In Depth EXC, is it gone for good?

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

On one of the last Maasdam In Depth cruises, which  traversed from SF to Alaska to Russia Far East and on to 2 weeks circling Japan, we were on the first tender to Nome.

 

We got to the Nome dock - just seconds away from landing,   but we were sent back to the ship. The swells around the ship had started to exceed safe tender landing limits. So while were were literally a few foot steps away from Nome, we had to turn back and look at it only from a distance. Such are the ways of sea travel.

 

The gold mining equipment along the beaches, the vast empty tundra - that was Nome. But we had to miss the goal posts across the main street marking the end of the Iditarod race.

 

That extended Alaska itinerary looks fabulous. I hope you get to go.

Flashback time! I have to say we had an awesome time on our Maasdam B2B Australian circumnavigation cruise. While on the Maasdam on the first leg of our B2B cruising around some New Caledonia Islands, we met a guy we had recognized from our Antarctica cruise the previous January on the Zaandam that played a key role in developing the In-Depth EXC program strategy, and he looked quite upset. When we ran into him on the promenade, we introduced ourselves and asked him what was up?
 

He said he had just found out HAL was going to implement a watered down version of the In-Depth EXC program fleet-wide rather than implementing the “big ship” expedition-style In-Depth EXC program on another ship in the Atlantic while keeping the Maasdam in the Pacific. When the Maasdam docked in Sydney he left the ship as well as the In-Depth EXC program.

 

Obviously, that didn’t happen. Then the pandemic hit causing some of the older ships to include Maasdam to get sold off.

 

But we still have the memories and that’s the main thing. 😁

Edited September 7, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

54 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

That EXC program is back.  We were on a 21 day  Maasdam Alaska cruise prior to Covid, just as HAL was returning to the EXC platform.  The cruise was amazing.  We had great entertainment, local experts who sailed with us and enhanced our Alaska experience with lectures and local art.  There were so many activities that it was hard to choose among them.

 

We are booked on the 2024  28 day Alaska Solstice cruise on the Westerdam and I am expecting the same in-depth EXC quality programming as our 21 day cruise.  HAL has been cruising in Alaska for a very long time and I can’t wait to see what experiences they have planned for us.

That would be awesome news if they reimplemented the In-Depth EXC program on select itineraries!! 😁

[OlsSalt]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That would be awesome news if they reimplemented the In-Depth EXC program on select itineraries!! 😁

 

Hard to beat the very first Maasdam In Depth: FLL to Papeete, French Polynesia via Easter Island and remote places in between. Incredible group of speakers. Naturalists, a South Pacific anthropologist, noted UK travel photographer.....

 

Great camaraderie among them. They put on fascinating extra panels and discussions after visiting the ports, sharing how they saw things through their unique perspectives.

[oakridger]

25 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Hard to beat the very first Maasdam In Depth: FLL to Papeete, French Polynesia via Easter Island and remote places in between. Incredible group of speakers. Naturalists, a South Pacific anthropologist, noted UK travel photographer.....

 

Great camaraderie among them. They put on fascinating extra panels and discussions after visiting the ports, sharing how they saw things through their unique perspectives.

 

This is my ideal cruise situation enrichment wise, but hard to find.  Add some good and varied live music and I'm a happy cruiser.  The closest I have come to it is on Crystal before Covid.  I haven't tried other lines such as Silversea or Seabourn though.

 

If HAL brought back the "In Depth" I would be booking for sure to try it out!

 

~Nancy

Edited September 7, 2023 by oakridger

[Btimmer]

3 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Hard to beat the very first Maasdam In Depth: FLL to Papeete, French Polynesia via Easter Island and remote places in between. Incredible group of speakers. Naturalists, a South Pacific anthropologist, noted UK travel photographer.....

 

Great camaraderie among them. They put on fascinating extra panels and discussions after visiting the ports, sharing how they saw things through their unique perspectives.

Yes, it was fabulous!

[AroundWithMAPTravels]

On 2/23/2022 at 1:31 PM, Hlitner said:

We really enjoyed those "retired professors" who truly knew their subject (as opposed to reading a script).  Our favorite lecturer on HAL was Dr. Alan Wright, a retired astronomer who soon had standing room only crowds in the main theater (and got a long standing ovation after his last (9th ) lecture.  We also enjoyed Danny Catt (a Canadian naturalist and professor) who had wonderful lectures some of which were about his own world wide explorations ("Catt Tracks").

 

Hank

We spent 10 days on an Adventure Canada voyage on Ocean Endeavour with Danny Catt… he is definitely worth listening to 😄

[AroundWithMAPTravels]

6 hours ago, oakridger said:

 

This is my ideal cruise situation enrichment wise, but hard to find.  Add some good and varied live music and I'm a happy cruiser.  The closest I have come to it is on Crystal before Covid.  I haven't tried other lines such as Silversea or Seabourn though.

 

If HAL brought back the "In Depth" I would be booking for sure to try it out!

 

~Nancy

Having sailed with other operators that what you are calling “in depth” is the norm… and reading many reviews of HAL stating that they also had an enrichment program, we booked a trip on Zaandam.  Just returned from that and unfortunately we found the enrichment program virtually non existent, sorry to say.  There was one at sea day that I actually felt “bored” since the only available activities seemed to be trivia and game shows.  I for one would absolutely WELCOME an in depth program and would consider booking.  Sounds like there are others too.  Hope it happens.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, AroundWithMAPTravels said:

Having sailed with other operators that what you are calling “in depth” is the norm… and reading many reviews of HAL stating that they also had an enrichment program, we booked a trip on Zaandam.  Just returned from that and unfortunately we found the enrichment program virtually non existent, sorry to say.  There was one at sea day that I actually felt “bored” since the only available activities seemed to be trivia and game shows.  I for one would absolutely WELCOME an in depth program and would consider booking.  Sounds like there are others too.  Hope it happens.

I think for the in-depth enrichment program to really be appreciated; they would probably have to be implemented on longer 21+ day "single itinerary" cruises with at least 6+ days at sea. On our Maasdam circumnavigation B2B there were 4-6 lectures offered each sea day. I know it sounds crazy, but the theater was packed for most of them. There were a few pax complaining there were too many. But at the same time, HAL's promotion of the In-Depth itinerary with a bunch of lectures each sea day was quite clear.

 

I will also say, I don't think the zodiac excursions, which were a little on the expensive side, were as big of a hit as HAL was hoping. I remember a 2-hour tour which included a cruise along the coastline at one of the New Caledonia islands was $179 pp and it included a beach stop for an hour or so. At Mystery Island I remember looking out from our balcony and seeing 1 person in a zodiac along with the pilot cruising around the island. So if the in-depth program makes a comeback anywhere, I wouldn't expect to see the zodiacs. But then we're just sitting over here in the peanut gallery hoping for the best. 😉

[cruisemom42]

30 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I think for the in-depth enrichment program to really be appreciated; they would probably have to be implemented on longer 21+ day "single itinerary" cruises with at least 6+ days at sea. On our Maasdam circumnavigation B2B there were 4-6 lectures offered each sea day. I know it sounds crazy, but the theater was packed for most of them. There were a few pax complaining there were too many. But at the same time, HAL's promotion of the In-Depth itinerary with a bunch of lectures each sea day was quite clear.

 

I will also say, I don't think the zodiac excursions, which were a little on the expensive side, were as big of a hit as HAL was hoping. I remember a 2-hour tour which included a cruise along the coastline at one of the New Caledonia islands was $179 pp and it included a beach stop for an hour or so. At Mystery Island I remember looking out from our balcony and seeing 1 person in a zodiac along with the pilot cruising around the island. So if the in-depth program makes a comeback anywhere, I wouldn't expect to see the zodiacs. But then we're just sitting over here in the peanut gallery hoping for the best. 😉

 

I would suggest HAL add such programs to any itinerary over 14 days. (Personally, I'd love them on a cruise of any length, but trying to be reasonable here....)

 

I always thought the zodiacs were a strange fit for HAL passengers. While many are "fit retirees" there are also a good percentage of unfit and elderly for whom I think the zodiacs would be daunting.

 

I also wish HAL would stop delivering vague promises and give us concrete info. While I like some of the ideas they've floated recently, when EXACTLY will they be implemented and on WHICH itineraries and ships?  

 

I will not book another "longer" itinerary on HAL without this kind of specific info again. The 28-day Westerdam Japan experience taught me well.

 

[Blackduck59]

4 hours ago, AroundWithMAPTravels said:

Having sailed with other operators that what you are calling “in depth” is the norm… and reading many reviews of HAL stating that they also had an enrichment program, we booked a trip on Zaandam.  Just returned from that and unfortunately we found the enrichment program virtually non existent, sorry to say.  There was one at sea day that I actually felt “bored” since the only available activities seemed to be trivia and game shows.  I for one would absolutely WELCOME an in depth program and would consider booking.  Sounds like there are others too.  Hope it happens.

I think we were on the same cruise. There was a presentation billed as an EXC presentation on 4 "Canadian Icons" it was insulting to Canadians to say the least. I had a meeting with the Hotel General Manager, hopefully the "EXC" presentation has gone to really poorly planned, ill informed and produced dustbin of lost opportunities.

[oaktreerb]

5 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I would suggest HAL add such programs to any itinerary over 14 days. (Personally, I'd love them on a cruise of any length, but trying to be reasonable here....)

 

I always thought the zodiacs were a strange fit for HAL passengers. While many are "fit retirees" there are also a good percentage of unfit and elderly for whom I think the zodiacs would be daunting.

 

I also wish HAL would stop delivering vague promises and give us concrete info. While I like some of the ideas they've floated recently, when EXACTLY will they be implemented and on WHICH itineraries and ships?  

 

I will not book another "longer" itinerary on HAL without this kind of specific info again. The 28-day Westerdam Japan experience taught me well.

 

HAL no longer has the small ships like the Maasdam.  I have great hopes for the Westerdam 28 day Alaska itinerary for 2024 and 2025.  I hope it will be as enriched as the previous 21 day Maasdam in Alaska before the Covid shutdown.  I have found the first year of the new longer Alaska itineraries has been exceptional (14 and 21 days) and yes I cruised on both.  The 14 day has now been revised a few times and has become just a shoulder season cruise.  

 

HAL will put great energy into this new Alaska itinerary in 2024 and 2025 .  They are even offered in prime Alaska season (June/July).  Long daylight hours for scenic cruising.   No zodiacs for HAL (Seabourn has that enhancement).

[Ken the cruiser]

I decided to drift back in time again to try to find a description of the number and type of lectures we experienced with the Maasdam In-Depth EXC program. Here's a post I made back on Oct 7, 2019, after we just boarded the Maasdam the previous day to start our 40-day B2B cruise.

 

If you like enrichment lectures, you will not get bored on sea days on the Maasdam as we just boarded her yesterday for a 40 day Australia and SP cruise and there are 5 lectures today, our first sea day, and there is a IDA: Pop Opera in the main theater this evening.
 

BUT the Maasdam with its unique in-depth EXC program is not your typical HAL ship. So IMHO if you like the party atmosphere in the evening lounges, you may not want to book a Maasdam cruise as it may be a little more “relaxed” than you might like. But, if you like to learn new things on a wide range of subjects, then you may want to give the Maasdam a try. For example the 5 lectures today are (1) Adventures of a croc biologist, (2) port lecture, (3) Coral reefs, (4) Magic manta rays and (5) a nature travel story. 

 

 

I was also looking for the thread @OlsSalt had posted to associated with the maiden Maasdam voyage that hosted the In-Depth EXC program earlier in 2019, but I couldn't find it.

[OlsSalt]

The thread I posted from the first Maasdam In Depth got pretty ugly and was closed down.  It was not a  cruise review, just a query about HAL's "new policy"? But you might find it as "Over the Top on the Maasdam" - the infamous rogue Adults Only Deck debacle that directly impacted our our mini-aft wrap cabin location.  Reactions to this were .........mixed. 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, OlsSalt said:

The thread I posted from the first Maasdam In Depth got pretty ugly and was closed down.  It was not a  cruise review, just a query about HAL's "new policy"? But you might find it as "Over the Top on the Maasdam" - the infamous rogue Adults Only Deck debacle that directly impacted our our mini-aft wrap cabin location.  Reactions to this were .........mixed. 

If anyone is interested, I finally found it on page 688! 😂

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[dockman]

I have been fortunate to cruise on a variety of ships back when many of them had some excellent lecturers....sadly on HAL and Princess this seems to be going the way of the libraries and walking decks.

 

I have no idea how it works now but i believe there was an agency in LA that provided cruise lines with the lecturers and vetted them to make sure that they knew their subject and equally importantly knew how to present it in an entertaining and interesting way to a mass market audience.  There were many who got standing ovations and packed the theatre for their every presentation.

At one time I also believe that the cruise lines would provide a free cruise to a qualified lecturer in return for him/her doing several lectures (not including airfare).

 

Now it seems more and more that there are either no lectures or nobody vets them to see if they are also good speakers.  The last few I have seen/heard were quite frankly about as exciting as watching paint dry.  Yes they had credentials from some university and were no doubt experts but they had no charisma not to mention their graphics looked like something a 12 y.o. did, hard to read, etc.  ...and worst of all, imo, are that many of them seem to just read from a prepared text.

 

I wonder what would happen if HAL/Princess put out a few emails asking for qualified people to apply to do lectures on various cruises....require a resume along with a short video of the person actually giving a lecture to see if they also have speaking skills?  I could be wrong but I would think 

that they would receive a lot of interest?  But of course someone would have to review and make the decisions which might cost some $$ so the bean counters would kill it.

 

Long ago i remember crystal had some deal with microsoft and msft provided some very talented people who did a series of lectures/classes on using the web etc...every one of them was standing room only.  Another one provided lectures on retirement with info on finances, health care, wills, etc...it too was standing room only.  

 

I think cruise lines underestimate how many passengers especially on longer cruises with lots of sea days would prefer to learn something rather than endless bingo, newly wed games, trivia, etc

 

[OlsSalt]

The bare bones Voyages of Discovery was famous in the UK for its enrichment and exotic itinerary cruises on probably one of the oldest cruise ships still out there - the former Love Boat sister ship, the Ocean Princess rechristened the Discovery..

 

They contracted with BBC for their speakers, as I recall. Even though they had a lot of English history references, they were superb and offered a variety of topics but also germane to where we were traveling. 

 

Still think it will be a while before anything in CCL gets back on its feet - the "covid" shut down and subsequent huge debt incursion just to keep their inventory afloat and not earning a dime of revenues was devastating. 

[dfish]

On 9/6/2023 at 8:37 PM, ScottishMaid said:

On the recent 25 night Zaandam cruise to Greenland and Iceland we had a lecturer, Jim Jacobs. Also there were several relevant EXC talks narrated by the Cruise Director. One I remember was about the fishing industry in New England and Eastern Canada. On the last day we had the EXC talk City at Sea followed by lots of crew entering the showroom.

There were efforts to make this cruise like the old days on the smaller ships or like a Grand Cruise. For example there was a florist onboard and really beautiful flower arrangements in the public areas, we had the Sunday Brunch with the small tastings, the classical duo were talented and attracted a large audience, there was a crew talent show and other touches I forget. The staff were high caliber and the ship well organized.

I agree with this assessment of the Zaandam cruise.  We loved the talks by Jim Jacobs.  Some thought he was too technical, but I thought he was just right.  He also did the commentary when we were passing through Prince Christain Sound.  That added a lot to experience.  I hope HAL continues to offer programs like this on future cruises.  I made a point of saying that on my cruise evaluation.  

[TiogaCruiser]

14 hours ago, dockman said:

I have been fortunate to cruise on a variety of ships back when many of them had some excellent lecturers....sadly on HAL and Princess this seems to be going the way of the libraries and walking decks.

 

I have no idea how it works now but i believe there was an agency in LA that provided cruise lines with the lecturers and vetted them to make sure that they knew their subject and equally importantly knew how to present it in an entertaining and interesting way to a mass market audience.  There were many who got standing ovations and packed the theatre for their every presentation.

At one time I also believe that the cruise lines would provide a free cruise to a qualified lecturer in return for him/her doing several lectures (not including airfare).

 

Now it seems more and more that there are either no lectures or nobody vets them to see if they are also good speakers.  The last few I have seen/heard were quite frankly about as exciting as watching paint dry.  Yes they had credentials from some university and were no doubt experts but they had no charisma not to mention their graphics looked like something a 12 y.o. did, hard to read, etc.  ...and worst of all, imo, are that many of them seem to just read from a prepared text.

 

I wonder what would happen if HAL/Princess put out a few emails asking for qualified people to apply to do lectures on various cruises....require a resume along with a short video of the person actually giving a lecture to see if they also have speaking skills?  I could be wrong but I would think 

that they would receive a lot of interest?  But of course someone would have to review and make the decisions which might cost some $$ so the bean counters would kill it.

 

Long ago i remember crystal had some deal with microsoft and msft provided some very talented people who did a series of lectures/classes on using the web etc...every one of them was standing room only.  Another one provided lectures on retirement with info on finances, health care, wills, etc...it too was standing room only.  

 

I think cruise lines underestimate how many passengers especially on longer cruises with lots of sea days would prefer to learn something rather than endless bingo, newly wed games, trivia, etc

 

Back in January Pete @The Inside Cabin posted information on the guest lecturers. ( as this is a screenshot that I sent to a friend, the “link” won’t work.

 

 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

39 minutes ago, TiogaCruiser said:

Back in January Pete @The Inside Cabin posted information on the guest lecturers. ( as this is a screenshot that I sent to a friend, the “link” won’t work.

 

 

 

Here is the link to the cruise ship job post .   I will fix it on the website later.  
 

https://www.cruiseshipjob.com

here is the original post 

 

https://www.theinsidecabin.com/mike-west-the-ship-guy-at-sea-post-14/

Edited September 8, 2023 by The-Inside-Cabin

[OlsSalt]

I think it is good for HAL to bring back a specialty "spill over" ship into their family.

 

Much like having the Prinsedam in the past,  who wanted a little more luxury and intimacy after they had pretty much cruised out the standard larger HAL ships, but had come to love the over feel of HAL ships.

 

Which can be the role of a HAL In-Depth ship after doing pretty much all of the HAL longer itineraries but not ready to leave HAL. Offer a dedicated creative destination-enrichment ship to act as a spillover, for those of us who still do love HAL ships but have pretty much seen all they can offer.

 

A specialty ship inside the HAL family can still squeeze out the last HAL sailings for some of us, and add new similarly-minded passengers as well. Or just simply provide a change once in a while from the same-old, same -old. 

 

I think HAL has more "ports" in their inventory than other similar mainstream cruise lines - pre-approval and knowledge. Certainly the far away ports they put into the In-Depth cruises were remarkable. Often very low key, like what do we do here?  But ultimately offering magical insights into this vast ocean going world. 

[OlsSalt]

...Far away places with strange sounding names ......

How else can you see Rapa Nui, Pitcairn, Henderson Island, and Fakurava...... all in one grand sweep. And that was just the last half.

 

 

 

[Hlitner]

23 hours ago, TiogaCruiser said:

Back in January Pete @The Inside Cabin posted information on the guest lecturers. ( as this is a screenshot that I sent to a friend, the “link” won’t work.

 

 

 

Elliot died in 2020!  LIke many things related to HAL, this post is somewhat dated.   We always found him a delightful entertainer.  

 

Hank

[Lido deck main]

55 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Elliot died in 2020!  LIke many things related to HAL, this post is somewhat dated.   We always found him a delightful entertainer.  

 

Hank

@Hlitner Elliot Finkel was a guest entertainer on our 2023 Grand South America cruise.  He was very much alive at that time.  I believe his brother passed away in 2020.

[Hlitner]

5 minutes ago, Lido deck main said:

@Hlitner Elliot Finkel was a guest entertainer on our 2023 Grand South America cruise.  He was very much alive at that time.  I believe his brother passed away in 2020.

Right you are.  It was Ian who died in 2020.