Are there still any interesting speakers/lecturers on P&O?

[Harry Peterson]

Not that long ago on Azura (15 nights) there were two interesting speakers. Kenneth Vard on the history of cruise liners, and somebody from a London university on the history of British cinema.

 

The next time, there was just one rather dull speaker talking essentially about his rather loose and vague connections with members of 'the royal family' via the RAF. We gave up after one dull session.

 

I realise it's all down to personal choice, but what are P&O providing on the bigger ships like Azura and Ventura these days? Have they really cut it back to just one speaker? And are there some good ones still?

[Josy1953]

Not that long ago on Azura (15 nights) there were two interesting speakers. Kenneth Vard on the history of cruise liners, and somebody from a London university on the history of British cinema.

 

The next time, there was just one rather dull speaker talking essentially about his rather loose and vague connections with members of 'the royal family' via the RAF. We gave up after one dull session.

 

I realise it's all down to personal choice, but what are P&O providing on the bigger ships like Azura and Ventura these days? Have they really cut it back to just one speaker? And are there some good ones still?

There was ab excellent speaker on Ventura on April, I can't recall his name but he gave a series of 6 talks about drugs both legal and illegal. He had worked for the UN doing various roles to do with drug control. We also had a speaker on Azura who had been in the Red Arrows and he was also very interesting. On Adonia on 2014 the speaker talked about canals again a very good speaker. We have however been on cruises where the speakers have been so boring that we have slipped out before the end of the talk so I guess it is hit and miss as to who you get and how interesting they are.

[Mysticalmother]

We have just had Ken Vard on Oriana - and although he is very interesting I have already heard him twice so didnt bother going a third time.

Like Josy1953, we had the Red arrows guy a couple of years ago, and last year on Azura we had a guy called Chris Woodward, talking anout the history of the London Palladium, and the London Theatre in general. He was very interesting too. There is also someone called Ian Smith who talks about Concorde rumoured to be very interesting

 

I think it is a bit hit and miss to be honest.

[joeholiday2]

Yes, Kenneth Vard is very good, one of the best we have seen. Such a relevant subject for cruising, I notice he always saves the Titanic one until the end ;)

 

We have seen him before so didn't go again last week, I caught bits of him on the TV whilst getting changed in the cabin and he is his usual wonderful self.

 

Kathleen ??? who does the ones on Ian Fleming and James Bond is also good. Engaging and funny at times.

 

If you get John Martin, then P&O get 2 for the price of one, he is an excellent comedian and gives a good talk about operation anthropoid from WWII.

[Mysticalmother]

That reminds me....we also had an excellent speaker on Bletchly Park on one of our cruises last year..

[Florry]

So pleased to read this thread as I've been thinking about this. I haven't been on a cruise with any speakers for years (or I just completely missed them). We've got a lot of sea days coming up so I'm really hoping they add someone decent :)

[joeholiday2]

That reminds me....we also had an excellent speaker on Bletchly Park on one of our cruises last year..

 

I think that's Kathleen ?? again.

I am sure she did one about codes and ciphers, (staying with the spying/James Bond theme) and some was about Bletchley Park towards the end of the talk.

[Mysticalmother]

I think that's Kathleen ?? again.

I am sure she did one about codes and ciphers, (staying with the spying/James Bond theme) and some was about Bletchley Park towards the end of the talk.

 

Im pretty sure our talk was by a man.....:confused:

[joeholiday2]

Just remembered...

 

We had Ricky Tomlinson on his first ever cruise about 5 years ago, not sure if he has ever done another.....

 

I know he's not everyone's cup of tea but he was good. He did a talk and a Q&A session. Very enlightening about certain "showbiz" (so called) stars :eek:

It's all in his book.

[joeholiday2]

Im pretty sure our talk was by a man.....:confused:

 

Must have been your Azura one, we were on Arcadia with you and Kenneth last year.

 

BTW.

Did you know Perry Grant is doing a concert in Lytham 1st Oct?

[Harry Peterson]

Thanks. So are they putting on more than one speaker still, or have they cut it back to just the one (high-risk if people aren't interested in the subject matter)?

[Florry]

Thanks. So are they putting on more than one speaker still, or have they cut it back to just the one (high-risk if people aren't interested in the subject matter)?

 

 

And is the answer to that per week or per cruise? Thank you.

[balf]

Speakers are fine with me as long as they have something of interest. It's the readers that I can't do with.

 

David.

[supered]

On our Arcadia cruise a few weeks ago we only had one speaker for the whole 2 weeks. This was disappointing for a cruise with 7 sea days. On Cunard we have been used to having 2 or 3 speakers for that number of sea days with a different speaker in the morning and the afternoon.

 

However we had Kathy McNally who gave good talks on various subjects on spies and espionage. She was funny and engaging but she was usually on at 10am, so did not get a huge audience. She referred to it as the "graveyard slot". It was a bit of a shame really.

 

Eddie

 

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[cruisefan2012]

First cruise I went on was way back in 2009 on Arcardia, we had Tom O`Connor do a couple of shows, I didnt go to them but heard from table companions how hilarious he was, so went to the Q&A with him that the cruise director was holding in the Palladium theatre... He was hilarious, and he never came up for air for whole hour - had the whole audience in hysterics - even met him in a lift whilst going to our cabins. Genuinely nice man, very funny :)

 

Also whilst on board Azura I think there was a man who flew concorde (fabulous airplane) who gave a very interesting speech about his time on the Concorde

 

Also there was a man speaking about his time as ( I think ) private pilot for Princess Diana who went on to say how normal was she and how lovely she was.

 

Also had a Spanish? French? officer give a speech about how the Bridge on the ship works and who does what to make the ship move and how they dock in ports etc around the world. quite interesting if you like the science behind ships

[gadabout60]

First cruise I went on on Adonia had Edwina Currie. Again not everyone's cup of tea but she was a good engaging speaker, quite funny and went down well.

 

I would love to be on a cruise with someone talking about code breaking, Bletchley etc - never been that lucky. Have had endless Concord and WW2 stuff and oceanography - none of which really appeal

 

I wish they advertised the speakers as it might push me towards a particular cruise if I have been comparing a few

[Josy1953]

First cruise I went on on Adonia had Edwina Currie. Again not everyone's cup of tea but she was a good engaging speaker, quite funny and went down well.

 

I would love to be on a cruise with someone talking about code breaking, Bletchley etc - never been that lucky. Have had endless Concord and WW2 stuff and oceanography - none of which really appeal

 

I wish they advertised the speakers as it might push me towards a particular cruise if I have been comparing a few

 

I was talking to my husband about this last night and he reminded me about some others that we had seen. I agree about Edwina Curry, she was on one of our cruises and we really enjoyed her talks but it was a good few years ago. Another funny one that I had forgotten about was Sherrie Hewson, she talked about her experiences on stage and television. On Queen Mary 4 years ago we had Liz Dawn, she was very interesting but only did 1 short talk because of her health problems. On a "Strictly" cruise on Azura Craig Revel-Horwood did a talk about his life and that was fascinating, so much so that I actually downloaded his biography onto my Kindle.

 

I also wish that would advertise their speakers, I am sure that there are other people who might be tempted to book a cruise if there was an interesting speaker.

[groovechick]

2012 on Aurora we had Dame Mary Peters, who was lovely, interesting and funny too.

Azura 2013 it was a man who talked about coinage, banknotes, fraud and counterfeiting. Hubby went to one and said the subject was quite interesting but his delivery a bit dull. His talk overran and DH was nearly late for something we had planned. DH didn't go to any others because we were doing other things.

If there was a speaker on Britannia at Christmas I don't remember who or what, presumably the topic wasn't of interest to us.

[kruzseeka]

First cruise I went on on Adonia had Edwina Currie. Again not everyone's cup of tea but she was a good engaging speaker, quite funny and went down well.

 

I would love to be on a cruise with someone talking about code breaking, Bletchley etc - never been that lucky. Have had endless Concord and WW2 stuff and oceanography - none of which really appeal

 

I wish they advertised the speakers as it might push me towards a particular cruise if I have been comparing a few

 

 

I think you get more speakers and changes of speaker with the longer cruises. We've done a couple recently involving TAs when we've had a variety of speakers. Ann Widdecombe was on for a few days and did two talks.

 

She was a revelation: very interesting, self-deprecating, great sense of humour and no beating around the bush! She was a huge hit - a skilled and entertaining speaker.

 

I'm sorry to say we found the Bletchley Park speaker a big flop. Such promising material but such poor presentation; rambling, poorly structured and just uninteresting. I was quite excited by the subject matter but it failed to deliver for us.

 

And therein is the rub. We find that often the subject matter sounds good but the speaker fails to deliver either reading a load of notes which could well have been pulled off Wikipedia or such poorly organised material that it just doesn't hold the audience.

 

It's often surpising which lectures 'work' and which don't even allowing for people's different preferences. One topic which didn't grab us initially - a history based series of lectures on the Tudors from a lady who worked for the organisation responsible for the Royal Palaces - Hampton Court, Tower of London etc - was superb! My DH who is no history buff really enjoyed them too. She inspired us to revisit the Palaces her lectures were so interesting.

 

We had an Oceanographer who was excellent too - an American professor used to delivering structured and informative material.

 

So I think it's all about the lecturer rather than the topic. Seemingly uninteresting subjects can often be brought to life by a skilled communicator, good subjects can fall flat with a poor lecturer.

Edited June 16, 2016 by kruzseeka

[Clodia]

Recently on Azura I had Diane Janes who is a crime writer and talks about the history of policing, murders, poisoning etc. Sounds gruesome and she was quickly referred to as "The Murder Woman" but she's an interesting and engaging speaker. I went to all 7 of her talks and enjoyed them immensely.

[daiB]

On our 28 night Caribbean cruise we had 4 speakers 2 for the sea days going out and 2 coming back. 1 morning 1 afternoon.

 

 

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[davecttr]

I do remember a speaker on Ventura, I caught him stealing the horizon newsletter from outside my cabin door. :rolleyes:

[Josy1953]

I do remember a speaker on Ventura, I caught him stealing the horizon newsletter from outside my cabin door. :rolleyes:

 

Was he a criminologist ?:D:D:D

[P&O SUE]

Last year we had Gervase Phinn on Azura. He used to be a school inspector and had lots of funny stories about the (mostly) Yorkshire children and teachers he met. He did a talk each sea day (there were 5) at 10am in the theatre - we went to each one and every day more and more people came as news spread how good he was. I bought one of his books for my Dad and he really enjoyed it.

Edited June 16, 2016 by P&O SUE

[RobboM]

We've had Sue Holderness twice and Tom O'Conner twice, and last year we had a guy talking about famous murders / murderers and how modern technology could have helped with the cases. Some good, some less so!