A river cruise holiday is a fantastic way to experience new and exciting cultures from the waterways of the world. Many people get a great a thrill from absorbing fresh knowledge and learning new things about their chosen ports when they get the chance to disembark their vessel and explore. Many river cruise lines will provide their passengers with guest speakers and excursion guides, to give an thorough insight into and share their extensive knowledge of the history and culture of certain ports around the world. Listening to these guest speakers and guides is a marvellous way to get the most out of your river cruise getaway and learn something new in the process.

Themed cruises often offer the opportunity to hear from guest speakers whilst on-board and embark on guided excursions led by experts. AmaWaterways provide several types of themed cruises for travellers with specific interests. Wine themed cruises along the Danube, Rhone and Seine Rivers through France, Spain and Germany are a great way to explore your palette for claret. Group excursions to local vineyards and wineries are often led by guests speakers or expert guides. These day trips can offer an excellent insight into the wine culture of the local area, leaving travellers more informed than they would have been touring the facilities on their own.

AmaWaterways also offer other themed cruises with specialist excursions, guest speakers and tour guides including chocolate themed voyages through Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic, amongst other locations, and Jewish Heritage explorations along the Danube, allowing passengers the opportunity to learn more about their Jewish roots in Europe with the assistance of guides and guest speakers.

The music cruises operated by Avalon Waterways are also currently very popular. Avalon offer a fascinating jazz cruise and provide a jazz expert to lecture and perform for guests as they cruise to some of the best jazz scenes in Europe and attend several renowned events. Jazz enthusiasts will be excited to hear from famous musicians, appointed as guest speakers, talking about their experiences in the music world and leading groups to attend music festivals across France in locations including Vienne and Paris.

Guest speakers can provide passengers with more than they bargained for when embarking on an exciting and cultural river cruise holiday. These expert guides are placed specifically for the benefit of curious passengers hoping to witness an engrossing lecture about of guided tour of the destinations on their itinerary and come away from their river cruise feeling enriched and knowledgeable. Guest speakers including well-known celebrities, historians, scientists, wine experts and industry leaders have featured on river cruise vessels in the past and 2014 is sure to be no exception, as an excellent line-up of guest speakers are sure to be announced by river cruise lines for the coming year.

Image Credits: Crystal Brooks – wikimedia.org