- 2023 World Cruise – The Adventure Begins (Post #1)
- The Adventure Begins! – Fort Lauderdale (Post #3)
- At Sea – en route to Falmouth, Jamaica (Post #4)
- Falmouth, Jamaica (Post #5)
- The Tuxedo Junction at Sea (Post #6)
- Puerto Limón (Post#7)
- Zuiderdam and Volendam – side by side – Panama Canal Transit (Post #8)
- Two Faces of Panama (Post #9)
- Library Grand Opening – At Sea (Post #10)
- The Graveyard of Good Intentions (Post #11)
- Something Old and Something New (Post #12)
- The Captain’s Dinner and Zuiderdam Ball (Post #13)
- Mike West “The Ship Guy”- At Sea (Post #14)
- Sunday Brunch – At Sea (Post #15)
- Taming the Towel Animals – At Sea (Post #16)
- The Final Day of our 8th Consecutive Sea Days (Post #17)
- GLAMPING IN NUKU HIVA (Post # 18)
- Sailing the South Pacific (Post #19)
- Island Joy presents Ukuleles in Concert (Post #20)
- Flowers, Pearls and Roulottes in Papeete (Post #21, 21 Jan 2023)
- Moorea Photo Safari (Post #22)
- Snorkeling in the Rain in Raiatea (Post #23)
- Late Sleepers in Uturoa, Raiatea (Post #24)
- Sea Day Brunch and Coloring for Adults (Post #25)
- Horse Racing on the High Seas – Derby Night (Post #26)
- Fashion Show on the High Seas (Post #27)
- 2025 Grand World Voyage – Sneak Peak (Post #28)
- Blow Holes on Tonga (Post #29)
- When is a world cruise a world cruise? (Post #30)
- At Sea – Dr. Karen Woodman, Linguist, Guest Lecturer (Post #31)
- Auckland Yarn Crawl (Post #32)
- Tauranga and a Visit to Hobbiton (Post #33)
- Gisborne Wine Tour (Post #34)
- Windy Wellington (Post #35)
- Let them eat cake on the Tasman Sea (Post #36)
- Sailing the Tasman Sea (Post #37)
- Two Days in Sydney (Post #38)
- Port Arthur, Tasmania (Post #39)
- Hobart, Tasmania (Post #40)
- Valentine’s Day at Sea (Post #41)
- Adelaide, Fringe Festival (Post #42)
- Adelaide – Kangaroos and Germany in South Australia (Post #43)
- Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island (Post #44)
- Fremantle Fat Tuesday and Yarn (Post #45)
- Perth – Swan Valley Wine Tour (Post #46)
- 2020 Grand World Cruise Reflection and Reunion Party (Post #47)
- Slot Pull at Sea (Post #48)
- A valid claim of Bingo (Post #49)
- Indian Ocean Highlights (Post #50)
- Song Writing at Sea with Trevor Knight (Post #51)
- Port Louis, Mauritius (Post #52)
- La Possession, Reunion (Post #53)
- Formal Night Surprise (Post #54)
- Maputo – Hump Port – (Post #55)
- Our Overland Safari Begins!
- Safari Day #1 – Durban, South Africa (Post #56)
- Safari Day #2, Thanda Safari Lodge (Post #57)
- Safari Day #3, Thanda Safari Lodge (Post #58)
- Safari Day #4, Thanda Safari Lodge – Cape Town (Post #59)
- Cape Town – Table Mountain (Post #60)
- Cooking in Cape Town (Post #61)
- Lüderitz, Namibia (Post #62)
- Walvis Bay, Namibia (Post #63)
- At Sea – Enroute to Angola (Post #64)
- Luanda, Angola (Post #65)
- Crossing the Equator at the Prime Meridian (Post #66)
- Abidjan, Ivory Coast – Côte d’Ivoire, (Post #68)
- Banjul, The Gambia (Post #69)
- SNOW DAY IN DAKAR, SENEGAL (Post #70)
- Aprils Fools’ Day at Sea (Post #71)
- Santa Cruz, Tenerife (Post #72)
- Arrecife, Lanzarote, Canarias (Post #73)
- Riding a Camel in Agadir, Morocco (Post #74)
- Casablanca to Marrakech, Morocco (Post #75)
- Tangier, Morocco (Post #76) 7 April 2023
- Malaga, Spain (Post #77) 8 April 2023
- Lisbon, Portugal (Post #79) – 10 April 2023
- A Coruna Spain (Post #80) 12 April 2023
- Holland America Line 150th Anniversary Party in Amsterdam
- Bergen, Norway: Snow, Rain and Sun (26 April 2023)
- Praia da Vitória, Azores (5 May 2023)
I sat down with Karen Woodman for a brief chat
Our first two guest lecturers, Mike West, and Dr. Andy Fletcher left the ship in Papeete after the first three weeks of the cruise. Linguist, Dr. Karen Woodman, and Geologist, Dr. Bruce Nocita, joined us in Papeete and have been presenting interesting lectures every sea day since.
I sat down with Karen for a brief chat after one of her Q and A periods.
Karen is from Cochrane, a small town in northern Ontario, where she grew up before attending the University of Toronto, majoring in Psychology. After graduation, she headed off to Greece, where she started teaching English as a second language. This experience sparked her interest in languages and linguistics, and she continued her graduate education, earning a Master’s degree at St Michael’s College in Vermont.
Moving west to the Pacific Coast, Karen attended the University of Victoria, where she received her PhD in Applied Linguistics. She continued working in Victoria until moving to Australia in 2000 to help create the University of New England’s online program in Applied Linguistics.
After retiring from the Queensland University of Technology, Karen volunteered to work in Bali, helping several different Hospitality Colleges develop training programs. These Colleges, such as Mediterranean Bali, are affiliated with cruise lines and hotels and help train students for success in these industries. You can learn more about Med Bali HERE and look at some training videos they make available to potential cruise ship employees.
One of many issues facing cruise ship crewmembers is understanding what constitutes “good service” for guests of various nationalities. What may be good for a US national may not be as good for a German citizen.
She started cruising in 2014 as a passenger. She was later able to use her experience teaching Tango Dancing on a cruise from Sydney to Santiago, where she learned more about enrichment speaking. Karen connected with various cruise lines using agencies such as Cruise Ship Enrichment and Sixth Star.
You can read her bio on Cruise Ship Enrichment’s website HERE
Sixth Star’s website has interesting information about becoming an enrichment speaker and some interesting behind-the-scenes tips and tricks. More Here.
Below is a list of the lectures Karen has presented to date. She has about 20 lectures ready to go and much more available with a little tweaking to get them updated. While she has done both enrichment and destination lectures, Karen prefers enrichment lectures to destination lectures as staying current with all the various destination issues is always more challenging.
- Do Languages Change Over Time?
- Difference Between Spoken & Written Language
- Dos and Taboos
- Kia Ora: Maori Language & New Zealand History
- Language Learning and Technology
- How Ya Going? Australian and New Zealand English
Karen has traveled extensively worldwide and lives in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She will be with us thru Sydney, Australia, on February 9th.
BARRY SEACROFT
Barry Seacroft returned to the Mainstage and is now billed as “MORE SAX ON STAGE”.  Once again, he put on a masterful performance that we enjoyed very much.
We will be in Auckland tommorow.
We enjoyed Dr. Woodman on the Westerdam in Nov/Dec 2022. At first she didn’t appeal, but I then really began to like her presentations although they weren’t well attended. She’s a real treasure.