Who else is good? With which cruise line/ship?

[ 10-06-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

The best lecture I ever heard (on a ship that is) was from the master himself, Walter Lord. He was on QE2 promoting his then latest book, "The Night Lives On". He was down to earth, a real gentleman, and not at all 'fake'. Frank Braynard, who I've met several times, was also on board and is another icon in ocean liner land. If there's anyone who deserves the title, "Mr. Ocean Liner", it's Frank,..not Miller.

I'm with you Mec; I can't stand anything that has to do with art lectures. They almost always end up being a tacky commercial for a bunch of over-price
junk that people buy at those horrid auctions.

-Russ

[ 10-06-2007: Message edited by: linerguy ]

You and I were at the Bill Miller lecture together on Mary2.

Bill is an entertainer. I meet him regularly at the NYC ship functions. He is as much a shmoozer in person as on the lecturn.

John Maxtone Graham is quite good. In person he is quite reserved. His son Ian, is a comedy writer for the Simpsons

Another good lecturer is Ted Scull. He was on my QE2 crossing. At the Southampton OLS lecture he picked me out of the audience to describe the Canberra in her 1973 New York season. Ted also is present at most NYC ship events.

Please don't misunderstand my comments regarding Bill Miller. I am indebted to him for his undaunting work in all things ocean liner. His books line my shelves and, like Frank, I hope he lives forever and keeps writing. However, the converger in me would be content with just the facts without the syrup. I'm also not convinced that everything he says is totally accurate,..that's certainly the case with his books.

I've not been lucky to have heard or meet Ted Scull (not yet anyway); I've read a lot of his work and he seems like a genuine, nice guy who knows what he's talking about.

Bill's a very flamboyant man. In fact he was seen embarking wearing a fur coat. When asked he said it was his late mothers!

I find Ted Scull to be a rather 'dry' lecturer showing none of Miller's enthusiam or Maxtone Graham's passion. However, I don't doubt that he knows his stuff and is a good writer.

Anyone seen Larry Rudner, who used to lecture on science for NCL? Maybe he still does?

[ 10-06-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

On the same cruise I also greatly enjoyed Captain David Leney, who was a Captain of the Concorde while it was in service. Having spent 12 years as a flight attendant I found this very interesting.

I have also seen "the usuals", meaning Bill Miller, John Maxtome-Graham, and Ted Scull. All three are good but my favorite is Bill Miller. He is very animated and quite the entertainer. He usually has me laughing and also has a way of making you feel like you are back in time and sailing on those ocean liners. He is a very talented man, and friendly and outgoing to boot. I have shared several drinks with him on his "off time" and enjoyed that as much as his lectures.

One of my all time favorite lecturers, and also someone that became a personal friend is Ken Vard, author of Liners in Art among others. A fine gentlemen and an entertaining lecturer to boot.

Another I greatly enjoyed is Bill Ellerson, who spent 48 years in US intelligence operations. Fascinating stuff!

Also enjoyed:
Nelson Arnstein who presented a SS ROTTERDAM Grand Finale slide show.
Tom Nicolai who lectured on the models used in creating the movie Titanic and who is a very talented model maker himself.

I have yet to see my friend Stephen Card lecture, but I know that is something I would enjoy. Someday perhaps.

So there is more to cruising than bingo and art auctions!

Attached is a picture of myself, the future Mrs. Stephen Card, and Ken Vard. Fond memories onboard the stunning REMBRANDT.

Ernie

The two "big" names that inevitably come up with this topic are Bill Miller and John Maxtone-Graham.

Bill first. If you can believe it I've never been to a Bill Miller lecture. This is astonishing (I almost can't believe it as I write it!) because I see him at least every few months and sometimes a few times in one month! As David has pointed out, he is really a fixture at all the NYC-area "shippy" functions.

And yet I've never actually seen a lecture of his. Honest! I've seen him up on stage countless times to introduce other people, or make a speech about this or that, but never an actual lecture. As I think about it this is clearly something I must rectify. It's almost embarrassing!

So I can't comment about his lectures. I could go on about his personality but if you've met him that is not necessary and if you haven't, well, you should - he's certainly one of a kind.

John Maxtone-Graham I am happy to say I have a lot of experience with and he is magnificent! I could listen to John talk about just about anything and it is pretty safe to say I would never be bored. "The Only Way to Cross" is the seminal ocean liner lecture, based on the seminal ocean liner book. "Titanic Survivor" is the TITANIC lecture for people like me who hate all things TITANIC. Best of all is "John Maxtone-Graham Reads the Telephone Book from A to Z" which I will not describe except to say that if you have the chance to see it do not miss it!

Now with the "big names" out of the way I will move on to three personal friends who also happen to be great lecturers.

First up is my dear friend Ted Scull who I see has been mentioned here already. Ted is simply one of the nicest people you will ever meet and he also happens to have encyclopedic knowledge about all kinds of ships and places.

Now two others that have yet to be mentioned... First, Peter Knego. Seeing Peter talk about Alang is the next best thing to actually going there and trust me, you do not want to go there. I hold my breath every time he goes and am relieved when he's back! This is not a cheerful lecture but it is certainly one I'm glad I've seen.

Last but certainly not least is the wonderful Tony Cooke, who I am sure is well known by many of our UK listers. Tony gives a lecture every winter to one of our local groups in NYC and like Ted, I always learn something new when I hear him speak!

Nelson was on the QM2 when I sailed her the first time.

Captain Card: a very nice man, approached me on the QE2 asking about my Rotterdam shirt and recognized me from Liner's List. We then shared tea in the Queens Lounge. He on that voyage had a book signing. Ruth: his wife is a pleasure.

However we compare the noted and less noted lecturers; most people would not know the Titanic from a mechanic. If one is more entertaining, if one is more academic, they are conveying an important part of maritime history to those who do not know in a manner that is easy to understand and captures one's imagination.

PS: Ted Scull and Bill Miller are former school teachers.

PSS: Frank O Braynard is not in good heath

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Originally posted by eroller:
I have yet to see my friend Stephen Card lecture, but I know that is something I would enjoy. Someday perhaps.
So there is more to cruising than bingo and art auctions!
Attached is a picture of myself, the future Mrs. Stephen Card, and Ken Vard. Fond memories onboard the stunning REMBRANDT.

Ernie

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[ 10-06-2007: Message edited by: desirod7 ]

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Originally posted by desirod7:

However we compare the noted and less noted lecturers; most people would not know the Titanic from a mechanic.

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Agreed. I must admit some of the very best onboard lectures I attended had absolutely nothing to do with ships or cruises. Truly talented people that know the art of lecturing and keeping an audience captivated.

This is one reason I think Bill Miller is so talented as a lecturer. Even if members of the audience have absolutely no interest in ships, they will find him interesting and entertaining. That is the sign of a true professional IMO. Some of the other ship lecturers are interesting to ship fanatics, but not so much to those outside this small group of enthusiasts. Most people don't want to hear just about facts and figures, they want to feel like they are there, living through what the lecturer is describing. Miller does an excellent job of bringing his lectures to life, as do many of the non-ship lecturers I have attended. So what if one or two of his statistics may be off. Most people wouldn't know or care. It's only the ship fanatics that keep track of the really trivial statistics.

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Originally posted by eroller:

Agreed. I must admit some of the very best onboard lectures I attended had absolutely nothing to do with ships or cruises. Truly talented people that know the art of lecturing and keeping an audience captivated. [...]

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Originally posted by Linerrich:
OK then, back to the topic of this thread.

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Aside from its many "ship lectures", Cunard also manages to attract "star power" you would not often see on other lines. When I was on QM2 this year we had Richard Dreyfus lecturing, for example.

Orient Lines is another with great enrichment lectures, though on some of the more port-intensive cruises (e.g. the Med cruise I took recently) there is not really time for much lecture attendance.

I have heard great things about Voyages of Discovery's lecture program and many of the bios of VoD's lecturers do look impressive.

Cruise lines give the lecturer a free voyage in return for the lectures.

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Originally posted by desirod7:
Cruise lines give the lecturer a free voyage in return for the lectures.

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Here is a company that provides lecturers for many US-based cruise lines e.g. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess.

[ 10-09-2007: Message edited by: dougnewman ]

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Originally posted by dougnewman:
Here is a company that provides lecturers for many US-based cruise lines e.g. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess.

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It's very interesting which subjects the various cruise lines don't want speakers to talk about: See Here.

RCI, for example don't want 'Personal Finance' lectures. Maybe it's in case the guests are advised to invest there money and not to waste it on cruises? However, it appears that you can only hear a 'New Age' lecture with RCI.

[ 10-13-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
It's very interesting which subjects the various cruise lines don't want speakers to talk about: See Here.

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Originally posted by dougnewman:

From that page I would say Royal Caribbean certainly has the least interesting topics for my taste...

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
I've cruised with then three times and I'm sure that there were no enrichment lectures at all?

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Originally posted by dougnewman:

How long were your cruises? I suspect it may only be on "long" cruises (i.e. longer than a week).

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Originally posted by dougnewman:

How long were your cruises? I suspect it may only be on "long" cruises (i.e. longer than a week).

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I did a 12-night transatlantic on the BRILLIANCE, and there were no enrichment lecturers on that sailing, either.