Naturalists/Informative Talks

[Syd58]

Just returned from Alaska and loved the naturalist talks/presentations (particularly Brent Nixon).  Have been on other Celebrity cruises and did not have this. Just curious which other cruises have these. I hope there are other cruises that offer this as we really enjoy them. It appeared others did as well as they were always packed.

[gold1953]

We had this when sailing from Chile to Miami as well as on  a recent trans Atlantic

[Syd58]

7 minutes ago, gold1953 said:

We had this when sailing from Chile to Miami as well as on  a recent trans Atlantic

Great to hear. Did not have this on our Celebrity Caribbean cruises.

[the penguins]

28 minutes ago, Syd58 said:

Just returned from Alaska and loved the naturalist talks/presentations (particularly Brent Nixon).  Have been on other Celebrity cruises and did not have this. Just curious which other cruises have these. I hope there are other cruises that offer this as we really enjoy them. It appeared others did as well as they were always packed.

Pretty much on any cruise that has a lot of sea has a full Beyond the Podium programme - it's one of the big attractions on Transatlantics and Transpacifics.

[Northern Aurora]

We've had naturalists and Beyond the Podium speakers in Alaska, South America, the south pacific in addition to both transatlantic and transpacific cruises.  In addition to Alaska Brent Nixon (and his wife) have been on one of our transpacific cruises and also in the south pacific.

[Syd58]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

We've had naturalists and Beyond the Podium speakers in Alaska, South America, the south pacific in addition to both transatlantic and transpacific cruises.  In addition to Alaska Brent Nixon (and his wife) have been on one of our transpacific cruises and also in the south pacific.

Absolutely loved Brent; he was truly outstanding.  Unfortunately, we didn't his wife was nearly as good.

[Northern Aurora]

13 minutes ago, Syd58 said:

Absolutely loved Brent; he was truly outstanding.  Unfortunately, we didn't his wife was nearly as good.

 

Brent has been with Celebrity for a number of years now.  If my memory is correct (and it may not be) Celebrity "poached" him from Princess.  And I agree -- Mary Amanda tries, but isn't as good.  We were B2B on the Millennium last spring on a pair of cruises around Japan, and they were both on those cruises too.  He did an excellent presentation on Japanese snow monkeys which made almost everyone who attended that lecture want to go see them.  She did destination talks regarding the ports.

[jwlane]

4 hours ago, Syd58 said:

(particularly Brent Nixon).  

He's great, and a really interesting & nice guy.  Here's DW & Brent as we neared the glacier a couple of years ago.

[CTSandy]

I love the Beyond the Podium programs, but some presenters aren’t really that interesting.  Brent Nixon happens to be a favorite of mine and I never miss his presentations.  I thought the naturalist on the Iceland to Boston cruise this August was not nearly at his level.

[Illsticktocrusing]

I enjoyed the Beyond the Podium series as well.  Celia Garland was great during our Antarctica trip a few years ago. 

[DaKahuna]

 

 I am hoping they have an excellent presenter and materials for our upcoming SYD-HNL next spring. 

 

[cruisinsusin]

14 hours ago, CTSandy said:

I love the Beyond the Podium programs, but some presenters aren’t really that interesting.  Brent Nixon happens to be a favorite of mine and I never miss his presentations.  I thought the naturalist on the Iceland to Boston cruise this August was not nearly at his level.

The naturalist on the previous cruise  (NJ to Iceland) was quite good although not to Brent's level.

[robbinsca]

7 hours ago, Illsticktocrusing said:

I enjoyed the Beyond the Podium series as well.  Celia Garland was great during our Antarctica trip a few years ago. 

Celia was on our Summit cruise to Alaska last week. She is truly outstanding. Not only does she know her stuff she is an excellent, and engaging, speaker. 

[takemewithyou]

How about Milos?  I think he is on Solstice…..

[Markanddonna]

Naturalists are sort of an Alaskan cruise thing. Some cruise lines don't have any speakers at all while others make an effort on transatlantic and transpacifics. You never know what kind of speaker you will get. A forensic pathologist, or a sea life expert...

[the penguins]

7 hours ago, takemewithyou said:

How about Milos?  I think he is on Solstice…..

He was on our TP and we went to his wedding celebrations on the ship - same cruise we also went to a crew party - happy memories.

[the penguins]

9 hours ago, the penguins said:

He was on our TP and we went to his wedding celebrations on the ship - same cruise we also went to a crew party - happy memories.

sadly we also heard that his wife (a lovely lady who was a Judge) died not too long after the wedding.

[TMLAalum]

Disappointed that one of the presenters for the Beyond the Podium informative talks was a repeat by Marshall about Buddha. Eclipse recently and Silhouette in March 2023. Maybe if the cruise was to Asia? But I don't get scheduling him for Canada/New England and the Caribbean!

[gold1953]

11 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

Disappointed that one of the presenters for the Beyond the Podium informative talks was a repeat by Marshall about Buddha. Eclipse recently and Silhouette in March 2023. Maybe if the cruise was to Asia? But I don't get scheduling him for Canada/New England and the Caribbean!

must have needed to fill a spot

[gold1953]

Just a warning .. if you are enjoying an impromptu talk ( by the naturalist) in Sky lounge and the discussion is sea life. .. don't stand beside me and say that you have always wanted to see a blue footed booby if your wife is wearing blue shoes.   Yes, this happened  and yes I did point at the shoes and ask the guy if that was his wife. There was a lot of laughter. It was just one of those moments

[billc23]

On 9/8/2024 at 12:39 PM, DaKahuna said:

 

 I am hoping they have an excellent presenter and materials for our upcoming SYD-HNL next spring. 

 

I did that sailing this year on the Solstice. Great trip!

 

Celia Garland was one of the presenters and she was great! She originally joined Celebrity via the Corning glass program. When Celebrity and Corning parted ways Celebrity recognized her as a talented, engaging speaker so she continued on with Celebrity as a speaker for educational talks. She was home schooled - growing up in a family who continuously traveled with a love of nature. She had been on many sailings with Brent Nixon and learned much from him.

 

We enjoyed her presentations on several South American sailing also. Different topics as there is different wildlife. She did a great job! She is also very available during the day and will often have specific hours out on a deck to observe wildlife and answer questions. 

[AC Stew]

5 hours ago, billc23 said:

She did a great job! She is also very available during the day and will often have specific hours out on a deck to observe wildlife and answer questions. 

 

Totally agree about Celia Garland. She's one of the finest naturalist speakers we've ever had the privilege of sailing with. That was an Antarctica cruise in Feb. 2023. Her prepared presentations were incredibly informative and entertaining, but her off-the-cuff commentaries were even better!

 

Wildlife sightings are sometimes hit and miss, but we were lucky. Celia was able to turn on a dime and tailor her talks to what we were actually observing in those Southern Seas. Her description of "Whale Soup" will stick with me forever!

 

If you find Celia on your Pacific or Antarctic or Arctic sailing, you're definitely in for a treat!