On our 4 day Wonder cruise last April, Lisa and I were seated at a table for 8. Of the 8 of us 2 of the couples did not speak English. Lisa and I, and Rosemary and Frank got along famously. One of the non English speaking couples was Japanese and on their Honeymoon. I was an exchange student in Japan so we were able to communicate and giggle in a mix of long forgotten Japanese and newly learned English. They were very sweet. The other couple did not speak at all, and barely even looked at us. My thinking was that they might have been Korean or Vietnamese....but I wasn't sure. Our waiter, Harlon, spoke Japanese and his native language..he was from the Phillipines ( I know there is a name for their language that is not Filipino). Whatever he spoke to them, they must have understood because they were able to point to a menu printed in some Asian language and order meals.
The couple that did not speak at all barely made eye contact with anyone, including the waiter. It made all of us a bit uncomfortable, even the Japanese couple. They did try to talk to them and were met with silence. All in all it was very, very strange. I happened to see the man at the pool one day and he looked at me, then looked away.
Linda