Beyond the Podium Speakers

[Northern Aurora]

On 3/14/2022 at 8:14 AM, TMLAalum said:

Our 9/10/21 Millennium featured Celia Garland. She was fabulous. Not only in her breadth of knowledge but also her sense of humor displayed as a Liars Club member.

 

She started on the Equinox as a Glass Artist!

 

We were on the September 17th and September 24th Millennium sailings.  We met Celia on a B2B2B set of sailings on the Eclipse in 2019 (Buenos Aires to Vancouver).  She told us about her start with Celebrity as a glass blower, and that both Brent and Milos encouraged her to work toward the naturalist position.  I agree -- she is fabulous.

[the penguins]

6 hours ago, hrhdhd said:

As I mentioned in post #2, a BTP speaker was on the Apex last week for a 7-day sailing. She spoke 4 times in 7 days. Speakers might be reluctant to join a cruise during these times rather than a cutback.

Speakers on every sea day on Silhouette 8 and 9 night cruises in August and September. 

[TMLAalum]

4 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

We were on the September 17th and September 24th Millennium sailings.  We met Celia on a B2B2B set of sailings on the Eclipse in 2019 (Buenos Aires to Vancouver).  She told us about her start with Celebrity as a glass blower, and that both Brent and Milos encouraged her to work toward the naturalist position.  I agree -- she is fabulous.

We had to have been with you on the Eclipse in 2019! We set sail from Buenos Aires on 3/10/2019 and disembarked in San Diego in April! That was a fabulous cruise, but disappointed that we had to miss Punta del Este and that our excursion options in Puerto Madryn were limited due to the flooding there.

Hi to the above poster, the Penguins, Geoff & Anita, who sailed on that voyage too!

But I do not recall Celia on those legs! Perhaps she boarded in San Diego?

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by TMLAalum

[the penguins]

20 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

We had to have been with you on the Eclipse in 2019! We set sail from Buenos Aires on 3/10/2019 and disembarked in San Diego in April! That was a fabulous cruise, but disappointed that we had to miss Punta del Este and that our excursion options in Puerto Madryn were limited due to the flooding there.

Hi to the above poster, the Penguins, Geoff & Anita, who sailed on that voyage too!

But I do not recall Celia on those legs! Perhaps she boarded in San Diego?

 

Great cruise, great roll call and our Golden Wedding Anniversary. Fortunately the flooding didn't affect our tour to the dinosaur museum but a shame for all those booked for the penguins. Celia not on either leg but could have been on the previous sailing. Milos is also great and we went to his wedding reception on Solstice during our 5 B to B across the Pacific. Geoff and the boss (Anita).

[Mangrove Snapper]

We did Edge in June and Reflection in December, this past year, and both ships had two Beyond the Podium speakers.  If I recall correctly, each speaker had three talks.  These were 7 night cruises.

 

Celia Garland was one of the speakers, both times.  One of her talks was "Dolphins, what's the porpoise?," one on coral reefs, and one on seabirds.  All were excellent. 

 

The other speaker's talks were about pirates and engineering failures.  Unfortunately the pirate talks never fit into our schedule but the one on engineering failures was very interesting. 

[Jim_Iain]

On 3/15/2022 at 5:39 PM, bunzini said:

I do have the app and used on my last cruise.  Weird because when I select activities, it only gives me places (lawn club, pool deck, solarium, etc).  I see on the planner that one can choose "show all" but all I am basically getting are shore excursions.

I'm seeing the same on one of my cruises.   I just noticed on mine  that right under the line that has the Daily Planer andd My Calendar Tabs -  it says

 

We are getting in ship-shape

Activates schedules update closer to your sail date

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by Jim_Iain

[bunzini]

Yes, mine is the same.  Sail in less than two weeks.  Well, I guess I will see what is in store soon enough!

 

[blueboro]

We just got off an 11-day on the Constellation and had no Beyond the Podium speakers.  Thought it would have been nice since we were going to Panama to have someone speak on the canal.  

[deliver42]

I haven't seen a guest speaker in the Caribbean on any line, including Celebrity.

[Jim_Iain]

19 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

I haven't seen a guest speaker in the Caribbean on any line, including Celebrity.

I was curious as I didn’t recall seeing a Beyond the Podium speaker on our Caribbean cruise.  
 

I looked at the current Equinox sailing an sure enough o. The first sea day they have one.  It was also an appropriate topic. 
 

 

[mac_tlc]

1 hour ago, deliver42 said:

I haven't seen a guest speaker in the Caribbean on any line, including Celebrity.

We had two of them in the Fall on 7-night Caribbean sailings on Edge.

 

mac_tlc

[DaKahuna]

Just looked at our upcoming 11 day Silhouette sailing and I am not seeing any Beyond the Podium talks in the daily planner. 

[sergel02]

What exactly is Beyond the Podium? My last Celebrity cruise had Celia Garland as a speaker in Alaska and she was great, but I never heard anything about Beyond the Podium. 

[the penguins]

49 minutes ago, sergel02 said:

What exactly is Beyond the Podium? My last Celebrity cruise had Celia Garland as a speaker in Alaska and she was great, but I never heard anything about Beyond the Podium. 

It's the overall name/title that covers the Guest Speaker Programme. 

[Von & John]

We were on the Constellation 03/18-03/28/22.

Our Beyond the Podium Speaker was Dr. Jack Hardy.

We had the pleasure of meeting him at dinner, on our first night.

He was scheduled for 6 of our 10 days & did a bonus for a total of 7...

He spoke on the mornings of the late arrival port days & the sea days.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Von & John

[lovecruzin]

Brent Nixon and Mary Amanda will be on Eclipse Vancouver to Hawaii and will join Solstice in May for Alaska.

Edited April 4, 2022 by lovecruzin
.

[keesar]

4 minutes ago, lovecruzin said:

Brent Nixon and Mary Amanda will be on Eclipse Vancouver to Hawaii and will join Solstice in May for Alaska.

 

They are good entertainers.  Enjoyed  Brent especially.  

[CTSandy]

1 hour ago, lovecruzin said:

Brent Nixon and Mary Amanda will be on Eclipse Vancouver to Hawaii and will join Solstice in May for Alaska.

We loved them on Millenium in September 2021 Alaska.  
 

 

[gardengalaz]

For many years, my husband and I traveled as Life Enrichment Lecturers on several cruise lines, including Celebrity.  Our very dear friend continues to offer her presentations on interpersonal and communications skills after more than 150 cruises.  What many of you may not know is that there are several speakers' bureaus who focus on placing speakers like us aboard ships -- and a major source of their revenue is fees collected FROM the speakers ($60+ per cabin per day of the cruise).  The cruise line itself generally provides us ONLY with a complimentary passenger stateroom over which we have no choice. We also have to cover all of our onboard expenses, including tips and taxes as well as our travel to and from the port.  They can also cancel us without penalty up to the day before the cruise's departure. Nevertheless, if you're willing to accept the conditions, it's a great way to enjoy a "working vacation" ... and a cruise at a significant discount!

 

During the early months that cruising  restarted, two other restrictions were placed on the guest lecturers -- they were NOT allowed to bring a spouse/guest with them and they were NOT allowed to leave the ship in any of the visited ports.  So there were fewer opportunities AND a less-attractive proposition for the lecturer. Perhaps the cruise line will remove these restrictions soon, because who wants to cruise alone on a ship you can't leave ... and you're paying an agency for the opportunity?

 

We have noticed a return of Port Lecturers more so than Life Enrichment on the five cruises we've taken since last October.

 

Of course, this was just OUR experience ... different cruise lines and different agencies may offer VERY different deals with presenters.  Overall, we LOVED it!

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by gardengalaz
typo

[jelayne]

We board the Apex next Saturday and so far the app shows nothing on our calendar, not our booked excursions or our dinner reservations.  Checking the Daily Planner shows Art & Architecture  and Behind the Scenes as the only thing on sea days and a couple excursions on port days.  
We use the app regularly once on the ship but find the info of little value pre cruise

 

 

[JaneStarr]

On 3/14/2022 at 12:14 PM, TMLAalum said:

Our 9/10/21 Millennium featured Celia Garland. She was fabulous. Not only in her breadth of knowledge but also her sense of humor displayed as a Liars Club member.

 

She started on the Equinox as a Glass Artist!

I totally agree! She was very entertaining and informative on our 14 Feb 22 Silhouette sailing (11 nts ABC islands, Cartagena)

[JaneStarr]

On 3/18/2022 at 11:10 PM, DaKahuna said:

Just looked at our upcoming 11 day Silhouette sailing and I am not seeing any Beyond the Podium talks in the daily planner. 

As I recall, they were added to the app planner during the cruise — sometimes just the day prior to a lecture.

 

[mac66]

The Equinox 12 night cruise in March had Brent Nixon as well. He did talks on reefs, turtles, sharks and whales. very good speaker.

[capsplace]

We love Celia Garland!  Had her for Australia and New Zealand, and then South America and Antarctica.  Hope to see her soon!

[cruisinsusin]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:55 AM, blueboro said:

We just got off an 11-day on the Constellation and had no Beyond the Podium speakers.  Thought it would have been nice since we were going to Panama to have someone speak on the canal.  

Our 11 day Constellation (3/28-4/8) had 2 speakers - topics of Forensics