Surprises at sea: all aboard for the unexpected

Stroll through a Mexican plaza and you might spy colourful cut-out bunting fluttering overhead. You've just clocked the traditional folk art of papel picado (or "pecked paper"). The panels, featuring intricate designs that incorporate motifs such as flowers, skeletons, angels, birds and words, add flair to Day of the Dead celebrations, religious festivals, street parties and just about any other excuse for a fiesta.

It looks difficult to make but I learned how to do it thanks to a craft workshop during a Holland America San Diego-Mexico roundtrip cruise. Following our teachers' instructions, we each chose four sheets of differently coloured tissue paper, folded them in half and used a template to help snip out the shapes (in my case, hearts and skulls). The top edges were then folded over a long piece of string and glued into place. To this day, my papel picado banner hangs between two picture frames in my house, maintaining a surprise place in my heart.

While it's often impossible to know before a cruise what classes, workshops and lectures will be on offer, before I bunk down each night you'll find me perusing the daily activities planner to see what takes my fancy for the next day (Bracelet making? Yes! Salsa-dancing? Sign me up! Clogging? Turns out once was enough). Usually, I circle more activities than I could possibly squeeze in but, hey, that's part of the fun of cruising.

Holland America will divulge more than how to create papel picado aboard its solar eclipse cruise off Mexico next year. Adam Burgasser, a University of California San Diego professor of astronomy and astrophysics, will be guest speaker on the Koningsdam as the ship sails off Mexico within the narrow "path of totality" for the April 8 total solar eclipse. Before the big event, he'll deliver lectures on the ship's World Stage and help passengers create their own eclipse viewers.

Lindblad Expeditions, in partnership with National Geographic, is teaching kids how to look at the world like an explorer. On Galapagos, Alaska, Baja California and Journey to Antarctica: The White Continent expeditions, mentors and naturalists help nurture budding explorers with excursions and onboard activities. They might include collecting plankton for inspection under a video microscope, learning how to capture the natural world in slow-mo and time-lapse videos, and learning the features of the night sky.

As part of Princess Cruises' Across the Ditch program for its New Zealand cruises, passengers can embrace Maori culture by learning the haka - that intimidating ceremonial war dance or challenge made famous by the All Blacks - and Maori poi dancing (the twirling of tethered weights).

On Uniworld's Ganges River cruises in India, passengers are joined by a local yogi. Guests can join daily yoga and meditation practices as part of the line's Wellness Program (while aboard, you'll also learn how to wrap a sari).

Read more on Explore:

Plenty of cruises feature photography lessons but Aurora Expeditions' March 8, 2024 Antarctica cruise takes it up a notch - or is that down - by bringing aboard underwater photography specialists Jett and Kathryn Britnell. The Circle and Weddell itinerary is an unusual one, too, as the Sylvia Earle expedition ship travels below the Antarctic Circle and will try forging a path through the icy Weddell Sea.

Cunard's Great Australian Culinary Voyage, a roundtrip from Melbourne aboard the Queen Elizabeth (January 5-12), features a who's who of the country's culinary scene. Karen Martini will give talks and join panel discussions, Darren Purchese will divulge his pastry secrets while Indigenous chef Mark Olive will share how best to showcase Australia's native ingredients.

Silversea's immersive culinary program includes cooking classes aboard three vessels (Silver Dawn, Silver Moon, Silver Nova). In the S.A.L.T. Lab, small groups can cook a local recipe while learning about the heritage of the ingredients. Likewise, Regent Seven Seas Cruises offers themed cooking classes in its Culinary Arts Kitchen aboard several ships. Using induction cooktops, guests can try their hand at Patagonian grilling, Greek favourites or French classics.

Those intrigued by royalty can join Seabourn Encore's Aegean royal interest voyage from Greece to Turkey (November 5-12, 2023). Grant Harrold, former butler to Their Majesties, King Charles III and Queen Camilla, will discuss life as a royal butler and host a royal etiquette class. Celebrity photographer Brian Aris, who snapped the official 70th birthday portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, will also take to the microphone.

If you're sailing aboard Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Eclipse or Celebrity Solstice, you can sign up for a Hot Glass Class. This glassblowing workshop, conducted at the Lawn Club, allows you to choose one of eight designs - perhaps a vase, starfish or paperweight - which, after cooling for 12 hours, is wrapped so you can transport your creation home.

Some cruises feature an extra-special passenger who will share their life experiences during the journey. As part of river-cruise operator Avalon Waterways Storyteller Series, Scottish actor, Graham McTavish, who has starred in The Hobbit film trilogy and Outlander TV series, will regale passengers with tales while cruising the Rhine (departing October 12, 2024). As you travel from Switzerland to Holland, he might also discuss the best-selling book, Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other, he co-authored with Outlander co-star Sam Heughan.

Sarah Faberge, great-granddaughter of master Russian jeweller and goldsmith Peter Carl Faberge, will sail aboard Seven Seas Grandeur as part of Regent Seven Seas Cruises' Spotlight program. The 10-night Mediterranean cruise departs Rome on July 1 and, before disembarking in Monte Carlo, you'll learn about the Faberge brand's evolution from creator of Imperial eggs (now worth millions of dollars each) to contemporary fine jewellery from the line's newly announced godmother.

Adventurer and explorer Peter Hillary, who's followed in the footsteps of his famous father, Sir Edmund Hillary, in climbing Mt Everest and in 1999 forged a new overland route to the South Pole, is the guest speaker aboard a Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Antarctica cruise. Departing Ushuaia on October 30, 2024, the route also includes the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, where it's a tradition to toast Sir Ernest Shackleton at his gravesite.