Does Celebrity have guest lecturers on all cruises?

[comcox]

I've not been on Celebrity in a while and I want to know from recent cruisers whether they have guest lecturers on all their cruises.

 

Right now I'm booked on a Holland America transatlantic cruise for fall and have just learned HAL will not be providing any lectures on that cruise at all, other than shore ex port talks, and this cruise has 7 sea days after the last port!

 

Even though it will cost me some money I am considering shifting over to a Celebrity transatlantic cruise instead but I want to be sure there will be lectures.  There are two possible cruises, one on the Edge and one on the Reflection.

 

Also does Celebrity still have libraries on all ships (I know some cruise lines are doing away with them, HAL included)?

[Orator]

10 minutes ago, comcox said:

I've not been on Celebrity in a while and I want to know from recent cruisers whether they have guest lecturers on all their cruises.

 

Right now I'm booked on a Holland America transatlantic cruise for fall and have just learned HAL will not be providing any lectures on that cruise at all, other than shore ex port talks, and this cruise has 7 sea days after the last port!

 

Even though it will cost me some money I am considering shifting over to a Celebrity transatlantic cruise instead but I want to be sure there will be lectures.  There are two possible cruises, one on the Edge and one on the Reflection.

 

Also does Celebrity still have libraries on all ships (I know some cruise lines are doing away with them, HAL included)?

Celebrity does have at least three lecturers on transatlantic cruises. Usually one is a destination speaker.

Libraries are shrinking on all ships due to ebooks and space demands. Haven't been on Edge, but Reflection still has a library.

[cruisestitch]

Edge never put a library in, they may have added a shelf or two somewhere for books left behind by passengers.

 

stick with Reflection

[peter pan]

Libraries are being eliminated.  If you want to hold a book and read the paper product bring your own.  Hopefully there will still be a place for people to swap books during a cruise.  I have found some “new” authors this way.

[keesar]

We have not had a Beyond the Podium speaker in many years on our cruises.  I was initially told that the individual did not make the ship in time.  Missed their flight.  We really miss the speakers and we no longer expect one.

 

S-class ships have libraries.

Edited July 16, 2019 by keesar

[Orator]

3 minutes ago, keesar said:

We have not had a Beyond the Podium speaker in many years on our cruises.  I was initially told that the individual did not make the ship in time.  Missed their flight.  We really miss the speakers and we no longer expect one.

 

S-class ships have libraries.

What Celebrity cruises have you recently taken? Every Celebrity cruise we've been on that's 10 days or more has had multiple speakers and we take between 10-15 Celebrity cruises a year. We have never been on a transatlantic, more than 20 of them, that did not have multiple speakers. 

[keesar]

39 minutes ago, Orator said:

What Celebrity cruises have you recently taken? Every Celebrity cruise we've been on that's 10 days or more has had multiple speakers and we take between 10-15 Celebrity cruises a year. We have never been on a transatlantic, more than 20 of them, that did not have multiple speakers. 

 

We used to have them on every 7 day Caribbean cruise.  We have not had one probably in 5 years.  Looked forward to the speakers.  

[jelayne]

Our recent 10 night,  7 port cruise had 2 guest lecturers.  On the TA's we have done on Celebrity there have been 3 speakers.

[keesar]

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

Our recent 10 night,  7 port cruise had 2 guest lecturers.  On the TA's we have done on Celebrity there have been 3 speakers.

 

So it appears that speakers are now appearing on the 10-14 day cruises and less frequently on the 7 days ones.  

[Orator]

2 minutes ago, keesar said:

 

So it appears that speakers are now appearing on the 10-14 day cruises and less frequently on the 7 days ones.  

That's a fair statement. Some of this might be economic. Why would Celebrity give a free passage on a cruise that had very few sea days? 

[phoenix_dream]

I don't think I've seen a guest speaker on a 7 day or less cruise in years, other than on occasion in Alaska.  I think we have had them on all cruises 10 days or more.  Haven't done a TA so have no info on that.  Some are great; some are so-s;, and some are painful to listen to.  Fortunately more of the former than the latter.

[dkjretired]

2 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I don't think I've seen a guest speaker on a 7 day or less cruise in years, other than on occasion in Alaska.  I think we have had them on all cruises 10 days or more.  Haven't done a TA so have no info on that.  Some are great; some are so-s;, and some are painful to listen to.  Fortunately more of the former than the latter.

 

Our  August cruise to Bermuda has one of the announcers from the Dallas Cowboys.

[phoenix_dream]

7 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

 

Our  August cruise to Bermuda has one of the announcers from the Dallas Cowboys.

awesome

[dkjretired]

3 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

awesome

 

I don’t know, I’m a Giants fan for over 60 years😀

Edited July 16, 2019 by dkjretired

[ghstudio]

5 hours ago, Orator said:

What Celebrity cruises have you recently taken? Every Celebrity cruise we've been on that's 10 days or more has had multiple speakers and we take between 10-15 Celebrity cruises a year. We have never been on a transatlantic, more than 20 of them, that did not have multiple speakers. 

 

You obviously have not been on the constellation.  Just completing 2 11 day b2b’s and no podium speakers.  Alehandro (our cruise director) spoke about his native country on both cruises....and we were sailing Venice to Barcelona...not South America.  Perhaps celebrity has found another way to cut costs...why hire someone when we have so many folks already on board who can talk about something.

 

no...all 10 day or more cruises do not have outside speakers.

[Ginnyfyr]

On our Summit cruise to Bermuda last week the had two Beyond the Podium presenters (a husband and wife team). Sadly, they got rid of the library when they revolutionized the ship and there is now just a rolling cart with a selection of books that I saw near guest services a few times. I love the library section on the Solstice class ships and hope they will leave them be! Such a nice, bright space to relax with a cup of tea and a good book. 

[Orator]

18 hours ago, ghstudio said:

 

You obviously have not been on the constellation.  Just completing 2 11 day b2b’s and no podium speakers.  Alehandro (our cruise director) spoke about his native country on both cruises....and we were sailing Venice to Barcelona...not South America.  Perhaps celebrity has found another way to cut costs...why hire someone when we have so many folks already on board who can talk about something.

 

no...all 10 day or more cruises do not have outside speakers.

Have been on Constellation many times. Last time was Suez canal last year. Had  3 or4 speakers on that cruise. Either there are cutbacks or someone missed the ship. 

Edited July 17, 2019 by Orator

[ghstudio]

4 minutes ago, Orator said:

Have been on Constellation many times. Last time was Suez canal last year. Had 4 speakers on that cruise. Either there are cutbacks or someone missed the ship. 

Actually, it almost makes sense.  We had very few sea days, even on a b2b.  That suez cruise had lots of sea days.  Maybe no speakers unless there are b2b sea days...or something like that.

[Orator]

14 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

Actually, it almost makes sense.  We had very few sea days, even on a b2b.  That suez cruise had lots of sea days.  Maybe no speakers unless there are b2b sea days...or something like that.

They can have a minimum number of sea days required to bring a speaker, or speakers on board. Remember they need to cover the cruise costs of speakers and remove a cabin. usually undesirable, from inventory. A speaker usually needs at least 3 days to develop a program. Perhaps the same reason that they stopped providing Clergy from ships except for religiously significant times of the year. They just couldn't justify the costs.

[katiegirl1264]

i would be all for it

[Ken the cruiser]

We were on a Canary Island (10 day) and a 15 day TA b2b on the Eclipse in Oct 2017 and had 3 lectures every sea day. Then on the Reflection in Jan 2019 we were on a 10 day and 11 day b2b Caribbean cruise and had 2 lectures every sea day.

 

We left HAL due to their continued decrease in entertainment options on sea days and have been more than happy with our move to X and Princess. 

[Mr Sea Gull]

If you sail from Southampton they have had the same Beyond the Podium speaker for the last 5 years on virtually every sailing throughout the season and continuing over the next few years. Bit repetitive to hear about Matt Monro every cruise, would be nice to have other speakers for a change. In fact my last cruise people were complaining about it.

[Ariyel]

Just was on a 7 day Solstice cruise in Alaska - we had 2 speakers who were great.  Brent Nixon, the naturalist did several presentations on whales, bears, etc. found in Alaska.  His wife, Mary Amanda, did some historical presentations on the various towns and the Titanic.  They were really great additions to our trip and I'm glad Celebrity had them on board for our trip even if it was only a 7 day trip with 2 sea days.

[gold1953]

3 hours ago, Mr Sea Gull said:

If you sail from Southampton they have had the same Beyond the Podium speaker for the last 5 years on virtually every sailing throughout the season and continuing over the next few years. Bit repetitive to hear about Matt Monro every cruise, would be nice to have other speakers for a change. In fact my last cruise people were complaining about it.

I hope they change this before the fall TA

 

[Shadow9612]

9 hours ago, Orator said:

Have been on Constellation many times. Last time was Suez canal last year. Had  3 or4 speakers on that cruise. Either there are cutbacks or someone missed the ship. 

I really hope that Celebrity isnt cutting back in this regard.  I always enjoy the guest speakers...