A cruise for Brazilians only

Our coments were based on the attitude of the crew. My wife is from Colombia is fluent in both Spanish and English. She can also get by in Portugese and Italian. Some people we met on the cruise went to attend the White night dance and were refused admission because they were told it was for Brazilians only. This is just an example of how this particular cruise was conducted. We have been on several multi-cultural cruises and have visited over 100 countries in the past 10 years. We do not expect or want everything in English as we want to experience different cultures. It is difficult to explain the attitude of the crew on only this cruise as we have had many , many good to fantastic cruises around the world.

It all boils down to expectations assumed by the customer. So then what is the point of bragging about how many countries are represented on the cruise? Dancing around swing flags etc. That means the cruise directors have an idea about the melting pot of nationalities on the boat.  No, one said anything about doing anything at "check in". My point of view is from the If I worked at the ship (being and experienced cruiser). If I had a mic and was speaking to everyone on the ship to sing or give an announcement. As an employee of the company who spoke more that one language would/could/should be a bit more conscious of their responsibilities to communicate with the masses. I am sorry but yes, the customer should have not assume or took it for granted that English would have been spoke, but on the other hand I still feel the its the Cruises responsibility as well. We can go back and forth until the cows come home but I will still feel the same.

Not really sure of your reasoning layton but language skills are not part of the check-in process for any cruise line. If you want to go on a cruise from a country other than the one you live in, who is the cruise line to affirm if you can or can't speak the languages of the countries your visiting? Your final sentence sums it up! Since the OP was cruising from a foreign port, why would they expect English to be the spoken language on the ship? 

Experienced or not. If you cruise with a company like Royal Caribbean who has departure ports all around the world, you would think that they would not have assumed that their passengers were all Latin speaking customers. I am in the customers service business and know 3 languages. I take "my" skills into consideration when dealing with different customers. However, my field of work doesn't include working with many who speak different languages. If I know that you speak Spanish or are more comfortable with Spanish being spoken-then Spanish it will be. Royal Caribbean knows that a good chunk of their customers may be American or English speaking. I took a cruise with them leaving out of San Juan PR. There were plenty of Spanish speaking customers on board and everything that was done, they spoke English first and then Spanish. Luckily, I understand Spanish. Now, I know if I were to take a Costa cruise out of Italy, well I would not especially expect English to be spoken.  

I'm thinking that as an experienced cruiser, they would be aware that language tends not be English everywhere. They really should discuss this with their travel coordinator and insist that all their travel destinations be English speaking only.....

I do not believe that the line should have an obligation to inform each passenger what language will be spoken on a cruise. If the OP had asked a line's representative, and had been told that English would be spoken, then I could agree with the OP. However, taking a foreign flagged ship, boarding in Brazil and debarking in Spain, there is really no reason to expect that English would be the language of the cruise.

Sadly, Americans (myself included) are isolated enough that it is easy to forget that other countries speak other languages and not English.

They should have advised you of this. It should not have been and oversight. In order to provide you and others with seamless fun and activities that you paid for--it should have been noted and corrected immediately.