Every year, the roster of talent and guest speakers scheduled on cruise ship itineraries becomes more varied to suit the growing number of cruisers. From the star of a reality TV show to a former U.S. secretary of state, onboard entertainment in 2010 will be no different.
Silversea Cruises will host a Black Sea World Leaders Symposium cruise in late summer headlined by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
The cruise aboard the Silver Wind, from Aug. 30 to Sept. 15, will also feature former Secretary of Defense William Perry and leading figures in fields ranging from technology and the U.S.-Russian space race to cultural history and global affairs.
Documentary filmmakers Dori Berinstein and Judd Ehrlich will screen their works onboard Cunard Line's Queen Mary 2 for its April 29 transatlantic crossing from New York to Southampton, England. Berinstein and Ehrlich join Cunard as part of its partnership with the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
Seafood show at sea
On June 18, Keith Colburn of the Discovery Channel TV series "Deadliest Catch" is slated to set sail aboard Holland America Line's Zaandam for a seven-day, roundtrip cruise from Seattle.
Colburn, who owns and captains a crabbing vessel, will share his expertise on how to select, crack and clean fresh crab, while HAL's executive chef demonstrates different ways to prepare and serve it.
Sixthman, an Atlanta-based producer of music-theme cruises, launched three new sailings this year on the Carnival Inspiration's Tampa-to-Grand Cayman route.
The sold-out Chillin' the Most cruise with Kid Rock departs Tampa on April 29; the Malt Shop Memories cruise featuring Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell and the Drifters leaves May 13; and Sailing Southern Ground, hosted by the Zac Brown Band and featuring Michael Franti, Blackberry Smoke and Nic Cowan, departs Sept. 2.
Several Sixthman music cruises are making encores this year and next: The fourth annual Elvis Cruise, featuring members of Elvis Presley's backing band as well as Elvis impersonators, departs Nov. 4 on the Carnival Fascination from Jacksonville, Fla.; the 11th annual Rock Boat cruise, featuring Sister Hazel, leaves Jan. 6, also on the Carnival Inspiration; and Lynyrd Skynyrd's Simple Man Cruise, the fifth and last cruise for the Southern rock band, departs Jan. 20 from Tampa to Grand Cayman aboard the Inspiration.
Arguably, Sixthman's most famous music cruises have been the John Mayer-headlined Mayercraft Carrier shows, in 2008 and 2009. The group says it does not yet know if there will be a third.