Dr. Glassner has been educating and entertaining cruise ship audiences since 2013. His enrichment presentations reveal the little-known and behind-the-scenes factors which influenced geopolitical events that shaped the course of western civilization. His talks on covert military operations, individual acts of heroism, the influences of disease and science, and the personalities of world leaders are only some of the stories he tells. His destination, travel and port topics highlight the history and special cultural characteristics and attractions of the country being visited and include stories of each country’s unique contribution(s) to world events.

A Peace Corp volunteer when he was in his twenties, an author, photographer and now retired emergency physician Sam has been a featured speaker for the City College of San Francisco Adult Education program. Prior to attaining his medical degree, he was awarded a fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health and received a Master of Arts in Education from George Washington University. While chairman and medical director of his hospital’s emergency department he was awarded the James A. Keaney leadership by the internationally-recognized American Academy of Emergency Medicine.

In addition to living for years in both the Caribbean and the Republic of Korea, Sam has visited six of the world’s continents and has a longstanding passion for travel, foreign culture and history. When he is not traveling and/or speaking he enjoys gardening and expanding his repertoire of destination and enrichment presentations.

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Destination Topics – Russia/Baltic

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Essential Norway – explore the historical and cultural evolution of Norway from the Viking Age to the most admired welfare state in the world.

The Saga of Sweden – delve into the history and antiquities of Sweden and Stockholm from their tribal days to the present

A Day in Stockholm – travel around Stockholm and explore the history and location of the city’s most famous venues and attractions

They Sang to Be Free – listen to the song of a nation that for centuries lived under the rule of either Germany or Russia and learn how Estonians won their freedom by linking arms and singing to the world.

Denmark: Past and Present - learn the history and culture of Denmark and Copenhagen from the Ice Age to the present.

Finland: Past and Present - sail across the Gulf of Bothnia and behold the country Finland. Born of Sweden and Russia, explore its heritage, culture and place in the modern world

The Norwegian Fjords – sail along these languid waterways and learn of their formation, history, nearby towns and unique attractions

Germany and the Kiel Canal – join the North Sea to the Baltic and discover the geopolitical history of the waterways that have allowed passage between these two bodies of water and the story of the modern-day canal as a symbol of Germany’s emergence as a world power

Acts of Heroism: Operation Gunnerside – climb the icy cliffs of the harsh Scandinavian winter experience the Norwegian commando raid that stopped the Nazis from building a nuclear bomb

Acts of Heroism: The Shetland Bus – cross the Atlantic in the dead of winter and hear the story of the brave Norwegian seamen who repeatedly sailed from Shetland to Norway to save their country from the Nazis.

Acts of Heroism: The Churchill Club – risk your life when your countrymen wouldn’t and join the 14 year old boy and his classmates who were the first to resist the Nazi invasion of Denmark.

Acts of Heroism: The Journey of a Lifetime - travel back to northern Norway during WW 2 and relive a story of unhesitating selflessness and unparalleled survival.

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Destination Topics – British Isles

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Acts of Heroism: Operation Dynamo: The Evacuation of Dunkirk – stand with your back to the sea and marvel at the amazing evacuation of British and French soldiers trapped by the Nazis in France during World War II.

Scotland and the Jacobite Rebellion – raise your sword in the name of God and king and fight restore the House of Stuart to the English throne in 1745.

The Irish Potato Famine – learn of perhaps the greatest tragedy in Ireland’s history and its consequences.

The Shetland Bus – risking their lives and defying death by crossing the Atlantic in the dead of winter, the story of the brave Norwegian seamen who repeatedly sailed from Shetland to Norway to save their country from the Nazis.

Black 47: Irish Fever in Liverpool – disembark in Liverpool in 1847 with the Famine Irish and learn what befell them and the legacy of their plight.

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Destination Topics – Europe/Mediterranean

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When the Moors Ruled Spain – crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, the arrival of Arabic culture and religion in Iberia, the caliphate of al-Andalus, its legacy, and its enduring influence on the history of Europe.

La Reconquista: The Christian Reconquest of Iberia – learn of the collapse of Muslim rule, the rise of Christian kings, the spread of knowledge to Europe and the declining fortunes of the Muslims and the Jews of Spain - this is the story of one of the most important chapters of Spanish history.

The Last Days of the Moors in Spain – march with Christian armies and witness the final days of the Moors in Spain and how Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile drove them from the Iberian Peninsula.

Acts of Heroism: Operation Mincemeat – sail out of a Spanish port town to catch sardines but instead discover a corpse from London that was the cornerstone for the ruse that fooled the Nazis and enabled the Allies to invade Sicily during World War II.

Galicia: The Winding Paths of Faith and Myth – follow the way of St. James to one of the most sacred places in Christendom and explore the history of Galicia as you take the journey

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Destination-related Special Interest Topics – Russia/Baltic

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The Czar Who Built St. Petersburg – examine the life and reign of the tsar who opened Russia to Europe, defeated Sweden, conquered the Baltic, founded St. Petersburg and allowed his son to be tortured to death.

Catherine the Great: The Princess Bride – – peer into the life of a young girl raised by a vain and self-absorbed mother and a rigid military father and learn how a German princess found herself in a loveless and sexless marriage to the czar of Russia only to replace him on the throne as Catherine the Great.

Catherine the Great: Majesty in the Age of Monarchy – sit on the throne with the longest-ruling female monarch in Russian history, visit the lands she conquered, and marvel at the revolt she put down, the palaces she built, the art she collected and how she created the Hermitage museum.

The Twelve Lovers of Catherine the Great – yearn for love with one of the most powerful women in history and peek beneath the sheets at the men who shared her bed and their influence on her life and rule.

The Fall of the House of Romanov - don your crown but wear your sterile gloves and witness the roles disease, Queen Victoria of England and her descendants played in bringing down the House of Romanov and ending imperial rule in Russia.

Biopreparat: The Soviet Germ Warfare Program – lift the lidof this Petri dish and discover the secret Soviet plan for world dominance before the age of cyberwarfare

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Destination Topics – Alaska

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The Alaska Purchase – travel back in time to the discovery of this wilderness, its first settlers, the reasons it was valued, and the statesmen who brought it into the American fold.

The Klondike Gold Rush – stop whatever you’re doing and discover the amazing story of the tens of thousands of people who dropped what they were doing to seek their fortune in a harsh and unforgiving wilderness.

Alaska, America & Oil – drill down into the tundra and learn the story of Alaska’s unique role in the domestic and international history of oil and the sad story of the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Alaska’s Greatest Race – race through the Alaskan wilderness with the courageous dogs and men who kept the residents of Nome from dying of diphtheria in the winter of 1924.

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Destination Topics – Caribbean/Cuba/Panama Canal/Mexico

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A man, a plan, a canal: Panama – slash your way through the rain forest and unearth the history of the construction of the Panama Canal

Sugar and Slavery – explore how our craving for sweetness shaped the evolution of the Caribbean and the history of the world

Salt, Civilization and the Caribbean – season your mind with the influence this common substance had on the history of civilization in general and the Caribbean in particular

The Mafia in Cuba – holster your .38 and learn the true story of the interaction of criminals, politicians and Castro in pre-revolutionary Cuba

Cuba & the Spanish-American War – charge up the hill with me and learn of the events that led up to the war and how Cuba and the world changed after it was fought

Cuba & the Bay of Pigs – sail to the shores of Cuba in an attempt to stop the communist threat just ninety miles from your shores - the full story of the failed invasion by the US to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro.

The Last Pirates of the Caribbean – hoist the mizzenmast and sail with or without the law on your side - the last significant hurrah for the Caribbean pirates of the 18th century, how they lived and how they died

The Rogues & Righteous of the New World – flee your homeland to survive and discover the influence of Jewish conversos and marranos in settling the Caribbean after their expulsion from Spain by order of the Alhambra Decree.

The Drug Lords of Colombia – bribe a politician, kill a competitor, make millions of dollars - the story of the Medellin and Cali drug trafficking cartels and the story of how the godfathers of Cali were brought down by an insider

Nicaragua & the Iran-Contra Affair – walk back into the jungles of Central America and learn the deep-rooted origins and the sad consequences of this unhappy chapter in Nicaraguan and American history.

The Mexican-American War – ride with the armies of the US and Mexico and discover the chain of events that led to the war which forever influenced both countries.

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Special Interest Topics – World History

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Biopreparat: The Soviet Germ Warfare Program – peel back the façade and discover the secret Soviet plan for world dominance before the age of cyberwarfare

The Glow that Changed the World – turn out the lights and watch how the mysterious radioactive glow that appears impacts individual lives and civilization as a whole.

Monarchs, Maladies & the History of the World – don your crown but wear your sterile gloves and witness the roles disease, Queen Victoria of England and her descendants played in bringing down the House of Romanov and ending imperial rule in Russia.

The Medicine Your Grandmother Took – pinch your nose and open your mouth wide to sample the nostrums our ancestors once ingested and applied, the industry that arose from these ineffective concoctions, and how these fraudsters were ultimately put out of business.
Your video will be live at: https://youtu.be/40BOfmiW4Dw

The First Doctors – travel back in time to learn who they were, what they believed, how they practiced and what the church and government allowed them to do.

The Epidemic that Wasn’t – learn how the death of one US soldier in 1976 led the country to prepare for an epidemic that never came.

Paradise Lost: The Hawaii You Don’t Know – sail to the most isolated archipelago on the planet and learn how the arrival of Europeans and Americans ravaged the native population, destroyed centuries-old traditions, and then dominated all aspects of Hawaii’s evolution.

The Truth About Body Snatchers – dig deeply with me as I unearth the many reasons behind this seemingly ghoulish practice.

Greece and Italy: The Birthplace of Medicine – explore the origins of western medical belief, how it was influenced by the Church and the training of doctors from the time of Hippocrates to the beginning of the renaissance

Science, Sickness and the Age of Reason - explore the period in European history that changed ideas about life and illness and led to early medical advances.

The Plagues that Shaped History – raise your arms to the sky and pray for deliverance - the influence of ancient pandemics and epidemics on science, Christianity and the evolution of world history.

When the World Shuddered – pre-dating Covid, how global history was shaped and influenced by disease outbreaks of the 20th and 21st centuries.

What started with a B.A. in Slavic studies led to two years of service as a Peace Corps volunteer and a love of travel, foreign culture and history. Dr. Glassner is now a retired physician and an experienced destination and special-interest speaker. Many of his talks, all geared toward the lay person, reveal the little-known medical and scientific factors which influenced geopolitical events that shaped the course of western civilization. Other presentations deal with the history, culture and personalities of the Caribbean and Baltic countries. He has spoken on Celebrity, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Crystal, Viking and Oceania.

Past Cruise Bookings
11/14/2021 Celebrity Edge Puerto Rico, Tortola & St. Maarten (destination)
11/06/2021 Celebrity Edge Eastern Caribbean (enrichment)
11/06/2019 Oceania Sirena Atlantic Soiree (enrichment)
09/11/2019 Oceania Nautica Old World Artistry (destination)
09/04/2019 Oceania Nautica Baltic Marvels (destination)
08/24/2019 Oceania Nautica Steeples and Statues (destination)
06/21/2019 Crystal Serenity North Cape Panorama (enrichment)
04/22/2019 Celebrity Infinity Transatlantic Iberian Peninsula (enrichment)
01/31/2019 Viking Star Cultural Cuba (destination)
01/04/2019 Celebrity Reflection Exotic Southern Caribbean (destination)
11/03/2018 Celebrity Silhouette Boston, Broadway & Bermuda (enrichment)
09/24/2018 Celebrity Equinox Southern Caribbean (enrichment)
09/07/2018 Radiance of the Seas Transpacific & Hawaii (enrichment)
05/06/2018 Rhapsody of the Seas Florida to Spain (enrichment)
01/19/2018 Celebrity Reflection Ultimate Caribbean (enrichment)
07/06/2017 Celebrity Silhouette Scandinavia & Russia (destination lecturer)
05/07/2017 Celebrity Millennium Japan & Bering Sea (enrichment)
03/19/2017 Celebrity Infinity Chile to Miami (enrichment)
01/04/2017 Island Princess Panama Canal (enrichment)
10/25/2016 Celebrity Equinox Transatlantic (enrichment)
04/10/2016 Celebrity Silhouette Transatlantic (enrichment)
03/04/2016 Island Princess Panama Canal (enrichment)
09/07/2015 Pacific Princess Transpacific (enrichment)
04/19/2015 Celebrity Silhouette Transatlantic (enrichment)
06/03/2013 Celebrity Silhouette Eastern Med & Greece(enrichment)

Travel insurance: Emergency Medical & Medical Evacuation and Repatriation Trekker Choice through GeoBlue

Prefer to make my own travel arrangements.

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.