to the temperature! :)

[Texed]

Yes, I agree, Texas IS one of the warmest spots in the US, and I am NOT referring to the temperature! :)

 

Again, what a nice thing to say. :)

[Karynanne]

Again, what a nice thing to say. :)

 

Ed, we knew you were special....

 

Karyn

[Texed]

Ed, we knew you were special....

 

Karyn

 

Aw shucks! Now I'm blushing!:o

[motherchic]

Our very first cruise was on RCL, out of PR. For many years we did not cruise after that, thinking that cruising was just not for us. Unbelievably roudy group of people.

Years later we tried again, the Infinity, out of PR. We have been cruising since. Fabulous cruise !!

Unfortunately, roudy , obnoxious people come in all shapes, sizes and color.

I know it was just an unlucky pick the first time but i still cannot bring myself to cruise Royal again.

Hope this next cruise of yours is a great one

 

Nadine

[agabbymama]

Johno95,

 

I'm going to jump in on this one. I haven't cruised Celebrity out of San Juan, but I did cruise Empress of the Seas out of San Juan. I was informed by the Personal Travel Planner at RCI that this sailing would be mostly locals and Spanish would be the first language. We chose to go anyway because we got a suite for an exceptionally good price. But the PVP was absolutely correct. All of the announcements were made in Spanish first, then a second time in English. If the ship was in an emergency, we would have been lost for the first ten minutes. And I would say 90% of the folks were locals from San Juan speaking Spanish. I didn't find them rude, just unable to communicate with them as I don't speak Spanish. We even had folks come to our dining room table for 1 night only, then evidently asked to be moved, because they never came back. We actually never had the same dining companions on any of the three nights. When we asked the waiter what happened to them, he said they moved elsewhere. We felt it was because we spoke only English, therefore they chose to go to another table where Spanish was spoken.

We were very disappointed in San Juan, everyone there speaks Spanish first, then some English. Even the Burger King menu was in Spanish. We found this daunting to say the least, as I said, we don't speak Spanish. I didn't know about this board at that time, so no one advised me that this might be a problem in San Juan. We stayed at the Radisson for three nights pre-cruise and everyone there spoke English, but on the tours, or walking around town, Spanish is the predominant language. So be forewarned, we still had a great cruise, and enjoyed St. Martin and St. Thomas tremendously. As always, spent way too much money, but what are vacations for. Have a great cruise, whatever you decide to do.:D

[babylene]

Guess I better brush up on my Spanish!

[Host Anne]

We've sailed out of San Juan several times and always had a variety of folks on our ship. I doubt that announcements would be in Spanish unless the greater majority of the ship was Spanish-speaking folks. I'm guessing that happens on a rare occasion and is not the norm -- or we would have heard about it before now here on the boards.

 

You could run into a "group" on any ship sailing from any port. If you are really concerned, ask your TA about your if there are any large groups for your particular sailing.

 

ENJOY!

[johno95]

Anne, I'm not sure what you're saying here...

You could run into a "group" on any ship sailing from any port.

[tom_uk]

Anne, I'm not sure what you're saying here...

 

Could be any group large enough to affect the overall cruise experience, IMO. For example, a recent cruise on HAL's Veendam hosted the 'Mac Mania' conference/event, so there were several hundred rather pale-skinned, T-shirt-wearing Apple Mac fanatics on board, in addition to the normal passengers. That must have had an impact on the 'feel' of that particular cruise, if only because (I understand) the conference was using various lounges for classes/session during the days.

 

(I didn't go on it myself but one of the tutors/speakers blogged it here:

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macmania/2006/10/20061001/index.php There are some interesting comments from a non-cruiser.)

[joecleveland]

Has anyone had any experience with the Galaxy going out of the same port? What percentage of passengers were from Puerto Rico? Do you feel that the entertainment, activities, general atmosphere, or (your) enjoyment had changed from the average Celebrity sailing?

Thanks.

 

We sailed on the Galaxy for seven days in 99, unfortunately, it was our hurricane cruise, so while the passengers were fine, the weather wasn't after the second day. But we're going again on the Galaxy for 10 days in February.

 

We've been on 6 of 11 cruises out of San Juan and only once had a problem with roudy behavior, that being the Carnival Destiny. 30% of the passengers were probably local hispanic but they were loud, we stopped going to the Kareoke after the second night because 80% of the songs were in Spanish and people kept shouting from the audience in Spanish, so while they were having fun, we were just left wondering what we were missing. Then the real problem began, after the Kareoke ended, the hispanic audience would parade around the ship singing and shouting, and we were nearly trampled by them at one small junction on the ship. We got to asking others if they knew where the parade was so we could avoid them. They paraded on all levels through the evening, but we did eventually get good at hearing them coming and ducked up or down a deck. We actually switched to western carribean after that for a year, but have found the longer Southern routes don't seem to be as roudy nor was the seven day Princess we did last March. Maybe it was just Carnival out of San Juan, we've had no problem with Carnival out of Florida or LA.

[johno95]

Thanks for the perspective. :)

Could be any group large enough to affect the overall cruise experience, IMO.