Are the Port Lectures valuable or a waste of time?

[Sadie65]

We will be on the Regal Princess cruising the Baltics and Russia this July. I have seen some mention of "Port Lectures" on Cruise Critic.

Are these lectures worthwhile or a they simply telling you at which shops to do your shopping?

 

Sadie

[Hlitner]

What a great question and we will try to give you an accurate and unbiased answer. Keep in mind that the answer can vary by cruise line. But as a general rule, the mass market cruise lines now tie their port lectures to their shore excursion program which is usually run by a contracted private company. So the typical port lecture is often a sophisticated sales pitch to promote the cruise line excursions which are usually overpriced with large groups (often 50+) of people. But there are exceptions. For example, HAL does have a port expert on some of their longer cruises who does not work for the shore excursion company. He/she can sometimes be darn good and honest although even they seem to have an obligation to promote the ship's excursions (which contribute to the cruise line's bottom line). On HAL we have been to some absolutely terrific port lectures (the best lecturer was the recently retired Frank Buckingham) but even HAL has cut-back on their lecture program in favor of letting the franchise shore excursion company do the lectures (which are more like tour overviews).

 

Hank

[Giantfan13]

To be very honest, I very, very rarely go to any of them. I usually know what we are doing before we get into port, either have a private tour booked or off on our own. If I didn't have a plan, and needed some info on the ports, I might attend. That said, the few that I have been to, were, as you said, basic sales pitches for which shops you need to frequent.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[MeHeartCruising]

I've seen both types. The ones run by the cruise line or their contractor are generally sales pitches or very light port info, mostly centered around shopping locations. I've also been on a couple cruises where the cruise line had arranged for a knowledgeable person to give a presentation on ports. It is usually a seasoned traveler, historian, writer, etc. who is familiar with the ports and they usually have a slide show presentation of some sort to cover local history, culture, architecture, etc. On one of my cruises, it was a married couple in their early 70s. I spoke with them later on in a bar and they shared that the cruise line (in this case it was Royal Caribbean) gave them a reduced fare in exchange for them doing the port lectures. They did 4 lectures on 4 different ports if I recall. They indicated that they had no contract with the cruise line, but that they had contacts within Royal Caribbean who helped arrange it when they wanted to do it. So, I think you'll find it that nothing is guaranteed. Most of the times, it seems to be the lighter, shopping pitch type in my experience and I walk out as soon as I discover that.

[surebeatssailing]

We were on the Celebrity Infinity a couple of years ago & there was a lecturer who gave a series of 1 hr talks about Panama & the Panama Canal before we arrived there. He was a bit pompous but was extremely knowledgable about Panama & the history of the canal. He lived in Panama and was not trying to sell anything. The talks made traversing the canal more interesting in my opinion.

[John Bull]

Hi sadie,

You've already figured from other replies that some (most) times its a sales pitch to get you to book ship's tours, but we've been on cruises where outside lecturers give talks. If that includes talks on specific subjects, such as the Russian Revolution or the WW11 siege of Leningrad (st Petersburg) then you can expect the port talks to be informative rather than sales pitches. Those folk are usually retired experts on their subject, and get a free cruise in return for their services. - a great arrangement for everyone.

But even if the talks are simply sales pitches, they'll give you a little bit of background - why not attend one or two and then decide whether it's worth attending more.

 

BTW, Princess are perhaps the industry's worst offenders at over-hyping the risks of not taking a ship's tour, and giving false information - such as the need for a Russian visa if you don't take a ship's tour in St Pete's. Pre-booked tours via local tour operators such as Alla Tours, SPB Tours, TJ Travel, Best Guides, etc all have the same visa-free status as ship's tours despite Princess' blatantly untruthful literature.

 

Great cruise itinerary, have a wonderful time

 

JB :)

(Hank - currently in Memphis and up to schedule :))

Edited June 6, 2015 by John Bull

[canuck13]

Just returned from our Baltics cruise on Regal. The advantage on this ship is the port lectures are available on demand on your stateroom TV. They are only about 20 min. I wouldn't have made a trip to the theater to hear them, but the convenience got me to tune in to some.

 

While I found the lecturer a bit hard to listen to, there was some good info about shuttles and directions. The shopping info was not really emphasized.

[cityguy300]

Just returned from our Baltics cruise on Regal. The advantage on this ship is the port lectures are available on demand on your stateroom TV. They are only about 20 min. I wouldn't have made a trip to the theater to hear them, but the convenience got me to tune in to some.

 

While I found the lecturer a bit hard to listen to, there was some good info about shuttles and directions. The shopping info was not really emphasized.

 

Agree with all these points (from your description, I was on the sailing before yours). Although I don't know if you meant the lecturer was hard to hear, or his movie-related jokes got tiresome by the end. ;)

 

Any shopping/souvenir-related advice was short and general, i.e. not a plug for Princess partner ships like on the Caribbean cruises. There was of course the obligatory mention of the "advantages" of taking a Princess tour, but he also included relevant public transit info for the DIY'ers (like the free shuttles in Gothenburg, the tram location in Helsinki, and the effect of the Copenhagen Marathon on buses on our debarkation day). Oftentimes, the lecture was the first time I'd even know which exact port we were docking in, when there were several options.

[classicmovies]

Canuck13 and cityguy300 thanks for the update. We are going on the Regal in a couple of weeks so it's good to know we don't have to go to the theater to hear the lecturer for some useful information on the ports and it won't be a sales pitch.

[CathyK2]

As others have said, it depends on the cruise line, but can also differ from cruise to cruise.

 

I have found that HAL and Celebrity are more likely to give you educational information and often will have lectures on various other topics that may appeal to passengers that are on a particular sailing. Ie, we were on Celebrity for a South America cruise and not only were their port lectures amazing, they had three different lecturers that were fascinating. One being about astronomy since the skies are different in South America compared to what we see in North America.

 

RCI on the other hand had a perfect opportunity to give some well appreciated information on a trip through Turkey, Israel, and Greece...but they ONLY talks they had were to see tours. It's really about the clientele of what a cruise ship expects I really believe.

 

Your best bet may be to go to one. Sit near the back if you may be wanting to leave early, but then you can make up your mind as to whether this is something worth your while. We LOVE the lectures on the ships that do fascinating topics, but I do think that we are seeing less and less of these as the years click on. Enjoy your sailing.

[Sadie65]

Thanks so much to everyone who responded to my question.

It was especially helpful to hear from canuck13 and cityguy300, who had just returned from the Regal cruise we will be taking.

Knowing that the port lectures are "on demand" in the TV in the cabin will make the process much easier.

It is great to learn that the shopping persuasion is minimal.

 

Sadie

[BlackHullSailor]

I was on the Regal 2-13 May and can say that I watched every one of the Port Lectures, but on demand TV in the stateroom. There were very helpful for all the ports, if you ignore the shopping parts and pitches for the ship sponsored tours. The most important parts to me were the orientation to where the ship tied up. Being the Regal is so large, we were in the "commercial" ports in Aarhus and Warnemunde. Already knew we would be anchored out in Nynasham. If you aren't doing a ships tour, they were helpful. :)

[Hlitner]

Good to hear that JB is still enjoying his driving trip in the wonderful USA :). And I doubt if he ever gets weather in the UK to rival what he has experience on this trip. Hope the ghost of Elvis survives his visit :)

 

Getting back to the lectures, HAL used to do it in a very classy way. They hired some amazing lecturers who had not tie-in to the excursions. Not only would there be lots of good port lectures, but then the lecturer would make himself available in the library with daily office hours. He usually had all the latest train/bus schedules, personal restaurant recommendations, etc. This is a dying trend because these lecturers do not generate any revenue for the cruise line, and probably decrease revenue since they are very helpful for we DIYers.

 

Hank

Edited June 8, 2015 by Hlitner

[cruisemom42]

 

 

BTW, Princess are perhaps the industry's worst offenders at over-hyping the risks of not taking a ship's tour, and giving false information - such as the need for a Russian visa if you don't take a ship's tour in St Pete's. Pre-booked tours via local tour operators such as Alla Tours, SPB Tours, TJ Travel, Best Guides, etc all have the same visa-free status as ship's tours despite Princess' blatantly untruthful literature.

 

 

Shame to hear this. Princess used to have a terrific CD on their Baltic sailings, John Lawrence, who was also an expert on the history and points of interest of these ports. He gave fabulous lectures (in fact, there was a DVD made) that had nothing to do with shopping and gave reasonably good tips for do-it-yourselfers. He also lectured on the history of the Romanovs.

 

I never met a nicer CD. He even used to host a CC get-together onboard ship.

[wassup4565]

I get more useful information from the Ports section of CC and Trip Advisor than I have ever received from any of these onboard lectures. If in the Caribbean, there is any mention of Diamonds International, that is your cue to head for the door asap.

 

However, once off the ship, the local tourist people sometimes set up kiosks where they give out maps and useful info.

[cityguy300]

Canuck13 and cityguy300 thanks for the update. We are going on the Regal in a couple of weeks so it's good to know we don't have to go to the theater to hear the lecturer for some useful information on the ports and it won't be a sales pitch.

 

Thanks so much to everyone who responded to my question.

It was especially helpful to hear from canuck13 and cityguy300, who had just returned from the Regal cruise we will be taking.

Knowing that the port lectures are "on demand" in the TV in the cabin will make the process much easier.

It is great to learn that the shopping persuasion is minimal.

 

Sadie

 

One thing to note, if you're planning to watch the port lectures on TV, was that they usually didn't make the next port's video available until after we left the last port. In part I think this was because they taped the sessions anew, instead of recycling them from the previous sailing (which makes sense if the pier changed or the itinerary alternated, e.g. Gothenberg vs Aarhus).

 

Also, I didn't notice when most of the port lectures were even held; if they were listed in the Princess Patter, they must have been during port hours. So oftentimes, the videos were the only way to catch them.

 

Have a good trip!