Patience………lots and lots of patience……………that’s what you need here in Russia this morning as the authorities check every passport and tour ticket. I disembarked the guests on private tours first this morning because last week it took the average guest 30 minutes to get through Russian Immigration. This morning, it’s the same. You see, the Carnival Tour ticket serves as a visa but privately booked tours are checked much more carefully to make sure that indeed the tour operator is reputable and that guests are not just hoping to have Sergei the cab driver take them to town.
I actually feel sorry for these guests as while the guests on tours go quickly through the line on the other side takes much longer………..I wish there was something we could do but all I can do is to prepare everyone and remind them that the reward for a bit of patience is touring one of the most impressive cities in the world.
One couple are not getting off the ship today………………here’s why.
Guest: —————Ref: 002802658A
Cabin: 1—– Booking#: _________ Added-Changed: 08/09/08 – 08/09/08CABIN ——- – DOES NOT FEEL SAFE IN RUSSIA
Guest called asked to speak to Cruise Director. Purser asked if she could help and Mr._________ said he and his wife would not be disembarking on their tours in St.Petersburg as there was a war going on in Russia. Guest asked for full refunds of his tours and wanted to speak to the Captain or John. Purser told Mr._______ that she would pass on his comments. E mail sent to Cruise Director
I called the guests and did all I could to explain that the distance between where we were and where the fighting was taken place was more than the distance between New York and Miami and was in a very specific area. Mr._____ would not change his mind and felt that Carnival should not be in Russia under the current climate. So, he and his wife will be staying onboard……….and they will have the ship to themselves……….its 12:22 pm and we have only 388 guests onboard……….most of them will be on an afternoon tour. It makes me sad to think that this couple have traveled all the way from Washington State and now will not see the best port of call on the itinerary…………….what a shame.
While I feel sorry for these guests I am having to bite my tongue when it comes to dealing with Mrs. S. Nob who made another full frontal attack last night as you are will now see.
Guest: —————-Ref: 002802698A
Cabin: ————Added-Changed: 08/09/08 – 08/10/08WANTS A DINNER ON THE BALCOLNY
Mrs. __________ came to the desk wanting to speak to the Maitre D or the Hotel Director. Mrs._______ said that she had told her state room steward that she wanted dinner on her balcony served tomorrow night while in St. Petersburg. Guest said that she had wanted food from the Pinnacle Steak house served but the cabin steward had said that this would not be possible. Purser checked with Maitre D Ken who confirmed that this would not be possible but that he would send food from the dining room. Guest then started shouting demanding to speak to the Captain and raising her voice saying she was a VIP .Guest then said she wanted dinner at 8 pm and to send the menu to her cabin. Chief purser will follow up and Maitre D will contact as well.
And, to meet her expectations tonight, she will be served dinner on her balcony with a beautiful view of the containers stacked up in the shipyard. It’s dirty and smelly but never the less I hope she enjoys her balcony dinner……….. and hopefully every mouthful of her food will contain a fly the size of Jeff Goldblum.
Here are today’s letters for the In Their Own Words Section.
Thanks so much for all the great comments you are posting. I hope you all enjoyed the interview with the Captain of the Seabourn Legend and I thank him again for taking his valuable time to do this. Remember if you have any questions or need an immediate reply please let me know by adding the words “John, Please reply, urgent” to your posting and I will reply immediately.
I would like to take the time to welcome all the new readers many of which joined us having cruised last voyage here on the Carnival Splendor. I read all your comments and I thank you so much for cruising with us and hope you will stop by as often as you can here on my thingy.
Well, it’s raining now and thank goodness it’s just started when everyone who wanted to get off the ship is off. If this rain had fallen 45 minutes earlier many people would now be touring St. Petersburg with very wet clothes. I am going to meet with the tour operator now so while I am away from my desk I would like to leave you in the company of an old friend. …………..here’s Chris “Bubba” Roberts, Cruise Director of the Carnival Spirit.
August 5, 2008
Greetings to all out there in the blogging world. My apologies for not writing more, but it is difficult to maintain the time for both being a cruise director and the commitment for writing something fresh and interesting all of the time. Again I say my hats off to John for his ability to create each and every day.
I am motivated to write tonight as we are pulling into our debarkation port of Whittier at the end of another Northbound Alaskan cruise. Last night I received word of my grandfather passing away unexpectedly. It is the 2nd time in the last 6 weeks that this has happened to me. My grandmother on the other side of family passed at the beginning of July. When that happened I did decide to leave the ship and return home for the week to support my mother and family.
When I received word about my grandfather, everyone in the family was telling me that I did not need to come, but I was not too sure. I felt that I needed to go, but decided to sleep on it. In the morning I went about my normal business of being a cruise director. Senior management meeting, debarkation talk, questions and answers and more. Took a few moments in the afternoon to call my mother and father, after speaking with them both decided that they were right and that I would not come home.
Feeling sad during the day I spent the afternoon to myself. I had asked one of the hosts to cover my Newlywed Game for me as I just didn’t feel up to doing it. I didn’t really tell anyone about my loss, other than my ACD who I was on the phone with when I got the e-mail from home and of course my fiancé Julie who was also with me at the time. I spent some time on my balcony watching us sail through college fjord. Today was one of those post card Alaska days as we sailed by the beautiful mountains and incredible glaciers. I decided that I would grab my camera and go and take some photos of Harvard Glacier from the bridge as it was such a nice day. I figured it would be a good distraction for me to get it out of my mind.
So I arrive on the bridge to find Captain Marchetti, our naturalist Michelle, the Alaskan pilot and the other bridge staff enjoying a beautiful day. We watch as the ice bergs and sea otters passed by the ship. Captain Marchetti is one of my favorite captains to work with as I think he has an incredible sense of humor. He makes me laugh with his own language that only he and people who know him understand. So immediately coming to bridge I felt better as he had me laughing within minutes of coming to the bridge.
The captain was tending to his garden. He has plant pots surrounding the whole port side bridge wing. He tells me he’s trying to grow a salad that he can eat. I am not sure when he’s planning on eating this salad, but I think it should be ready sometime next season. He’s growing all sorts of tomatoes, peppers, chives and more. We shoot the bull for a while as I snap some pictures, talk about the weather and other regular ship gossip.
He asks me a few questions about my camera and then also asked me if I could send him some of the pictures that I had taken from the bridge. I of course said I would and in a bold moved said to him….”it’s such a nice day out, you should let me take the rescue boat out and I can take some picture for you of the ship with the glacier in the background.” I expected him to laugh and say whatever….his response….call the staff captain…and then he gives me the big smile.
So I respond the captain, “I’m not going to call the staff captain and tell him to give me a rescue boat.” We go back and forth over this for about 30 seconds, then the captain tells the quartermaster to call the staff captain. Which of course he does, and the quartermaster tells the staff captain, that the master wants him on the bridge. Less than a minute later the staff captain is on the bridge and the captain points at me and says “he would like something.”
Here I explain to the staff captain that I jokingly said I would like to take the rescue boat out to take some pictures of the ship and the glacier and that I was sorry to trouble him to call him away from his work for such a thing. The staff captain looks out the window and says…”Okay, let’s go.” Call the photo manager and meet me at the tender embarkation in 15 minutes.”
I ran off the bridge, grabbed my hat and jacket and headed down to the tender embarkation and met the photo manager. A few minutes later the rescue pulls up to the side of the ship with the staff captain, safety officer and one of the quartermasters. We jump on and head out.
What an amazing experience. As we moved around the ship and could truly appreciate the size of the glaciers in comparison to the Spirit, I realized that even though sometimes this job has you far from family that you wish you could be with, but that there are experiences here that would be impossible if you were to stay at home. I guess that’s the ying and yang of working at sea. My grandfather had the opportunity to sail with me a few times in my career, he must of have been smiling down on me today to see me have such an opportunity come my way.
On the rescue boat, me, our safety officer Antonio, Staff Captain Adriano and one of our quartermasters.
The lesson learned from the whole experience, if you don’t ask, you’ll never get. This whole thing rates right up there in my top ten cruise ship experiences.
Thanks again for letting me stop by. Just a few more weeks left up here in a Alaska and then we’ll be heading back to Hawaii!
Chris aka “Bubba”
Chris, all of us send you our heartfelt sympathies for the loss of both your Grandparents. For all of us at sea, leaving loved ones at home is the greatest hardship we have to endure and not being there when someone is promoted to glory………well…………lets just say I know how you feel mate………..I went through the same thing with Granddad Don back in 1994…………….we are all thinking of you mate.
On a happier note I want to congratulate you Bubba on a brilliant advertisement for the Carnival Spirit and an incredible advertisement for Alaska. I don’t know about you but seeing those photos and reading Bubba’s adventures makes me want to fly there right now and get on the Carnival Spirit and see the last frontier for myself.
Bubba will be receiving a visit next week when a Blogger who lives in Alaska will be visiting the ship for the day to deliver Bubba a gift. I am not going to tell you what it is but Bubba………………….please send us a photo. Please join me in thanking him for a great blog…………………cheers mate.
This morning I called Alan my mate who told me two things. Firstly, he had met one of his ex girlfriends called Sally while out shopping…….not such a big deal you might think and neither was the fact that Alan didn’t recognize her……..however that is probably because Sally has had a sex change operation and is now called Barry……………..if I had been a girl and dated Alan then I too would have done everything I could to rid myself of that memory.
Anyway, after ripping him to bits about the fact that his only ever girlfriend is now a bearded carpenter called Barry I also discovered that Alan’s sons class is on a school trip……..to the Olympics!……………he’s 12 years old…………..and he’s watching the Olympics ……….in China………on a school trip.
The trips run by my school, back in the 1970s, weren’t remotely exotic. Once we were taken to a Museum in London with just a Penguin biscuit for lunch (Google that), but this was an exception. Mostly, they’d load us onto an old bus, which would then be driven by a chain-smoking retired person to the countryside where we’d be made to walk five miles through a swamp to look at the birds…namely Kestrels, Hawks and Blue Tits. …………I mostly had eyes for Julie Kilworth’s ……umm…….Kestrels.
Today, things seem rather different. Kids in small school are already talking about whether they want to go deep sea fishing in the Maldives or skiing in Colorado. Or maybe both. “Oh please, Dad. Porsche and Beyonsay are going, so why can’t I?” ……………..kids of 12 these days have more air miles than Condeliza Rice.
And big school, of course, is much, much worse. School magazines in the olden days — i.e. the 1980s — used to show photographs of well-scrubbed boys and girls at their desks learning Latin. Now, school magazines look like brochures for Cunard.
They’re full of boys and girls building water distribution units in Chad and environmental viewing platforms in the jungles of Costa Rica. I’m not sure this is a good idea because if a child has tackled the Zambezi, rescued 14 Peruvian tribes from Burger King and colonized Mars by the time they’re 18, what’s left?
Mostly, when I was young, we went on holiday to Devon
So when I reached adulthood I went traveling and I guess………..I still am.
As a result when I am eventually at home I now sigh and mince around with shoulders like a bent coat hanger if I even have to go out the door to the supermarket.
I have a horrible feeling that my kids are going to leave school not prepared for the world…….. but sick of it.
Obviously they will be far too tired for any further education. Instead, they’ll come home from their exams having done much too much, much too young. This will mean they’ll spend the next 10 years of their lives eating burgers and drinking beer while shooting zombies on the PlayStation.
One last note, do you remember the lady whose mother was tragically killed? Well, I mentioned her a few blogs ago and as you may remember Susan is traveling on her own and is as you can imagine feeling pretty down. Well, yesterday, at the morning show I had mentioned (without any details) that we had a lady who was on her own and if there was anyone else of a similar age to give me a call.
Well, I had 11 different people get in touch with me and in the end I managed to put 5 of them (all single older ladies) together at dinner and changed their tours around so they could all be together today and tomorrow in St. Petersburg. I had given Susan my direct phone number in case she needed something……….and she just called me…………crying a little……….but this time they were tears of happiness and gratitude that she had made new friends, toured St. Petersburg with them and said a prayer for Mum in the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood……………she was happy………………..and so therefore …………. am I.
Goodnight
Your friends
John, Heidi and Susan
Filed under: Alaska, Destinations, Europe, Tales from the Ship, Travel | Tagged: Alaska, Carnival Splendor
Sorry to hear about your loss, Bubba. Not sure if you will be on Spirit next season, but I’m scheduled for an Alaska cruise on Spirit next May and to Hawaii in 2010.
First, thanks to Bubba for the awesome pictures and the update from the Spirit.
And John, well done for getting that group together to travel with Susan. Good to hear that she’s doing fine on the Splendor.
Hi John,
You are such a thoughtful giving man. How nice of you to get Susan together with the other single ladies. I bet they have all been having such a wonderful time thanks to you!
Our sympathies go to Bubba Chris on the loss of both of his grandparents in such a short time. Our thoghts and prayers go with him.
What a surprise for Alan running into an old (girl?)friend! I bet that one left him speechless for a while!
Hello Heidi and Stephanie!
Bubba, please accept my heart felt condolences for your loss. It is hard to lose someone so close when you are so far away. You will be in my prayers.
John, you are amazing as usual. Taking care of Susan like this and giving her someone she can lean upon. You are truly a great heart.
Thanks for all you do for all of us.
Sallie
Hi John and Heidi,
I just can’t believe Mrs. S Nob. It just seems that if you yell loud enough in public you get anything that you want. I think that’s something that is very wrong today. I just can’t belive that Carnival gives in to these people. I guess I am a firm believer in setting the rules and seeing that they are followed. How can Carnival justify this?
David and I are going to be on the T/A in a few months and it makes me want to start demanding things. I want dinner on my balcony too! How can they tell me or anyone else no now that presidence has been set?
Really John I can see why you have such physical problems due to stress. I just can imagine my life if I had to deal with these people on a daily basis. You need to find a way to relax and not let people get to you so much. You will be much healthier. And Carnival needs to step up and enforce the rules for EVERYONE.
Sorry for the rant but this really struck my last nerve.
Barbara
Bubba, I’m so sorry to hear about losing your grandmother and grandfather so close together. Thank you for the beautiful pictures of Alaska. Although that’s one of places on the bottom of my “to go” list, Hawaii and Las Vegas are at the top, I think the pictures are gorgeous.
John, how nice of you to put that lady together with others so she can enjoy her cruise much more!
Finally, I hope Mrs. S Nob didn’t enjoy her dinner on her balcony. I can’t believe what she has put you and your staff through in just 4 days….unbelievable…..hopefully the next week will be better for you not her. LOL For her next cruise, I hope she picks another cruiseline as she is not suited for Carnival. Afterall, who wants to come on a cruise to laugh, have fun, eat wonderful food and see beautiful ports. NOT HER……
Cindy
Hey John,
You are so kind. I’m so happy to hear what you have done for Susan, God bless her. Bubba: great adventure & the pics are fabulous (even tho Alaska
is at the very bottom of my list of future cruises). Saying a little prayer for you & your family. Loss is never easy.
My husband & I are in awe of the ’school trip’ for the 12 yr. old. Our parents would have laughed if we had had the nerve to even ask! Different times, our own kids went to Washing D.C. and New York City…
Jan
Bubba:
So sorry to hear about your loss. I have no doubt your Grandparents loved you very much and your life will be a testament to the support they gave you while they were with us. I know you will honor them by being the best gentleman you can be.
Also, I just talked with DJ’s favorite Club O2 director (Ria) who is on the Spirit. She is headed off on holiday soon. We look forward to sailing with you both again one day soon! Btw, DJ still remembers how you, Sarah and Jr. Powell “removed” Funship Freddie from the Past Cruisers Party on the Miracle 2006…so that DJ could attend!
John:
Glad to hear that you and Heidi are taking such great care of Ms. Susan.
Sorry to hear Mrs. S. Nob is still being a pain. Thank goodness she is the exception and not the rule.
Our oldest son took one of the oddest “field trips” ever. The Honors class took a weekend trip to a nuclear plant AND a “body farm”. The “body farm” is where they use donated cadavers to see how the body deteriorates under different conditions outdoors. (This is how CSI knows what to write in their scripts!)
Of course, now that DJ is homeschooled….he calls every cruise a “field trip” … since we cruise during the school year. He leaves on his 23rd “field trip” in 3 weeks!
Can’t wait!!!
Linda (Mom of your friend ~king of the cruise field trips~ DJ)
Condolences to Bubba on his loss and thanks for the pics.
We are booked on Spirit mid September but Chris wrote “Just a few more weeks left up here in a Alaska and then we’ll be heading back to Hawaii!”
Stephanie or John, can you confirm whether Chris will be our CD or is he leaving ealy?
Thanks
Phil & Liz
Poor Mrs. S Nob. She does not realize that everyone who travels with Carnival Corp. are treated as VIPs no matter what type of cabin they are staying in.
Glad to hear from Chris, but sorry to hear of his loses this year. The pictures were fantastic.
Susan has a great friend in you and Heidi and now she has made some more because of you.
The gentlemen who would not go into Russia must be of my husbands generation. He states that he too would not step foot on Russian land, such a waste. Pessimists always.
If we ever get to take this cruise this optimist would leave him behind and enjoy it even more. I love him but the negativism gets to me sometimes. I on the other hand, can sometimes be too trusting so I guess we make a good couple (40 years this October).
Love to laugh and cruise
CarolAnn
John, please tell Bubba I am sorry for his losses, and glad that he had the chance to get pictures of the beautiful Spirit and the glacier. Been there once, hope to get back some day. The pictures are beautiful loved them. I was glad that Susan was able to meet up with someother people and enjoy herself a little. Sorry Susan for your loss.
John and Heidi see you soon.
Carol
Bubba…so sorry for your loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and the family. Your remark about grandpa looking down on you on your special little Alaska excursion was so appropriate…. John..I bet you can’t wait for Ms. Snot to leave the ship. I can not believe all the attention she thinks that she deserves…as always enjoy all your remarks,stories and thoughts.
John, that was a very caring thing you did getting the group together to tour with Susan. And demonstrates the personal touch that we know you do on a regular basis.
John and Stephanie,
The letters are now showing very dark and legible. Great improvement.
Keep up the great work of making the world a better place.
Dave Myerly
John – What a great story about Alaska and what beautiful pictures. We have been to Alaska twice on Princess and once on HAL and there is just nothing else like it.
Let’s all hope Mrs. Snob has a miserable dinner on her balcony!!!
Dear John
Thanks for the Update from Bubba, Condolences on the loss of his grandparents…
We will get to know what the suprise is right?
How sad for the passengers from the Evergreen State to be so naieve as to stay on the ship and lose out on the sights of Russia, to come so far and to yet be so near, yet lose so much.
as far as Mrs. Snob, Truly She is
“A piece of Work”
And speaking of a piece of work, Congrats JIhn on getting the ladies together with Susan, Cheers MAte! and speaking of MAtes, How lucky ALans son is to be going to the Olympics. How cool is that?
Take Care
The Tuckers
Elizabeth & Arnold
John….
We are so sorry for Bubba’s loss. Please pass on our best wished! We’ve sailed with him on a couple of occasions.
Here is a thought…why not make his adventure with the camera a tour. There are many of us that are amateur photogs and would love the opportunity to get in position to take pictures of the ship with port backgrounds! Just food for thought!
Take care and godspeed!
John & Susan from Frisco, Tx.
Dear John pass our condolences to Bubba it is never easy to lose loved ones but that is the sad part of life.So glad the captain granted his wishes the pictures are just wonderful.Its true it never hurts to ask.For Mrs.Pain in the arse couldn’t you find some one going to the war zone and give her a private one way tour.Hopefully never to be seen are heard from again. My bad!!! I shouldn’t think such evil thoughts.Then again look at the bright side you make people feel so special like Susan and friends that makes it all worth while. Best wishes keep up the good work am looking forward to meeting you on the Blogger’s cruise. Gary and Bug
John:
Btw, tell the guest not to worry about the “shelling”.
When we were in Israel in 2000, we were at the Sea of Galilee. The night we spent in Tiberis… Israel was shelling Lebanon. We could hear the shelling…it that was a lot closer than St P. is to Georgia….and we were not worried in the least.
Linda
Bravo John!! As always well done!! I’m very happy for Susan. God put her on the right ship with the right person. What a blessing. My condolences to Bubba and my congratulations for a great blog. I understand how special this experience must have been, I put myself in his place and i can imagine. The day and the scenery of incredible beauty. The pictures ahhhh!! and Mrs Snob still doesn’t get it. Poor..
A big hug to a special man who makes this world a better place ( Is so great that you are going out of your way for Susan)
Nanni
Wow, sad for Bubba and his loss and not being able to be there with his family. That is difficult.
Wow what an oppotunity for him though and the most beautiful pictures. Thank you Bubba for sharing your sorrow and photos.
I believe the S. Nobs should be put off at the next port. All I can say is that you and Ken and the others have got the patience of a saint. I am firmly convinced that if I was working in the pursors office I probably would have been fired the first week for trying to strangle someone like the S. Nobs or someone else that was complaining about something that was not at all important like what kind of shampoo they carried in the gift shop.
God bless you–someone needs to do it!
Condolences to Bubba on the loss of his beloved grandfather.
The photos were beautiful, as always. It sounds as if Bubba still be the CD of the Spirit on it’s Vancouver-Hawaii itinerary departing Sept. 24th. If so, we will have a chance to meet him!
Bubba mentioned Captain Marchetti’s potted plants (his “garden”) and was immediately reminded of one of Henry Fonda’s great movies, “Mr. Roberts”…..
Does Captain Marchetti look anything like James Cagney?? *L*
Mrs. S Nob is almost unbelievable. Almost. But we have learned that even the unbelievable happens aboard a ship!
Love to you and Heidi, John!
Terri & Larry
Loved Alaska, Loved the Spirit. Best Cruise ever.
Your Susan stories are really touching. How great on such a big ship you have the thoughtfullness to reach out and help a single passenger. It would be so easy for people just to become numbers but you don’t let that happen. Great Job.
Cheers,
Brad
Good evening Mr. Heald. Condolences to Bubba on the lose of his grandparents. I must commend Bubba for the great photos he gave us. I have small question to Bubba. Is it very cold being onboard the ship? I think Mrs.S. Nob time on the blog is done. I’m totally disappointed with this poor example of a human being and I hope her cruise is near end so that everyone can get back to enjoying their jobs loving what they do. I’m really surprised that there is such a poor example of a human being such as her. YUK! I’m so happy that Susan is meeting others and they are enjoying one another.
Ciao for another day friend.
Paul F. Pietrangelo
Forgot to mention that since DJ attended the body farm cadaver field trip with his big brother he should be able to mix and mingle with Funship Freddie the next time we cruise.
John, please pass along to Bubba that my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. I lost my grandparents when I was quite young and still miss them to this day. His pictures of the Spirit are brilliant. Perfectly lovely.
Will someone PLEASE tell Mrs S.Nob to get a life? I can’t imagine anyone being that arrogant and self centered. Please send her a link to the blog so that she may see herself through the eyes of thousands of others.
Thank you for what you did for Susan. Since I read about her mother being killed I’ve been concerned. I’m thrilled to hear that she was able to enjoy her time in St. Petersburg and that she has new friends to help keep her spirits up and celebrate her mother’s life with.
As always, pass along my howdies to the most lovely Heidi and tons of thanks to the wonderful MOB, Stephanie!!!
Ciao!
Host Mach
John…
You are truly special and again tonight you hit a homerun in your blog!!! Your storytelling is wonderful… You tie all things in the day together making a wonderful picture of your day…
Bubba, my heart goes out to you. I am so sorry!! The loss of any loved one is hard… and being so far away and feeling helpless to comfort and console… or be comforted and consoled… God Bless you and your family!!! You are in my prayers!!!!
The photos are BEAUTIFUL!!! It is such a beautiful part of our country… I would love to experience it… But I must say, the warmer regions seem to get my bookings right now…
And John… do the guests ever cease to challenge you? And if they did… Would you slap yourself to see if you’re awake???
You have made this weekend a memory that will not be forgotten! Thank you!!! You are truly a gift to many of us!!!
God Bless…
Lambie
John,
Please pass my sympathies to Bubba and thank him for the excellent story! I hope I’ll be able to thank him personally as I’m going to cruise in Alaska with the Spirit next month. Having seen these spectacular pictures, I’m even more looking forward to this trip.
JP Kraus
(The Netherlands)
Of course, you have to remember that Mrs. S. Nob is indeed a VIP.
a – Very – Irritating – Passenger -
Hi John,
A while ago you had an interview with one of the IT people on the Splendor and told us if we had any questions to ask… Well i applied for a IT job on all majore cruiselines about 8 years ago but unfortunately non even replied… Figure that
I always wanted to now how the computersystems on these big ships work. So i do have some questions… maybe the IT guys/girls can answer them ?
Besides me wanting to now what goes on during a regular day for the IT guys and what their responsibilities are i would like to know the following:
- How many IT personall is on a ship like the carnival splendor and what is their job title ?
- What kind of systems, storage etc. do you use ? I think i saw a picture of the Eurodam with a 19” rack filled with HP DL servers that were running VMWARE. Coool, i was thinking it was not that advanced.
- What kind of rank do the IT people have, do they have a rank ? Do they have private cabins or do they share cabins on lower decks ?
- Do the IT people also staff the internet cafes on board ?
Hopefully the it people can tell me a little about life on board. For me i currently work in IT (HP, vmware and SAN certified) and switched from wanting to be on a ship as IT guy to being on board as a passenger, i recently sailed the baltic inaugural !
So John – if possible – PLEASE REPLY.
Hi John,
All the lucky guests beeing seated at Mrs S.Nobs
table not seeing her at least for one night,but you
should not break the rules because somebody starts shouting at the pursers. Why are you going to follow her requests. Are you still calling somebody like this person a guest?? You you give this person a chance reeding our blog comments
about her behaviourß
Don please convey our condolences to Bubba. We are so sorry to hear of the loss of his grandfather.
John you go so far beyone the call of duty to see that the passengers on your cruises are happy and have a good time. But knowing you I would expect no less. Like I have said before that is why we all love you.
I still say you need to leav Mrs. S Nob at the next port and send her home. I know you will be glad when she off the ship.
Countess Carolyn of the Evil Krewe
Hi John & Heidi,
I just skimmed over the weekend’s blogs but I’ll go back and re-read them later.
First, Bubba I am so sorry to hear about your loss. But those were truly amazing photos and what an experience.
John, I’ll say it again, you have to get Mrs. S.Nob on stage and embarrass her. The Newly-wed game perhaps? Or judging the knobby-knees contest or similar. Was it raining when she had her dinner on the balcony? I can’t believe how obnoxious she is. She’s been on Crystal too,huh? What made her choose Carnival this time? Why is she spoiling the cruise for everyone else?
I like your idea about the Splendor’s version of the Olympics. I’m sure London will pull it off just fine. And like you said, Paris was second choice. Speaking of the French not winning, I just watched the best swim race I have ever seen. The Americans beat the French by a millisecond (or whatever) to win the 4-man relay gold. What made it even better was the fact that the French team kept saying they were going to “smash” the Americans. Go USA.
John, you are a big, soft-hearted wonderful person to put those people together with Susan.
Okay, Simon Legree is walking around, I’ll catch up with your blog thingy later.
Carol
Bubba, We’re so sorry to hear of your loss but you made the right decision to stay on the ship. Your grandfather would have wanted you to do that as I’m sure he knew how much you loved him. Thanks for the marvelous pictures.
John, How special of you to get Susan hooked up with some other ladies and enable her to have an even better time on the cruise. Way to go!
Regarding Mrs. S.Nob – she probably wanted to eat on the balcony because all her table mates requested a different table and who would want to eat with her? By the way, is she alone or is some poor soul,like a husband, with her? Jeri
Ah, Ms. S.Nob has raised her ugly head once again. Someone really should just lock her in a closet until the cruise is over. You are never going to be able to please her, no matter what you do. You darn if you do and darn if you do not. There are just some people that should never be allowed to travel, Ms. S.Nob is the poster child for that statement.
John, please tell Bubba that I am so sorry for his loss. I hope in time he will find some peace.
The gentleman that would not get off the ship in Russia…. It truly is hard to understand why anyone would cancel their plans, and cancel them on an excursion that they so hoped to go on when they booked their cruise, because they do not believe what they have been told by the CD. Oh well, their loss. If we all felt that way, we would never leave our homes. To bad Ms. S.Nob does not fell that way :;
Keep smiling John. I will send you that “Very Important Message, please respond” the closer we get to September 11th. You have enough on your plate right now, not pun intended.
John – how I wish I could see Bubba’s pictures of Alaska, but alas, doomed buy dial-up. Bit, Alaska is etched indelibly in my mind anyway. Our cruise on the Spirit was far and away our favorite cruise anywhere on any ship. Bubba is one lucky guy to be there, and I’m sure his Grandfather departed joyfully knowing his success and love of his work. Nonetheless, our condolences.
It is a shame the balcony could not have been “accidently” sprayed down during dinner. Care for a little water with your whine, madam.
18 more days (Aug 30th) and we will be on our 7th cruise on the Holiday. Some folks dont like her, but they fail to realize the history that comes with her. They try to compare her to the newer ships and expect her to be the same. But if you look at how the newer ships evolved from her, you began to appreciate the design.
Plus the crew is one of the friendliest we have meet. Less passengers, less stress. Plus the smaller ship has a family feel to it.
We are bringing one of my daughter’s friends with us who will celebrate her 14th birthday onboard along with it being her first cruise.
Mobile is getting a taste of having a Fantasy class ship in port. (as least until Sept 1st) Well actually having two ships sail from the port.
Dave
Bubba, thank you for dropping us a line. My sincere condolences for your loss. To be away from family, at a time like this, is so difficult. You’re in my thughts.
John, thanks go to you, too, for making Susan’s cruise a special one. If something were to happen to my husband (or the person I was curising with), I hope I would have the courage to continue on.
Did you notice that in today’s blog, Bubba commented that you “don’t get unless you ask!” Well, isn’t that what Mrs.S Nob did?
The big difference is that Mrs. S Nob didn’t ask anyone. She simply stated that dinner on the balcony was what she wanted. If that is what she wanted, surely she was entitled to it! Bubba was hesitant to ask, because he knew that other people would have to do the extra work for his request, and he would never intentionally put extra work on anyone. Attitude is everything!
John, thank you, again for your wonderful daily blogs. Looking forward to the Blogger’s cruise!
please have bubba read thank you Bubba we are so sorry for the loss of grandma and grandpa. Thank you for the pics we will be with you on Spririt on the 10th of September, and have enjoyed immensely your blogs and pics, Can not wait to see you there Chris, take care HOW GREAT you got to take a trip on the safty boat, I am so glad you got to just do something like that in a time that was so heartbreaking, I believe Grandpa set that up for you and was right there with you. SEE YOU SOON !!! MIKE AND CHERYL
Hi again John,
I finally had a chance to go back over the last few blogs.
About 007 – I think I prefer Roger Moore. His sly little double entendres and little smirk were great. I always thought Sean Connery’s Bond was a little too fake & chauvinistic, but I realize that was the time we were living in. Pierce Brosnan’s comments were similar to Roger Moore’s, but I thought Timothy Dalton was the best-looking Bond, even though those movies were not that great. My favorite movie – “Live & Let Die” – loved the alligators & New Orleans funerals.
Back to the Olympics – London will do it better. No anxiety about where you can & cannot go, no fake fireworks, no stone-face & scary policemen, no broadcasting controls, no pressure on the British athletes that if they don’t win, they will disappoint the people. Of course I was disappointed that NYC did not get 2012, but it should be London (and not Paris or Moscow). Maybe 4 years from now John, you’ll be watching some of the water events in person.
Bye,
Carol
Bubba, our sincere condolences for your losses.
John, are you sure Mrs. Snob is on the right ship in the first place.
BIG ED
John,
On the last cruise my family attended the Ballet on the first night in St. Petersburg and then did an all day tour the second day. I spent some time that first day on my balcony looking at the cargo ship being unloaded and the rusty containers. Then took the kids up and went swimming. I hope she enjoyed her dinner with a view.
Arlin
John,
Can you tell me who is going to be the CD on Carnvials Freedom the December 14th sailing? We hope he/she is at least as good as you are. Can’t get any better than you are.
Please reply.
Hi John/Heidi:
First, condolences to Bubba but I am so jealous of the amazing experience that he got to have. I agree that unless you ask, you don’t know what wonderful opportunities are available.
I liked your anecdote about Mrs. S.nob enjoying her balcony dinner while staring at the canisters. Too funny!
Thanks for another great blog and post more!
Take care,
David
John,
Thank you for arranging for the ladies to meet. Fantastic! What a grand idea. No wonder you are the best in the business.
Bubba,
Our thoughts and prayers go out to you on the loss of your grandparents. My Nana and Pop Pop were my best friends…so terribly hard to lose them. But, I’m sure Granddad was looking down on you during your little excursion feeling very proud and happy for you. What amazing photos you took. We are anxious to do the Alaska cruise, AND we can’t wait to do Hawaii again…it was our all time favorite vacation.
Take care and come back to share with us again soon.
Lisa
Merry Christmas to all… and to all a good night.