Lectures

Some ships may offer a lecture series featuring expert speakers. You can attend the lectures in person (usually they're held in the main lounge) or watch them on your in-cabin TV. These lectures can be the highlight of your cruise, providing insight into your next port of call. They can also be (and often are) nothing more than shopping talks.

If enrichment is high on your list of cruise priorities, check the credentials of the speakers. Cruise lines with serious lecture programs usually list the participants in their brochures and outline their expertise. On a few big ships, there may be as many as five expert speakers on any given cruise, representing anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, geology, oceanography, and other fields. There may even be a theme tying all the disciplines together. The smallest ships may have only one speaker -- a historian or naturalist -- who conducts shipboard talks and leads excursions ashore.