Yesterday was not a good day on so many levels…..in fact…….I pretty sure I was crapped on by Murphy and his laws because honestly…….it was one of the most stressful days I can remember that doesn’t involve Miami Immigration, flying or my hemmeroids flaring up………I am going to tell you all about it but first……..lets talk about Bill and Paul from Microsoft. Apparently they have both given billions to charity which is, of course, wonderful, however as I sit here in the office having just finished Googling their names fro a bit it appears they are miserable sods.
You may find this surprising. I mean, the Bill Gates foundation is the world’s biggest philanthropic organization with an endowment of $29.1 billion. So the man can go to sleep at night knowing his money is bringing health and hope to those less fortunate than himself. Which is everyone.
And it’s not like his generosity has necessitated much in the way of cutbacks at home. He lives in a 66,000-square-foot, $113 million house that is dug into a hill. Inside, the shower curtain is a 4,500 pound slab of Italian marble, the swimming pool is 60 feet long and there are 52 miles of cabling, some of which is used to monitor the wellbeing of his poodle.
What’s more, when he threw a private party the guest list was so important the American government’s department of homeland security imposed an exclusion zone, even going so far as to ban cars from the nearby interstate.
So, you’re thinking, what’s his problem? His guests are happy. His poodle is happy. And since his staff has their own massage room, you can be assured they’re happy too. Yet, the man at the center of all this says he’s not.
I’m not surprised at all. First of all, he has to get up in the morning and think: “Oh no. I’ve still got this face.” And deep down, he’s still a computer geek, which means he has the personality of a frog……….oh and he knows that ever second of every day of every year someone is pressing “control, alt, delete” and calling him a complete and utter bastard as his system eats your files quicker than Paris Hilton’s underwear reaches her ankles on a Saturday night (allegedly.)
This is a problem I’ve found, actually, with many of the very rich passengers I’ve encountered over the years. It’s almost as though they can’t be bothered to be interesting or memorable because what’s the point?
I’m not joking. I had dinner with an uber-rich Australian in the Carnival Legend’s supper club, midway through his main course, got up and without a word, went to bed. And the longest sentence ever constructed by him was “yes”……………as Basil Fawlty once said, “I look forward to your next syllable with great interest “
Most of us try to light up a room for two reasons: because it might result in some rumpy pumpy, or it might make us richer. Money and rumpy-pumpy are the twin engines powering everything we do.
But if you’ve got more than a billion in the bank, chances are you can bounce around on top of whatever Russian model takes your fancy from now until the end of time. You don’t need to be funny, or passionate. You just need to yawn, give her something golden, and hey presto, you’ll be playing wheelbarrows until dawn.
And there’s definitely no point talking, or listening, to other men because you’re already much richer than they are and all they want is some of your dosh. And you can’t be bothered with any of that because a six-foot Latvian super model has just walked into the room and you’re thinking of giving her a Fabergé egg . . .
So what about a social life? Well, the recent survey found that six out of 10 people in Britain spoke to five friends or fewer each week. But that one in 25 spoke to no one at all. And I’m betting that all of this last lot were rich.
The fact of the matter is this. It’s very hard to be friends with someone from a different income bracket. You want to go on a four-day cruise on the Carnival Sensation while their vacation is buying a private Bahamian island and filling it with peacocks, caviar and Latvians. You watch Chef Emeril Lagasse on television. They had him round to cook for a private dinner party. And they paid him so much he agreed to serve the food himself. …………………while wearing a pink g-string.
See what I mean. Well, now put yourself in Bill and Paul’s shoes. They are two of the richest man in the world. That means they can’t be friends with anyone ….. certainly not me …………not after yesterday.
So, there I was having completed two hours of slaving over a hot lap top dancer computer writing Friday’s blog. Two hours is about the time it takes for me to plan what I am going to write and what with a few changes here and there plus visits to the toilet it takes a couple of hours to have it ready. The last thing I do is give the blog a title. You see, as I have no real theme until I sit down and write I have to wait until the end to come up with a name for the day’s blog. Now, I have gotten into the habit of pressing save at the end of every paragraph and yesterday was no exception, I had pressed save at least a dozen times and never thought that there would be a problem. Well, it appears that was thought was as ridiculous as including the words airline and food in the same sentence.
Now, I have a lap top dancer computer given to me by Carnival. It’s a Dell and is older than a RCI cruise director’s jokes. I knew I was in trouble when the chap who brought it to me last time I was in Miami also offered me an eight track stereo and a betamax video recorder. Anyway, the Dell is as pointless as Paris Hilton wearing underwear yet I should have used it yesterday because my Sony Vaio and Microsoft Windows suddenly decided to turn into Laurel and Hardy.
Just as I was writing a brilliant and hilarious ending to yesterday’s blog …….OK ……just as I was writing an average ending to yesterday’s blog, my screen went dark and my two hours of writing had been replaced with a Microsoft notice telling me that they had to shut down and did I want to report the problem. Well, at the time I didn’t, I just wanted my blog back. Anyway, the computer told me that it needed to restart …….and so it did.
Now, at this point I was quiet calm and I sat there waiting for that annoying theme to sound as it re-booted……by the way, did you bloggers know that Microsoft employed Brian Eno to write that welcome chime when you turn on your Windows thingy? Why? I know when the sodding thing comes on because when I push the buttons on the keyboard, words appear on the screen. I do not need an audible alert. Nor do I need a car to chirp when I lock it.
Anyway, eventually the screen appeared with all the desk top stuff where it should be ……..except two things…..my recently downloaded Skype…..and my blog. I searched everywhere for it…….on the desktop, in folders and documents even behind the sofa and in my underwear drawer…….but it had gone. That’s when the swearing started and that’s when I wanted that thing to appear on the screen asking me if I wanted to report the problem. Yes, I did and I wanted the report to be written on my shoe and then personally delivered up Bill and Paul’s arse.
I was so frustrated and so angry. Now, on any other day I would have sworn in Italian …….. “testa de catzu, rumpa rumpa orgatz, minkya,” etc. and then after a cup of monkey tea and a hug from Heidi I would have started ball over again. But I couldn’t. This was because I had booked a table for two at a restaurant so we could have a last romantic meal before I bugger off to Miami………the table was booked for 8 pm and the blog disappeared at 6:45 pm. What was I going to do? I then had a brain wave. Carnival has a 24-hour help desk in Miami manned by brilliant men and women who have saved me and my colleagues on countless occasions and therefore I could e-mail them a red flag disaster help message to see if the file could be rescued.
So, I emailed the help desk this message…………oh, and these are cut and pasted so you can see word for word what was written.
Hello
Sorry to bother you. I have just written two hours worth of material for my Carnival blog (www.johnhealdsblog.com) and just before I was ready to send it to Miami for posting a message appeared on the screen telling me Windows had discovered a problem and would need to shut down. So it did. And even though I had saved each piece I had written when the computer restarted the file was gone. I have searched for it but it has gone. Can you help, do you know if it can be saved somewhere else
Many thanks
John Heald
Senior Cruise Director
PS – I am in the UK so I can’t come and see you.
Then, about 10 minutes later I received this message from the IT man with a beard:
This might be due to broken software drivers, problems with USB devices or incorrect power-saving settings. And Windows often reboots because of a system failure. Try right-clicking on My Computer, Properties, Advanced Tab. Under Startup & Recovery, click on Settings, System Failure and uncheck the Automatically Restart box.
Brian
Help Desk Manager
What?
His message although I am sure helpful to anyone with half a brain was to me about as helpful as me giving someone advice on dieting.
It was then that I realized…………..I was buggered.
The blog which I had written contained answers to the last batch of “John, please reply” comments and although I was in no doubt that you all could wait another 24 hours for my stupid jokes and silly banter, I didn’t want to keep any of you waiting with the answers to your questions. It was then that I had my second brain wave of the day…….and even though the Help Desk had been as helpful as applying salt to my hemmoroids, I really though this time I had come up with a good one.
I grabbed Heidi who was busy getting ready for our dinner date and told her to bring the flip video camera……..because I was going to make a make a video with the answers to all those questions and a quick hello from me to you all…………..so I did.
It came out well and we managed to have some fun as well as answering everyone’s concerns about things ranging from a travel agent who refused to book two bloggers on Carnival and a chat about fuel surcharges……………you know what, lets pause a few moments and talk about that. Some of you have noticed that future bookings still have the fuel surcharges on the ticket price from when oil was $56,000,000,000 dollars a drop. Well, those surcharges have been deleted and any charges still showing just means that they have not been yet but will be I promise. It is a large project removing this and the folks in Miami are moving very quickly on this starting with voyages that start now and then working on those for later this year………….but they will all be removed.
Anyway, I finished the video and was very proud. I then called Stephanie to tell her that I wanted to send her this epic and she instructed me to use something called a file sharing thingy. Well………I did…….and after a lot more swearing, this time in Dutch (hotfa doma, kutt, kutting) it would not let me do it. Stephanie then asked me how much the file weighed and of course I had no idea. So under her instructions I right clicked and then told her the file was 618 pounds………….apparently that was too heavy as the file sharing thingy could only except something of 50 pounds or less……….what nonsense was this?……….50 pounds or less…………was this www.supermodelfilesharingsize0.com
I couldn’t believe it.
And neither could Heidi who was now dressed and ready to go on our date.
I was buggered……….and so were those waiting for my blog.
And so, we found another site which could take big files and was called “badongo” …….. what a stupid name…………they should call it www.filesharingforbigmacsupersizedfilesandnotskinnysupermodelfileslikemicrosoftfilesharingbollocks.com
Brilliant, so I did the uploading only to discover it would take 12 hours to upload ………… 12 hours?……..I could send a floppy disk using an asthmatic carrier pigeon ………..and it would be there quicker.
So, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado and after much swearing……..here is the video with all the answers to the latest batch of questions.
Actually, despite the problems and the amount of money it cost me with the Swear Box………I actually like doing a video with people’s answers on them. Maybe I will do this again next week using Tom’s professional camera and make it like a TV news/chat show…………….mmmmm……….lets see what we can do.
On a totally unrelated note, let’s get ready to rock and roll. Two weeks ago Carnival chartered the ship to our friends from Sixthman for a Rock the Boat cruise featuring the one and only Lynyrd Skynyrd………….here are some photos from that voyage.
So, computers, I can’t live with them and I can’t live without them. It’s nice when they work but we still want to smash Bill Gates’ ugly face in when that stupid paperclip man pops up on our screens to show us how to . . . and then freezes.
Anyway, as you can imagine our romantic dinner was spent venting my frustration at Heidi who sat there taking it all in, calmly, as she always does. I was so mad at the computer and worried about letting the thousands of daily readers down that I remember little about our dinner. I know it was expensive and had one of those Michelin stars. In my experience, a single Michelin star means the owner has been concentrating on the food to the exclusion of everything else. And the food, for me at any rate, is only 10% of the dining experience. Give me a white tablecloth, good company, elegant glasses, no drafts, fun service from waiters who never interrupt anecdotes, clever lighting, and, frankly, I’d be happy with a fried skunk served on a bed of cornflakes.
I knew it wasn’t going to be a good day when I walked outside at 8 am. The SKY weather lady told us the big freeze here in the UK was over ……so that was me at 8 am ………in a T-shirt and shorts ready to die of hypothermia while scraping six feet of sheet ice from the windscreen of what the people with beards call a polar bear-killing, Arctic-melting, carbon-emitting, greenhouse-creating star-destroyer but you and I know as a Range Rover.
Then as I was reaching over to scrape said ice of the windscreen my blackberry fell out of my pocket and hit the ground as hard as someone who just called Mike Tyson a big ugly girl with no more right to live on God’s earth than the lesser spotted Mongolian bog pig.
Now, if Heidi had been there she would have leapt for joy because as past blogs have told you………….she hates my raspberry with a passion. However, I would be lost without it. I can check prices on the Italian stock exchange, e-mail naked girls in Latvia, watch the BBC news and be reminded not to forget Valentine’s Day.
It is my Filofax, my television, my cinema, my portal to the Internet, my computer, my video camera and my photograph album. Anyway, I panicked, picked up the precious raspberry and checked the e-mail worked, the Filofax worked, the video camera worked and that my naked photo of Nora Titov was still my screensaver……..it was.
I then forgot about the incident due to the computer eating my blog. However……..it was later that night when I tried to call Stephanie in the office that I realized I had forgotten to test one very important part of my raspberry……….the bloody phone………..which when I called Miami went “shtwang lang. krzzzzz. Hello. Hello, hello”………..I hate technology.
I will write from the plane on Monday so look out for a Raspberry blog late Monday afternoon………or…….the way things have been going….It may be simpler to write you all a letter ……..with a pen.
Goodnight
Your friends
John, Heidi and the Thingy
Filed under: Destinations, Tales from the Ship, Travel, Video | Tagged: Carnival Desti, Carnival Destiny, cruise, fun, Lynard Skynard, Simple Man Cruise, vacation
Thanks for the pics of the oldies cruise. My daughter(lucky dog) just sailed this very afternoon on the one hosted by Sister Hazel.
Sorry about the computer- I know your pain- I spent several hours on Friday dealing with my computer guy trying to get my laptop working… so far it does- but give it a week.
John,
The video blog was wonderful, but I have one complaint! I wish you would have taken the camera and shown us Heidi and her “bump”. After all, you won’t be with her again until shortly before she delivers. Oh well, maybe her mom will take a video of her for all of us to enjoy. Hey, what about a video baby shower for her??? I know there are loads of us wanting to send baby gifts. Maybe it could be a virtual baby shower. What do you think?
Safe travels to Miami, and thanks in advance for the raspberry blogs–even if you can’t use the phone part, thank goodness you can still write to us!
Sheryl
seriously. dude. get. a. mac!
smiles, bonnie and prince charlie
ps: see you on the 25th
John:
I am actually happy that your computer broke…it gave us a chance to hear and see you!!!
Thank you Heidi for being the tripod for John’s Q and A!!
Please don’t think that everyone who is blessed financially acts like a miserable slob. You should read the book “The Millionaire Next Door”.
However, I have found that money does not build
character….it reveals it! If someone is a miserable slob….they would be that way …rich or poor!
I would suggest that the cruiser that was trying to decide between the Liberty and the Dream…. definately book the Dream…a SPA cabin, specifically. He will LOVE the Turkish Sauna and Thalasso Pool!!!
Linda (Mom of your friend DJ…looking forward to his 30th cruise!!!)
John, perhaps you can help me get the issues of Currents magazine I yet to reiceive. I’ve been on five Carnival ships since January 2007 (I got off the Valor last Sunday) and have yet to recieve a single Currents magazine!!!!! Reading online is fine, but if I want to read it at lunch at work that is a no go cuz our lunchroom doesn’t have a computer and the job has a no net surfing policy unless for work purposes policy….
I’d like to have an idea what ships you’ll be the CD on cuz I’d like to meet you in person…..
As for the wee problem with flare ups after sitting too long–fiber supplements help. Try the All bran two week challenge…..
John – PLEASE REPLY – in writing, can’t get the videos. Don’t know if you got this message earlier – please let me know if you can get special rates on the Blogger’s cruise if you qualify, or do you have to pay the full price quoted on the website. There are several discounts I qualify for, but if that excludes me from the fun of being a blogger, it wouldn’t be much fun to go!!! Can I travel on a special rate and still be a full member of the Bloggers cruise??? Mary and I send our best, as always, to you, Heidi and “Thingy.”
John, Your a camera hog. Almost 40 minutes of video with Heidi holding the camera and you don’t at least once take the camera and give us a look at the beautiful Heidi. For 40 minutes we had to look at one ugly sod beating his chops and him banging his lap dancer on the desk. Bugger you next time sit in front of a mirror and at least we will see Heidi in the mirror.
BIG ED
Only 3 weeks till the Bloggers Cruise.
John I told you not to get a Sony. I finally gave up on getting mine fixed and bought a Dell. To get my Sony to turn on you have to slam the lid shut or turn it on it’s side and pound it on the floor……. They make good TV’s etc, but when it comes to a computer they leave a lot to be desired.
One thing you must keep in mind about answering peoples questions on video, a lot of people are like me and are on dial up internet service and do not have access DSL internet connections. Therefore downloading the videos are slim to none. I can download it right now because I am using my AT&T air card and I have a great signal. BUt I can not hear it because Don has the TV on car auctions and is watching Richard Petty auction off one of his cars for childrens charities. When you are in a motorhome like we are right now, there is no escaping the racket of an auctioneers loud voice and people yelling. So I still can’t watch the video.
I know how frustrating you feel about losing your 2 hours of slaving over the lapdancer only to have your work disappear. I feel the same frustration with your postal service which I assume have lost the 6 months of love and prayers that went into the gifts for Heidi. I assume you never did get it.
Carolyn……very frustrated crotcheter. said while weeping …..
Excellent video John. You should do more of them because I find them a very personalized thing. But please if you are going to have Heidi do the filming get a tripod for her. Hearing about the problems you were having with your computer reminds me of the time that I doing some work on it and suddenly everything went black. Once it came back to focus everything was screwed up and I mean everything. I was unable to do nothing with it and after I had one of those computer geeks, the one you respect a great deal of and he said two words to me ” viscious virus ” It took him many hours to finally clear the damn thing of the virus. Somewhere, somehow the virus came in. So I know how you must have felt.
I’m getting very excited to go on my cruise on the Valor. I’m also excited for the opportunity of meeting Linda Hernacki, Empress Bee and Sarge Cordle and finally you, John Heald. See you then.
Paul F. Pietrangelo
Hello John!!
Love love love the video! Que?? Cuantos nachos?? LOL You need to practice your spanish…
You look good ! I like your hair. Vacation suits you.
I agree with you about the TA that don’t recommend Carnival. Mine tried to say to something when I told her we wanted to go to the Med on the Freedom. I didn’t let her speak and when I came back I made sure I told her many wonderful things about my cruise. I think she was surprised. Like you said many haven’t even tried Carnival. I’m sorry about you computer. One word….. Apple
Have a good trip and enjoy your time with Heidi. The blackberry falling maybe it was a sign.
Give Heidi a hug.
Nanni
John,
to use your words …BRILLIANT…. the video blog was fantastic……was great to see you and to hear both you and Heidi.
Maybe it should be a regular weekly feature, think of the time you will save lets see a 40 min video vs 2 hours of slaving over the keyboard and no way that Mr Gates and his cronies can ……………..misplace it……..lol sounds like a formula to lewer your blood pressure.
Our best to Heidi and Thingy and have a safe trip back to the states..
Bill n Cindy
Don’t know if my comment got posted, so if it is here twice, just ignore this one. I copied and pasted from another ap so when the page did not open right, I still had it. One of those life lessons on the use of a PC.
Hey John,
Love the video blog. I think that you should do it more often. I enjoy reading every day (as often as I am able, and do always get caught up), but the spontaneity of the “live” version is just so much better. I hope that you decide to keep it up for the future.
We are still here in Florida trying to get through the economy, but we are maybe seeing a 2010 trip on the Carnival Dream. Looking forward to seeing more of this ship as the construction progresses. Maybe even the chance to see it in Port Canaveral when you stop on the New York blogger’s cruise. Just a thought.
Til next time
Kevin
Time to get a mac. We love steve jobs compared to bill and paul. No joke in 5 years I think my mac has crashed 4 times mainly due to something really stupid I tried to do.
Best to heidi
K
Hi John!
Safe travels and enjoy your last day with Heidi.
It stinks that you have had so many problems with your computer. Hopefully it won’t happen again.
Looking forward to hearing you from our side of the pond.
Take care!
David
John,
I really enjoyed the video blog and getting to hear your’s and Heidi’s voices. It would have been nice to have gotten to see her glowing face.
This will give you a heart attack…I do not own a cell phone. Nobody in our family of 5 has one…and we still have a life! In fact, it wasn’t to long ago our little country town jumped for joy for getting the internet in our town. There is no cell phone reception in our town. Hard to believe we don’t live in a cave huh?? LOL.
Princess Susan
Hi John,Heidi Thingy,
Watching your video BLOG great,
I can tell you for sure on TA Splendor and then Back to Back Imagination using carnival.com is for free. I did find out on TA my crossing on Liberty April 2009 beeing cancelled. Missing you again.
I did not pay a cent onboard searching finding another cruise.
But no other connections from carnival webside available for free i.e. Blog webside.
Please no more politics/religion over here.
We just had to cancel our 3 legs of the SA cruise on the Splendor because of an emergency surgery. We are heart broken!!!
PLEASE – tell me, are there going to be any other cruises like that one?
I was hoping in the video you would take the camera from Heidi and show her and her belly. PLEASE take a video of her before you leave the UK, which I believe is tomorrow, and have a safe trip! See you on Sunday. Let us know when, where to meet you ok? Linda & Mike
I hope your plane experience is less than dreadful tomorrow. Maybe Murphy will take a day off. Good luck. Jeri
John,
Sorry to hear you are again lost in the forest of peculiar situations. I think you must be the DESIGNATED MURPHY TARGET taking many of the hits usually meant for the rest of us.
Here are some common sense tips for you. I realize this moght be slightly advanced but I feel certain you can master these items.
I suggest you learn to use and manage the following items with a computer. You said you have an old DELL. They have great techies that you can get on line easily 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world and they can remotely analyze and many times fix your computer for you.
I am sure other companies offer similar offers.
I have used DELL for about 10 years and they have good people and well made machines. In addition…..
1. Use well tested programs like MSOffice with MSWord for word processing and MSExcel for spreadsheets. These allow you to turn on an automatic save feature and every few minutes your file is saved for you.
2. When you download or put any new program
on your computer the first thing you do is reboot and open the program and make sure it works
If it does not immediately see #3 below.
3. DELL and other companies have a GO BACK or RESTORE feature that you need to use in these situations. It will save your butt a lot. You set the computer to set RESTORE POINTS as you use it.
4. Allow your computer to do the automatic updates from Microsoft, MS Office and other Microsoft products so it is kept updated.
5. Use a GOOD ANTI VIRUS program and set it to scan every day or so to check your computer.
6 PUT a PROTECTIVE COVER CASE on your XBerry. That will help protect it as you throw it around and try to destroy it. (Maybe you should consider a future occupation as an Airline Gorilla and work to destroy luggage).
5. Purchase a NEW computer that has all the current SOFTWARE and HARDWARE protection. Find one you can drop without breaking and purchase a military protective cover so you can throw it around.
6. Purchase and faithfully use a PORTABLE BACKUP DRIVE so you do not continue to suffer frustrating losses with your computers hard drive and software. Newer computers now come with SSD (Solid State) hard drives that have no moving parts.
I’m sure other bloggers can offer many other suggestions for you to help keep yourself out of trouble. Sounds like you need a 24 hour a day, travel along, personal assistant. You had one with Heidi but look what you did with her. Now she can’t travel with you so now what will you do?
Love you Heidi,
Best of luck John,
Dave Myerly
In the snow and ice of very cold
Denville, New Jersey
30 more days and we will be back on the Splendor
John,
I undestand, and share your common frustration with dear Bill. He’s snuck into my home several times and wiped out entire hard drives to Zero.
Right after the Blog2NOLA cruise I’ll be testing your theories on being friends with people outside of your own income demographic.
I go from the Carnival Fantasy and all the Bloggers buddies, directly to a cruise on Silver Sea Cruises, Silver Shadow…. one of the “toniest” in the world… and the way many of the uber rich cruise. If Bill happens to be there I’ll give him a bullocking for both of us.
We’ll see if I can get as many smiles out of them as I do with the folks on the Bloggers cruise.
Regards,
Kuki
CruiseMates.com
John.
Loved the video blog. Yes you should have given a little camera time to Heidi. The video blog thingy should be a regular thing.
It would be an excellent idea to allow access to the blog from the internet cafes or maybe even better would be to include a copy in the Carnival Capers. What a great way to end the day. A piece of chocolate and a laugh from the blog.
Travel safely. We will see you on the Dream.
Mike and Jet
Wonderful blog , the video was really awesome , We would love to see video clips of the bloggers cruise , and put some faces and voices to the bloggers who whose comments we read. To have seen heidi would havew been nice – to see her and thingy.
Well safe travels and we look forward to seeing your tan on screen .
Calvin and Lou-anne
Take a deep breath. It will all work out. The weather is looking better around the New Orleans area, it is now 70 degrees F today.
Hey Kuki, you wont find Bill on Silversea, he has his own yacht complete with helicopter. It was docked in Cozumel last year along with Steve’s yacht.
Dave
Hi John,
I’ve had a number of Dells over the years, both at work and at home, and think maybe I’ve had enough of them.
I’m about to chuck all of them and use Linux.
As for Wild Bill, even he gets frustrated with Microshaft products as illustrated in an infamous email:
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/141821.asp
bill
John, I am so sorry you had trouble with your computer and lost the blog you worked so hard on, but…lucky for us we got to watch the video instead. I loved it. It was just like spending time with you. Hope things are going well and Heidi is feeling super.
I wanted to share a few pictures with you from when you were in Philadelphia and we got to spend some wonderful time with you. If you could let me know how to do that (or ask Stephanie) I will send them to you.
Take care, Ellen
GO E-A-G-L-E-S!!!!!!!!!!
We are booked on the Valor 3/08/09. This will be our 13th CC cruise. It will be the 4th with you as CD. The last cruise was when you were training WEE Jimmy. You did a re-creation of the Titanic which was one of your best skits. Looking forward to a great cruise.
Hi John & Heidi:
I really enjoyed your “video” blog! I understand your frustration with the computer! We have all had that happen.
I hope you have a safe journey to the states! I know it will be hard leaving Heidi & Thingy behind but make sure that Heidi has a video camera so she can record messages also. We are all disappointed you didn’t have her “in” the video and hope you will remedy that before you leave.
Wish we were going on the bloggers cruise with you but look forward to the blog keeping us up to date of all the fun we will be missing!
I have to laugh about the agent that only wanted to book that “something of the seas”. Maybe they are getting a nice kickback from them or as you said, never have cruised Carnival. I used to be a TA and will tell you that their sales reps will “shower” you with gifts for booking including ‘fam’ trips for the one that sells the most. I have toured many of their ships and quite frankly, never cruised with them. It was my love of the Carnival Sensation that put me in the business and most of my bookings when I was in the business were Carnival! I have left that industry and now cruise more than ever with Carnival (Platinum Baby!). I encourage all my friends and co workers (Publix) to try a Carnival cruise and all that have listened LOVE Carnival and look forward to new adventures!
Please keep us up to date on your schedule and that offer still stands if you are the CD on the Glory in September for a drink on us!
Looking forward to more adventures to come soon!
Hi John,
Sorry to hear about your computer and it’s problems. I agree with the others that said to get a Mac. I switched over to a Mac about a year ago, and I love it.
Loved the video blog.
John,
I know that on Carnival Splendor you can go to the Carnival Site without being charged against your online minutes however, I was amazed to find out that to click on and read your blog we were charged time against our account.
I raised this question to you some time ago and guess you forgot but I could not get an answer.
Seems a little chincy to me to do this to Carnival Customers.
Dave
John. I want answers. Why is Carnival one of the only cruise ships that doesn’t allow someone under the age of 21 to be in a cabin with somebody who is 21 years old? (I am referring to the Age restriction of the fact a 20 year old would not be allowed to be in the same room as a 21 year old, and instead is required to be with somebody 25 years of age or older in a cabin)
Especially when Carnival is known for being geared towards more youthful crowds, it just seems silly. Homosexuals (unions, or marriage) can be on board if they are underage, but a 20 year old can’t go on a cruise with a 21 year old?
I really wish you guys would re-think this policy for the new year.
Nice blog, by the way.
John Please Reply
I am very upset with Carnival customer service, and don’t know where else to turn for help. I have called and gotten nowhere. I have written my letter concerning my complaint about a recent cruise on the Imagination in November, and another regarding our cruise on the Miracle being cancelled, and not honoring the on-board credit pomised. In return I get a standard reply letter. Not once has our concerns been addressed. Is there a way I can send you a copy? Or put me in contact with someone. We are so upset we cancelled our upcoming cruise in March on the Miracle. Just don’t want another repeat of the cruise in November.
Thanks,
Tom & Michelle
John,
Love the video blog, Great camera work by Heidi.
May you have fair winds and following seas in your travels starting today.
Ron(34 days till Legend)RN
Dear Joan:
Just finished watching your video blog and it was brilliant. Sorry we couldn’t take a peek of how the thingy is growing.
I have a question that I have asked you several times before with no answer. I just do not understand why when the daily blog comes out that it already has replies to the posts from other cruisers on the same day that you post it! I feel pretty stupid not knowing the reason and have begun wondering if some people have been given some advanced copies. Likewise I don’t understand why I have not received an answer – I do think that I have been patient. On my last inquiry I also gave you the suggestion that if you didn’t want to answer this publicly that you could send it to my email address. I haven’t posted anything in a long while and I do know how precious your time is. I assure you that I do enjoy your blogs immensely and look forward to my daily chuckle from you. Love to you, Heidi and the Thingy.
Auntie Joko
Hello Mr Heald
I have been on a few of your cruises and have enjoyed your bedtime story. I am to entertain at a senior valentines party at my church this year and would like to use it. Is it possible to send me a copy of your script, I will pay any royalties if neccessary.
Thank you very much for your help.
Mark Boyer
It’s as if Bill Gates wrote some cruel hidden code within Windows that is set to make life difficult at the most inopportune times. My entire profile vanished in the blink of an eye…. to my computer I was no longer in existence….no documents…..no music…..no photographs…. I was bugger all.
I complained bitterly to MS about being wiped off the face of the planet as far as that box on the floor was concerned…..their response……my profile was damaged, corrupted, and could not be repaired…..
~ Joy ~
Create a new profile and start over. Gotta love VISTA
The Flying (damaged goods…life is just a reboot) Dutchman
John,
Sorry you lost your blog. You might want to look at ‘Temp’ files because Bill sometimes saves stuff there.
Good luck
John,
Please reply
I wish to answer the question about the travel agent who would not book Carnival. We are cruise only travel agents and we have another answer to that question. The travel agent probley gets a bigger commision or has lots of group space. I wish I could talk to the person who asked that question. 90 percent of our bookings is under the Carnival group.
Thanks and have a good trip to the colonies.
Hope you see that Princess Ruby guy and get your cigar thingie.
Thank you for your answer, John! It took me a while to go back to school, but I did it. Cannot wait to experience the Dream in October. Going to see my agent on Friday. Yipeeee!
Talk about brilliant. This was so much fun having you video your answers to everyone who asked. It made it even more personal. I really hope you keep this up.
Love Grandma
[...] Computer Lessons Yesterday was not a good day on so many levels…..in fact…….I pretty sure I was crapped on by Murphy [...] [...]
we liked the video answers! Cindy and I sat in front of the computer and watched the whole thing and we too would have liked even a glimpse of Heidi.
I am also a blackberry addict and just got a new one, the Blackberry 9000 “bold”. You must run to the AT&T store immediately, it is so much nicer than previous blackberries.