It seems only yesterday that my wife and Assistant Cruise Director Heidi arrived in the Venice shipyards to board our new home the Carnival Freedom. You think you will have all the time in the world to get your department of 65 entertainers together, prepare the daily schedules and bring all the departments together but that time disappeared faster than a Aston Martin Vanquish with James Bond at the wheel.
It was an incredible feeling of anticipation as we waited for the 1,700 special guests to board our sparkling new mega-liner for a night of entertainment and fun.
The good thing about these functions is that I get to see all my friends from the office. When you are based in Europe you don’t see them as much as you would like so it was wonderful to chat with so many.
At 10 am, Roger Blum, Carnival’s vice president of cruise programming and a great friend for many years, myself and others gathered in our show room the Victoriana Lounge to rehearse for what is always the most nerve racking part of any new ship delivery — THE NAMING CEREMONY.
On paper it looks so easy. Smash a bottle of champagne against the bow, applaud, have a photo and go and drink a glass of champagne .
In reality, it is not as easy as it looks. From the old days of swinging a bottle tied to a piece of old rope, we have developed Space Shuttle Technology to make sure that expensive bottle of French bubbly does indeed break. If not, you will see many a sailor crossing themselves and touching various parts of their bodies as superstition dictates.
Roger had worked hard to make sure this would happen and he explained the process to the ships beautiful Godmother Kathy Ireland I could see that it was going to be another tense affair. Kathy and Captain D’Aita rehearsed along with Maurice Zamarti our Vice president of sales who would Emcee the event and I couldn’t help feeling jealous that I would not be the man on the microphone. I tried to explain to my wife that it had nothing to do with being close to Kathy Ireland.
So, the rehearsal became the real thing and after the speeches were made Mrs. Ireland hacks at the rope with a hatchet. I watch the bottle swing towards the bow, it seems to take forever. Time stands still as everyone waits and then the first thing I see that tells me it was a successful mission is Roger Blum performing a celebration fit for the winning touch down at the Super Bowl.
And so, after a lot of stress and worry the Carnival Freedom is dedicated, our cast performed a show to a huge standing ovation, everyone eats, drinks and there is much merriment and backslapping all round. To view the complete video, visit www.carnival.com/freedom.
After a debrief with Roger and the staff I look at my watch, it is 1:40am. I have to be up for debarkation of our guests at 7 am and then embark 3 ,000 new ones for our inaugural cruise.
I get back to the cabin, write a quick e mail to Mum and Dad and then Heidi and I go to bed at 2 am exhausted but with a huge sense of satisfaction and a lot of pride.
More to follow.
Look, friends — there are a few things you should remember before you comment. The space below is for you to post your comments about the post I've just written above. If it is something that's unrelated, please use the Ask John tab above. Now, while I may not be able to reply to your comment below, I do sit in my underpants almost every morning and read everything that is here. So feel free to comment on the comments and then if someone wants to comment on the comment to the comment then go ahead as well. Please be courteous unless the poster is French...........then you can say whatever you want.
Hi John
I have heard good things about you on Cruise Critic and am looking forward to joining the cruise on 13th May 2007. This is only our second cruise, our first being on HAL Volendam to Alaska last year. I expect this to a be a different but more exciting cruise, because of the Carnival Freedom. Being new and much bigger it should be a terrific experience. Thank you for writing I look forward to your radio programmes on board. (I have heard you do this) Good stuff. PS We are from London and next time I am at the Tower of London I will find Harrys hot dogs.
Dear John,
Sounds like a break up letter haha
I just have to tell you I have been on over 50 cruise’s on 8 different lines. You have to be the funnyest & most friendly cruise director I have ever met. I was on the Liberty 10/06. I watched your show every morning in my stateroom. You always made me laugh. Know what I loved the best is that you were not a pretty boy haha you look like the rest of us.. Great Job. Cant wait to cruise with you again… remember Willy Banger & his wife Annita Banger Lol
Congratulations John (and Heidi) on the inaugural cruise on board Carnival’s newest ship “Freedom”!
Anyone who has had the pleasure of cruising with John and those who will be experiencing him as Cruise Director for the first time will find him a most gracious host (with all his team in support).
Well done John! Carnival wins again!!
Good to see you back John your great cruise director! Hope to see you on the freedom in feb 2008 will you be there ?
Hi John & Heidi
We will be cruising with you on March 14th, can’t wait. I really like your reviews, I know we are going to have so much fun.We have been on 3 cruises, twice on the Carnival Pride Ship, once on another Cruise Line. Nothing can beat Carnival’s It is the FUN SHIP of all cruise lines.
Gidday John (and Heidi),
Congratulations!
You are reaching another “milestone” in your life with your appointment as Cruise Director of Carnival’s newest ship – Freedom!
On a personal note, I wish to point out that John’s warm and gregarious personality continues to make a positive impression on the entire Carnival ‘family’ and friends as well as with all the staff aboard all of Carnival ships. John (and Heidi) go out of their way to help all cruise passengers enjoy their cruise experience beyond their expectations.
Good luck for this contract and I hope to catch up soon!
Best regards (as always),
Storm’n Norman
Melbourne,
Australia
Hi John
We will be sailing with you on March 26,2007 Balcony at the very aft of the ship Wow!!! WE are
so excited 1st time in Europe and on this ship what a time we are all going to have.
NOW just between you and me I LOVE FREE STUFF and if you want to throw any Jewelry from stage or free tickets for a another cruise I think I could talk myself into back to back cruises IF I HAD TOO!!! LOL Annt we got fun~~~
See you and all your friends in a couple of weeks
Tom and Jerry and no that’s not a joke its really Tom and Jerry Bye!
I am so glad we found out what ship you are on.. I will be booking a trip on the boat. You have been the best Cruise Director ever. we were on the liberty 2/14/06 with “u screw & annit Screw ”
Can’t wait to see you again..
Hello John,
We had heard that you would be on the Freedom. Bravo! We will be with you on the Oct. 16th sailing with a group of travellers we have put together, some of them have had the pleasure of your company and entertainment on previous cruises, and this will make our third time with you. We can’t wait! I sure I can jog your memory a little if I mention we were with you and “Big Lou” from New York on the Glory in December 2004. See if this rings a bell, “Fagedabowdit”, “I’ll kill you with vengeance”. Keep an eye out for the Jimmy-Jack Tours Group in October.
John, I’m so excited you are the cruise director, we first meet you on the Glory April of 2005, then again on March 2006 on the Liberty….and we will meet again in Oct, when we fly to Rome… You are a lot of fun, we have never laughed so hard…I wonder if Willie and Anita Banger will be joining us.. Anyway looking forword to seeing you in October….stay fun….
We are going to be there for the second cruise.. Leaving on Tuesday from Amarillo,TX. It will be a long day and a tour of Holy Rome for 6 hr then go to the ship might be a bit much.. we will see
JR & Geneva Smith
Yes, everyone is reading the blog with great anticipation of our travel date and what to expect. You sound wonderful. Only 27 days and counting. See you there.
Hey John,
I just found out today that you would be the new cruise director for the Carnival Freedom. I had to write my friends and tell them about this news. See, back in October 2003, we sailed with the Halloween cruise on Carnival Triumph. My friends and I first met on that October 2003 cruise. It is cause of you that we fell in love with cruising. You brought great times that are still instilled in our memories. Willie Banger, and Wee Willie still lives in our conversations whenever we reunite for another cruise. I still remember Willie Banger dropping his pants during the spoon game, only to expose his smily face boxer shorts. Since that time, my single friends and I have gotten together each year for a cruise to Alaska, Mexico, and Italy / Greece. We have not met a cruise director that comes up to your standards. This coming July 12th, we will once again be reunited for another cruise to Italy / Greece when we board the Carnival Freedom in Rome. I look forward to seeing you again. We will be part of the singlescruise.com group. Keep them laughing John, cause we love you.
Sincerely,
Mark
email: hotdog_13126@yahoo.com
Hi John; Greetings from Brighton, Ontario Canada. I have been reading your blog thingy since the beginning and have enjoyed everything I have read. We will not be cruising the Freedom unitil 14 Feb 09 on a group tour with many of us renewing our vows and some getting married maybe, (not decided 100%). My husband and I will be renewing our vows for our 30th anniversay, with all of my family present, a plus.
I was very much moved by what you remember regarding your crusie during 911. Even though I did not know anyone who perished in 911, I can relate with what you said. I don’t know how you made it through the day, week or month in the job you do. I have been on two crusies with Carnival so far and I very much appricate (sp) the job you all do, to entertain us. For those of us who live cruising through others when we can’t be there, this blog has been the greatest and I want to thank you for all your time and effort you and your wife have put into it for all of us.
Thank again Mary
Hi John,
I have been enjoying your blog as I will joing you with our group in the Sept. 10th sailing. My grandmother told me of her expereince as a child sailing by Strombli on the dark. Hope we will see some fireworks. Carol, in our group, lived in New Orleans & attended Tulane U. She is currently on the Alumni Board. I know she particularily enjoy your new jazz show. My mom was born in West Didsbury. Perhaps you have heard of it. outside of Manchester. Keep up the good work & look forward to meeting you in person in Sept.
Cheers,
Peter
Hi John,
We are your fervent blog readers, we started from day 1 in March and it took us really a long time to catch up your blog after we returned from our very first ever cruise – Carnival Freedom (Med cruise)
This cruise was initially our wedding gift to our daughter Silky ( I hope you would remember her name as you phoned her on one of your morning show) but my son-in-law Anthony was so nice to invite us to join with them both to celebrate Tommy’s retirement as well as our 31th wedding anniversay.
We were full of expectation to have a good vacation but unfortunately the airline lost my luggage for all the 15 days trip (we stayed 3 days in Rome after we left the ship). (Special thanks to your pursers for the numerous attempts that they tried to trace the luggage for me). This made me a bit frustrated but we still enjoyed the cruise very much, you and your Entertainment staff had done such a good job that made Tommy not only enjoying his 30 minutes of fame on stage but even has fans that recognized him in the street of Rome. Yes, Tommy is Carnival’s Mr. YOU POOH as well as Bob the hero. Gary has given us a DVD of the Bed Time Story and we are now asking a big favour from you that if you can mail us the DVD of the Welcome Show. We thought that we will have a complimentary DVD for both shows that’s why we didn’t purchase at the ship. You can let me know about the cost and we will send you a check.
BTW, we read about your blog on May 27 and feel so shameful for that Chinese lady that you encountered, asking for reservation of row of seats as well as majong and comments of the Chinese food. We are Chinese too but definitely she is a shame of the nation. Please trust me, she is the exception, the majority Chinese are very polite, reasonable and understandable peoples.
Because of you, we start love cruising and plan to have another next year to Carribean. Can you please let us know which months Carnival Freedom will be sailing in Carribean and will you be there?
Please say “Hi” to your beautiful wife Heidi and look forward for your reply especially about the DVD.
All the best.
Auxilia & Tommy
Hi John,
I have sent you a comment on Jun 1 with a request, I’m not sure whether you get it or not as I am not seeing any reply through your blog’s Q & A. Would you be kind enough to advise me and I can resend my request again.
PS. We were passenger from Carnival Freedom and just finished our cruise to Med. Sea on 24 May 2007
Many thanks,
Auxilia
I’ve just discovered this blog today (July 14, 2007), and am thrilled to catch up with you again. We were on Carnival Destiny when she was new (January 10, 1997), and it was our very first cruise. This week, I booked our 6th & 7th Carnival cruises (#14 & #15 altogether) on Carnival Miracle from January 2-18, inclusive. We feel that Carnival has by far the best entertainment in the industry–starting with its Senior Cruise Director. My husband tells our friends that he would sail on a raft if you were the cruise director; you’re that good. Perhaps we will be so fortunate again as to land on one of your ships. (I don’t know if you’ll remember us out of the tens or hundreds of thousands of people you’ve met since then, but my husband is totally blind, and we had a great conversation about how cruise ships could be made more accessible. Still waiting for some of the suggested enhancements, but I don’t suppose you can do much about that. lol.
Theresa & Chris Zenchenko
I just discovered that you have this blog because of This weeks PR regarding on-line marketing initialtives. When I saw my favorite Cruise Director mentioned, I knew I had to check out your blog. (after 7 cruises they tend to run together, but I think it was the Triumph).
Now I’m going to have to start at the beginning and catch up .. sort of like a slinky….
Here we go!!! Off on a new adventure. After enjoying your blog so much we’ve decided to backtrack and read from the beginning.
I know there will be much to learn and many emotional rollercoasters but for us, it’s ALL a THRILL! This way there will always be a few new John blogs to read to my mom.
Thanks again!
Andrea (OK, so we’re less than a year behind…)
Hello John,
First let me say that I love your blog. So far I have been on 7 Carnival cruises. I just came off of the Splendor two weeks ago and I have planned to have my wedding next year on the Freedom.
This is my reason for writing. I actually have a question. I have attempted to accomplish this task via many avenues but have failed each time. Perhaps you can assist me.
I am trying to obtain a few deck plans (the booklets you obtain from each ship near the pursers desk – not the online version) to the Carnival Freedom. I’d like to mail them to my (non-sailing) wedding guests in advance as they will be able to tour the ship prior to attending the ceremony.
Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you in advance.