All the recent cruises I have taken there is a good cross section of white, European, Jewish, African American, African West Indian, Asian peoples of all countries, and people from India and Pakistan.

Most of the crew and officers on ships now is multi-national. I have seen Filipino, Lithuanian, and many form Latin America and Africa.

To me it makes a more interesting cruise. When reading posts I notice it gets most heated when Europeans think they know what Americans like and visca versa.

I had a Fellini-esque [movie: And the Ship Sails On] lunch in the elegant La Fontaine dining room of the Rembrandt with a Snuffy-Smith, Jed Clampett type rural Texan wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt and a white DA [brought his own spices grown on his farm], his put upon wife whose hair was an awful shade of indigo, a black Joan Armatrading type lesbian nurse from Cleveland sitting across from him trying to make conversation, me: an east coast liberal, and a Korean couple. The dynamics and inter-relationships were so strange it was comical LOL

I am 1/2 Irish 1/2 Jewish: when I dont drink I feel guilty.

I have only been on two cruises, and the majority of the passengers were white Americans, with a smattering of Canadians and Asians, I guess.

Several of my relatives have been cruising, all on Carnival, which seems to aim for middle America, yet I have yet to see cruise ads in any of the major magazines geared toward the African-American market. It's a potentially lucrative one, since our estimated buying power is $300 billion+ (higher than the GNP of Sweden!). And we do love to travel. I believe the stigma, if you want to call it that, is that cruising is a bastion of older white Americans, and that is a shame, because I love it. I used to get teased so bad growing up for loving ocean liners and cruise ships - my peers considered it a "white" thing. Many of them still do, although this is changing. I can't explain it, I just LOVE it! And when you love something as a hobby, I guess one's ethnic background has little or nothing to do with it. I just love ships, and always will.

But since blacks and other minorities are increasing on cruise ships without the benefit of any special advertising, maybe it's not necessary - just let things happen!

But I did go to an African-American travel website this summer, and can you believe it, Desirod, Peter Deilmann's honey of a ship, the DEUTSCHLAND, is chartering a "Jazz Cruise" to the western coast of Africa. I guess even Mr. Deilmann sees the bigger picture...

The French were also delightful at the tea dance every day at 4 o'clock."

[ 06-04-2005: Message edited by: desirod7 ]

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Originally posted by Mercy:
..I think it makes a cruise more interesting. We sat with two couples from England last cruise. It was fun to compare things in our two countris.

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Well said Mercy! It is nice to hear such a positive attitude about the 'different' nationalities.

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Originally posted by Mercy:
I have noticed that different itineraries attract different nationalities. In Alaska there were a lot of Japanese on board and French. Caribbean, I found there to be more English and U.S. East coasters. The Mexican Riviera there were a LOT of Californians.My travel agent told me that the Hawaii cruises attract a lot of Orientals. I think it makes a cruise more interesting. We sat with two couples from England last cruise. It was fun to compare things in our two countris.

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Hi Mercy - Not surprising that there were many Japanese on the Alaska trip, particularly if they could join in Vancouver.
They always appear to travel in groups,and keep very much to themselves. On our recent Hawaii cruise we had no Orientals. Mostly Americans, Black and White, a good number of Dutch and German, about a dozen Brits and maybe 200 Canadians - some may have been French Canadian. Our table had 6 Americans and 4 Canadians. Interests and professions were diverse - made for lively dinner conversations

More and more of my Black associates are choosing cruising as their prime vacation option and they are loving it and spreading the word. So I think you will see more African Americans participating in this activity. (Hopefully that won't bother too many people.)

Sailing from Florida is a very different demographic. Lots of southerners and folks from the mid-west. Depending on the cruise line, far too many Central & South Americans, & Mexicans. They generally travel in huge groups with lots of spoiled and rude children. They all smoke incessantly,and everywhere on the ship (not paying the slightest bit of attention to "No Smoking" signs or crew members that request they put out their cigarettes!), they talk during the shows and presentations, they push into lines and cut other people out of the line. I make no apologies, either. They KNOW they behave badly, and are perfectly content to do so.

Italians tend to travel on lines that advertise "Italian crew", but unfortunately crews strictly from one country are relatively rare these days.

Travelling in Europe is a completely different story. Germans & Swiss travel on ships quite a bit. Lots of Asians, travelling in groups, and as stated in one of the other postings, mostly keeping to themselves and relatively polite.

A quick & funny story - I was on a Greek ship, sailing from Pireaus around the islands for 7 days. Small ship, no more than 500 passengers total,60% Austrailians who were great fun and wonderful "chums". About 30 or 40 Americans (myself among them), and the rest, well, the rest were Japanese folks. Back then, the men wore suits & ties and straw sandles with that little strap that goes between your big toe and the next one - with socks - all the time.

The women were a little more casual, but not by much. One bright morning very early I went on deck, grabbed my own old-fashioned wooden deck chair, got a mat & a towel, brought the chair by the rail, set the whole thing up and was ready to sit down when one of these Japanese gentleman nodded and then bowed at the waist. I bowed back (not knowing what else in the world to do), and he proceeded to sit down on my chair. I smiled broadly, thinking how cute this actually was, went back to the stack of chairs, followed through the same routine, and when I looked up, there was another Japanese gent, nodding and bowing and making the movement towards my chair. And so now what was I supposed to do? I smiled & bowed, and let him sit. When I went back to the stack of chairs, there was a fairly long line of Japanese men, dark suits, white shirts, ties, slightly balding, wearing those little straw sandles - with socks.

I proceeded to spend the next half hour or so setting up deck chairs for this smiley, happy, non-English speaking contingent of Japanese travellers. Not one of them tipped me. No wonder the deck steward was nowhere in sight that early morn. But I was glad I was. Odd though, I have recently heard that Asians are really big tippers...

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Originally posted by soon2cruise:
My husband and I are both African American and this is my first (his second) cruise coming up on the 23rd of this month. Even though we are only in our mid 20's, it has been my experience from talking to people in our age group and older, that generally only a relatively small percentage of African Americans cruise, but that the percentage is slowly growing. I think this is because cruising has been perceived by some in our demographic as being a "wealthy white" person's activity. Also, some Blacks aren't comfortable when they are surrounded by mostly non-black people, and they figure this will be the case on a cruise.

More and more of my Black associates are choosing cruising as their prime vacation option and they are loving it and spreading the word. So I think you will see more African Americans participating in this activity. (Hopefully that won't bother too many people.)

I know that the ethnic make-up of passengers has never been a consideration of ours. We both get along very well with people of all age groups and ethnic backgrounds and we can't wait to be around many different people with a common love - cruising.

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Originally posted by BALCONY:
Sorry, your E:mail address unavailable. I have something to send you.

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We shared a cab in St. Thomas too.

The one from my ethnic group, was a motormouth who rubbed all the wrong way.
Not a bad person, but would not stop talking.

The Norway had a good cross section of middle America, some French, and Canadian passengers too. Young, teen, and old, gay, lesbian and straight, African Americans, only noticed a dis-proportionate number of seriously fat people.

All are on board to have a good time, and prejudice barriers tend to break on a ship.
People see each other as individuals

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Originally posted by desirod6:

The Norway had a good cross section of middle America, some French, and Canadian passengers too. Young, teen, and old, gay, lesbian and straight, African Americans...

All are on board to have a good time, and prejudice barriers tend to break on a ship.
People see each other as individuals

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Hear, hear! What's that they say about all being in the same boat? Thanks, desirod 6

[ 04-24-2002: Message edited by: desirod6 ]

The crew was British, Filipino, Hungarian, Romanian, and Polish.

All blended in.

The texas comedian made a Hillary Clinton joke that went over like the Ocean Glory's British coast guard inspection.

One table mate who voted for Lazio was offended.

There were mostly New Yorkers and Northeast Corridor people on board. Many who voted for Hillary, and miss her husband's presidency.

Cruising is no longer the province of the wealthy
caucasian senior citizen.

I for one am happy to see different diverse groups on cruises.

Desirod, I like your attitude. Can't imagine you amongst religious Republicans though !

I don't quite understand why the Texan made a joke that would offend the person who voted for Lazio... I would think a Texas "Hillary" joke would be more likely to offend the Hillary supporters?

I will keep my personal views on the topic out of this conversation for the safety and comfort of others ...

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Originally posted by desirod6:
Cruising is no longer the province of the wealthy caucasian senior citizen.

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

I think it still largely is in Britain!

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Thanks, I will book a British cruise and let the crew give me the 'extra' service that somehow happens to me when travelling solo

I'm sure you found a diverse lot on the Norway x-atlantic.

IMO Cruisers out of NYC/Boston/Philly/Baltimore tend to be more in sync with a European style than Miami, New Orleans, or Galveston. However NYC is a summertime port only.

How hard is it for you and Mrs. M to book American format ships?

[ 08-07-2002: Message edited by: desirod6 ]

Nationality wise, yes, age, no. Mainly Americans, a lot of Brits, 500 or so French, plus small percentage of 'various'. I would say the average age was 55 and almost exclusively white. There were very few children or younger people, the disco never took off on any evening!

How hard is it for you and Mrs. M to book American format ships?

Very easy! All the major American cruise lines (with one exception) have there brochures readily available in our shopping centre Travel Agents. Most visit UK ports each summer. The one exception is Carnival! Their cruises are often found in the Virgin brochure. There ships do not normally cruise from British ports. They really do not seem to be bothered in attracting us Brits. Most of the general public would have never heard of them.

We only really have one cruise line which cruises from British ports, which attracts a slightly younger crowd. That is My Travel (Airtours). However, the average age is probably still in the mid to late forties?

P&O and Cunard certainly do not attract the young set!

[ 08-07-2002: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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Originally posted by desirod6:
The Pacific Princess with 650 passengers had about
40 African Americans on board, 30 Brits, and 40 Canadians.

The crew was British, Filipino, Hungarian, Romanian, and Polish.

All blended in.

The texas comedian made a Hillary Clinton joke that went over like the Ocean Glory's British coast guard inspection.

One table mate who voted for Lazio was offended.

There were mostly New Yorkers and Northeast Corridor people on board. Many who voted for Hillary, and miss her husband's presidency.

Cruising is no longer the province of the wealthy
caucasian senior citizen.

No one should fear taking a cruise on worry about not fitting in.

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...a slightly younger crowd ... the average age is probably still in the mid to late forties...

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Slightly younger? Slightly???