1. Can you tell us how long you have been working for Carnival Cruise Lines? What year did you start and what is your current position?
I have worked for Carnival for 3 years and my first ship was the Fantasy. I am the supper club chef onboard!
2. Where are you from and what is the best thing about living there.
I am from India and it is the best country in the world because it has everything. History, great food, beauty and the people are so nice.
3. Are you married? and tell us about some of your family.
I am married to my wife Shepta and we have 1 child, a boy of 10 named Ravi who wants to play cricket for India.
4. What does your job involve? Describe what you do each day.
Being a chef onboard, I am responsible for the “cold section” in the premium onboard supper club. I make the Sushi, the Carpaccio (it is very good) and the salad and vegetables. I am also helping with the deserts as well including the very fine chocolate ones.
5. What is the best thing about working on a cruise ship?
Visiting new places and having new adventures every week. Meeting lots of people and learning something new everyday.
6. What is the hardest thing about working on a cruise ship?
I miss my wife and my son but I know they will have a better life with me working here and providing the needful for them. I cry when I miss them.
7. Please tell us your favorite things.
FOOD – Fish curry is the best, very spicy called Vindaloo……………….(note from John, eat one of these and you will be “Intheloo”……………a lot)
MOVIE – Genuine Indian Movies are the best
MUSIC – Indian Music
FAVORITE WAY TO RELAX – Sleeping and praying.
8. If you could any other job on the ship for a day what would you like to do and why?
I want to move to cooking the meats and steaks and if I work hard then I think soon my boss will promote me.
9. FAVORITE PORT
Definitely Barcelona as I like the Indian restaurant and the cathedral where I go to church.
10. If you could meet one famous person in the world who would it be and why?
Shilpa Shetty, a beautiful Indian actress but my wife will be not happy.
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.
Greetings from Iraq John,
Just a quick note to say hello and I am still reading your blog!! It makes my week when I can get on here and just think of being somewhere else for a little while. I am sorry that I have not written to you sooner but we have been busy and bussiness is always booming around here. I hope everyone on the Freedom is doing fine. I will be heading to Germanay on September 24 to see family some I have never met before. It should be interesting and then after 7 days there I will go back to Dubai for 7 days. I will be in America in January and my Aunt and Uncle want me to go on the bloggers cruise but I will only be there 14 days and I have alot packed into those 14 days. I am trying to get them to go on the cruise without me but they want to see me so I do not know what will happen. Well you take care and tell everyone there hello for me!!
Until later,
James
Hey John,
Before I forget – what size Tshirts do you and Heida wear?
bill
If you need a good laugh…I submitted a picture of me and Mr. Cheap at dinner on The Carnvial Valor. Sorry the picture isn’t very good.
Right after our picture is a picture of my mom and dad. They are blog lurkers…only because they haven’t figured out how to blog yet, Gil and Helen Kean….the best parents a daughter could ask for!
Hi John and Heidi,
I don’t know how you put up with the kooks on board. First we have a person believing aliens sunk the Titanic and then we have a lady who doesn’t want to be reminded to wash her hands. I hope she gets Noro but doesn’t pass it on to others. Who does she think she is anyway?
We made final payment Saturday on our 12/1 Glory cruise so we’re really going. It will be 5 1/2 months since we got off the Freedom so that’s long enough. Then we’ll have 7 months till the Splendor so we might have to do something about that.
We enjoy the interviews with the crew and we find it amazing that they can do what they do. I don’t know how they can put up with the passengers and still be upbeat all the time. We’ve never had a problem understanding them. Unlike the lady from Boston but then again I probably couldn’t understand her either.
Have a good week and hope the seas get calmer.
Linda & George
Hi there,
Thank you for posting the transcript of your John Cleese interview. I was trying to listen and kept getting interupted but once I could read it, it didn’t matter about the interuptions. What a great experience for you. I was excited for you. A smart and funny man he is.
Okay question number 57…
Is it an issue to change over money on board?? I know in the past, I have been able to change Canadian to American. How about changing from either Canadian to Euro or American to Euro. Is this an issue??? Or using the visa card to change over money to Euro. I don’t want to have to bring more than necessary and haul it around Europe.
21 more sleeps till we leave…
Thanks for all the laughs.
Dayle & Grant Howell
Nice interview today with Mr. Gomes.
I love the Vindaloo…It definitely packs quite a punch.
Oh, and Shilpa Shetty is quite a looker. My wife would be jealous too
Have a good one.
David
John, did you work on the Carnival Triumph in December 1999- January 2000? My husband and I took the “Millenium Cruise”, and you look VERY familiar! That was our first cruise, and we had a blast. You called us up on stage during a “marriage game”, had my husband sing to me and then get down on his knee and re-propose to me. On New Year’s Eve, we had the biggest, wildest party I’ve ever been to, though it was so windy we almost blew off the deck! But the funniest thing (we still talk about it) was a skit you had people doing on the last night out. You told a woman to be a damsel in distress and that she was supposed to yell for help. Well, she yelled – she then jumped on you and knocked you all the way to the floor in her enthusiasm. Then you told a guy to be “the villain”. You said, “OK, now you’re going to say, ‘I’m going to kill you!” with venom.” The guy then yelled, “I’m going to kill you with venom!” You patiently said, “No, you’re aren’t to KILL HER with venom, you’re supposed to SAY THE LINE with venom.” The guy said, “OK, OK.” One more time – you go through the skit, we get to the villain, he yells, “I’m going to kill you with venom!” This happened several more times, until you finally clapped your hand over the guy’s mouth before he said “with venom”. I thought we were all going to die laughing!
Seriously, you were one of the brightest spots of that trip. I’m going to have to dig out those videos….
Thanks for the fun and the memories – maybe we’ll have to take a cruise on the Carnival Freedom one of these days!
Laurie and Dan O.
Hi,
Question #963
I was just booking my excursions and realized that the Messina “In the Godfather’s Footsteps” is gone. Has it been deleted or is there just a problem with the web site???
John,
Here are a few suggestions to help with resolving the complaints of your passengers. Let’s start with the matter of tendering and how passengers get irritated when having to wait in line to disembark the ship. Simply have the transporter system “beam” the passengers ashore. You’re still talking about a lot of passengers which is why you can use the “cargo” transporters temporarily for this situation to increase the number. Just make sure your engineer transfers the cargo transporters from “molecular” to the “quantum” setting, otherwise you’ll have an incomplete pattern at the shore side transporter station (as you know the molecular setting is used for cargo, to save energy).
Now let’s discuss the difficulty the dancers are having during the show when the seas are rough. Simply have your engineer increase the settings to you gravity plating and that should take care of it. Your dancers will have to be strong though since it will require more energy to resist the extra pull to the floor (try to avoid any gymnastic type choreography, it can be messy).
For those pesky on-board viruses, just have your ship’s doctor send the appropriate anti-pathogen via the environmental control system. That should take care of it. The passengers already affected can simply go to sick bay for a bio-molecular scan and appropriate innoculant. If that doesn’t work, send them through the transporter and have the bio-filter filter out any abnormalities.
My personal request is to have holographic imagers on the entire back wall of the interior staterooms, projecting the image at see. This would give the realistic impression of a balcony cabin to those who can only afford an interior cabin.
Eric
JOHN AND ALL BLOGGERS,
The Album of all John’s photos was getting over 700 photos and updating and resorting was starting to take forever. So I’ve had to split it up to different folders so it would update faster. So now there’s a Main Album, Out-takes, Other ships and sunsets. So to see all John’s and my cruise albums go here;
http://ekonefe.wordpress.com/2007/05/16/links-to-all-pictures-in-one-place/#more-60 .
I was planning on starting a new album once the CARNIVAL FREEDOM got to the Caribbean but I had to do it now.
“BIG” ED
Hi again John,
Just noticed that Kiciaski, Linda & George are going to be on the Glory on 12/01. We will be on that cruise as well. Anyone else going to be on the Glory then? Maybe we can get together?
Had a thought for a name for Carl if if joins you and the other Spice Girl wanna bees…. I thought maybe “Old Spice”. What do you think?
Barb
Hey John,
You’ll probably hear about this anyway, but I thought I’d tell you that ABC News is running a piece about (lack of) safety on cruises.
They start with a woman who took a RCCL cruise to Cozumel and was sexually assaulted by her scuba guide. As is typical of American TV journalism, they don’t make it clear whether she was on a RCCL-booked excursion or one she found herself. They then go on to make a big deal out of the 40 or so people who disappeared last year while cruising. Of course, they don’t mention the millions of people who had a great time last year, nor do they bother to discuss whether the disappearances were due to drunks falling overboard, or people who disappeared on land due to criminal activity totally beyond the control of the cruise lines, or people who made themselves disappear for whatever reason.
Also, they lump all cruise lines together, so even if Carnival had zero diappearances last year they get to share the blame with all the others.
Anyway, I wonder if you might want to discuss what people should do if any unfortunate occurances should happen to them – from being assaulted, to being given defective scuba gear (which happened to a friend of mine at a Jamaican resort). In particular, when should they report to the local police, and when should they report it to Carnival, and which Carnival person – the purser, the CD, or someone else?
Not the most pleasant of topics, but it might help out those few of your readers who find themselves in such a predicament.
John, have you been invited to Hamburg yet. The awards are next Tuesday. We all know you are a winner now just to get an award for it.So if you don’t get a ASTON MARTIN this will have to hold you over.
“BIG” ED
Hi John,
I received this feedback message on my website. I also have the contact info, but not sure how best to get it to you?
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WOW! I would love to tell John Heald that we have a family reunion group sailing on CARNIVAL FREEDOM on 12/22/07. I worked for Carnival for 25 years, but left in 2001, and have lost touch with John — we were very good friends. How can you comment on his blog??? Or do you have an email for him??? Or perhaps you can let him know that Neny Padron-Garcia and her family (group of 18) are sailing on 12/22/07, and I would love to get in touch with him prior to the cruise. WHATEVER YOU CAN DO TO GET WORD TO HIM WOULD BE GREAT!!! THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!
Love your site,
Neny
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Hello again,
I have to thank Laurie for posting the Bedtime Story. I haven’t heard it in so long and each time is so funny – keep the supply of Depends handy.
Regards,
Carol
Good morning,
And Eric, I have another suggestion for pesky passenger complaints – Just set the phaser on stun until the cruise is over whenever someone with a complaint “attacks” you. Their memory can be erased and they’ll never remember any of it. Of course they can always be transported to another ship – HAL, Princess or they who shall not be named.
Regards,
Carol
Hi John,
I see you can download lots of good information about Venice here:
http://www.venezia.net/venice-guide/guida.php?lang=ENG
Note: It seems you can download the ino directly from this page without providing any of your personal information (name, email, etc.), but if you do, I think they notify you about any updates.
Hi John and Heidi,
Was out of town for a bit and finally got caught up on the blogs. Sorry to hear that you were ill, and so glad you are feeling better.
Also happy to hear Barbs good news and that SouthernDreams is getting to go on her Oct cruise.
Question: My husband is thinking about renting a tux onboard. Does he get to keep it for the entire 14 day cruise or would he have to rerent for every formal night? I think there are either 2 or 3 of them on the trans-atlantic, plus if I can talk him into it, an extra time to wear it at the supper club.
When will you know if you will be our CD for the April 2008 crossing? I am really looking forward to hearing you tell me to wash my hands! HAHA She must have so little control over the things that go on in her life otherwise, how could you resent the recommendation to do something that will keep you well!
Only 219 days and counting!
Hi John, Felt it was better not to have full name out there all the time, so have abbreviated it. Still reading every day, enjoying, laughing. I may not write often, but please know that your blog is a plus to every day. I enjoy the information on the crew, the events and the challenges you, Heidi and the entire staff of the ship face every day. No reply necessary, just reach around and pat yourself on the back for the work you put into the blog, and to each life you touch!
John,
Me and my wife are planning on cruising on the Carnival Liberty next May for our 2 year anniversary, it will be our 3rd cruise. Number one was our honeymoon on the Destiny, Number two was our 1 year anniversary on the Glory with Wee Jimmy, and this will be our 2 year anniversary. I’m thinking about taking her to the Supper Club for something special about how long will it take us to eat there? Love the blog, thanks
Mark
P.S. You can probaly tell after the 1st cruise we’ve pretty much been hooked, hope to sail with you one day.
Hello John, we have a 9am tour scheduled in Rome on the 29th. My question is… how early do the shuttles at the port in Civi start running? We plan on taking the train to Rome and were thinking of taking the 7:05 and would want to get off the ship at 6:30AM. Do they start opperating that early? If not, are there taxis out there that early that can take us to the train station? Someone told us we would not be allowed by the port authority to walk from the ship to the port entrance. Is that true? Thanks so much, you’ve been so helpful in our preparations!
John
We will be seeing you on the TA cruise and have booked a table in the Supper club on Wednesday 31 October.
My wife is not a great steak person or lobster etc.
Is there a fish option please?
Look forward to seeing you both.
Kind Regards
Harry and Philippa Reed Sateroom 7330