Beyond the Podium Speakers

[Orator]

I've tried to locate a listing of speakers for my upcoming cruises and my search only yields the 2010 list. Anyone find the 2011-12 list?

[cruisestitch]

No updated list. I think Celebrity forgot about that part of the website. Not unusual. I plan to call Captain's Club to see if they can shake things up a bit for updating that schedule.....maybe if several of us do, they will give us the new list.

[TLCOhio]

I've tried to locate a listing of speakers for my upcoming cruises and my search only yields the 2010 list. Anyone find the 2011-12 list?

 

I don't think these speakers are listed or posted in advance on the web or the Celebrity website. I was able to find out the names of our two speakers in advance by making some effort to find the right person in Florida with RCCL/Celebrity who handles these scheduling duties. Many of these speakers are college professors and their schedules can get adjusted/changed. If they put out too much, in advance, as their schedule listings, then some will be disappointed if any changes are made. Below is some of the info, as an example, on our two speakers for our cruise last month. Both speakers did well, had lots of good visuals, tried to tie in connections with certain of the port stops, etc. Their program schedules are kept flexible, but generally they would speak on sea days. Celebrity is expanding its Smithsonian Journeys connections and will adding that feature to more (but not all) cruises in the future.

 

Smithsonian Journeys Speaker: Dr. Krzysztof (Kris) Stanek with a Ph.D in astrophysics from Princeton, won a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship, followed by NASA Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship. After a faculty position at Harvard, he is now a full professor of astronomy at Ohio State University. He has studied supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, very massive stars and the size and age of the Universe. He has five talks prepared, mixing history of astronomy with modern astronomy (for example, "400 Years of the Telescope in Astronomy").

 

Destination Speaker: Dr. Christine Bridges-Esser, with a Ph.D from Vanderbilt University, was born in NY, grew up in Naples, Italy and Japan. She is a full professor at Texas’ Lamar University and won the Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award there. Dr. Bridges-Esser has developed power point photos to reinforce her lectures showing sites she has visited and involving scholarly research. She did such topics as: Fun Facts about Italy, its people and its history; Art, Poison and Power of the Medici; the Renaissance man himself: Leonardo da Vinci; Venice: The Queen of the Adriatic, history, fun facts and essentials; Three Gentlemen of Barcelona: Gaudi, Dali and Picasso, trying to answer the question of "What were these guys thinking"?; etc.

 

Below are a couple of my pictures of them "in action" during our cruise.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Just back from a June 7-19 Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc. These postings are now at 24,563 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2011, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 47,375 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

 

Appreciate those who have “tuned in” for these two posts. Don’t be shy and feel free to comment and/or ask any questions of interest.

 

 

Dr. Christine Bridges-Esser with a Ph.D from Vanderbilt University, was born in NY, grew up in Naples, Italy and Japan.:

 

 

 

Smithsonian Journeys Speaker: Dr. Krzysztof (Kris) Stanek with a Ph.D in astrophysics from Princeton, teaching at Harvard, etc.:

 

[Orator]

In the past they posted advanced lists. Perhaps they encountered some problems. Cruisestitch makes a very good suggestion.

[cruisestitch]

When the contract with Smithsonian was new, late 2009/early 2010, the schedule of speakers was posted on the website. Not every slot was filled, but I was able to find a friend of mine who is a Smithsonian speaker and know which cruise she would be employed for. But the list has not been updated. That's what I would hope we could get accomplished, but getting such information from Celebrity, as we have all found out, isn't easy....

[TLCOhio]

When the contract with Smithsonian was new, late 2009/early 2010, the schedule of speakers was posted on the website. Not every slot was filled, but I was able to find a friend of mine who is a Smithsonian speaker and know which cruise she would be employed for. But the list has not been updated. That's what I would hope we could get accomplished, but getting such information from Celebrity, as we have all found out, isn't easy....

 

For the Baltics in 2008, we used Crystal and they are very, very good in posting that info, long in advance. I liked having that advance info available and wish that Celebrity would do the same. BUT, Celebrity has many more ships and speaker slots to fill. Crystal has only two ships to focus on and handle.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[Orator]

Just sent an e-mail to Captain's Club. I'll let post if they say anything. If they don't reply I'll call.