Adventures as a Cruise Ship Lecturer

By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D.

LA JOLLA, California — One day in 1992, I received a phone call from a man who was representing Norwegian Cruise Lines after he had seen me on television. He said one of their ships was about to sail from Miami for a trip around South America; he invited me to be a lecturer on the cruise. The position was unpaid, but the offer included a free cruise for me and my husband in a luxury cabin, the plane trip to and from Miami in business class, and all of our expenses on board would be taken care of.

I was taken aback. I had never heard of Norwegian Cruise Lines, nor did I know there were jobs as lecturers on cruise ships. I even wondered whether it was a legitimate offer. I did not know anyone who had ever cruised, nor anyone who had worked on a ship. I was teaching and had consulting commitments, so I replied that I could not go on such short notice. He gave me his phone number and said to call him back.

Herman thought it was an interesting opportunity to pursue. He had served in the Navy as a lieutenant junior grade on a destroyer and liked the idea of a sea voyage. I called the cruise line representative back. There were several sailings to choose from, so we decided to take a semester off and go for it. There was a world cruise, but it sounded a bit far-fetched—leaving in January and returning in April… three and a half months away! Should we first try a shorter trip? However, shorter trips only had port lecturers since the ships docked somewhere every day or so. The only ones using “enrichment lecturers” (the official title) had long stretches of days at sea as they crossed oceans. So Herman and I signed up for a world cruise leaving in January 1993. I was both excited and anxious. Most of the ports of call were new to me. The MS Sagafjord was a large ship, like a small city. Our cabin had a balcony; this was the height of luxury.

I had to give a lecture every day we were at sea. Anyone who could afford to take three months off is usually retired—indeed, the passengers were a mostly geriatric crowd—so my topics were not about work issues, but rather life after retirement. Some of my topics included: love secrets for a lasting relationship, over the hill and loving the view,  and difficult choices (such as broccoli vs. chocolate). One of my more popular lectures was what I called “Living with Your Children Who Are Not Raising Their Children the Way They Were Raised.” I would get up on stage and say that my lecture could be summed up in two words: “Shut Up.” Of course, I continued to talk about the pros of cons of giving advice to adult children. I used some of my poems to illustrate my talks. It was fun!

We booked tours at all the port cities. As I look back, it was actually a non-stop honeymoon for Herman and me. Being on a cruise ship is a totally different experience from life on land. Never being more than a couple of feet apart I found very comforting. Cruising is the ultimate freedom from responsibility.

The amazing part of world cruises is that I have traveled from the Arctic to Antartica, from the Panama Canal to the Suez Canal to the Straights of Gibraltar, from the pyramids of Egypt to the pyramids of the Yucatan, from floating down the Yangtze River in China to floating down the Amazon in Brazil and the Nile in Egypt, from the wilds of Borneo to the wilds of New Guinea, from riding an elephant in Thailand to riding a camel in Africa. Between 1993 and 2002, we enjoyed cruising every year on many different ships, from the largest—the QE2—to our favorite, the smaller, more intimate Seabourn ship line. Many retired people have skills that can be used on cruise ships to entertain and enrich world cruise passengers; authors are especially sought. I highly recommend my readers submit their resumes to cruise line headquarters and hopefully start traveling the world.

What I have learned from all these travels is that my view of the world and my value system and beliefs are not the only valid ones. I became less arrogant about the correctness of my perspective; it just happens to fit my time and place. As I sit on the balcony of my apartment with the ocean below me, I  feel that in many ways life in this retirement community is similar to living on a cruise ship, albeit a stationary one.

© Natasha Josefowitz. This article appeared initially in the La Jolla Village News. You may comment to natasha.josefowitz@sdjewishworld.com