lectures on Grand

[Buck Turgidson]

I'll be on my first Princess cruise, do they have guest lecturers or guest speakers during the sea days? Last cruise I was on had Roger Mcguinn of byrds fame, enjoyed very much

Edited December 24, 2013 by Buck Turgidson
to add a word

[paul929207]

They have guest speakers on the longer cruises. You don't indicate which cruise you are taking and I am not sure about the 7 day cruises.

[IdahoCruises]

I'll be on my first Princess cruise, do they have guest lecturers or guest speakers during the sea days? Last cruise I was on had Roger Mcguinn of byrds fame, enjoyed very much

 

On our 15 day HI cruise, we had naturalist Gary Shahan with lectures about each island, Pearl Harbor, etc.

 

They were also shown on TV each day.

 

He was very good....

[Pam in CA]

They have guest speakers on the longer cruises. You don't indicate which cruise you are taking and I am not sure about the 7 day cruises.

No lecturers on 7-day or shorter cruises. It also depends on the number of sea days. The longer the cruise and the more sea days, the more lecturers and variety. Alaskan and Panama Canal cruises have expert commentators during scenic viewing or going through the Canal.

[Mr_Astro]

I do Enrichment lectures and am brought on board when there are a number of consecutive sea days in a row. Depending on the itinerary and ship, they may bring on two lecturers with one giving a talk in the morning and the other giving a talk in the afternoon. As noted there may be special interest lectures brought on board to enhance your cruising experience for cruises that would be otherwise too short.

 

Perhaps I'll see some of you in a years' time....

[Austcruiser84]

I'll be on my first Princess cruise, do they have guest lecturers or guest speakers during the sea days? Last cruise I was on had Roger Mcguinn of byrds fame, enjoyed very much

 

Just off the Diamond Princess, which did a 12 day voyage to New Zealand. Not a single lecture on any of the 6 sea days (with the exception of a short slide show talk about Fiordlands National Park).

 

Very disappointed. Their Scholarship@Sea programme has really deteriorated since I last sailed. It was merely arts and crafts - hardly worthy of the title 'scholarship'.

 

This is a big thing for me. A number of passengers remarked on the absence of lectures and how they felt their mornings especially had little on (which was when lectures were normally held).

 

Thankfully, Cunard maintains an excellent programme called Insights. I'll likely be cruising more with them in years to come as a result.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Austcruiser84

[Aus Traveller]

Just off the Diamond Princess, which did a 12 day voyage to New Zealand. Not a single lecture on any of the 6 sea days (with the exception of a short slide show talk about Fiordlands National Park).

 

Very disappointed. Their Scholarship@Sea programme has really deteriorated since I last sailed. It was merely arts and crafts - hardly worthy of the title 'scholarship'.

 

This is a big thing for me. A number of passengers remarked on the absence of lectures and how they felt their mornings especially had little on (which was when lectures were normally held).

 

Thankfully, Cunard maintains an excellent programme called Insights. I'll likely be cruising more with them in years to come as a result.

I don't think the Scholarship@Sea programme has deteriorated - but maybe it isn't consistent. :) There seem to be lecturers on some cruises and not on others. I have wondered whether the fact that the New Zealand cruises have a number of consecutive port days (sometimes six) have meant that Princess doesn't engage lecturers for some of their NZ cruises. However, I know that there will be lecturers on two Sea Princess cruises to New Zealand in January and February 2014.

 

I hope Austcruiser84 made a comment on his/her questionnaire at the end of the cruise regarding the lack of lecturers. This is one way Princess can receive feed-back on what passengers would like.

[Austcruiser84]

I don't think the Scholarship@Sea programme has deteriorated - but maybe it isn't consistent. :) There seem to be lecturers on some cruises and not on others. I have wondered whether the fact that the New Zealand cruises have a number of consecutive port days (sometimes six) have meant that Princess doesn't engage lecturers for some of their NZ cruises. However, I know that there will be lecturers on two Sea Princess cruises to New Zealand in January and February 2014.

 

I hope Austcruiser84 made a comment on his/her questionnaire at the end of the cruise regarding the lack of lecturers. This is one way Princess can receive feed-back on what passengers would like.

 

I did make this comment on the questionnaire :) We had 3 sea days in a row and apart from the Fiordlands slide show we had nothing (compared to 3 different lecturers on the same cruise a fee years back).

 

My QE cruise next June only has 4 sea days out of 14 and two lecturers are scheduled to be on board.

 

Won't stop me sailing with Princess ever again, but it will mean I pick Cunard over it.

[Buck Turgidson]

I did make this comment on the questionnaire :) We had 3 sea days in a row and apart from the Fiordlands slide show we had nothing (compared to 3 different lecturers on the same cruise a fee years back).

 

My QE cruise next June only has 4 sea days out of 14 and two lecturers are scheduled to be on board.

 

Won't stop me sailing with Princess ever again, but it will mean I pick Cunard over it.

The Cunard lectures I found to be good and enjoyed them very much.

One guy worked for numerous presidents in the White House.

Another was a professor of Polynesian studies

and Roger Mcguinn was another

[Austcruiser84]

The Cunard lectures I found to be good and enjoyed them very much.

One guy worked for numerous presidents in the White House.

Another was a professor of Polynesian studies

and Roger Mcguinn was another

 

Yes, their Insights programme is very good. Last Christmas on QM2 we had a broadway producer on board, maritime historian Bill Miller, a former aide to Queen Elizabeth II, actress Celia Imrie, an author and one or two others.

 

It surprised me that Princess is inconsistent with Scholarship@Sea. I'd have thought they'd do well to include interesting lectures on sea days. There is certainly demand for it.

 

My first NZ cruise with them was great. We had a China expert, a naval warfare expert, and someone on the history of Australia.

 

That said, it's one of my few complaints about my recent cruise. Still, it's a big one for me.

[pusywillow]

I'll be on my first Princess cruise, do they have guest lecturers or guest speakers during the sea days? Last cruise I was on had Roger Mcguinn of byrds fame, enjoyed very much

 

I saw Roger McGuinn in concert this summer on Peter Frampton's Flying Guitar Circus Tour. Just curious what he lectures about.

[Buck Turgidson]

I saw Roger McGuinn in concert this summer on Peter Frampton's Flying Guitar Circus Tour. Just curious what he lectures about.

He talked about his career from the early days in Chicago up to present day. He had a slide show and played a few songs. There were three lectures. He was also in the Commodore Lounge to meet people each evening with his very nice wife Camilla. He had some CD's for sale, one was Songs of the Sea and another was 22 timeless tracks.:)

[IECalCruiser]

No lecturers on 7-day or shorter cruises. It also depends on the number of sea days. The longer the cruise and the more sea days, the more lecturers and variety. Alaskan and Panama Canal cruises have expert commentators during scenic viewing or going through the Canal.

As you posted, there are lecturers on the Alaskan cruises and they are seven day. I think it is primarily the Caribbean, Mexico and Coastal cruises that don't have lecturers. We had good lecturers on South American, Alaskan, Panama Canal and Baltic cruises. Edited December 26, 2013 by IECalCruiser

[Dayenu]

On our 15 day HI cruise, we had naturalist Gary Shahan with lectures about each island, Pearl Harbor, etc.

 

They were also shown on TV each day.

 

He was very good....

 

He was also on our coastal cruise in October. Editing to add: it was a 7-day cruise with the fist and last days at sea.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Dayenu

[Tarpeian Rock]

On our 15 day HI cruise, we had naturalist Gary Shahan with lectures about each island, Pearl Harbor, etc.

 

They were also shown on TV each day.

 

He was very good....

 

 

On our Hawaiian Circle cruise in October, in addition to Mr. Shahan we also had Hal Tinberg, an outstanding presenter - an expert in DNA, and he did a series of presentations on historical mysteries solved via DNA (Romanov bodies, King Tut's lineage, Titanic child among others). His presentations were amazing!

[pablo222]

Aren't there enough lectures here?

 

Just suggest that you're not planning on wearing formal

attire, and you won't have to wait for your cruise to get

a lecture.