Well, that went quick. It’s now 10 pm and it’s an early night for me as I have to get up at 4:30 am to make my 8 am flight back to Rome.
I had a wonderful but very busy day. It started off with a 9:30 am breakfast with my mate Alan at our favorite waterfront/mudfront (depending on the tide café) called the Waters Edge. They have simply the best breakfasts in the world. Should you bloggers ever travel to Southend On Sea, Essex, U.K. then you must go to the Arches which is a row of cafes and in particular the Waters Edge Cafe. The owners are Steve and Ady Halfreck and also the chef (whose name is CHEF) are great people and if any of the 270,000 readers go there and mention my name you get a free sausage! Anyway, here is a photo of Alan Adkins’ breakfast. I had a slice of toast!
I didn’t think that there would be an automatic segue into anything about cruising on today’s blog thingy but incredibly there is, even though I am at home and it’s not for a positive reason. While I was with Alan this morning I went with him to a local travel agent so that Alan could finalize his trip for him and his family to Euro Disney next week as it is a school holiday.
While I was there, I thought I would ask someone for a Carnival Cruise Lines brochure. I approached one of the TRAVEL EXECUTIVES as her desk nameplate stated and I saw her name was Sarah. Now, Sarah looked young – and I mean very young. In fact, the pair of underwear I was wearing was older than she was! Anyway, I politely asked if I could have a look at a brochure for Carnival Cruise Lines. I got no response – Sarah looked as if I had just asked her to explain the existence of perpetual motion or to quote the Gettysburg Address.
Sarah looked lost and said in her polite way, “What?” I said it again, “Carnival Cruise Lines.”
Sara this time said, we don’t have any information on that but we do have P&O. Now, although they are an exceptional cruise line and a very important part of the Carnival family, I was very annoyed that she would not help me with my Carnival brochure request. Alan had finished with his Paris Disney booking and was now next to me and could see me getting upset with Sarah and he was loving every minute. Then Sara added the icing to the cake. “You don’t want to go on a cruise,” she said. “That’s for old people. How about Sandals resorts?”
Here, we entered the realm of mixed emotion. I was taken aback that even though my hair is the same color as Kenny Rogers that Sarah thought I was too old to go on a cruise. Then reality set in. I said “Isn’t cruising for all ages?” I then asked her if she had been on a cruise and, of course, it was no shock that she said “No.” Anyway, she reluctantly gave me a P&O brochure and I left her to go back to her MTV world.
I don’t blame Sarah, I don’t blame anyone. I know Carnival has an incredible group of people working in the UK who market our product and many Brits are sailing on our ships, but not enough. With people like Sarah working in the business, it will be tough to make that change. Maybe therefore, if only in a small way, this blog if read by people from my home country can get the word out that cruising on Carnival, P&O or any of our affiliated lines will provide people of all ages with a brilliant holiday. I want to shout this from the rooftops and I am going to assist the brilliant Lynn Narraway and her team in the UK in anyway I can.
Funny isn’t it, when we left the travel agency I looked at Alan and I said “Well, what did you think of that?” expecting my mate to be on my side and as a frequent Carnival cruiser to be as upset as I was. Alan looked at me and said “Sarah……………….cute, very cute.”
So, an early night and then back to Heidi and the ship. I have 78 comments to reply to over the next 48 hours so I will get those answers posted as soon as I can.
Great news, our blog thingy has reached more than 270,000 smashes and is number 34 on the WordPress list of blogs. Not bad considering that’s 34 out of 1,001,843. You are all 34 in a million people and I am proud to call you all friends.
Thanks to Mum and Dad for a wonderful two days, I will miss you both very much.
Goodnight
Your Friends
John and Heidi and John’s Mum and Dad
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.
Looking forward to cruising with you on June 30th for our 20th anniversary. One big question, we’re big tennis fans and are hoping we’ll be able to catch some of Wimbledon on the boat. I know we won’t have a lot of free time to spend lounging, but are hoping to watch a little on one of the TV’s on the boat. Do you know if that is a possiblity?
Dear John and Heidi,
I have really been enjoying your blogs. We will be sailing with you on the 10 September sailing and can’t wait. Currently we are a group of six from San Diego, Palm Desert and the New York area.
Carol, went to Tulane U. in New Orleans, will really enjoy the Big Easy show. Tom and Konnie Howell will be celebrating their 15th Wedding Anniversary on the 12th. I have requested an 8:00 reservation for them in the Supper Club.
My Grandmother used to talk about one of her earliest rememberances as a child was sailing by Stromboli as it was erupting. My Mom was born in West Didsbury outside of Manchester. Do you know of it?
Keep up the good work; I look forward to meeting you in person.
Cheers,
Peter
Hi John, Glad you’re enjoying your mini-vacation. Shame on Sarah. Not a good way to get business. Does Carnival use the “Ain’t we got fun” commercials in the U.K.? Lots more fun than Sandals if you’re not a couple !!!! Did you tell her she should try a cruise herself? She reminds me of my friend who won’t go on Carnival because someone else didn’t like their cruise. again – shame on Sarah. Have a good trip back to the Freedom and Heidi,
Carol
Hi John, I was a part time travel agent in my past life. Some agents look at the decor on Carnival and turn their noses up in the air. They prefer the old world charm of Holland America. I have always tried to look beyond the end of my nose and try to see the heart and soul of a cruise line. I like Carnival. We have cruised at least 30 times on many cruise lines. Carnival leaves me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. I feel like I belong.
It is like looking at someone in old scruffy jeans and thinking they are below you. You might be surprised to find out they could buy and sell you if they wanted to.
We missed you.
Jo Myerly
Poor Sarah.
Young ones sooo know it all, don’t they?
I’m 57, and just returned from my first-ever cruise
and I am ‘stoked!’ to use the ‘surfy’ term!
Can’t get back out there again, soon enough!
Our too-short Caribbean cruise was on Carnival Destiny, a splendid ship with close-to-magnificent interior design and decor
even if it is ‘a bit Vegas’… ( I loved it!) ..
but the essence of this entry is that before we left,
I asked two cool grand-daughters about this cruising business (they’d been on two cruises, already).
Please note the response I got, from 15- and 16-year old babes…. “A cruise is the BEST holiday!”
When I heard that, coming from that even-younger-than-Sarah age group,
I knew I’d spent my money well.
And they were right. Thank you Amelia and Alexis.
Someone needs to take Sarah on a cruise.
For God’s sake give her a free one!
It won’t shut her up: it’ll change her so she’ll not stop talking about the fun she had, for several months!
Perceptions are funny things,no?
The general public reckon that only wealthy retirees can afford cruises: it may be a money-affordability factor, more than anything,
and not age-related at all, I suspect.
Carnival’s challenge now is to alter than perception,starting with Sarah.
Hi John,
Wow, wouldn’t it be funny if Sarah happened upon your blog one day and saw your picture. How embarassing would that be for her. I am impressed by your willpower not to tell her who you were. Not sure if I could’ve held my tongue. You are a good man.
Mary & Randy
Hi again John,
News Flash!!! I have finally convinced my husband to book the Bloggers Cruise in Jan! I have been bugging him for so long he has agreed. Can I do that thru our own travel agent? And if so do I need to tell him that it’s the bloggers cruise with all the John Heald perks and benefits (yea!) because we are bloggers or will we get that automatically?
I’m so excited. Now I have the Heald’s bloggers cruise to look forward to in Jan ’08 and an Eastern Caribbean on the Freedom in Dec ’08. Can’t wait to meet you both and other bloggers.
I anxiously await your reply. Hurry before he changes his mind.
Mary (& Randy)
Hi John,
I am a Travel Agent in Canada, and worked as a Guest Relations Officer with Celebrity Cruises for 2 1/2 years. I met my future husband to be on Celebrity – another cruise romance that worked out! As a TA, I have heard negative comments about Carnival. After my time with Celebrity, the Carnival Ecstasy is the first ship that I cruised on as a “civilian,” and I enjoyed it thoroughly. If anything, the girlfriend that I was with and I found that the disco was pretty empty around 11 0r 12 when we wanted to dance.
I can assure you that my agency does have Carnival brochures and that we have sent numerous clients on Carnival cruises. I am quite shocked that the agent you spoke with thinks that cruising is for old people and that the agency does not have Carnival brochures. When I was training to become an agent we specifically learned about many “myths” of cruising including this particular one. I hope that this attitude is not the norm of TA’s in England!
I have been reading your blog since the beginning, and enjoy it greatly. I find it very entertaining with some definitely helpful tidbits. Keep up the good work!
Songbird
Hi John,
What a man!!! To hold your temper with Sarah and not tell her who you are! That’s Class with a capital “C”! I think maybe you should send her some brochures and your business card with your picture on! Just one more feather to put in your cap and Mum’s… You are truely the best CD in the business!
(and personally…. Brad Pitt has nothing on you! Angelina’s a fool and Heidi won out!)
Barb the Bears wife
PS… I won too… I got the Bear!
Hi John,
My wife and I just got back from the Cruise (May 13th to May 25th) and both had a great time. As we are both 31 we would probably be considered part of the younger crowd of the boat. We were very pleasantly surprised that there were a fair number of young people aged 20 to 40 on the boat despite the longer than 7 day cruise. We really enjoyed all of the shows especially the welcome aboard and guest talent show one, and we we’re also happy that our table “in Posh # 532″ was with 4 other couples also of the same age range.
That said I wanted to make a suggestion that you have an event on one of the first few nights geared at the younger crown (between 20 and 40). This could be achieved by maybe having two events at the same time with music at one from the 90s and modern (for the young and the young at heart), and one 70s and older music for the older crowd.
It would have been nice to get all of the younger people together early on, so that we could have generated more of a social environment for our age group. At night many of the younger people on the boat found themselves wandering the ship looking for a place to group. When talking with many of the younger people they also agreed that although there may have been 500 hundred of us 35 or younger, an event was never created specifically geared to us. For those of us that like the night life things seemed to calm down quite early on the ship, and other than the Piano Bar, Karaoke (which was awesome but ended way too early) and the 70s Disco which was at its best when the ship staff arrived at 2am, there wasn’t enough of that. But don’t get me wrong, my wife and I are considering a future cruise possibly to the other route in Europe you have coming in the next few years, but my suggestion here is therefore of a selfish nature, as I hope by the time we do, this suggestion has been taken to heart and acted on.
Thanks again for a fantastic cruise,
Mark
well tell sarah that for christmas our whole family went on the carnival liberty and the ages were from 11 to 69 (that is prince charlie that is the old one! ha!) and everyone had a blast. there is something for everyone around the clock pretty much! i can’t imagine not loving a cruise….
smiles, bonnie and prince charlie
(now in podunk!) go to
http://muffin53.blogspot.com
for podunk photos!
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog. We are sailing with you on the June 18 cruise and can’t wait. We will have my two teenagers with us and I have some questions pertaining to them. They have reached that wonderful age where their independence can get them into trouble.
1. The o2 club states that it is for 15-17. How strict is that age policy? Will my 14 1/2 yr old be able to go in with my 17 yr old?
2. How safe will they be on their own on the ship? If they stay together will they be ok? Any areas they should avoid?
3. Are there curfews for underage minors?
4. Are they allowed to get on/off the ship on their own?
Any information about traveling with teenagers is appreciated. Thank you
Hi John!
So from now we are old people (my wife 33 and I am 41) who will cruise with you next August.
By the way, is it possible to download pictures from the camera to a CD while cruising??
I love your blog “thingy”. My family of 4( kids are 14 and 17 girls). will be on the 7/23/07 “grand” med. cruise. Our funds will be limited. We have booked an 8:15 gondola ride for the 4 of us and Kayaking in croatia (how cool is that). We will be spending 4 days in rome before the cruise. We are an active family and want to make the most of our limited funds. Which excursions in which ports do you recommend to be the best bang for our buck. We like “fun” stuff yet we want the kids to get an international education. My eldest daughter graduated from High School this year and will be studying politacal science/international affairs in a great school in Washinghton DC. I would like her and her sister to have a fabulous last summer together. thanks and again I love your blog I cant wait to read it every night. THanks Cindy
What a misconception Sarah has!!
My husband and I will be joining you on August 17 th and I am already thinking of what to pack! We have already booked our on shores tours and are getting more and more excited every day!
My husband and I have been on over 12 cruises (this is our first on Carnival) and I can honestly say we prefer cruising to any other type of vacation. Plus, we are far from “old”!
See you soon!
Sharon
Hey from Dallas,
My husband and I are so excited to be sailing with ya’ll on June 6th. Not only will we be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on June 18, spending an additional night in Rome, but this year we also celebrate our 50th birthdays! We can’t think of any better way to commemorate thes special dates.
Hi John,
I am a travel agent in the UK and we sell lots and lots of Carnival Cruises. We always have enough brochures and everyone knows that cruises are not just for old people. We all love Carnival and make bookings for everyone of all ages, including lots of families. Please don’t think that Sarah is like all Travel Agents here, there are many of us who truly understand the cruise industry.
John,
You are the best! I loved sailing with you and can’t wait to do it again.
Your blog is “unbelievable”!
“We Love John Heald”
Wha Wha Wha Whaaaaaaa!