Who has really good enrichment programs on 600 or so passenger ships?

We love the Voyages of Discovery enrichment programs and have enjoyed three incredible cruises with them. We are not so enamored with their new ship the "Voyager" (old Alexander Humboldt) - large table group dining, noisy and limited outdoor spaces, and very poor sight lines in the lecture/entertainment lounge.

What other smaller ships (600 or under) offer similar excellent itineraries and speakers that VOD so justly and proudly offers, but has a better ship layout that addresses those above concerns?

We love the Voyages of Discovery enrichment programs and have enjoyed three incredible cruises with them. We are not so enamored with their new ship the "Voyager" (old Alexander Humboldt) - large table group dining, noisy and limited outdoor spaces, and very poor sight lines in the lecture/entertainment lounge.

 

What other smaller ships (600 or under) offer similar excellent itineraries and speakers that VOD so justly and proudly offers, but has a better ship layout that addresses those above concerns?

Personally I've found the programs on Voyages of Discovery and Swan Hellenic (another British cruise line) to be the best overall. However there were some fairly decent programs on Oceania and Azamara--at least the last time I sailed on them. Their ships are a step above the two British companies in space and style. Holland American sometimes will have a good lecturer on board but there just are not as many lectures as on the British ships; however, their ships are all larger about 1800 and above passengers.

Personally I've found the programs on Voyages of Discovery and Swan Hellenic (another British cruise line) to be the best overall. However there were some fairly decent programs on Oceania and Azamara--at least the last time I sailed on them. Their ships are a step above the two British companies in space and style. Holland American sometimes will have a good lecturer on board but there just are not as many lectures as on the British ships; however, their ships are all larger about 1800 and above passengers.

All HAL ships are NOT 1800 and above passengers. Only the Vista and above ;)

Although the Prinsendam is over 600 people, I have found the lectures on her to be very good when we have been on.

Oceania's lectures were not even worth talking about when we were on. No comparison to Prinsendam and even the Westerdam's excellent speakers.

On the mainstream lines we have found this to be very hit and miss. One of the best we ever had was on Infinity Antartica sailing.

Voyages to Antiquity -- always have 2-3 lecturers onboard that speak on topics related to the cruise. And they also have an excellent library with many travel, nonfiction, and classical works related to the ports of call.

Swan Hellenic, as mentioned, also has an excellent speaker program. The ship is very British in feel and passenger makeup. VTA is a little more mixed (quite a few Americans, Canadians, and Australians) and has less of the 'country house' feeling of Swan Hellenic.

We had great speakers in the Med over the past four years but those were all Silversea cruises on their 300-500 passenger ships.

Holland America's Antarctic sailings have a great lecture program. There were about 1000 passengers on our 2013/14 cruise.

They're bigger than your ideal size but you might have a look at Crystal. Symphony is max 950 passengers and Serenity about 1050, but they have great solo supplements and usually travel with numbers considerably less than that.

One neat feature is that they give great information in advance about their locations. Look at any cruise and there's an "Entertainment and Programs" tab that will include detailed information about the speakers. Information is added as new speakers are chosen; it will probably be just a skeleton a year or more out but pretty complete 6 months in advance.

I prefer smaller ships but I've gotten more of a feel of the good small ships on Crystal than on ships half their size.

This is an example from my next cruise:

http://www.crystalcruises.com/northwest-passage-cruise/northwest-passage--6319/entertainment?JLT=6319

Roy

They're bigger than your ideal size but you might have a look at Crystal. Symphony is max 950 passengers and Serenity about 1050, but they have great solo supplements and usually travel with numbers considerably less than that.

 

One neat feature is that they give great information in advance about their locations. Look at any cruise and there's an "Entertainment and Programs" tab that will include detailed information about the speakers. Information is added as new speakers are chosen; it will probably be just a skeleton a year or more out but pretty complete 6 months in advance.

 

I prefer smaller ships but I've gotten more of a feel of the good small ships on Crystal than on ships half their size.

 

This is an example from my next cruise:

 

http://www.crystalcruises.com/northwest-passage-cruise/northwest-passage--6319/entertainment?JLT=6319

 

 

Roy

Thats a great itinerary, pricey but great. I may post it on the itinerary thread.

National Geographic or Tauck-chartered trips would fit the bill as well.

All HAL ships are NOT 1800 and above passengers. Only the Vista and above ;)

 

Although the Prinsendam is over 600 people, I have found the lectures on her to be very good when we have been on.

 

Oceania's lectures were not even worth talking about when we were on. No comparison to Prinsendam and even the Westerdam's excellent speakers.

We've had totally opposite experiences.

Our one and done Prinsendam featured no enrichment speakers other than the destination expert. It was a port intensive cruise.

We are pushing 100 days on Oceania ships and we've had amazing experts on board. Their R ships have 680 passengers, O ships have 1180 on board. Both ships are larger than the OP asked about.

Generally there are two or three speakers presenting every day at sea.

Port intensive cruises will have one or two speakers and fewer lectures due to the time constraints. We experienced this in Europe when some itineraries feature a port every single day. The lectures will be more routine such as history of the Medici's, The EU, astronomy, naticaul topics.

Caribbean cruises will have one or two speaker presenting routine cruise topics.

We've been enthralled with the calibre of expertise on their more exotic trips.

We had a brilliant Brazilian/Amazonian expert who presented fifteen lectures on the history, culture, geography, ecosystem, etc. This gentleman presented in depth material based on his personal research and travel.

We had three speakers on a recent South Pacific to South America trip, two of which were outstanding. Each presented daily on sea days.

One presented Society Islands, Easter Island, Pitcairn, Machu Pichu. Her presentation on the kinky history of Pitcairn was jaw dropping.

The second speaker was an expert on South America, especially Argentina. His in depth presentations included his personal research at Yale on Eva Peron's lobotomy.

The third speaker presented the routine nautical and space exploration topics I've heard many times before and I didn't attend.

We had two outstanding British speakers last summer who presented daily on sea days. One is a current BBC political commentator and all around expert on British society. The second speaker was a retired British naval officer and military historian. He was working this time last year as an advisor and speech writer to the British Prime Minister who just resigned.

Oceania employs some well known speakers like Verne Lunquist but we haven't been on his cruises.

There are not a lot of well known ships in your size requirements of under 600 passengers. Those that most of us on the HAL board would know of are in the luxury style, which may or may not be what you want.

I would suggest you research (either on your own, or on appropriate CC forums) for ships that meet your ideal size, then ask about the ships, and their lecture series, on the forums for those lines. The people who sail those ships are in a better position to answer your questions than regular HAL cruisers.

We love the Voyages of Discovery enrichment programs and have enjoyed three incredible cruises with them. We are not so enamored with their new ship the "Voyager" (old Alexander Humboldt) - large table group dining, noisy and limited outdoor spaces, and very poor sight lines in the lecture/entertainment lounge.

 

What other smaller ships (600 or under) offer similar excellent itineraries and speakers that VOD so justly and proudly offers, but has a better ship layout that addresses those above concerns?

SORRY, my error - this post inquiry belongs on the "Other Cruise Ships" on Cruise Critic. I posted it here in error ...and kept wondering why I did not see it on the "Other Cruise Ships" board. But thanks for the suggestions anyway. We are running out of unique itineraries on HAL that are new for us, and we have missed their previous enrichment program lecturers which was always a big plus for us in the past. Travel for education still remains high on our list.

SORRY, my error - this post inquiry belongs on the "Other Cruise Ships" on Cruise Critic. I posted it here in error ...and kept wondering why I did not see it on the "Other Cruise Ships" board. But thanks for the suggestions anyway. We are running out of unique itineraries on HAL that are new for us, and we have missed their previous enrichment program lecturers which was always a big plus for us in the past. Travel for education still remains high on our list.

What about Road Scholar (formerly Elderhostel) cruises? They have groups on HAL and other lines but provide their own experts. I've not travelled as part of the group, although I've been on a ship with their group. Maybe someone who has been part of their group could comment on the educational aspects of their tours. Just a thought.

What about Road Scholar (formerly Elderhostel) cruises? They have groups on HAL and other lines but provide their own experts. I've not travelled as part of the group, although I've been on a ship with their group. Maybe someone who has been part of their group could comment on the educational aspects of their tours. Just a thought.

Road Scholars put on excellent educational programs, but this is a "group" activity. That is what we were trying to avoid - we like to dabble at things alone rather than as a group.

Actually my original query on "Other Cruise Ships" (which I mistakenly posted here) was our unhappiness not finding dining tables for two on the new VOD Voyager ship. So I was looking for smaller ships that provided the excellent educational extras that VOD is well known for, but also a degree of privacy when on board like we find and love on HAL ships.

Road Scholars put on excellent educational programs, but this is a "group" activity. That is what we were trying to avoid - we like to dabble at things alone rather than as a group.

 

Ah. Sorry, I was not aware of that.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Cunard. We have had world-class lecturers on the Queen Mary.

Azamara

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Cunard. We have had world-class lecturers on the Queen Mary.

Great Enrichment but at least triple the desired size with QM2 4 times as big.

Roy

The smaller "expedition" ships which go to exotic and/or remote places have good enrichment from what I have read. That was certainly the case of G Adventures Expedition when we went to Antarctica.

We were on Azamara in the far east and had excellent lectures as well as a lecture on each upcoming port with information about doing it on your own.

98 passengers, great nightly briefings and wonderful naturalist-led excursions.

We loved the all-inclusive aspect of this trip and want to do it again.

For a great land-based trip in South Africa, we went with this company.

http://www.andbeyond.com

A no-kill, conservation-minded trip provided the best all-inclusive trip we have ever done. We will definitely return to Africa.