Heidi will tell you that there are very few times that I am lost for words but today, I am.
I have just finished reading 90 postings of congratulations on winning the Sea Trade award and after that………well, it is hard to know what to say. I wish I had time to reply to all of them so as I do not, I hope you will except these humble words.
It was an honour ( spelt correctly ) just to be nominated but to actually win…..well, it has left me gob smacked.
I must thank Mr. David Dingle who is the Chief Executive of Carnival U.K. for collecting the award for me in Hamburg, Germany last night and apologize for the excess baggage charge he had to pay to get the trophy back home. Thanks David.
The list of people I wish to thank is long and extensive and I don’t want this to sound like an Oscar speech but I must pay tribute to the following people.
The Interactive Marketing team who works so hard behind the scenes each and every day posting the blog thingies.
Vance Guliksen who edits and spell checks every blog. Thanks mate. Also, Jennifer De La Cruz and Tim Gallagher who check each blog for content and who quake at some of the things I write and to Jennifer who thicks I ma the wast spaller im tah wolrld.
Chris Prideaux and Roger Blum who have allowed me to lots of space and time to write the blog and constantly support whatever I do as Senior Cruise Director.
PA 007………….Where would this blog be without our super spy………….they really add the icing to the blog cake (sugar free, of course). Thanks PA 007………sincerely.
There are many other friends & colleagues such as Natko, Christine, Vicki, Roberta, Frank and the list goes on who have been such wonderful supporters of the blog and whom I owe so much.
Then there is Heidi…………..what can I say………………well, without her there would be no blog, in fact there would be no …….me and no Thursdays either……………she is my everything
Finally, there is you. The bloggers and fans of cruising and of Carnival. I am eternally grateful for your friendship.
This award is shared with all of you, my friends and my colleagues.
So thank you all for voting for me and tonight I couldn’t ask for anything more………………………except an Aston Martin !
Sincerely
John S Heald
Senior Cruise Director and one very lucky man.
Filed under: Catherine Zeta Jones, Tales from the Ship | Tagged: Splendor Godmother, Tales from the Ship
Once very luck man indeed! Congratulations!
lovely speech john! and a wonderful honor (spelled correctly – HA!)… see y’all soon!
smiles, bonnie and prince charlie
Oh John! There you go again making me cry! John you deserve that award and so much more. Thanks for being the highlight of my day. I’m still trying to find just the perfect things to send to you and your lovely wife. As soon as I find just the right things, I’ll send the package. Take good care of yourself.
Leasa
Thursdays? not to change the subject but is that just your Heidi that controls Thursdays or is that all of us? Yessss every Heidi has the power of Thurdsay, Friday will never be the same again!…………………………….
Oh ….. right…. award ….
You are one of a kind, and that makes a one of a kind vacation and Blog Thingy,
and from what I heard on the Glory you are well loved and respected by many……..
With all my best to you and Heidi
AND I AM ONLY ONE PERSON!!!!!
Heidi-Beth
P.S.
Hi John, I hope we can surely catch up with you on the October 4th cruise next week. I feel that we know you already from following your Blog everyday. Congrats on your wonderful award. We feel that we need to pick our ship from now on all our future cruises on Carnival not for the ship, but to make sure you will be the one in charge! Can’t be with you, ya now that melody. See you Soon.
Paula and Nelson Baker, Suite #7326
ONE LUCKY AND DESERVING MAN INDEED!
I’LL SEND YOU YOUR ASTON MARTIN IN MY DREAMS AS IT WILL BE THE ONLY WAY WE CAN AFFORD IT!
A LOVELY SPEECH
THANK YOU FOR BEING THE FUN IN THE FUNSHIPS
SEE YOU SOON, KEEP ON BLOGGING!
THE TUCKERS!
John, the Cruise Critic group would like the option to purchase drinks. I noticed in your answer you said the lounge would be reserved for us at 11pm. We wanted 11am, LOL. Please let me know if A.M. is the reserved time. My email is available for reply as well. Thanks for all your help!!! We hope you and Heidi will have time to stop by.
John,
I didn’t even think to congratulate you… shame on me. It certainly makes sense with all you do day-to-day and reaching out with the bloggy thing as well. So here is my overdue, but very sincere CONGRATULATIONS!
If all we had to do to quiet you was give you a reward, I am sure that we could have come up with some sort of 24 carat gold plastic ship on a stick thingee for you before this event.
Again, congrats
Wow, the first time I miss two days of blogs and look what happens. I am so happy for you John!!!!! You AND Hedi deserve it! Your thank you made me cry also. I’ll keep this blog short for you and say congratulations! You are on the top of the world! Your luck is changing so….don’t miss this Thursday!
And you know me….doesn’t this honor (spelt correctly) mean you should get paid more from Carnival?? LOL
Jumping for joy for you,
Susan
Hoi Heidi, I would be remise if I did not set the record straight…in my haste (I would be off-line for one day) to congratulate John upon receiving Roberts news flash before I traveled, it was a complete lapse on my behalf not to mention your part in John’s accomplishments. All intelligent men on earth know their achievements are not earned alone, any man who achieves success knows a large part is due to an even better woman who supports him. Kindly accept my apology for this omission. Goedenacht, Ray
I just can’t believe that it to them so long ot recognize just how good you are!!!!
This is for Hedi’s eyes only….No peeking John!
Hedi,
Do you think you could arrange to show the movie Notting Hill on the big screen during the Blogger’s cruise? I also LOVE that movie! And make sure you make John go to watch it, I heard he just loves it…LOL.
Thanks,
Susan
John, If you put that Notting Hill movie of the big screen do it on Sunday when all the men will be in the lounges watching the football playoff games. I will give them the big screen so we will have all the TVs in the lounges in peace and quiet. Anybody for a football pool.
“BIG” ED
John & Heidi…congrats and well deserved. You have set the bar high!!
It’s finally back below 110, got my head out of the freezer
See you in July..
Mr Heald,
While I more than understand your feelings of being overwhelmed by this award, I believe it is truly deserved — and that’s after only one cruise with you as cruise director and a few weeks of persuing the lovely and talented “blog thingy.”
Congratulations. And my wife informs me that it’s now 114 days until the Bloggers Cruise, and she is trying to discover ways to fold time and space to shorten that span of days. If you feel any rips in the space-time continuum in the next few days, you’ll know who to blame…..
all the best,
J&K watts
Hey John, we sailed on the Freedom with you at the end of August and are sailing with you again for the Transatlantic at the end of October. Congratulations on your award. I was struck by how hard you work every day. You were everywhere. I remember you from the Triump when it came into service. I think you get funnier as time goes on. My bag was stolen from the Carnival bus in Rome and we are having an impossible time getting your customers relations department to send us a letter acknowledging that the bag was taken. Apparently Carnival loses so many bags that I have been in a cue for almost two weeks already. Your people in Miami aren’t very considerate and my Platinum status is useless. I know bags aren’t your area but it is very frustrating. Anyway, see you in four weeks.
John and Heidi,
That award was definately well deserved. Never has anyone done such a good job of keeping those of us who are avid cruisers connected to the ship. It is so comforting to know that even on my worst days I can come to the blog and read about what is happening or look at pictures! As I have said before, the sunset shots are extremely theraputic!
We know that it takes an entire team to make this blog thingy successful so thanks to each and everyone of you. But…..John, you got this institution started. It was a great idea!
congrats John!!!..mazel tov in any language!
I look forward to meeting you and Heidi on our April Transatlantic.. who said anticipation was half the fun.. its still a LOOONG way off!! from what I hear about our cruise you will need a lot of mahjong sets , bridge games, and I see on our roll call someone is looking for a pinochle game….never mind the jelly beans, you need to stock up on lots of valium!!…
Well deserved.
About time they recognize what we already knew.
Enjoy the accolades!
David
An award should go to the Virgin Airlines gate attendant in Sydney some months ago for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded Virgin flight was cancelled after Virgin’s 767s had been withdrawn from service. A single attendant was re-booking a long line of
inconvenienced travellers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way tothe desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said,
“I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be FIRST CLASS”.
The attendant replied, “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these people first, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?”
Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public addressmicrophone: “May I have your attention please, may I have your attention please,” she began – her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14.”
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the Virgin attendant, gritted his teeth and said, “F… You!”
Without flinching, she smiled and said, ( I love this bit)……………..
“I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to get in line for that too.
John,
I’ve been reading for quite some time, but this is the first time for a message.
Congrats on your award!
Sometimes you make me laugh so hard, I could cry. I feel like I know you. Your stories of the conversations you’ve had with passengers…..well, too bad you don’t tell them what you really think should be said.
I’ve been on 13 Carnival cruises, but none with you.
What ships will you be on in the future? I hope to be able to cruise with you before you retire!
I think your expose’ about Heidi’s creams was absolutely hysterical! I’m sure she just loved that part of your blog.
OMG! I finally looked up what an Aston Martin looks like and costs!!! $169K?? No wonder Heidi won’t let you get one…..
Kathy
Lisa and Elaine:
Forget the award, I hope she still has her job. That’s definitely a you go girl. Thanks for sharing.
Ok Big Ed…it’s on!
“that Notting Hill movie” must be watched with a love one! Just ask Hedi, she would agree with me. And from what I heard…John loves it to…lol…I think you should be there to hand out Kleenex to everybody! Don’t you agree John?
Susan
Loved the speech.
Okay, now I’m down to serious count down, 13 more sleeps and today is sort of over. I figured I’d better get busy and find out my last minute stuff or you’ll get too busy and not be able to reply in time.
Question #5,040 – I went to the English Sweet shop and asked about sugarless candy. Turns out the owner is diabetic and they have quite a selection. No jelly beans, but I figured Bonnie will be sporting those anyways. So please put in your order for wine gums, fruit mixes, sour lemon drops, butterscotch drops, citrus drops, fruit drops (all sugarless) Do you like any of those??? I asked about Root Beer but all they have are cola bottles and different gummies.
Question #9,443 – our cabin number will be 7250 and we sail Oct 16th. If possible could you please find out who our cabin steward, wait person and bus person will be. What I would like is whether they are male or female and if you or someone knows what size they are. I like to bring them something personal for all their hard work. If this is too big of an order I understand. I’ll figure out something generic if need be.
We leave Victoria on October 10 for Paris. Hopefully us polite Canadians:) won’t get eaten alive while we are there. They are bound to feel sorry for my weak attempt at grade 8 french and take pity on me:) I hope.
Side bar – Victoria has a cricket field and tons of tea rooms. We have on average 5 to 8 different cruise ships in our harbour each weekend but Carnival doesn’t sail here. What gives?? You would love it here.
Can’t wait to be on our adventure of a lifetime. It’s very hard to stay focused at work now. I’m spending waaaayyy to much time reading blogs…
Must shut up now. I think I’m done. No more questions.
Thanks in advance.
Dayle & Grant Howell
Congratulations on your deserved accolades! Too bad you could not be there to take in the moment. What does the “S” stand for???? (as in john s…)
John,
I’m just catching up after being off-line for the past week. I would like to offer my very sincere congratulations on the well-deserved Seagoing Employee of the Year award you received. I would also like to say that I’m looking forward to attending the “Thong Event” on the Bloggers Cruise. I’ll bring my camera.
Regarding cell phones, you can have a lot of fun with them when they ring at inopportune times. Many of the performers at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival have some very funny bits they do if a cell phone rings during their performance. Generally, it involves confiscating the phone as you did, and telling the caller that the cell phone owner is naked/running wild/dancing on the table… you get the idea. It’s all in the delivery, which you do very well. Might as well run with it, as long at the calls aren’t too expensive.
Pat
P.S. I’m shy. If my phone rings, ignore it.
Congratulations John and Heidi on winning the Seagoing employee of the year award. You both deserve it and so much more. I just got caught up on all the blogs (I was away for a few days) and was laughing so hard, I had tears (spelled correctly) rolling down my face. John, you mentioned Old Spice in an earlier blog……I couldn’t find it again…..it’s very popular in Canada and if you like I could send you some. Just tell me what size, scent and which product (aftershave, cologne, etc). Thanks again for your daily blogs….they are the highlight of my day.
Best wishes,
Cindy
John,
You deserve the award…My family and I are so happy for you. We cruised last year with you and are still talking about how wonderful you made the cruise. We have since taken another cruise on a different line and were dissappointed with the cruise director. what was his name??? Oh we never saw him or heard from him. Maybe when you decide to go on land you can open a cruise director school and teach all the cruise directors the best way to do it. Congrats…The Parker Family
P.S. We will not try another cruise line in the future, we will go back to Carnival.
Dear John:
Hello from Virginia Beach! Sorry for the delay in writing, but Bob and I would like to thank you for making our one-year annivesary on the Freedom outstanding. You read our letters and I had the opportunity to talk to you on the morning show and it was so great, that I cried when it came to an end. We did not want to leave. So we just decided the only way we could do it was to start planning another cruise with Carnival! Which we are already looking into! As you may recall Bob and I met on a Carnival Cruise, married 3 months later, honeymooned with Carnival and then spent our 1 year anniversary on Carnival. We talked about this being movie material. I had said George Cloney or Michael Douglas should play my husband Bob, therefore Catherine Zeta Jones might as well play my part! ha But I have a much better ideal for your part. Forget Brad Pitt!! It should be Shaun Connery! He gets more handsome and sexier with each year! That’s who should play you! Hope all is well with you and Hedi and the crew and please know we wish we were there right now! Greetings and best wishes to you guys! Bob & Jackie Schorman
Oh John let me clairfy my previous note to you. I didn’t cry when we hung up the phone from the morning show. haha I meant I actually cried when I had to leave the wonderful cruise!! Sincerely, Jackie Schorman
john,
ok.. to be honest, I do enjoy your blog including the comments of annoying, irritating and sometimes laughable guests but there are times I think to myself, he might be getting close to Carnival offerring him that Aston Martin, or a really loong vacation!!… in other words “walking on thin ice” but then again, the adage you can’t please all of the people all of the time, etc. etc… my personal opinion is I do enjoy reading everything, the good, the bad, the ugly, and especially the funny!!.. keep up the good work.., and never lose your sense of humour!!!
Hi John,
For the Oct 16 CC group, we would like to meet at 2pm on the 1st Sea Day – do you think it would be possible to arrange something for us? We would love to have you and Heidi stop by and say Hello!!
Thanks for all your help! I have enjoyed your blog since the begining!! I have laughed out loud at your sense of humor and I have applauded your self control when you have met-up with those few people that make you want to say ….Hmmmm.
During this cruise, we will be celebrating my father’s 79 birthday and my mom’s 78th – they have been married for 58yrs – I’m so blessed to be able to share this experience with them!!
See you soon!!
Congratulations a few days late, but nonetheless heartfelt. I have been reading your blog and marveling at the time you take with it. Look forward to meeing you on the Splendor in 2008.
That very spiffing that you got that award. Yes, I have been on Carnival cruises since you were on the Holiday. You still owe me a copy of Anchors Aweigh by the MTC which you promised me when I got a hold of you on a later cruise (I forget which–maybe the Triumph). Glad to see you are well even though it appears that both of us have picked up a little extra padding.