One time, it happened on a street corner in Paris, in the dark. We were trying to find our way around a city we were visiting for the first time and we encountered a couple of locals whom we hoped would help. They spoke no English. We had three kids and six words of French in our vocabulary.
Another time, we were on a public bus in Cabo San Lucas. We were searching for the Hotel California, for some bizarre reason, and we missed our stop. The 
people on the bus tried to help, and ultimately did, despite the fact we knew 10 words of Spanish and could comprehend much less.
These are just two examples of the things that can happen when you don't know the language, a common occurrence for cruise-ship passengers.
And now…yes, you knew there was something coming, didn't you?
Cruise Lingo!
This is an app that can be downloaded to almost any kind of phone or tablet. It's courtesy of Celebrity Cruises. That is, the standard version is courtesy…if you want to go a step further and try to engage somebody in conversation in their language, the cost ranges from $9.99 to $49.99. More dollars, more languages, more words.
You enter your phrase in one language, it translates it into the language of choice, and displays it and speaks it back to you — or better yet, to the person who doesn't know what you want to know.
So we downloaded the free app yesterday and tried it out. Any of you can do the same thing, of course, and make your own assessment. Our "Coles Notes" assessment is this: If you need to get (or convey) some basic information from somebody whose language is foreign to you, the free app will do the job.
Where was it on the street corner in Paris, all those years ago?
Norwegian Star
14 nights
November 24, 2013
Los Angeles, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Huatulco, Puerto Chiapas, Panama Canal, Cartagena, Miami
Inside: $699
Cost per day: $49
www.ncl.com