Guest speakers?

[jocelysue]

Does Celebrity furnish guest speakers on Panama Canal cruises?

 

This is our first X cruise and we certainly intend to enjoy it. However we don't want to get our expectations too high only to be disappointed.

 

Although our signature shows some of the cruises we have taken, we certainly have not listed them all. Guest speakers have been the highlight of many of our cruises (Hi there, Star Lady!). Our Alsaka cruises would not have been as enjoyable without speakers explaining the glaciers, Hawaii without explanations about volcanoes, South Pacific without talks about war in the Pacific, the shores of Africa without talks about the slave trade....you get the idea.

 

So we hope there will be lecturers talking about the Panama Canal or Central America, or..... However, if Celebrity does not offer guest speakers, forewarned is forearmed so we won't be disappointed when we get on board but find alternative stimulation. We do intend to have a great cruise.

 

Thanks in advance for your answers.

[Northern Aurora]

While I can't predict what will happen on your particular cruise, we have done three full transits of the Panama Canal, all on Celebrity ships, and each time there was a guest speaker with lectures on the background and history of the canal.

[trabeler]

We just did a 15 day crossing on the Century over the Christmas/New Years Holidays. There were three speakers on board for the entire cruise, plus a guest narrator on the day of the crossing that works for the Panama Canal Authority. In addition to the narration as we went through the locks, there was a short Q&A session with her while we were cruising in Gatun Lake.

 

The three speakers that were onboard the entire sailing held talks on sea days on a variety of topics. One of the speakers was a psychologist who gave very interesting talks on dealing with difficult people, managing stress, conflict resolution, etc. Another was a biologist that gave presentations on marine life, biodiversity, etc. The third was a generalist humanities professor that had talks on the various ports of call plus he did two talks on the canal history and future.

 

Hope this helps!

[jcrandle]

Celebrity really does itself a disservice by their "guess" speakers policy. I'm not sure if they are uncaring,incompetent int their outreach, or paralyzed by fear that if they announce a planned group of enrichment speakers, if some calamity should prevent the program from occurring that they would be sued and found liable.

 

However, one of the many questions that pops up on CC is regarding speakers and topics for the enrichment series that are offered on some of the longer cruises. I have never seen any official announcement by Celebrity, and any announcement and discussion is usually posted unofficially by one of the contracted speakers.

 

Celebrity would do well to take note of this, as it could well increase interest in bookings on these cruises.

[lovemylab]

On the Equinox in December they didn't have a guest speaker for any of the ports. Our ship visited Colon and a few Central American ports.

[Seapoint]

If doing the canal, do yourself a big favor and read "A Man, A Plan, A Canal ' by

David McCullough. It is an amazing read . Also a video is available.

[Essiesmom]

If doing the canal, do yourself a big favor and read "A Man, A Plan, A Canal ' by

David McCullough. It is an amazing read . Also a video is available.

 

I believe it is actually The Path Between the Seas, the other is a PBS video. EM