Lectures on cruises?

[gzathome]

We recently went on the Oceania South America/Antarctica cruise, which we enjoyed thoroughly and we especially loved the educational lectures by the scientific team on board.  We are now looking at cruises to Greenland for our next trip, and we're wondering whether Oceania offers any lectures on those trips.  I don't mean like cooking or arts and crafts or overview of tourist attractions, but something a little more nerdy, like eg deeper dives into local ecology, history, or politics, etc.  Do any of the cruises offer anything like that?
 

[durberville]

I am interested in this also. We really enjoy lectures (not a fan of bingo or trivia). First time Oceania cruisers and hoping interesting lectures are part of every cruise. Yes?…No? …You better buy some bingo cards? 😬

[babysteps]

There are lectures on every O cruise.

 

Most are quite good but some not so much.

 

Little ships (R class) generally 1 lecturer per cruise with an almost-daily presentation. Larger ships usually have 2 lecturers but still typically 1 lecture per day except sea days. 

 

One reviewer called dismissed them as too "academic' but I would describe as well-documented entertainment. Once in a while you get someone who knows their stuff but isn't such a great presenter. 

 

Yes they usually have destination-focused topics. 

 

Everyone feel free to correct me, it was 4 cruises ago since we were on a 'big' ship - looking forward to trying Vista this year

[MEFIowa]

We've been on 4 O cruises:

 

1. Riviera, W. Caribbean, 12/2021: NO lecturer. But could watch old lectures from their video library on our TV.

 

2. Sirena, E. Caribbean, 11/2021: One lecturer. Her focus on music & culture, her family from there.

 

3. Riviera, C-E Med, 10/2023: One lecturer. Archeologist. Nice presentations the day before of what you might see the next day in the various ruins and excursions.

 

4. Riviera, E-W Med, 11/2023: One lecturer. Archeologist. Nice presentations the day before of what you might see the next day in the various ruins and excursions.

 

I attended every lecture except one on #4. The lectures for #2 were in the morning, while the lectures for #3-4 were at 5 pm.

[Kay S]

I wondered if port-intensive cruises have more or fewer lectures?

[MEFIowa]

4 minutes ago, Kay S said:

I wondered if port-intensive cruises have more or fewer lectures?

Our recent Triest to Athens and Athens to Barcelona B2B cruises on Riviera (10/30-11/19, 2023) were VERY port intensive. We had 5 lectures from the archeologist on each 10-night cruise.

 

Also had 5 lectures on the E. Caribbean cruise on Sirena 11/2022.

[cruisemom42]

My Iceland/Greenland cruise last year on Insignia had one lecturer. He was terrible. The info presented on Greenland in particular was very random.

 

[pinotlover]

Almost always lectures on sea days, while rarely having them in port days, unless it’s a half day port day.

 

The lecturers are required to have additional lectures “ in the can” in case of cancelled ports. 
 

Never seen lectures on port days as the lecturers are typically out exploring getting information for future cruise presentations. 

[shepherd really]

On 3/29/2024 at 5:28 PM, gzathome said:

We recently went on the Oceania South America/Antarctica cruise, which we enjoyed thoroughly and we especially loved the educational lectures by the scientific team on board.  We are now looking at cruises to Greenland for our next trip, and we're wondering whether Oceania offers any lectures on those trips.  I don't mean like cooking or arts and crafts or overview of tourist attractions, but something a little more nerdy, like eg deeper dives into local ecology, history, or politics, etc.  Do any of the cruises offer anything like that?
 

So, you kept hearing "Hello, this is Andy from the bridge" on the loudspeaker, offering interesting tidbits?  Andy was very engaging as were the other lecturers.