Friday, April 27th, 2007...5:35 pm
Carnival Freedom January 19, 2008, is the only place to be, especially if your name is Angelina Jolie
Hello From Katakolon, Greece
Just before I start someone had asked for photos of the crew so I thought you might like this one of all the crew taken while we were still in the Venice shipyard.
The weather was fine today but the smell was not. No, you do not need glasses, I did say smell. There are natural gas reserves in this area of Greece and today those reserves were being…….well………less than reserved. The sea smelled like it had eaten 1 million eggs for breakfast and was giving our guests the resulting good news.
Apart from the slight aroma in the air, it was a beautiful day. It was also a landmark day as we were in port with another big cruise liner for the first time this season, Princess Cruises’ Emerald Princess. That meant 6,000 guests were ashore in Katakolon, which considering the town’s population is only 11,000, shows you how the town’s restaurant and shop owners were jumping up and down for joy and rubbing their hands with glee.
The temperature was in the mid-60s today — a little cooler than the previous ports but still a wonderful day as many guests headed to Olympia. Olympia is not only famous for the stadium and Temple of Zeus but also for the stunning collection of statues that were found during the excavations. Here are two that stood out for me at the Olympia Museum. The one of Zeus is PG-13!
This will be a shorter blog than usual because I will not be hosting the Q & A session today, however, I will reply to your questions tomorrow I promise.
Oh, and by the way, Heidi and I had very strong words this morning concerning a certain picture that she posted of me in bed watching a DVD. So, payback will be just around the corner! At least she showed you the one where I have the covers over me.
So, before we talk about the exciting news about the bloggers cruise, here is a little something I thought I would share from this cruise.
As you know from a blog a few days ago we had a couple who missed the vessel in Izmir who I can (with their kind permission) unveil as Mr. and Mrs. Leong from …are you ready for it…………….a town called………………………..BORING, OREGON.
Now their cruise has been nothing like BORING and I had a chance to chat with them today over a cup of coffee. Here, is their story. The Leongs decided on Monday morning over breakfast that they would get off the ship and try and get to Ephesus. They had a cab drive them for an hour to the site and they enjoyed the famous Grand Walk, The Old Wells, The Great Band Room and Emperor Hadrian’s Library. They had asked the driver to come back at 2:30 pm which would mean they would have been back at the ship by 3:30 pm. No problem as the ship sails at 4:00 pm.
Unfortunately, they both had made a bit of a boo-boo (is that a word?). The night before we had asked the guests to turn their watches one hour forward and they had both turned their watches one hour BACK. So, the driver had been told to come back at 2:00 pm and arrived a little late at 2:15 pm, which, of course, was actually 3:15 pm. They eventually arrived at the ship at 4:35 pm and we had sailed at 4:15 pm having waited as long as we could.
Now, you are probably thinking why did they both change their watches the wrong way? I asked the same question and here is the answer from Mrs. Leong: “IT WAS HIS FAULT, I SAID IT WAS FORWARD BUT HE SAID, ‘NO ITS BACK.’ I SAID LET’S GO BACK TO THE CABIN AND CHECK THE CAPERS AND NOTE THAT IS LEFT ON THE PILLOW. BUT HE SAID, ‘NO, LET’S JUST GO!’”
So, no shocker then — it was the man’s fault.
That is, unfortunately, not the end of the story as you will now discover. Having realized they had missed the ship they asked a port official for help who eventually found our ship’s agent. They arranged a hotel in Izmir……..cost……….100 euros. The problem was the only room available had two single beds (it was their anniversary cruise) and they both had a sleepless night.
The next morning they awoke at 5 am for the flight – yes a flight – to Istanbul…………total cost 277 euros. Then at the airport a taxi to the ship cost another 30 euros. They arrived at the ship and were met by our staff who welcomed them . They got to the gangway, Mr. Leong reached into his pocket to get his Sail & Sign Card which is used as the boarding pass out of his wallet and………………..he had left it in the taxi! Luckily, just as he thought the ground would swallow him up, his luck changed when the port security officer walked up to the gangway with his wallet in his hand, the taxi driver had turned it with everything intact.
The couple have had quite an adventure and they really don’t want to get off the ship. They admitted that they were feeling a little down as the money they had spent on flights and hotels had been budgeted for other things. I felt really sad and had actually planned to bring them on stage tonight for a bit of fun. But I didn’t have the heart so I paid for them to have dinner at the Supper Club tonight instead.
Right now, fasten your seat belts because here is the news you have all been waiting for.
ANGELINA JOLIE WANTS ME REALLY BADLY!
Oh, and
JANUARY 19, 2008, WILL BE THE FIRST ANNUAL BLOG THINGY CRUISE
There was a lot of discussion about what, when and where to do this but we finally decided on the Carnival Freedom on the January 19 sailing to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios Jamaica.
What will happen on this cruise?
Well, now that I have finally got the date I will start to plan some very special things including:
- WELCOME ABOARD PARTY …………………… (I WILL PAY FOR THE DRINKS)
- A GOODY BAG FOR EACH GUEST…..NOT SURE WHAT WILL BE IN THE BAGS JUST YET, BUT YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED
- Q & A SESSION
- SPECIAL ACTIVITIES FOR EVERYONE
These are just some of the things that I have planned but there will be lots more.
I hope you will all join Heidi and I (and possibly some special guest stars) for what I know will be the BEST BLOG CRUISE IN THE WORLD…………….EVER.
Click on the thing up there for more information.
WE HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON
Your friends
John and Heidi
31 Comments
April 27th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Hi John and Heidi, we will be joining you soon as we are on your May 1st sailing and our flight out is tomorrow. I have loved reading your blog as it has been a great catalyst for building up my excitement for my upcoming vacation. I have enjoyed all your stories John. It was fun to read Heidi’s reply’s yesterday as she too has a great sense of humour (spelled correctly) which I thoroughly enjoyed. I would have initially thought a blog written by a C.D. would be very much like an infomercial, thank you both for sharing your humour, emotions and honesty. I can understand that it takes up a lot of time and it will eventually morph into something new that others can contribute but thank you both for having made this so much fun.
My husband asked me to request for the two of us to have seating for two at dinner. We are looking forward to meeting new people but it is a very rare for the two of us to go out for dinner and we love the idea of dating at dinner time. Our cabin is 7309. Thank you John and Heidi and I look forward to meeting you.
April 27th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
well alrighty then, i got our cabin booked for Jan 19th and the bloggers cruise. guys cabins are a little scarce already with no discounts for military, past guest, etc. at all!!! wow! it’s going to be a sell out i tell you, but we’ll see you there!
smiles, bonnie and prince charlie
April 27th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
John, you can’t say I didn’t try hard to get the BLOGGERS CRUISE on 1/26/2008. It was me that first mentioned “JOHN HEALD BLOGGERS CRUISE” and suggest the 1/26/2008 date. Now I got to deside to rebook and take Pat to OCHO RIOS, that she hates, or stay where we are and be on the ship for our 42 anniversary. HEIDI HELP ME. I need to know will you two still be on it for the January 26 cruise also.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI xoxoxo
“BIG” ED
April 27th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Hello John,
Now will this cruise be a fully public cruise or like a special chartered cruise?
See you mate in 217days,12hrs,6mins,1 sec
matt
April 27th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Also ps john let fellow bloggers know MAY10th carnival will begin taking reservations for the splendor!!
Briefly carnival’s website had a minisite of the splendor up than went back down.
see you again mate
matt
217 days,11hrs,46 mins,1 sec
April 27th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Hi John, OK I am holding a cabin on the Bloggers cruise. Are you going to be on this cruise? I think the Carnival Freedom is a good choice. I must admit I have been spoiled by wireless cruise ships. How can I go on a bloggers cruise without my notebook? It would be nice if we got double credit towards platinum for going on this cruise. Hint. Hint.
Jo and Dave
April 27th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
This is a good thing, John’s blog has 7 votes !!! I believe we have until the beginning of June until the voting ends.
Bloggers keep on voting here:http://bloggerschoiceawards.com/
April 27th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Question do you remember the movie Mr. Roberts when the Captain(played by James Cagney) made an announcement he always started with Now Here This!!! and proceeded with his annoucement anyway would it be possible to have an annoucement made announcing my friends 5oth birthday, Now Here This Coleen Vito is 50 today!!! Happy Birthday Coleen from you younger friend!!!
April 27th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Hi, I will be cruising out of Rome in June and can hardly wait. Is it possible to have an announcement made on a certain day. I will be traveling with my best friend in celebration of the big FIVE-O hers not mine. We have been friends for 25 years. I would love to have an announcement made through out the ship wishing her a very happy 50th starting with NOW HEAR THIS!(like that movie Mr. Roberts, everytime the Captain, (played by James Cagney) made an announcement he would start it with that line, Now Hear This. We will also be in Venice the day of her birthday and decided to take the Night gondola ride but we’ll be dining on board prior to that. I would also like to have a cake brought out to her. My intention is to have mostly everyone on the ship know that she is turning the big five-o and I know she would love it. She likes to be the center of attention. looking forward, can hardly wait we are counting down the days.
April 28th, 2007 at 12:32 am
Oh John how could you do that to Big Ed he was the one that started the hype to get one one the 1-26-08 you should cash in all your favors to have this switched to that date for Big Ed and the other 60 + cabins that were voting to get one on that date …
SNOOPY!!!!!!!
April 28th, 2007 at 1:17 am
John,
I really liked the picture of the whole crew on board in Venice before taking the latest and greatest ship in the fleet out to sea. That brought up a question that maybe a guest blogger (like maybe the captain or chief engineer) might be able to answer more technically than you. What are some of the latest and greatest engineering technologies on the Freedom that other ships in the fleet don’t have? Maybe on the bridge or other mechanical systems of the ship? Brag time! (Make all those people sailing on older ships jealous.) And after you get through braging, if you don’t mind me asking, how much did she cost? (It is a she isn’t it?)
See you Tuesday. Rich
April 28th, 2007 at 2:05 am
Ok John…i got the email about the bloggers cruise…and i think i can swing it…but i think i need a little more of a push..may i suggest one of the “planned” activities to be an “evening with john, a cigar, and his friends” at the havana club? say you will and ill say i will too!!
Jaime in Texas
April 28th, 2007 at 7:53 am
John, “Blacfly” mentions receiving “the e-mail about the bloggers cruise”. I filled out the form and I’ve yet to receive anything from CARNIVAL. When I try to re-enter my info it comes back “error duplicate record” so I guess it has my info but I’m yet to receive the e-mail.
I still need to know if your going to be on the CARNIVAL FREEDOM for my 1/26/2008 cruise? Are you still going to be the CD on the CARNIVAL FREEDOM then or are you just coming back to it for the bloggers cruise on the 19th.
“BIG” ED
April 28th, 2007 at 8:12 am
John, We have been with you with this bloggy thing since almost the beginning and find it most interesting and informative. Love your humor and look forward to our 8th cruise and our third with Carnival. We will be sailing on the Freedom on August 17, 2007 with 2 days prior in Rome at a Carnival Hotel. We were wondering if it would be possible for you to pull some strings and maybe get us one of the few tables for 2 in the dining room for late seating. We will be celebrating a belated 37th wedding anniversary and 60th birthday while on board. If this is possible we can give you our booking # and Stateroom # as well.
Keep up the great blog and we look forward to meeting you and Heidi in August. Ciao!
April 28th, 2007 at 9:00 am
John,
Sorry I haven’t read here in awhile so let me refresh what was said…
You: “PATRICK TYE – Email me your address mate and I will e mail you a cd…………also check out http://www.gavinahearn.com.”
Well, as I have said before I do not have your email so it is kinda hard for me to email my address to you. Above all I appreciate doing all this for me and I am still interested in being a cruise director and WILL keep in touch.
Thanks,
Patrick Tye (Kuwait)
April 28th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Morning John… 27 days till we join the Carnival Freedom and we are SO excited we can hardly stand it. Someone I work with has been planning this trip for well over a year and she kept talking about it at work and made it sound so wonderful, a trip of a lifetime. Well, my boyfriend planned an enormous surprise, went in kohuts with our colleague and booked us a balcony cabin on the same cruise. He only told me about it last month. He booked all the tours plus 3 extra days in Rome. This is going to be a fabulous trip. And can anyone possibly wonder why I love this man???
April 28th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
John and Heidi,
My family will be joining you June 6th, 2007. There will be 8 people in our party. Ranging in age from 14 – 80. We are enjoying your Blog and look forward to meeting you. We are arriving in Rome 3 days early so, if you have a few restaurant suggestions in Rome I would appreciate the information.
Thank you,
Gary Koenig
April 28th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
It’s been a while since I visited. I missed ice cream cones on the Inaugural voyage. I do hope they have sinced found them.
Don’t think I’ll be able to make the bloggers thingy cruise. I believe I am scheduled on Carnival Pride the following week although it would make for an interesting B2B cruise.
I have added a link to both your blog and to the Blogger’s choice website. Perhaps if more people did we could really stuff the ballot box.
The Splendor page is active again on Carnival’s website and it is another Inaugural voyage I would like to make.
I see some have found the Freedom menus I posted. Just be aware that they are from the 9 day cruise – not sure of the differences for the 12 day cruises.
I even posted a short video of Ken singing on You Tube.
Thanks for posting pictures from O2. I have been getting some questions about activities for those not old enough for the casino and I failed to get pictures of O2 (out of 4500 pics? How is that possible?).
Regards,
bill
http://www.zydecocruiser.com/free07/free07.htm
April 28th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
John,
I did not know about this blog until you mentioned it while we were sailing with you on the March 26 cruise. A few days after we got home, I logged onto it and responded a couple times,but I decided I wanted to understand what some people were talking about so I went back to the beginning (March 4th, I think) and read them all so now I’m up to date. I did have a couple questions that I’m hoping you can answer for me. My wife and I have been thinking about John Harris ever wince your blog about him. Could you please tell us what happened to him? He was so alive and vibrant on the cruise, it is hard to believe that he died on debarkation day. Was he still on the ship — or in Rome?? Did he have a heart attack or had he been sick for awhile? I’m sorry to ask these questions, but it has been on our mind for some time now and we hope you can help us out. Our hearts go out to Joanne and the Harris family.
We have been following the bloggers cruise to see what kind of deal Carnival would be offering for this special occasion. We always book an oceanview cabin or above. I notice now that the oceanview rooms for this cruise start at $729. That price is higher by close to $100 per person than other cruises on the same ship and same itinerary, so it appears that Carnival has decided to make this cruise more of a holiday rate cruise than what it would normally be. Do I have this right in my mind? Set me right if I’m wrong, please.
I have bookmarked your blog now so that I can read it easily every day so I really hope that you will continue it forever — well maybe not quite that long but at least until Angelina Jolie tells you that she needs more of your time than we do. In other words — forever.
Thanks again for our wonderful cruise. I hope we’ll see you again soon.
Bob and Emily
April 28th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Hi John and Heidi,
Love this blog. Sadly I will not be able to go with you on this blogger cruise since I am going on the Miracle the month before and my work (OFFICE DEPOT) is frowning on me taking vacation. But I will be on the other blogger cruises that will follow this one as I see it going to be a huge success. Also yesterday I got some excitment. Carnival gave me a letter in reply to my glowing reccomendations for Ralph”Wee Jimmy” and one of the Assistant Cruise Director Amanda. They said that their immediate supervisor is getting a copy of my letter. Plus i get a gift on my miracle cruise if I call them 45 days out. Then today I got my currents magazine and they got a deal for the SPLENDOR. Going to look on the main website on the 10th to get pricing. If I can get the deposit down by 8/31/07 i get on board credit on the 8/30/08 northern europe out of LONDON!! Can’t wait and I hope I have you as CD. If not you can you tell me who it is by email. Thanks again.
Pam
Orlando
April 29th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Hi John,
We are in Manchester now waiting to join the ship in Rome on the 13th.
Will you be showing the FA Cup Final on the big screen.
Thanks
Peter and Glenys (New Zealand)
April 29th, 2007 at 9:47 am
THE CARNIVAL SPLENDOR WEB SITE IS UP
It is not on the main CARNIVAL.COM site yet you got to use one of the ones below.
At: http://www.carnival.com/cms/static_templates/promos/splendor/default.aspx
or: http://www.carnival.com/splendor
John, THE 2nd ANNUAL JOHN HEALD BLOG THINGY CRUISE, JANUARY 24, 2009 on the CARNIVAL SPLENDOR.
“BIG” ED
April 29th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Hi John,
I also have been reading your blog from the beginning, and also look forward to seeing what you have to say and what your day has been like on a regular basis. I have been on 6 cruises, 4 on Carnival and 2 on Princess. I look forward to cruising with you someday! I am looking into the Blogger’s Cruise and hope to join you.
I do read all of your comments in the Q & A as well as the blog information. I would suggest that one of the bloggers assist you by creating a FAQ that you can link to just like you have a link set up for the Carnival Freedom webcam and the Carnival website. Then you wouldn’t have to answer individually every time someone asked you how many formal days, on which day of the cruise are the formal days, etc. I think it is great that you try to answer everyone, but I also think you are spending WAY too much time trying to answer everyone’s questions! I personally would be happy with a blog about your daily activities, experiences, or people you meet every other day and a Q & A once per week with questions answered that are unique. I appreciate that you want to acknowledge everyone who comments to your blog, but it is not necessary to do so – especially when you are spending 2+ hours daily on the blog!
Thanks so much for all the hard work you put into this blog and I hope to see it continue for a long time. If modifications or less frequent blogs are required to keep up the blog – I will still be happy!
Marcia
April 29th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Hi Bill (aka zydecocruiser):
On behalf of many future visitors to Carnival Freedom, I must say thank you for all the pictures you posted from your inaugural cruise.
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the ones of the ship so we know what to expect (outlets, meals, Carnival Capers, menus and attractions). I did not know this ship had mini golf and basketball court so I was pleasantly surprised to see your pictures of them.
Thanks for all the time you spent getting your website together. I, for one, appreciated it.
SewingNut
April 29th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Zyde thanks for mentioning the Choice awards again, people need to go & vote !!! We have 14 votes in one category & just a little less in the others. Remember to vote in all four category’s!
April 30th, 2007 at 7:23 am
Goodmorning John & Heidi: Hope you had a wonderful birthday Heidi! Well, I am excited about the Bloggers cruise, but the timing may not be the best, don’t know if I can swing another cruise so soon after our Thanksgiving cruise! Will there be another bloggers cruise in 2008 as well? Hope the next one is on the Triumph – maybe next Spring. My son and his wife are going on the Sensation for 3 days to the Bahama’s on Thurs. May 24th, so both our ships will be in the Bahama’s on Fri. 5/25 and we hope to meet up with them, wonder if they will be docked next to each other? We won’t have access to phones so we will just have to try and meet on the dock, their ship will be in port till Sat. morning, but we both get off our ships at 10am so we hope to be able to spend time together there. We come back to Fla. on Sat. and they return on Sunday. Carnival must have gotten a lot of requests on the bloggers cruise, I signed up too as did Big Ed, and haven’t heard anything yet. As I said I doubt we could make it, but wanted to find out more anyways. Write soon, love reading this blog. Voted for you on the Bloggers Choice awards this weekend. Linda & Mike (the handyman)
April 30th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
what if i bring this with me would this help at all to get some of that 10% of nothing..[img]http://images.askmen.com/galleries/actress/angelina-jolie/pictures/angelina-jolie-picture-3.jpg[/img]
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:45 am
Hi John,
My wife and I sailed with you on the crossing of the Liberty,Oct.,2005.We had a fantastic cruise.The only thing we had a problem with was it was a little boring on the 5 day crossing between Portugal and St.Martin.We will be sailing with you again this Oct..The trip this time will be with friends we met onthat trip,we will be onthe last cruise around the mediterranean and the crossing back to Miami.The 7 days at sea are hopefully going to be more active this time around.Please aim some of the activities at middle age and not just the SUPER SENIORS.We will be celebrating our 35th anniversary on that cruise.Our first cruise was in 1976 on the original Mardi Gras.I hope to see you in just afew months.Thats all for now.
Alan & Linda
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Dear John:
I traveled with you last year (Carnival Liberty) in the same itinerary as im going to do this year, last year i traveled with my daughter for her 15th birthday. we had so much fun with your shows, Mr. Willy Wang and his underwear, the fat lady that throw you on the floor…etc .
This year i´m traveling with all my family (we are like 12 people, so i´m looking foward to see you again on May 25th.
regards.
JXB
PS: It´s going to be my sixth cruise with Carnival, i should earn some miles don´t you think so??
Juan Benedeti from Ecuador.
May 4th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Dear John & Heidi,
Well back at home with our shoulder to the wheel, our nose to the grind stone, and our ear to the ground, looking forward to our next cruise with you both. Thanks again for the books, they make a great door stop. Any chance you will be on the Splendor? You Splendid Guy!!!Say hi to Ray, Jean and his Dear sister in law Barbara and of Course Mr. Cohen for us. Your still the BIG Kahuna.
May 10th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Hi,
Just wanted to say “keep up the great blogging!!”
It really is a pleasure to come to your site everynight and read all about the wonderful places you are seeing.
You really are a very talented writer. I feel like I’m on the cruise with you.
I have a cruise planned for Oct. 14th on the Pride. I have been on her before and really did enjoy her. this time I’m going with my daughter and my sister and her daughter. I’m trying to get my ten Carnival cruises in..
Then in april of next year I have put together a group cruise and so far I have forty cabins booked.
This cruise I planned with all my friends and family. the name of this cruise when I made up flyers to send out ( no I”m not a Travel agent) just a women with to much time on her hands..I called it Carla’s friends and family cruise..Now I went to Carnival’s new site for tee shirts and guess what the have ? Yep you guessed it a cruise call —friends and family so all I had to do is add my first name Carla and add our Ship Glory and we have our logo all done. So thanks Carnival again…
All my friends think I have a special in with someone on Carnival.
Have a great day,
Carla Schillereff
Leave a Reply