Nationalities/Languages of Crew?

We will be on MS Treasures in October from BUD to AMS. Could anyone give us an idea of the primary nationalities and languages spoken by the crew on that boat (or the other boats on the route, which we assume would be similar). Of course, I recognize that the crew is multi-national; but I would appreciate any comments, particularly related to the cabin staff and restaurant staff.

I try to learn a few basic terms (i.e. Please, Thank You, Hello, Good-bye, etc.) in the language of the staff with whom I frequently interact on cruises, in order to show my respect for them and my gratitude for their hard work to make our travel memorable. A particularly frequent interaction will be with the bar staff ;).

Additionally, playing with languages is a good way to keep some of these tired old brain synapses in a functional state.

I have good iPhone apps for translating most European languages (Google Translate and iTranslate); but they don't have audio for Bulgarian - although they both have audio for Romanian. Even though I speak a fair amount of Russian, I am quite reluctant to use that language with people who have only in the last several decades freed themselves of the yoke of Soviet rule. Therefore, I must try to deal only in Czech, German, Hungarian, Bulgarian, and Romanian. Will that do?

Assistance is enormously welcome in this regard.

Cheers, Fred

Comments

  • Hi Fred,

    I was on the Swiss Jewel from Amsterdam to Bucharest in 2010. I remember the crew coming from a mixture of the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania ... not sure about Estonia) and eastern Europe. Bulgaria comes to mind because the family of one of the young receptionists came aboard to visit their daughter ... they had good reason to be proud as Punch of her, too! The chef was French, or possibly Swiss. The hotel manager was also Swiss. The boat is owned and managed by a Swiss company and Tauck take care of everything to do with the "touring" side. All the staff, where ever they worked on the boat, spoke excellent English, although I do agree that a few words in the appropriate language make such a difference. If anything, I would say that English was the common language.

    Good luck with the appropriate apps!

    Cheers,

    Jan
  • When we were on the Jewel two years ago, we had the same experience with the various nationalities of the crew. They all spoke wonderful English. I know they would appreciate your speaking to them in their own language. You can ask them where they are from and then you will know which phrase to use. We'll be on the Treasures in August doing Bucharest to Budapest.

    Happy cruising.

    Sheila
  • edited June 2012
    Hi Freddie,

    I just saw and responded to your question on Cruise Critic.

    You are correct, the crew is indeed multi-national. The current crew of the MS Treasures are primarily Dutch, German, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Indonesian.

    The entire crew speaks English however, I am sure they will appreciate your efforts in communicating with them in their native language.

    Have a wonderful time!

    Hope this helps,
    Emily
  • Emily -

    I am much obliged to you for your kind response. Or perhaps I should write, in the order of nationalities you noted, "Bedankt", "Danke", "Koszonom", "Multumesc", "Blogodarya", and "Terima Kasih".

    Although I realize that the members of the crew who interact with passengers speak English, it sometimes brightens someone's day a bit when a passenger says "Thanks" in the person's language.

    I've found apps or phrasebooks for all of the languages you listed and will occupy myself in trying to learn a half dozen appropriate words or phrases in each of them.

    We look forward eagerly to our first experience with Tauck.

    Cheers, Fred
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