Theresa Asked:
Theresa (reply pls)
I hope some day to meet you. I enjoyed every minute of the day in Philly and wish you would do one in Chicago so that I could gather my gf group friends for a day out there. You won’t be sorry at all. Oh well, that may not happen, but some day, some time in the future I will have a chance to meet you.
Out of curiosity – where did all the candy go that was in the pinata… to CHOP, St. Christopher’s, to the neighborhood children who may not have tricker or treated due to the craziness in Philly on Halloween aka the Phillies’ victory parade!!!
Have a great time on Destiny. I love the assistant CD guy from Canada – he’s the best. Find out why they don’t have a repeat cruisers party though and find out why we didn’t get pins on the October 16th voyage. I cruise this ship again May 14th and that’s just six and a half months away!!! Don’t pack a lot of clothes at all; this was the most laidback cruise I’d ever done and I loved it even if it was with my husband and granddaughter. Give Jacque and Emina hugs from Faith for me. Faith (and Cole and Maya too) miss them. I’m still playing CC at home!
Don’t get too sunburned and how lucky those Destiny cruisers are to have you coming onboard….
John Says:
Hello Theresa,
I love Chicago and it would be brilliant to host a Funville event in the windy city, especially as I would get to meet you and your girlfriends. We are currently arranging for all the candy to be given to charity and as soon as those arrangements are confirmed I will let everyone know. It was great of you to write in and I hope you will keep writing comments when you have the time. My best to you and all your girlfriends.
Cheers,
John
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TicaFabi Asked:
John please reply : )
Dear John,
You mentioned in a reply to what Nanni posted that Costa wasn’t sailing in the Baltic … “The only reason I haven’t mentioned them is that they are not cruising the Baltic …”, but they actually do, from May till September with 4 different ships (Mediterranea, Magica, Atlantica, and Marina), or am I mistaken?? : )
I have traveled a lot on Costa and twice on Carnival (Caribbean+Med, both times with you as a CD), and also think that Carnival and Costa are very similar.
Greetings from Germany,
Thais
ps. a picture of the pinata was in the Brazilian newspapers on Monday!
John Says:
Hello Thais,
How wonderful that you are writing from Germany. You are correct that Costa will be sailing to the Baltic in 2009. They are a brilliant cruise line and I am sure your experiences on there will have been memorable. Carnival guests have a little more in common with those from Princess only in the sense that their ships are mostly English speaking and therefore it makes sense to put those guests who have been canceled off the Carnival Liberty on a Princess ship. Thank you for taking the time to write and one of the highlights of the Baltic seasons were our visits to Warnemude and we thank you and your fellow citizens for their wonderful hospitality.
Cheers,
John
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Robin in New York Asked:
John–please answer–
Are you really friends with Kevin McKidd? Oh my goodness–please convey to him that he has a major fan in me. Tell him I hate that they canceled Journeyman, I thought it was a great show, but I love his new role on Grey’s Anatomy. I feel like a fangirl here, not a 51 year old woman, but he is a great actor–can you send him to me (even though I don’t know what Bruce would think….)?
John Says:
Hello Robin,
Yes, I am indeed very good friends with your crush. I have known him for many years and always knew he would go onto great things even though he is one ugly sod. I will pass on your kind words and maybe I can persuade him to go on the blogger’s cruise. My best to you and the family. I wish someone would have a crush on me.
Cheers,
John
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Jake Silverberg Asked:
http://jakesilverbergsblog.wordpress.com
For next reply session, please reply.
HI John,
I was just curiose if you knew why the paradise, elation, and Spirirt class are the only ships in the carnival fleet whith Azipod’s. I’m not sure if the other ships have rudders, but if soI thought that azipod’s made the ship easier to manuver. As you know I would like to become a captain one day, so i would like to learn,.
thanks, JAKE S.
John Says:
Jake,
Hello mate and before I forget continuing congratulations for your blog. You asked about the Azipod’s which do increase efficiency and make the ship more maneuverable. In their day they were at the cutting edge and you’re right by saying they can be found on the Carnival Paradise, Elation and all the Spirit class ships. I think you would make a brilliant captain and why don’t you put together 10 questions you would like to ask and I will choose a captain to have them answer. We will then post those on the blog. How about that?
Cheers
John
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Agent Dotski Asked:
John, please reply
John, as you know I’m a travel agent. I had a group on the Freedom that was to sail the Grand Med next summer and unfortuanately those itineraries were cancelled as well. It was extremely dissappointing yes but unfortunately business decisions have to be made and the greater good considered. Stinks, but what can you do…!
Well, midday yesterday I called into the wonderful reservations staff at Carnival for a quote for a client. I already knew about the Liberty and knew that they had no doubt be bombarded by clients and agents alike who were upset and demanding options and answers. When Cynthia answered, she did so with the usual chipper Carnival voice but you could tell that there was an underlying tone that the day hadn’t been a peachy one so far. So the first comment out of my mouth was “I’m not calling about the Liberty, I’m calling to send another guest on a great vacation”. The frustrated tone vanished. Human nature has us looking for someone to blame when something doesn’t go as planned. Unfortunately, the res agents, as the first point of contact are the hardest hit. As if they single handedly made this happen!
Cynthia was great and as usual went above and beyond for me. The quote that I sought was actually for the sailing that I am heading out on on the 15th of Nov on the Glory (18 days…YAY!!!). While speaking to her, we noticed a pricing difference between mine and my clients and long story short, Cynthia did a bit of magic and now has one heck of a happy agent on her hands. I made sure that she knew that she was appreciated and she had managed to move a company that was already “top shelf” in my books, up yet another notch! She asked that I do her a favour in return…have a great time! Alrighty then!! By the end of the call the frustration was gone and we were both joking and laughing….Carnival style! I hope all of the res agents got at least one similar call yesterday when the news was launched. Anyway, this got me thinking (yikes!). While onboard, we get to shake the hands and say thank you to those who make our vacation special. But is there anything more general where we can publicly say thanks to those on and OFF the ships so that we can also have the opportunity to thank those who helped along the way to get there? Something maybe on the Carnival.com site like “Did a member of our team make your day?” (with a copy sent to the hero of course!). Cynthia made my day yesterday and I want the world to know it! There are many others that do not specifically work ON the ship – you meet quite a few at the embarkation/debarkation port alone so I’m sure other agents and guests have similar stories that they would like to share. Just a thought….
Cheers!
Dot
John Says:
Dear Dot,
There are many unsung hero’s in this great company and you have just mentioned one of them.Your elegant words were wonderful to read and how great of you to take the time to write them. I will be posting your comments on the blog today plus I will be copying the vice president of reservations personally on this. Thank you for your support and any time you need anything the entire company will be here for you. Thank you again for the taking the time to write.
Best Wishes,
John
Filed under: Tales from the Ship, Travel | Tagged: John's Replies
Dear john
do you think the carnival triumph is a good ship to take a cruise on for the first time for me and my wife and daughter because we booked a 7 day cruise for dec 7th to the 14th for the eastern caribbean and also it is our anniversey dec 9th
8 yrs yeaaa i have been reading alot and i have not heard you say anything about the triumph
thank’s
Denver Hartman
Hi, John.
You said “I wish someone would have a crush on me.” Okay. I have a crush on you. But I’m probably not what you had in mind.
Pat
InMN253
Please reply as soon as possible! I need your help!
Hi John,
Long time no talk-to. We are one of the unfortunate families that were booked on the Carnival Liberty, July 8, 2009. We were really excited that you were going to be on our cruise. My parents were going to take us on one last big trip due to the fact that my Dad has macular degeneration in both eyes and is losing his eyesight a little more every day.
I was going to start e-mailing you in January to start planning meals for my sister who has celiac. You were very helpful when we sailed with you on the Carnival Freedom in June, 2007. I guess I won’t have to e-mail you now. Bugger!
We are trying to re-book on Holland America Eurodam on July 10, 2009. We are having a really hard time. Though Tanya in the booking department has been really great, we are getting quite the run-around switching cruises. There are very few balcony rooms available (we need 4 rooms) on the July 10th cruise that would have been comparable to our rooms on the Liberty. Is there anything you can do to help us. We would really appreciate it.
By the way, congratulations to you and Heidi, you’ll be great parents. I only got one piece of useful advice when I had my first baby; whenever the baby wakes up from sleeping, always walk into the room with a smile on your face, no matter what mood you’re in. The baby will always smile back.
Thanks in advance
Terri aka Coolieo Mom
Hi Mr. John,
I’ve just been catching up with the blog thingys since Tuesday. Jaime, exellent blog & photos as usual. John, I’m glad you enjoyed the Heat game. I wish them all the luck this season.
And thank you so much for the photos of the Dream. Once again I saw my cabin on Lido. One year to go – can’t wait. Will mine be a Bloggers’Cruise??????
I guess I’m an old fuddy-duddy – no video games or playstationboxes or weiii for me – give me Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit & some board games like Balderdash. No one really wants to play with me – I usually win & have 4 ship-on-a-stick to prove it.
Enjoy the Ruby Princess. Can’t wait to hear about her and the rest of your days filming Onboard Carnival.
Take care,
Carol
Hello Heidi & Stephanie
FOR JOHN TO REPLY… WHEN HE HAS TIME…
I’m sailing on the Ecstasy leaving Galveston on 12/4/08… (QUITE CLOSE and I’m excited!!) And I need help…
The gal I’m sailing with is an office-mate and a RCCL devotee. I don’t know if I can convert her, or if it matters anyway… BUT: I want to make this SPECIAL for her so she can feel just a bit of the fun I get cruising CARNIVAL.
You know me… (Well, does anyone really know Lambie???) Can you think of something, other than my CRAZIES-ness, passion, and love of CARNIVAL that will let her see how great the Ecstasy and Caranival is???
She’s one who like to surf on the wave thingy, climb the wall, earn the little vouchers for free Tshirts and robes and things by participating… so I think she’ll enjoy all the activities… but there’s no Supper Club for me to take her to, there isn’t a Mardi Gras on the short cruises… I’m racking my brain trying to think of something…
Maybe there isn’t anything I NEED to do… Maybe I’m over thinking this… I just love CARNIVAL cruisin’… maybe that’s the secret… Maybe it’s just letting her see my enthusiasm???
Thanks… You and Stephanie really are THE BEST!!!
Hi to Heidi and Thingy… XOXOXOXOX
Lambie
John, are you jealous? We all have a crush on you, you know that–but could you please send Kevin my way?
John:
We are an UNO house!!!
DJ loves playing it and we let him keep score as a way to practice his math skills. So he did not even know he was doing something educational..as well as fun!!!
Linda (Mom of your friend DJ)
John,…..PLease Reply….
Loree and I just came back from a Costa cruze
on the Victoria that departed 10/19/08 and came back 10/30/08. We were told that we would be invited to the Captain party for being past Carnival Travlers. It is not a real big thing but I realy hate to be told something and it does not happend. Also being petty but does Costa give out the little ships like reg Carnival ships?
Loree and I felt a little lost because all the fun stuff on board was in Italian,German ,Spanish
Now I can see This is ok because there were only maybe 100 of us that spoke English and they did have someone avabile to tell us what English trips to go on in port and overall we had a great trip there were six of us together so we were not that board on sea dayes. I would also like to put the Captain of the ship in for a acomadation, when comeing into the port of Savona on the final day we hit the worst storm in 30 years acording to the Italian papers We listed about 80 degrees Stabord he and his crew held the ship in the 15 to 30 waves for about 3 to 5 minutes,he had to make this critical turn to get into the break water port, we got in safe and sound. there was a Smaller cruse Ship the Fanticy that did not do so well 30 hert . and has to be fixed. It just showes me how great your staff is
I do not know if it is possible but for the trivia games could Costa have some of the questions on papers in English and some of the shows moniters at the r-side and l-side of the stage have subtitles in english? also the anouncments did not get into the room Which would not have help me because they were not in English HA! HA! I saw on the cruze T.V. that there was a lot of fun going on but Loree and I do not speek the language . John we had a great cruse and will use them again, if they go were we want to go This time Loree and I will be better prepaired on the Language thing
Les
cabin 08531
Deck Othello
B/N..4942071
John, It has been several days since I logged in, and was almost going to stop reading after the nasty bidet story. But that’s the thing about blogs. You can’t make all your readers happy all the time. Did you ever dig into your favorite meal only to find a nasty bug or hair in it? Afterwards, whenever you think of having your fave again, you gag. So ask your readers-do you think the majority would be releved if you stopped the bathroom humor, or would they miss it? You do such a great job otherwise and you have many loyal readers. I wouldn’t want to hinder your freedom of speech. Patricia
PS-If you don’t want to post this I’ll understand.
DENVER HARTMAN
My first-ever cruise was on the Triumph in March 2005 and I’ve been hooked on cruising ever since. You will not be disappointed in my opinion.
Have fun!
Cindy
John,
We don’t know what could have happened when Theresa sailed the Destiny but when we sailed in Sept. of this year, they had a past guest party and we got our pins. We loved all the entertainment staff but agree the dude from Canada was so funny! He kept us all laughing. We loved the Liars Game which is alot like the old show “To Tell The Truth”. They kept us guessing and it was so much fun. As soon as we get our last cruise paid off, we plan to set sail again on yet another Carnival Fun Ship—The Only Way To Go!!!
Lori & Mike
Hi John! (Reply at your leisure…)
So I was typing a note on my roll call on CC, and mentioning how I’m going to have to search for some birch beer in Florida (as well as get a bottle or two of root beer) before my trip on the Carnival Splendor on the 17th, so I can make definitive scientific tests to determine which makes the better ice cream float. (Those of you who believe that Coke, or something other than root beer or birch beer, is acceptable in a proper ice cream float are heretics and advised to stop reading now…
I, of course, have to do this because Carnival doesn’t serve either one on board… and it occurred to me that *you* were the ideal person to ask “Why not?”
I mean, looking back through your blog (I’m only a recent reader – but Search is my friend…
), it’s clear you enjoy root beer as well, of the diet variety. I actually prefer the unleaded version to drink as well – but not when making floats, which, in my experience, requires the actual leaded version.
Carnival gets big kudos for me for adding the extra virgin stuff (Caffeine Free Diet Coke) a while back. Before that, I was always in need of bringing a dozen or more 20oz bottles on a long trip so I wouldn’t overdo the caffeine and end up sick. (Too much caffeine does that to me…) Now I bring just enough so I don’t have to go looking for an open bar at the ungodly late hour I usually get back to my cabin.
But it seems to me that adding root beer and diet root beer, at least, to the selection is an idea whose time has come, at least when departing from an American port.
So, who do we need to nag to get this to happen?