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Smithsonian Lecturers


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I'm curious if I am the only one who is not too impressed with the Smithsonian Lecturers. On previous cruises, we have had lecturers hired by Regent who were very, very good speakers. On our Middle East cruise in May, we had "Artful Travelers" speakers who were fantastic - the Smithsonian destination lecturers not so much. On the second segment of the World Cruise, we had 3 Smithsonian lecturers, one (Diana Preston) was great - a natural storyteller. The other two were snores. They know their subjects, but I had a hard time staying awake and I have a pretty high level for boredom!

 

What say you, fellow cruisers?

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I was very critical of the Smithsonian Lecturer who was on board our Baltic cruise last Autumn, but Harry Chittick, also now lecturing under the Smithsonian banner on our recent Explorer cruise was, and always has been, first class. Whilst I agree that the Artful Traveler lectures we've experienced have been much better in many respects, it's a very American programme which tends to neglect the (important, IMHO) fact that many of their audience are not.

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I have a friend on the WC and she is definitely not impressed! On the cruises where there have been Smithsonian speakers, we have walked out of many lectures. IMO, what Regent was doing before is far better than what they are doing now.

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Jennifer, on board the Voyager for New Zealand and Australia, we have rarely heard as good as lecturers as Terry Bishop and Michael Scott (Michale knows his wildlife especially birds, he took over 6000 photos and shared his fav's with guests during each lecture). Terry's Smithsonian lectures are rich in context mixed with his wonderful sense of humor--our view is they are stellar Smithsonian lecturers. Michael even gave us the history and origination of how the Smithsonian came about. Terry added to his lecture skill set by portraying King Neptune is a exceptionally regal manner during our equator crossing ceremony. Lew Simons and his wife Carol are now on board from Singapore to Hong Kong--Lew is good but reads his lecture to guests--still he is a font of information and a Pulitzer Prize winner to boot for his journalist skills uncovering Philippine corruption back in the 90s. We also enjoyed our time with the Artful Travelers a few years ago, Charlie Cook was very good just prior to 2012 US election but Gil is right, the Artful Traveler program during our program was very US centric.

 

 

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I was very critical of the Smithsonian Lecturer who was on board our Baltic cruise last Autumn, but Harry Chittick, also now lecturing under the Smithsonian banner on our recent Explorer cruise was, and always has been, first class. Whilst I agree that the Artful Traveler lectures we've experienced have been much better in many respects, it's a very American programme which tends to neglect the (important, IMHO) fact that many of their audience are not.

 

 

Gilly, , I'm curious as to what would skew a lecture as US centric, in your opinion. I know that humor is rarely cross-cultural, but what other aspects don't translate?

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We were on Voyager in March last year (Tokyo to Beijing) and there were two Smithsonian lecturers on board - Robert Schrire and Terry Bishop - who were both excellent and gave fascinating insights into the historic and current socio-economic culture of our ports of call.

 

Terry in particular with his additional ‘Troubadour’ shows was fabulous, these shows were, imo, better than most of the entertainment onboard.

It looks as if Terry is booked for the 2018 and 2019 World Cruises.

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On our last two Regent cruises our main disappointment was that there was only one lecturer on each

 

Last October the lecturer had very good topics but unfortunately his visual aids were poor and his delivery was confused :(

 

On our Christmas cruise the lecturer was very good - excellent varied subjects (but all relevant to our destinations), clear visual aids and good delivery :)

 

I do get very bored with the Smithsonian advert that the lecturers are required to give at the start of every lecture (n)

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Forgap, I ought to come clean and admit that I am rather critical of on board lecturers having made my living (until recently) observing higher education professionals. That also means I recognise the challenges and credit those who do it well, of course!

 

Recalling the Artful Traveler programme we enjoyed, it focused on NPR (I don't know if every AT programme is organised in this way or if this was one particular theme) Now, to begin with, I don't know how many people outside the US are familiar with NPR and the cultural significance, but assumed familiarity with individual shows and presenters proved tricky for us, even though we listen to NPR frequently when we are in the US. More generally (and particularly with a couple of the Smithsonian speakers we've heard) the language and cultural references used were almost exclusively American. For example, a port lecture about Cambodia where the speaker frequently used "we" when talking about, say, the amount of aid given to the country (by the USA, I assume) or how "we" regard the country or people today clearly excluding any non-Americans from that statement. (I scribbled these examples in my notebook alongside some "performance notes" which I couldn't resist!) I don't wish to slam speakers for this - after all, we speak from our own personal experience and knowledge. But occasionally, it would be good for lecturers to at least acknowledge the make up of their audience, if only by adding "I know this doesn't apply to everyone, but..."

 

Of course, in turn, Regent could do its part in engaging more speakers with an international viewpoint, such as Mark Elovitz (or Harry Chittick) who reference a wider opinion and speak to a more contemporary agenda than say, the chap who reminisced about his days long ago in the White House or more recently, the chap who explored the Mariana Trench. For sure, he had interesting things to say, but he made the expedition in 1960 before I started primary school and for sure, he's told that story more than once or twice since then! We've loved Terry Breen's lively, engaging and charismatic storytelling and have found people such as those Wes mentions above, talking about wildlife and sharing their own personal enthusiasms a real highlight of our cruise, extending our knowledge and enriching our experience. More of those please!

 

To sum up, I recognise that usually, the majority of guests on board are indeed American. I guess I just like to put my head above the parapet from time to time and wave my hand to say "but not all!"

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Thank you, Gilly, for your cogent response to my question. Diana Preston, on our last cruise, was from the U.K. and she represented your country very well. Her lectures were relevant, her style was fluid and interesting, she did not read her slides to the audience, and never said "...and, um..." (my pet peeve).

 

Our Artful Traveler standouts were documentarians whose films have been shown on PBS - Dr. M Sanjayan (Earth-A New Wild) and Justin Weinstein (An Honest Liar - about the Amazing Randi who debunks faith healers and psychics). Not only did they give fascinating and entertaining lectures, they were engaging conversationalists during more casual times on the ship.

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We look for the same things, forgap! We loved David Pogue's amusing and entertaining lectures on that Artful Traveler programme and found him to be a genuine raconteur throughout the cruise. I recognise it's difficult/impossible to please all of the people all of the time, but I'm surprised that Smithsonian is not more picky about the quality of the speakers they endorse.

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I recognise it's difficult/impossible to please all of the people all of the time, but I'm surprised that Smithsonian is not more picky about the quality of the speakers they endorse.

 

Gilly,

I totally agree

 

When Regent first announced its tie-up with Smithsonian, we had high expectations of enjoying some top notch speakers

Unfortunately we have been disappointed and, with some exceptions, the quality of the speakers has been more random, and generally worse, than before Smithsonian

 

We are looking forward to our next cruise when , on paper at least, the Smithsonian lecturer looks to be very promising..........................but maybe we had better lower our expectations so that we can be pleasantly surprised, rather than disappointed :confused:

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Gilly, , I'm curious as to what would skew a lecture as US centric, in your opinion. I know that humor is rarely cross-cultural, but what other aspects don't translate?

 

 

If you don't mind, I'd like to put in my two cents. Since I'm married to a Brit, our perspective is a bit different. My DH is a history buff - watches documentaries about all past wars, etc. The perspective from someone raised in the U.K. and someone raised in the U.S. can be quite different. Europeans see their history from the perspective of having lived through the war(s) - the loss, devastation and rebuilding of their countries. The U.S. doesn't have the deep understanding of what people in Europe went through during the 1st part of the last century.

 

In terms of speakers in general, I'm not sure how you can include perspectives from Canada, the U.K. and Australia (the highest percentage of passengers after the U.S.) in lectures. As has been mentioned, this isn't only about humor (comedians on board - some of whom are British) and history but music and other subjects as well. A good example is the current Voyager cruise where they were talks about the Vietnam War/Conflict. Was the lecturer able to discuss this era from the perspective of the U.S., U.K., Canada (affected by migration from the U.S.) and other countries? Hopefully the lecturer discussed Vietnam from the perspective of the people in that country.

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I wonder how much advance information is available to lecturers before they are engaged. Do they have a broad portrait of their likely audience? Are they given details of other speakers who will feature on the programme (we once had two speakers covering broadly similar subjects with conflicting information) and do Regent (or NCL?) outline their expectations? If I were engaging speakers, I would expect brief summaries of each presentation, with details of any multimedia content and I would certainly expect such material to tick several boxes: relevance to the itinerary, level of general interest to the stated (international) audience, accuracy and cultural sensitivity at the very least. I can't imagine these speakers come cheaply after all - doesn't he who pays the piper call the tune?

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I wonder how much advance information is available to lecturers before they are engaged. Do they have a broad portrait of their likely audience? Are they given details of other speakers who will feature on the programme (we once had two speakers covering broadly similar subjects with conflicting information) and do Regent (or NCL?) outline their expectations? If I were engaging speakers, I would expect brief summaries of each presentation, with details of any multimedia content and I would certainly expect such material to tick several boxes: relevance to the itinerary, level of general interest to the stated (international) audience, accuracy and cultural sensitivity at the very least. I can't imagine these speakers come cheaply after all - doesn't he who pays the piper call the tune?

 

 

Prior to signing on with Smithsonian, I assume that Regent did all of the vetting of their speakers. Now it would seem that this is the responsibility of Smithsonian as I believe that Regent pays Smithsonian rather than each speaker directly. So, if there is an issue with speakers, Regent is receiving the feedback and are likely passing that on to Smithsonian. If they fail to perform to expectations, they will likely be replaced (once their contract has ended and we don't know how long that will be).

 

Also, Regent's stated goal (as per FDR's talk to TA's on the Explorer christening voyage) was to bring the level of U.K. passengers to 20%. Canada and the U.S. seemed to be lumped together. So, given the figure of 20%, how would you propose that the speakers address the issue of possibly 20% of the passengers having a different view on many subjects than the rest of the passengers? Maybe it is just me but I find it difficult. Should the speaker address each issue that may have conflicting "facts"?

 

A good example of differing opinions would be Cuba. There are likely speakers that will be discussing this topic when the Mariner visits Havana this year. As you know, Canadians, Europeans and most of the world (except the U.S.) have been openly visiting Cuba for years (without restriction of where they can visit). Regent is a U.S. owned company and is visiting Cuba for the first time. The speaker will likely discuss U.S./Cuba relations and history rather than Cuba's relationship with the rest of the world. IMO, this information would be of more interest to citizens of countries that have not blockaded Cuba as they did not go through what the U.S. did in the 60's with the threat of war, etc. Personally, I would not learn much from this speaker as I lived through it.

 

Hope that this is making sense. I'm not criticizing anyone -- just giving my view of why it is difficult to find a speaker that can discuss history (many times tied into excursions that passengers will be taking) from the perspective of different parts of the world.

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Guest speakers (all lines) tend to be a mixed bag. Some are very knowledgeable and can deliver that knowledge in an interesting, entertaining way. Others, not so much. There's definitely more to it than reading something gleaned from the internet. Are they sometimes too US-centric? Probably, but then usually so is their audience.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I was very critical of the Smithsonian Lecturer who was on board our Baltic cruise last Autumn, but Harry Chittick, also now lecturing under the Smithsonian banner on our recent Explorer cruise was, and always has been, first class. Whilst I agree that the Artful Traveler lectures we've experienced have been much better in many respects, it's a very American programme which tends to neglect the (important, IMHO) fact that many of their audience are not.

 

 

 

 

 

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After thinking about this subject more, it makes sense that Regent must first cater to the majority of their guests who happen to be from North America. OTOH, there are some speakers and entertainers that are from the U.K. which still leaves many passengers that are not from either place to try to figure out the lectures, etc.

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  • 1 month later...

We, too, travelled aboard Regent's Voyager from Auckland to Singapore this past winter of 2017. We very much enjoyed both Smithsonian lecturers, but found Terry Bishop to be exceptional. He was knowledgeable, funny, and made history entertaining. We looked forward to each of his 17 lectures. A true gentleman, he also worked with us to get his lectures to an old friend of ours in the UK. These lectures really added to our enjoyment of a wonderful cruise.

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We, too, travelled aboard Regent's Voyager from Auckland to Singapore this past winter of 2017. We very much enjoyed both Smithsonian lecturers, but found Terry Bishop to be exceptional. He was knowledgeable, funny, and made history entertaining. We looked forward to each of his 17 lectures. A true gentleman, he also worked with us to get his lectures to an old friend of ours in the UK. These lectures really added to our enjoyment of a wonderful cruise.

 

Absolutely agree with everything you said. It would be a real treat to be on a cruise with Terry Bishop again. An incredible man.

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  • 1 month later...

Yes, they are being dropped. I had posted elsewhere that we were on the World Cruise this year, and Jason Montague held a town meeting on board. He announced then that the series would be discontinued. Some lecturers, such as Terry Bishop, will continue to speak on board, but not tied to the Smithsonian.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Yes, they are being dropped. I had posted elsewhere that we were on the World Cruise this year, and Jason Montague held a town meeting on board. He announced then that the series would be discontinued. Some lecturers, such as Terry Bishop, will continue to speak on board, but not tied to the Smithsonian.

We enjoy listening to a lecture on board.Does this mean we may not get a lecture on our South Africa cruise next year?

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