Lectures

[seagoingJLW]

Over the years one of my favorite activities on board HAL ships has been the array of lectures offered. We have had many wonderful lecturers who discussed everything from Mexican politics to the European Union to early ocean liners. I was distressed to learn that lectures have been either curtailed or eliminated on HAL cruises. Please tell me this isn't true.

I would appreciate input from cruisers who have recently sailed with HAL.

Thank you.

Joan

[mountainmare]

Last Feb there was a good speaker about the Panama Canal on our partial transit. He used McCullough's Path Between the Seas as a basic reference and the lectures were held on sea days.

[user8]

I have been on the Statendam and the Rotterdam since last July and both had very good lectureres.

[Lisa63]

I also enjoy attending lectures. On our Maasdam cruise this past summer, there was a lecture called "New England, New France, New Worlds," in which we learned about the settlement of the Americas, with an emphasis on the areas in Canada and New England where our ship was sailing. It was the only lecture offered -- however, this was a very port intensive itinerary with little "down time."

[Krazy Kruizers]

Port lecturers seem to be on cruises that aren't just 7 days and aren't in the Caribbean.

We had one on the Statendam for the Panama Canal.

[Kami's pal]

the lecturer on Noordam, May's "Cathedrals and Castles" cruise.

[TedC]

We just returned from the Westerdam repositioning from Barcelona to FLL. There were two lecturers on board.

They were both excellent but Dr. Don Walsh, a retired Navy Captain, was the most interesting, IMO.

Walsh is an oceanographer, adventurer and explorer and was first commander of the Navy's bathyscaphe Trieste (1959 - 1962). In 1960 Walsh and co-pilot Jacques Piccard dove Trieste into the deepest place in the ocean, Challenger Deep, almost seven miles below sea level, near Guam. No other humans have been to that spot. He has also been to both geographic poles.

Dr. Walsh gave four illustrated lectures and then held a fascinating Q and A session on a fifth sea day. His lectures always attracted large crowds to the Vista Lounge and were a highlight of a wonderful cruise. Much thanks to HAL for signing him on!

[obriendan]

We've had outstanding guest lecturers on a Panama Canal Cruise in 2000 and on a South America-Antarctica cruise in 2002. I believe that guest lectures (in addition to port lecturers) are always present for cruises of 10 or more days. For example, HAL's 2005 Europeb brochure shows guest lecturers on all the cruises (pg. 29). The cruises range from 10 to 18 days.

[Himself]

I was in the Panama Canal in November of 2003 and we had a most interesting man give several lectures on the Panama Canal. The man was outstanding. He was so good that I thought he must have done his doctoral disertation on the Panama Canal. Turns out the gentleman was a civil engineer in his mid to late sixties and as a hobby studied up on the canal from the time he was 11 or 12 and has just read everything he could on it.
Look, I used to be a history teacher and know more than a little myself. This man could run rings around me when it came to the Panama Canal and there are not too many that could do that. I thought his presentations were as outstanding as they were educational. The man was a fountain of knowlegede and HAL did well to have him on board.
Himself

[RuthC]

I suspect that you will find the lecture series are on the longer cruises. I have had multiple lecture series on each of my European and South American cruises. These were cultural enrichment, astronomy, oceangraphy, music, (I can't remember what else!) There were also lectures on the Circle Hawaiian cruises.
These cruises have ranged from 15-34 days.

I have always found the lectures excellent and very well attended.

[mg17uk]

My only experience of HAL is the Statendam in Feb of this year (Fort Lauderdale to San Diego) where I was very disappointed to find that there was only 1 program, consisting of just 4 lectures. The program concerned the building of the Panama Canal and was interesting in its own right - my disappointment arises from the fact that there were only 4 lectures on a cruise with approx. 7 or 8 sea days. Also, several times a lecture was scheduled for just after lunch which, in the warm dark environment, led to approx. four fifths of the audience (most of whom were over 70) falling asleep and snoring.

This poor provision needs to be contrasted with Cunard (QE2 and Caronia) where, in my experience of 5 cruises, a cruise will have 3 or 4 programs running, each consisting of 4 or more lectures. Topics covered included those concerning the itinerary (eg Beatles and 60s music for a cruise which called in at Liverpool), ocean liners (Bill Miller, Ted Scull), literature (Kathy Reichs, Harold Evans), politics (Al Haig), science (meteorology at sea) etc etc. The range and content have always been good - in fact, I went to more lectures on a 5 day jaunt up and down the English Channel on the Caronia than on a 16 day Panama Canal cruise on the Statendam.

I have also done two cruises on the Marco Polo (Orient Lines) and I can't saw I was overwhelmed by the lectures, but then they were port intensive with few sea days.

Finally, I must add that I do not count the cruise staff's 'port information' talks (mostly to do with shopping) as lectures.

mg17uk
QE2 (2002, 2003, 2004)
Caronia (2003, 2004)
Marco Polo (2003, 2004)
Statendam (2004)

[Himself]

I am now 65 years old (I look 45) and in 5 years I will be 70. Does that mean I will start falling asleep during these interesting lectures and start snooring?
I hope not.

Himself

[wander]

Gosh, if age is such a factor, how can I explain all the times I fell asleep in large group college lectures when I was only 18 - 21? I always thought it had more to do with what I did the night (or nights) before the lecture, what I did earlier in the day, if it was after a meal, etc. than age. For me the same is still true in my later years.

[Himself]

Perhaps it was not your activities the night before. When I was in College I always prefered morning classes to afternoon classes because I ate too much at lunch and all the blood left me head to go and work on dygesting food in the stomach and I was known to knood off a bit. My notes taken an hour or so after lunch were indeciferable.
Himself

[wander]

I know what you mean about meals - just after lunch is a nap waiting to happen, even at 18. I particularly had trouble with that when in graduate school. Worked all day, had dinner and went to class - real trouble staying awake. However, for me in undergraduate school I am afraid that it was primarily the socializing, activities, playing bridge, etc. that cut down on my sleep and thus fatigue set in, particularly when slides were used and lights dimmed.