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 been working for Carnival for 6 years and started in 2001. I am now a Team waiter

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Murphy was not finished with me yet.

Good morning all,

I just want to inform all of you that we are experiencing again problems with the RF Network all over the ship pax and crew area. (Nobody can see any TV Channels around the ship). I am investigating right now to see where is the problem.Thank you and I will keep you informed.
Arthur Farcus
A.V. Manager
Carnival Freedom Good morning from a television-less ship………….I know that is not a proper word but it is 8 am and I am writing this blog through squinting eyes. So, this means that we have no news, no entertainment and guests cannot use the interactive service which also means they cannot order tours through the system. I will monitor this and see how many calls we are getting to the Information Desk as obviously guests will think it is just their TV. …………..OK, I just called and so far only 4 calls so that means everyone is still pretty much asleep or have not turned on their TVs yet. I really don’t want to make an announcement at this hour so I will monitor the situation and see what we need to do. Anyway, got to go and do stuff so I will catch up with you all later.

Here I am………..did you miss me? So, the T.V. system was finally repaired at 9:50 am and I did a quick apology announcement on the PA system I had to do this because people were trying to tune into my Morning Show which eventually started 20 minutes late……….hopefully, that is the last we will see of Murphy and I hope he has buggered off back to Ireland.

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Hello Bloggers. As I mentioned a few days ago Carnival Cruise Lines has added a new member to its impressive lineup of senior management. Ruben graciously agreed to give his first-ever interview to our blog so on the day we reached 750,000 readers it gives me great pleasure and honour (spelt correctly) to welcome him aboard.

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Traffic…………Naples traffic is some of the worst in Italy. It comes at you from all sides and directions. The pedestrian has few rights and road signs are…………mere suggestions and crossing the road…………is a life-changing event. However, the horror of Naples traffic is not just confined to the roads but to the sea as well…………as it was today.

Good Afternoon, it’s 4:45 pm at it’s been a hectic day. This morning the traffic situation in the busy port of Naples was worse than ever. Heidi and I woke at 6:15 am to prepare to send the 1,900 guests on tour. Usually, the first thing I do when I wake up is go straight to the computer………….OK, it’s the second thing I do as usually the first thing I do is moan and complain that I hate this job, etc., etc., then I go to the computer…………..OK, it’s the third thing I do………..so, after moaning and then flushing ……..then I go to the computer to see what mail the wonderful Mr. Dell has collected for me during the night.

Usually, at this time I can look out of the window and see the lights of the shore and the silhouette of Vesuvius but this morning all I could see in the window was a big ugly guy clad only in a pair of red underwear. After realizing that the actor John Goodman was not walking on water but that it was me ……………… I knew Mr. Murphy was about to come calling holding one of his laws.

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It’s the blog that starts at 5:50 am again and as I sit here squinting at the monitor I wish you a very good morning. So, here we go with debarkation again and it’s dark outside. In a few minutes I will have to make my first announcement for guests to leave the ship and as always I will be very conscious that for many this is a sad day and there are not many smiles around the place. This is why I try and be as soft spoken as I can and also keeping each announcement as short as I can as well. I always finish with the words “have a safe journey home” and as I type this I have no idea why I am telling you…………..but it’s too late now I already did.

Yesterday while docked in Rome I discovered that we will have to tender in Dubrovnik this coming cruise……………….bugger. I was under the impression that we would not have to do this but the Captain informed me that we will indeed have to do for this call only so out come the tender plans again. More about that later in the week.

How did this cruise go? Well, I think it went well. Certainly, there can be no complaints about the weather as we had 12 straight days of sun and temperatures as high as 88 degrees in Athens. It was the perfect week not to be in on our Grand Mediterranean cruise as there has been lots of rain in France and Spain. This cruise however (did I tell you this already?) I have changed the activities a lot. Gone are the pool games and deck contests such as the Hairy Chest, Pool Olympics, Synchronized Swimming, etc. There really was no participation and as much as we tried we have reached that time of year when we have to adapt to the demographics of our guests onboard. These activities have been replaced with the very popular big screen movie trivia, famous places and faces clips, and more live music and video concerts on deck. I will also be starting the “matinee” movies at 2 pm as well which I have recommended to Todd that he keeps in during the TA crossing as they were so popular last time. So, most of the 2,900 guests had a wonderful time even though we had no baseball………………………talking of which.

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I have never seen the ship as quiet as it was last night……………….Good Morning everyone from Civi on our overnight stay before debarkation tomorrow. It’s 7:50 am and I still cannot get over how quiet the ship was yesterday evening following on from a long day exploring Tuscany, Pisa and Florence during our stay in Livorno.

I had swapped the shows around with second seating seeing the show at 7:15 pm before dinner with 1st sitting at 9 pm. The performer last night was Chris Watkins a brilliant fiddle player whose music includes some light classics, Irish folk music and some standards such as The Devil Went Down to Georgia, etc. Now, I have experienced Livorno nights when I have walked out on stage and seen half a house but goodness me, not like last night. There must have been 400 at the first show and maybe…maybe…..200 at the second show. I called the Maitre D who told me that on both sittings at least half the dining room was empty and that most people had eaten on the Lido deck and had gone to bed. After the shows (both giving standing ovations to the performer) I walked along the promenade deck and was astounded that the ship was so quiet………….all that was missing were a few tumbleweeds blowing down the Promenade. I made some notes for today’s blog……………here we go.

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There now follows a very special interview with a very special man, who is full of Italian flair and vitality.

Ladies and gentlemen it is a huge privilege to ask you to welcome the Chairman and C.E.O of Costa Cruises, Pier Luigi Foschi.

1. Can you tell us about your career so far? I understand you used to work in Singapore so it would be fascinating to see how your career path led you to become Chairman and C.E.O. of Costa Cruise Lines.
I lost my father when I was 15. He used to have his small business to make furniture. Our family was modest but with dignity. My elder brother was going to university and I was in high school. Without my father, life changed. Mama sold the small business and both my brother and I needed to go to work to support Mama and ourselves. While working I completed my studies (Economics and Information Technology). I spent 7 years as computer programmer in the Italian Telecom company, based in Milan (Italy); my city; at the time the computers were as big as a room and less powerful then a BlackBerry today. When I left Telecom I was 24, Chief Programmer and already married. I join an Italian company active in supplying heavy equipment for chemicals, petrochemicals and nuclear plants as Electronic Data Processing (EDP) Director. (more…)

Good Afternoon everyone. How was your weekend? Things here have been as hectic as usual as we cruise towards Livorno. The weather has been just super for the entire cruise and again…………no sign of rain…………….can this continue for the rest of the season?……………I hope so.

Many of you have been asking what I actually won for the Seatrade thingy award. Well, here is a photo of what I have won.

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