Poll: Would addition of educ. lectures skew you away from trying Carnival?

[mikeerdas]

*If* you are predisposed to try Carnival or already like sailing with Carnival (those whose minds are shut need not reply), would the addition of educational lectures on sea days skew you more toward RCI? And by educational, I mean lectures from professors (e.g. history, culture, etc) or professionals in a particular field (heard they've had a guy from Nasa give lectures). I do not mean lectures of a commercial nature (e.g. buy product or service X) or lectures on "frivolous" things (hair braiding 101).

 

Evidently there are few differences between RCI and Carnival. Chiefly, they seem to be that RCI has:

 

* More conservative decor (perceived to be more sophisticated aesthetics)

* More formality

 

I personally don't see many other significant differentiators. However, if RCI added many educational lectures as sea day activities, I might be slightly skewed toward choosing RCI, as that would be a differentiator that matters and could help toward justifying the higher cabin prices.

[DC2OC]

I think the cruise should offer talks,lectures,classes relevant to the cruise.

The naturalist we had on our Alaskan cruise was great.I do like leaving classes feeling I had an enjoyable time.thinking persons cruise line vs party? Com'on it can be both

[cb at sea]

Just because there IS a lecture, doesn't mean you have to go and listen to it!

I don't see why it would cause folks NOT to sail with them!

[mikeerdas]

Sure, it can be both. Glad to hear you had talks from a naturalist on your Alaska cruise. Sounds terrific.

 

I can only speak to my experience on a 7 night eastern carib cruise on the Mariner (nothing educational on offer from the Compass that I recall). Hoping my 7 night eastern med on the Navigator isn't completely bereft of anything educational.

 

My RCI eastern med cruise had only 3 port stops and 3 full sea days. Since I'm a "port person", I was disappointed that there weren't any educational lecture-type activities, since I'm not much interested in the rock wall, bingo, trivia, or suntanning. Did a lot of reading on sea days.

 

I'm hoping this is where RCI can put in more effort to differentiate itself from Carnival--I like RCI, but overall don't like paying the RCI cabin premium. Would be a better value, at least for me, if they offered educational lectures. The poll is to see if I'm alone in that desire.

[mikeerdas]

Just because there IS a lecture, doesn't mean you have to go and listen to it!

I don't see why it would cause folks NOT to sail with them!

 

Sorry, I guess the poll isn't as clear as it could be.

 

The idea is this: for those who feel RCI and Carnival are about the same, and would sail either line, would the addition of (more) educational lectures on RCI cruises make them more inclined to choose RCI than Carnival; e.g. could it be a tipping point. I don't think the addition of lectures to RCI cruises would cause anyone to prefer Carnival. So you're exactly right about that.

 

The "No" answer in the poll simply indicates that, for those who sail both lines, lectures aren't of interest to them; so it couldn't possibly sway them further toward RCI.

 

The "Possibly" answer indicates that, for those who sail both lines, they'd like to see more educational lectures, but it's not necessarily a tipping point that would make them more likely to choose RCI over Carnival. It may or may not be a tipping point for this choice.

 

The "Yes" answer is a bit biased as someone just pointed out (and thank you for doing so). I didn't intend it to be a vote for either brainy stuff only or party stuff only, and I hope most people don't interpret it that way. However, it should indicate only that yep, if RCI offered more in the way of educational activities, then it would sway them more toward RCI.

 

Hope that helps.

[hazeleyez3]

It wouldn't sway me at all. For me the only difference between Royal and Carnival is that some of the Royal ships have a Promenade.

 

I could care less about what the ship's decor is. We have been more than pleased with the service, food, cabins, and activities on both lines.

[critterchick]

It would completely depend on what they were teaching. Finance, no. World history, no. A hands on culinary cruise? You betcha.

[RoofingPrincess]

The problem is, you probably wouldn't know ahead of time what kind of lectures were booked for a particular sailing, unless it was a themed cruise. And like Jean (critterchick), I'm not going to go to a lecture that doesn't interest me. I'd rather sit in a shady spot in the Solarium or out on deck with a trashy novel or my knitting.

Plus, just because someone is a college professor doesn't mean they're interesting or a good presenter. Heaven knows I sat through enough boring lectures in my undergrad days.

So "RCCL has educational lecturers onboard and Carnival doesn't" wouldn't sell me.

[BroncosFan2010]

I am not really keen on Carnival to begin with, so it would not take a lot to get me to go to almost any other line, with the exception of NCL.

 

Lectures could be nice, if they were done in a fun and interactive manner. I kind of agree with the last option, it is a cruise, not college. I am getting more than enough lecture time in my graduate classes!

[DeepWaterMariner]

I'll ignore my feeling that there are big differences between RCI and Carnival to answer the question. For me, enrichment lecturers are a big plus and I would choose one line over another if one had enrichment lectures and all other factors were equal. One of the things that has made some cruises special compared to others has been enrichment lecturer... some of the best were watercolor instruction, a UCLA economist (believe it or not), Spanish lessons on a transatlantic that ended in Barcelona, and a college professor that talked about bordellos in the old west.

[twirlgirl]

We just came off the Mariner and there were two lectures on board for the Pacific NW ruise. Gary Admire did 4 presentations on Murder Ivestigations and Prosecution. They were so well received that he had added the 4th lecture. Each day the attendance got larger and larger till we had to find a larger venue. Mr Admire was a former California judge and Federal Judge. his wife was also an attorney. What an interesting couple and they had great stories to tell and we all had wonderful and enriching experience. We were so suprised and was everyone else to find enrichment programs on 7 day cruises. hope they do more of this kind of thing. The other lecture was on enventions but we did go because they were at the same time. Hope Rccl will continue this when we sail in September again on the mariner. Bev

[gadaboutgal]

There have been lectures on all of our Transatlantic cruises; and, honestly none of them engaged me. There were always so many more interesting things available.

[mikeerdas]

Good responses, all.

 

I agree--some profs' lectures are as dull as dirt. Hopefully they'd only ask the most engaging speakers to return.

 

Thanks for the info about various lecture topics. Would also love to see a hands-on cooking class, but I suspect they'd try to "monetize" that, e.g. you'd have to pay for it. Like they charge for exercise classes (a let down, so I just use the gym as I normally would). They shouldn't charge for a cooking class in my opinion--goodness knows there are plenty of raw materials (ingredients) already on board.

 

So do the luxury lines offer significantly more lectures on their cruises than RCI? I believe others have said that's the case. Maybe RCI doesn't have as much of an upscale clientele as is perceived, because I'm seeing 53% wouldn't be interested in lectures at all. Wonder how those numbers compare with the education level of RCI cruisers--if they're any correlation. I also wonder what the results would be like if I made a similar Poll on the luxury liner forums, where there are likely more college grads and folks with advanced degrees (just guessing--could be flat wrong).

 

Me, I've been out of grad school for 5 years, so I welcome lectures for fun on vacation. :-) Can't seem to get enough college, and I seek out / welcome opportunities to learn new things.

[Aquahound]

I attended two of these seminars on my recent Celebrity cruise. One was a Crime Scene tech who lectured on the falsehoods of television CSI shows. The other was one of those feel good, motivational speakers.

 

The CSI was interesting, especially since I work in the field. The other guy was interesting at first. But by the end, I couldn't help but think that he was just there to plug his book.

 

Either way, it was a break from the norm for me. I do know that RCI offers these, but not on a regular basis.

 

But in the end, I was not so interested that they are a deal maker or breaker for me.

[coordinator23]

While we were on Vision a few years ago, we went to two fantastic lectures. One was about whales (and in Feb. they were all over the place!) and the other was about Mexican history and the ports we would be in.

It was fantastic. :D:D The speaker, Larry, had studied whales for 10 years and had a lot to share. :)As a former teacher, he had a lot to share about history also. It made you appreciate the ports even more.

We were fortunate enough to "catch" his presentations. I only hope they do something like this again on Mariner in Feb. They were done on sea days and usually were about one hour (backing up to bingo).

I like the idea of cooking presentations. I believe HAL offers this (which is one of the reasons I have been looking at what they have to offer):)

[unklez]

OP the intent of this poll and the question are unclear. Please reword, revise, clarify and post again.

[boulders]

I found the poll quite clear.

 

I would love a lecture or two. But, I don't see Royal Caribbean adding these. Lectures are already offered by its sister line, Celebrity. I have cruised Royal several times in the Caribbean and will cruise with them again in August for Alaska. But, I am looking forward to cruising Celebrity in the Mediterranean. That itinerary, for me, is very amenable to history, culture and cuisine lectures.

[DeepWaterMariner]

HAL has culinary classes, both for free and ones you pay for. They have modified their movie theaters to be culinary arts centers class rooms (and movie theaters when not in use).

[Flacruiser123]

I would book RCI over Carnival if RCI provided the lectures/presentations. I would love to know more about the places we visit other than just the research I do myself. Often the excursions I book include something about about the history of the area we are visiting. I can parasail, bake on the beach or deck, shop, etc., here in Florida. I love sitting on the cabin balcony on sea days reading my book but would set my book aside for a 1-2 hour presentation any sea day over bingo, napkin folding, cooking, etc. I enjoyed those before but now, well, kinda been there, done that. Just IMHO.

[mikishel]

Our last cruise was with NCL. The best thing about the cruise was the lecture series. We had an interesting series on astronomy from a retired military pilot. He lectured in the day and took us out stargazing at night. Using a laser pointer, he pointed out constellations, etc. He also taught us how to find due north. His wife taught classes in American Sign Language. Also there was a guy who taught us some interesting memory tricks.

 

The cruise was from Hawaii to the west coast and we had 4 sea days in a row, so there were many opportunities for lectures. The rest of the cruise was not good though, so I would not go back to NCL just for the lectures. I can get that on Celebrity along with an awesome cruise experience, great meals, and fabulous service.

 

Now with all things being equal between Carnival and RCI, I would definitely go with RCI and the lectures. BTW our next cruise is with RCI.

[G'ma]

I don't give a hoot about guest lecturers, nor bingo, nor the shows, the children's programs, the rock walls and ice skating rinks.

 

What I want is the best price for a solo traveler in a balcony for a 7 day cruise, good food- carefully prepared and attractively served.

 

I'll take care of the rest of my "cruise experience" by myself.

 

Carnival offers all these things and more. If RCCL offered them, I'd be cruising RCCL.

[critterchick]

So do the luxury lines offer significantly more lectures on their cruises than RCI? I believe others have said that's the case. Maybe RCI doesn't have as much of an upscale clientele as is perceived, because I'm seeing 53% wouldn't be interested in lectures at all. Wonder how those numbers compare with the education level of RCI cruisers--if they're any correlation. I also wonder what the results would be like if I made a similar Poll on the luxury liner forums, where there are likely more college grads and folks with advanced degrees (just guessing--could be flat wrong).

 

Oh, please. I have a college degree and two advanced degrees and I'm still immature, as is my college degree and one advanced degree husband, which is why we prefer sailing the mass market lines. Having lots of paper on the wall doesn't guarantee, or even make more likely, that one will welcome lectures onboard.

 

I loved our Azamara cruise to Italy, but the lecturer who spent 45 minutes talking about who assassinated whom in medieval Italy almost made me cry. (On the other hand, my Renaissance history prof at Princeton who set up a medieval cannon in the lecture hall was a blast, pun intended.) I cruise for ports and for fun activities. If there's something that will teach me while I"m having fun, I'm all for it, but my idea of fun doesn't include returning to those happy bygone college days.

 

HAL has culinary classes, both for free and ones you pay for. They have modified their movie theaters to be culinary arts centers class rooms (and movie theaters when not in use).

 

ooh.

[Aquahound]

I don't give a hoot about guest lecturers' date=' nor bingo, nor the shows, the children's programs, the rock walls and ice skating rinks.

 

Carnival offers all these things and more. If RCCL offered them, I'd be cruising RCCL.[/quote']

 

That wasn't the question posted by the OP, but thank you for your usual dose of I hate RCI sarcasm. :rolleyes:

[HorrorFan]

Maybe RCI doesn't have as much of an upscale clientele as is perceived, because I'm seeing 53% wouldn't be interested in lectures at all.

Or maybe people don't wish to sit in a lecture hall listening to someone drone on (interesting topic or not) while they are on VACATION. It doesn't mean they have no interest in learning new things. Good grief.

Honestly, its probably one of the last things I would think of doing while on a cruise.

[G'ma]

That wasn't the question posted by the OP, but thank you for your usual dose of I hate RCI sarcasm. :rolleyes:

 

You comment doesn't address the question posted by the OP at all.....just a snarky personal attack and some wrongheaded logic. The question was about cruising options....not "what do you think of G'ma".

 

At least I stayed on topic.