THEME AND ENRICHMENT CRUISES — AN ADVANCE GUIDE
for 2008 - 2009

Theme and enrichment cruises feature special lectures, gatherings, tours, clinics, demonstrations, instruction, and performances by top personalities and groups in their subject fields. Often attractions on land are part of the theme. Additional charges may be involved. Passenger participation and interaction is encouraged.

Below is the Web's most complete directory of theme cruises, listed by carrier. Not all ships of each cruise line offer each theme. Theme cruises vary by season, itinerary, ship, and other factors. Check with carrier for specific ships and dates. Among upcoming theme and enrichment cruises:

Carnival Cruise Lines

• "Whodunit Mystery Cruises" on eight three-day voyages from Long Beach aboard the 2052-passenger Paradise between October 2008 and December 2009. Soap opera cruise. Video Game Cruise from Long Beach, November. Series of 10 slot machine, blackjack, and poker tournaments, through November. Cruise Director's Bloggers Cruise from New Orleans next February. $250,000-in-prizes PokerPro Challenge no-limit Texas Hold'em poker tournaments on most voyages of most ships; newly-installed poker tables display players' commitments, table stakes, pot amount, and community cards.

Cruise West

• Cruising California Wine Country, Nine cruises from San Francisco, Fall. Six photographic cruises in association with Pentax.

Crystal Cruises

• Fall Food and Wine Festival with chef Michelle Bernstein of Michy's in Miami, wine author Lettie Teague of Food & Wine Magazine, and chef Henri Brosi of London's Dorchester Hotel, in October. Jewish Heritage cruises, all summer, visiting historic sites, Jewish Old towns, synagogues, Jewish families, and significant WWII locations in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and Dublin. Mind, Body, and Spirit cruises will take a holistic approach to wellness in a series of South America and Caribbean cruises this December. Theater at Sea, during 12-day Venice to Monte Carlo trip in September, features venerable actors, singers, and musicians including Lynn Redgrave, Florence Henderson, and others, some of them introducing their latest productions. Arts and Antiquities, Golf, Big Band, Ballroom Dancing, Jazz, Wine and Food Festival, Distinguished Speaker Series, Film and Theater Festival, Health and Fitness, Sotheby's, Opera, Book Club, Yamaha Keyboard Lessons, Berlitz French and Spanish Instruction, Computer Classes, Finance, Entertainment, Smithsonian Art Appreciation, Musical Theater, Mind-Body-Spirit Tai Chi. Cleveland Clinic Wellness Seminars, with different cruises devoted exclusively to ophthalmology, low back and neck pain, women's health, cardiovascular disease, orthopedics including joint replacement, and psychiatry.

Cunard Line

• British theater, polar exploration, maritime studies, aeronautics and space, art-architecture-music of the Near East, sports history, geology and geophysics, ecology, politics, literature, medicine, crime, economics.

Holland America Line

• Culinary cruises, featuring more than 70 guest chefs from all over the U. S. throughout the 2008 cruise season. Presented in new on-board Culinary Arts Centers.

Hurtigruten

• Classical Music, Singles, Self-Discovery, Birding, Mount Everest, Big Bands, Red Hatters, Killer whale safaris, Arctic Snow Hotel Adventure, North Cape and Ice Hotel Experience, Opera Beneath the Polar Sky, Bridge, Watercolors and Art, Winter Digital Photography

Majestic America Line

• Civil War, Quilting, Gardens, Bluegrass Jamboree, Great Steamboat Race, Fall Foliage, Veterans Reunion, Country Music.

MSC Cruises

• Dance and Dance Instruction,Big Band featuring 15-piece Les De Merle Big Band in December and February, Baseball on five departures in 2008 - 2009, Classical Music Concerts and Lectures, Food and Wine, Hobbies — including photography, well being, astrology, astronomy, baseball.

Norwegian Cruise Line

• Health-wellness-cooking, Conservation.

Oceania Cruises

• Culinary cruises featuring famous chefs, Computer software, iPod, Adobe Photoshop, Video editing

Peter Deilmann Cruises

• International Music Gala at Sea, featuring Wurtenberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, in September; Golf Theme Voyages, Garden Theme Voyages, Equestrian Riding Theme Voyages, Hiking Theme Voyages, Cycling Theme Voyage, Wellness Spa programs, Wine Theme Voyages on the Rhone and Saone Rivers, Classical Music and Jazz on five cruises on the ocean-going Deutschland and river vessels Mozart and Dresden.

Princess Cruises

• ScholarShip@Sea, featuring lecturers and experts in Culinary arts, Visual/creative arts, Photography, and Computer technology, plus courses or lectures on maritime history, science, politics, nutrition, geography, health and fitness.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises

• "Circles of Interest": Photography, film, yoga, music, art-design-museums, exploration-wellness, jazz, Baltic culture, antiques, film, PBS personalities, chocolate, food and wine, fashion, Australian food and wine, art-architecture, literature-architecture. "Grow Younger, Live Longer," a personal health and fitness approach featuring Dr. Deepak Chopra, on Mariner summer Alaska cruise.

River Barge Excursions

• Quilting.

Royal Caribbean Cruises

• Best of America by Horseback. Alaska. Radiance of the Seas from Seward, Summer. Nickelodeon Family Cruise, Freedom of the Seas from Miami, Summer.

Seabourn Cruise Line

• Culinary, Shopping.

Silversea Cruises

• South America Expedition Cruise in October from Acapulco to Santiago, featuring adventurer, author, and filmmaker Jon Bowermaster. 12 "Silver Links" golf theme cruises in 2008, visiting 35 courses in 16 countries, led by PGA-classed pros. 12 Viking Cooking School aboard Silversea theme cruises, paired to regions sailed, taught by accomplished chefs and culinary industry authorities. 14 Culinary and Wine cruises during 2008.

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