Smithsonian Lecturers

Agree with the last two posters. My latest brochure from Regent shows Smithsonian through the end of 2017 but not in 2018. IMO, the lecturers will be better!

It'd be nice, and a good marketing step for Regent, to replace the language which appears on all of our upcoming (post-2017) cruises...and I bet it's the same for all post-2017 cruises. It says:

"Enrichment Series - This cruise currently has no specialized enrichment programs scheduled."

And, yes, its says currently, but a far more reassuring message would be something like:

"Enrichment Series - The specialized enrichment program for this cruise is still being arranged. Check back for details."

I found them disappointing due to the minimal number of lectures held on our recent Rome to Lisbon cruise on the explorer. I think there were 4 or 5 lectures over 11 days and strangely disjointed topics. The actual lecture was great

I have a friend on the Oct. 8th sailing of the Voyager. She's asking if the lecture times ever interfere with the shore excursions. Can someone advise? Thanks! pug1

We have many, many lecturers on this cruise (lecturers from PBS) and not one has been at the same time as an excursion.

We have not been happy with our lecturer. This was d ue to his COMPLETE LACK of knowledge on areas we visited and what seemed like HE WAS READING VERBATIM FROM LONELY PLANET as he quoted what they wrote.

He we I'll be the lecturer on our next cruise, does anyone know who I can share my thoughts with?

I'm curious if I am the only one who is not too impressed with the Smithsonian Lecturers. On previous cruises, we have had lecturers hired by Regent who were very, very good speakers. On our Middle East cruise in May, we had "Artful Travelers" speakers who were fantastic - the Smithsonian destination lecturers not so much. On the second segment of the World Cruise, we had 3 Smithsonian lecturers, one (Diana Preston) was great - a natural storyteller. The other two were snores. They know their subjects, but I had a hard time staying awake and I have a pretty high level for boredom!

 

What say you, fellow cruisers?

Flora and fauna are nice to learn about, but what about the history of the people, the living conditions, political situatipn?.

.Michael only knew about two subjects, unable to respond to numerous questions that did not deal with those two subjects. Fellow passengers spoke with him about their areas of interest, and he c old not answer there questions. He was asked about the government, and once again as in knew absolutely nothing. He is definitely not a "well rounded"lecturer.

Jennifer, on board the Voyager for New Zealand and Australia, we have rarely heard as good as lecturers as Terry Bishop and Michael Scott (Michale knows his wildlife especially birds, he took over 6000 photos and shared his fav's with guests during each lecture). Terry's Smithsonian lectures are rich in context mixed with his wonderful sense of humor--our view is they are stellar Smithsonian lecturers. Michael even gave us the history and origination of how the Smithsonian came about. Terry added to his lecture skill set by portraying King Neptune is a exceptionally regal manner during our equator crossing ceremony. Lew Simons and his wife Carol are now on board from Singapore to Hong Kong--Lew is good but reads his lecture to guests--still he is a font of information and a Pulitzer Prize winner to boot for his journalist skills uncovering Philippine corruption back in the 90s. We also enjoyed our time with the Artful Travelers a few years ago, Charlie Cook was very good just prior to 2012 US election but Gil is right, the Artful Traveler program during our program was very US centric.

 

 

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I think the contract with Smithsonian expires at the end of this year and going forward Regent will return to hiring the lecturers.

Terry Bishop: although he may be listed as a Smithsonian lecturer, he also has a direct connection to Regent and will continue to sail on the ships. He is booked on most of the 2018WC.

Peggy