We once cruised with the comedian Marty Allen aboard another cruise line, and his philosophy was carried out by you: that a comedian doesn’t have to be dirty in order to be funny. I had looked forward everyday to your “Dear John” readings.

I see from this posting that you are on the “Legend” on which we will be sailing this coming Sept. 2nd. I had thought that you were on the Freedom permanently, so I was delighted to hear that you move around. Do you know if you will be the C.D. on the Legend in Sept.? (hopefully)

We just signed up for the 50-day trip on the “Splendour” sailing around S.America in 2009. This is probably going to be the one that we arrive as passengers and leave as cargo (as I just love those chocolate melty thingys). We wish you sunny sailings and hope to see you again. Thank you, thank you, thank you for a most memorable experience.

Jo

“BIG” ED

THE ROBELESS ONE (this is not an anagram)

BLOGGERS, let John know if you also need the “THESE FIT THE REST” size robes.

Also, just wanted you to know that we were having trouble having kids…we had to do it 6 nights in a row (days 11-16) to have our 2nd one. Gregg, my husband, was really excited about that — in theory — in advance. Mid way through that plan – it became torture…but we did it…and it worked…and now I have this 6 year old that I took to Venice to see the amazing historical basilicas etc…and all she wanted to do was chase the pigeons!!!! The other hightlight was in Rome – at the Old Senate House where Caesar was assisinated – it is now a ‘cat sanctuary. We spent an hour there petting cats – because you can’t do that in Florida! Could you do a cruise with all ‘zoo’ excursions! That was good advice on La Rambla in Barcelona as the pet day did keep their attention. Also, they were excited to see the ‘really fresh’ seafood in that amazing Barcelona food market off of La Rambla. The shrimp and crabs were still walking all over the tables. One kiosk had a skinned lamb dressed up in clothes…that was a little ’sad’. PETA!

I wish carnival had a way of posting all of the ship’s photos onto a website so one could still purchase photos after leaving the ship. They could put them into categories on a website just like they have them displayed on the ship. I bought at least $150 worth of photos…but wanted to go back and get more but had to pack etc….that last night…and ran out of time. I also recommended to the photo department to get photo albums with nice covers that had something to do with the cruise that we were on. Last year, my mother in law bought 10 photos albums in the ship’s store for all of us on the Alaska trip as it had a map of that part of the world. She gave it to us in the beginning of trip which gave us all an incentive to buy photos from the ship so we could fill it up. I understand Carnival does diff’t itineraries…but to have a nice album with even a map of Europe on the cover in leather would make the album more appealing. The albums there were very generic. They could sell those on the carnival website also. Sorry, my marketing background comes out.

I need to get back to work…but 1 more story…did you hear what happened on the 2pm pisa with trolley tour? Maybe it was that lady that wanted to go to Paris? As we got off the bus and boarded the trolley, we all closed the trolley doors up nice and tight to embark on our ‘fun’ trolley tour of Pisa…but before we even began…we heard a rather loud woman exclaim ‘I don’t feel well!’. NOT ENOUGH Warning….within seconds, she started ‘throwing up. YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN PEOPLE FLEEING A TROLLEY SO FAST! The people were falling over each other to get escape what you thought would have been a volcanic eruption (i did the pompeii excursion). The people were really rude saying ‘ohhhhh’ ‘yukkkk’ ‘awwwwww man’. I felt sorry for the elderly woman. I fortunately had wet wipes which i handed to her as she was holding her teeth (dentures) in her other hand. Her husband didn’t seem to know what to do. Now you know all those people that come up to you and want refunds and are so unsympathetic when they have an inconvenience (like the ship diverting) due to someone’s illness—well that will not be me. I mean am I really going to get sympathy when I tell you that i was stranded for 30 minutes on the side of the road in the Tuscany countryside in Italy where I had to sit in a field next to an interesting ancient excavation site and had ladybugs landing on me while I basked in some warm sunshine and played with my kids. I was just happy it wasn’t me. It could happen to anyone of us.

So they took the trolley into town to be washed….when they brought it back…I did make a mad dash to get the seat farthest away from ‘the incident’. The woman stayed behind but I was surprised to see her husband continue on the tour?! I know you would never do that to Heidi, right? When we returned 3 hours later to board the bus…the woman was still there. I thought she would have somehow found a way back to the ship. Poor thing had to sit with the bus and wait. Could life be so cruel for that to have been the woman that really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower – but instead be diverted to the Pisa Tower???? Only to get ‘bus sick’ on the Tuscany backroads on the way??!!!!

Once again, thanks for being the best cruise director ever! Tami Starr

I still never figured out how to e-mail you from the website???? Not sure if this is right.

Heidi was the last ‘carnival’ face we saw as we headed off the ship last Monday – I can’t believe we’ve been back home for a week.

John, I just read something on your blog and you are absolutely right…that there should be an interactive Q and A for each ship. If it had not been for you and your answers, my vacation would not have been as enjoyable. I remember calling the 1 800 Carnival # and asking if the kids club watched the kids while we were in port (as Holland America in Alaska last year did not)…and the operator had no idea of the kids club schedule therefore I could not book any excursions in advance for just me and my husband. I also wanted to confirm you had blowdryers on the ship and the operator said absolutely not…it was a fire hazard. Well there are blowdryers in all the rooms.

So because you are what ‘made’ the trip for me…I want to extend an invitation for you and Heidi to attend the charity event I run…just go to http://www.chrisevert.org and see the events of that Nov. 2-4 weekend in Boca Raton, FL. (just 40. minute drive from Miami-Carnival has been a sponsor before) I am happy to offer complimentary tickets to the tennis and gala…and I can even give you a 2 night hotel stay in the area. We are all in the entertainment business and we do charity work (your Turkey orphan blog made me cry)…so I am happy to extend this ‘thank you’ and professional courtesy to you both.

I wanted to tell you another story…will be in next e-mail…must take some phone calls. Regards, Tami Starr