It appears my last paragraph is mincing around in cyberspace somewhere, so here it is again as I am sure the ending made no sense. Sorry about that
See you back here later for a full blog
Still, for every complaint there are a hundred comments of praise including one today from a guest whose Stateroom Steward Nina went above and beyond for them. The guest told me that her son had cried all day because the elephant towel animal she had made the night before was just ……………well……………a towel when he woke up. So Nina went to the gift shop and bought him a Towel Animal Elephant and placed it on his bed. The guest told me her sons tears were now smiles………………………..so, Its been a strange day. I had a grumpy git who called me a simpleton because I showed Indiana Jones and not President Obama on the big screen. I met a rude taxi driver who showed that sometimes money is more important than compassion yet by helping the guest I received a huge hug. And then Nina the State Room Steward showed that exceeding expectations can sometimes be a simple thing like buying a kid a toy and in that gesture alone she showed once again why the crew are what makes our ships so brilliant.
Yep, its been quite a day and I haven’t even had time to moan about not being able to find any Hemorrhoid cream today in St.Thomas………………..I will save that for tomorrow.
Goodnight
Your Friends
John, Heidi and the Thingy
Filed under: Tales from the Ship
John,
You have made it sir! You are truly an icon. First Gerry Cahill buys your first bobble head off e-Bay and not you have two more on there for sale. If the bobble head sales continue to take off like this, we might be seeing Heidi listing you for sale on e-Bay or Craig’s List. I understand they are even bidding for rumpy pumpy on Craig’s List now!
Good Day Mate!
Mike B.
Ohhh how sweet is Nina…… such hard workers and then they do something like that… priceless… I’m glad hubby doesn’t want to try anyrockwallsteakchargingfools of the seas (as you would say) Carnival IS our line…
I’m glad you found that last paragraph and posted it for us!!
Ohhh and if you like I could send you some hemorroid cream to Miami so it’s there for you when you get there! Let me know!!
Stef
Hmm. Guess I should have posted here…
Oh well, see previous blog entry…
Bravo, Nina!!! Well done and thank you.
John, PLEASE make sure you thank Nina for me. Compassionate people like her are the reason that I am so faithful to Carnival and are what makes Carnival the world’s most popular cruise line.
Thanks!!!
Host Mach
I’m going right to the source because the rumors are flying again… Will you be CD on the March 29th sailing of the Valor???? Some are saying yes, some are saying no… lol
And is there anyway that we can request The Rocky Horror Picture Show to be played on the Lido Deck one night? I want my kids to see me “just a jump to the left” etc etc and look at me in a new way… crazier!!! Thnx..
And here’s one I don’t think you’d expect… What size t-shirt do you and Heidi wear (pre-pregnancy!!)…????
john
go to Walmart they sell Hemorrhiod Cream in a handy Gallon Size.
tom & jane
soon to be on the VALOR
03/29/09
yip yip yah who
Dear John,
And as I forgot in my last comment, great job by Jaime & crew, and I’m glad you gave your own form of bollocking to the bully. There is no place for that in any business.
And, as much as I respect and like President Obama, I would much rather have Indiana Jones on the Big Screen – anytime!
Regards,
Carol
Hi John and greetings from the Chilean Fjords on Carnival Splendor. We are half way through our 49 day odyssey and I beg to report that the days are passing far too quickly. Up until today I have nothing but high praise for this splendid vessel and for the crew who sail in her. There have been a few minor glitches but one should not be surprised by “now and again” difficulties. Most all of the irritating problems you reported on during your early Splendor cruises have vanished and this ship has become a well oiled, reliable, machine. Happily for us our only has been with the plumbing backing up whenever the ship heels over… seven times thus far! Thankfully the not so sweet odour was only from grey water which our wonderful stewards cleaned up with efficiency and dispatch.
We, and our fellow passengers, have observed upon many minor processes and procedures that could be improved through after action briefings with a focus on what went wrong and how can we make things better rather than pointing fingers. I know, from your blog entries, that you held court on a very regular basis but I am not entirely convinced that this is happening on Splendor. Mind you, there appears to be no ready mechanism for customer feedback so perhaps the staffs are not even aware that there are minor rumblings of mutiny among the humbled passenger masses.
Being a man of great perception, you have doubtless figured out by now that something has got my dander up and that I have to do a little vent in order to move on and enjoy the rest of our cruise. We missed out on Punta Arenas because of a delay in departing Ushuaia both because of bad weather being reported in the Strait of Magellan and upon the recommendation of our pilot. We think the right decision was made but I became worried that we might have difficulties tendering in Puerto Montt because we would be loosing the opportunity to “practice” in Punta Arenas.
With this in mind I decided a quick visit to the Pursers’ desk might be in order to determined the planned schedule and see what possibilities might exist for our small group of 40 to tender off at a reasonable hour. To make a long story short I was appalled to find out that there are apparently two distinct classes of guests on this ship: those that take Splendor excursions and those that do not. Worse yet I was shocked to find out that the crew appear to be doing everything in their power to facilitate the Splendor excursions while the rest of us (the majority bye the way) are left pretty much to our own devices. The tendering process described to me is, in my humble opinion, ill conceived, arbitrarily imposed and poorly organized. Carnival, shame on you!
I do not expect anything can be done at this late stage to fix this royal mess before our arrival (other, more explicit words came to mind but I am mindful of the audience that might read this note). The sad thing is that the passengers on this voyage are, by and large, from the “been there, done that” generation: many of whom have the training and expertise necessary to easily sort this sort of mess out over a quiet lunch.
I hope I can count on you, good sir, to challenge Carnival’s new future thinking team to seriously examine those processes, procedures and rules (hidden or otherwise) that most directly impact upon passengers (aka your paying customers). Boarding processing (Fort Lauderdale was a disaster waiting to happen and Buenos Aires was not much better), tendering, methodology for determining Platinum status (a sad reward and punish system if ever there was one), and crowd control in the Lido dining areas come immediately to mind as issues that should be examined. If I might be so bold, I also believe your team might also wish to bring the passenger perspective to the table.
OK Jim, down off soapbox. Gosh, I feel much better now that I have dumped my problems on poor John .
Hi John,
It’s me, PennyB from New Orleans.
I’m loving your writing these days, you do sound so happy telling of your adventures on the ship and meeting various “characters” on board. Am I surprised to hear of a kindness done by a room steward? Absolutely not – that’s what makes Carnival such a special cruise line. Look what an example you give when you offer to help pay a cab fare for someone obviously being taken advantage of. So many employees can learn from you – maybe even some cruisers – on how to live life and work, the right way.
P.S. Loved the “pics” on the Dream. Can I send my cabin # for a look-see?
Here is another book to add to your library for Thingy( along with Walter the Far— Dog ) – Good Night NOLA. It talks about all the special things in New Orleans in a child’s bedtime book. Ck it out on Amazon.
PennyB
Dear John:
I am in a bit of a pickle and asking for help. We are booked on the 4/11/09 Pride sailing and have paid in full.
I purchased a Scrip Fun Ship Dollars ($100) through my children’s school (it is a fundraiser). To my surprise when I received the certificate it states not valid for on board credit! Exactly what I wanted it for. Am I to assume I have thrown $100 away in this economy?
Looking forward to your response.
Louise D.
Hello John,
As always your comments are so apt, humorous and right to the point.After reading your blog every day I am even more sure now that cruising is the way to go for holidays and flying is to avoided where possible. Unfortunately, as we live in New Zealand we have to fly to get anywhere and in July we are going to the World Congress of Voice Teachers in Paris. This will be an amazing experience to have several hundred teachers of singing together, with the Folies Bergere as our home for a week! Afterwards we want to catch up with our daughter who is working in Canada for a year as a haemodialysis nurse in Edmonton and after reading about the Cunard Line on your blog are going to sail from Southampton to New York on the Queen Mary 2. Does Kevin the chef have a restaurant in New York that we could visit? Naturally as singers, we will catch a show or two on Broadway before flying to Edmonton. In two weeks on 14th March we are holding our 13th Opera in the Garden in our own garden in a “hampers and champers”event with 45 singers in our Opera North group performing opera in the first half and after the picnic break for food and wine, musical theatre in the second half. We have been practising in our home twice weekly for 6 weeks plus individual solos and small group rehearsals and all are sounding fantastic, my husband Rick and I are both singing solos as well as me conducting for the whole programme. We are at the mercy of the weather and would appreciate as many sunny thoughts from all fellow bloggers for march 14th please as we have around 1200 people sitting in our garden.
With our kindest regards to you, John and of course Heidi and Thingy,
Joan
John, you were are first CD and we have measured everyone since by the great experience you provided. We are cruising again in late March with Ralph Valente as the CD. What can you tell me about Ralph?
Hello John:
— Thank you for the DVD -left on the gangway-of that incredible talent show-
this past week- Valor /Feb/22/ wherein I attempted to
sing “I could have danced all night” as a polka.
( fun fact: did you know the band didn’t KNOW this
song- except one guy who played in once in high school
12 years ago?)…
.. Thanks for the dedication as well.. you were on the
afternoon on the cam on the t.v. and he was in the shower
== so I dragged him out. LOOK- John is on the telli
saluting YOU for saving my life- well fancy that !!!
He was dripping wet but delighted just the same.
Thanks !!
… I didn’t get the DVD in my mailbox- and so
with stuff for other people you left on the gangway
was my DVD.. I will note I ran in to
another “talent show ” member who said that
the big guy- “with venom” guy– didn’t get one either..
so if you can run him down- or get the staff too he
would love to have one I know.
I am happy you are ok.. I was worried sitting close when
I heard that “snap” I thought that you had cracked a rib.
As it turned out the braces snapped and not you!
All was well even though you staggered through the
end of the show… now THAT was a show.
.. Having made 2 visits to the emergency hospital in
less than a month and was also an “in patient”– in Ohio- dare I write this ?–
I was released by the Dr. only 1 day BEFORE the
cruise to go on the Valor Feb 22 and then with meds.
etc. I am eternally grateful for you giving me back my
laughter and feeling of joy. Having a hemorrhaged
twice in 2 months was a bit much( related to a vein/ possible other aneurysms issue) and dealt with a
surgeon !
I sang terribly by my standards- but I once again
even sang anything was great to do.
- I hadn’t opened my mouth in a song of any kind since
Christmas Eve!
I got a bit of rest and truly enjoyed my trip.
..My only “beef” usually is the fact the communications
between the Carnival Staff and the guests seems difficult..
or at least I have found it such. I am not a nasty
enough person I guess. -for example when I arrived
I had a dirty cabin ( which I have never had) and called Guest
Services- who didn’t want to even deal with it.
Nothing happened . Then I told them the next day-
again.They in turn finally notified Housekeeping
who sorted it all out.. my steward had been off
a few days it seemed. We never even saw him until
day4 of the cruise but eventually he did turn up-
although he left towel animals every day.
Things were great after this– and I hope all the
cabins are really clean for every guest here after.
I dropped you the note- which I borrowed yellow
paper for- and it did reach you.. so this was good.
Guest Services get a gold star for that!
.. We had a long trip home with the storm and all
we got home just a bit before midnight Sunday evening..
so Cinderella immediately touched the ground in
Ohio – there I said it again— and the spell was broken
as we were met with high winds and 18 degrees!!!
Thank you for helping me come back to the world of the
living .
I hope this reaches you, John.
The doctor has told me I have maybe 15 years left in
my life– and if each week could be filled with this
much joy and laughter- I laughed until I cried
when you were onstage.. it will truly be worth living.
This past week I did get my sense of joy back and
feel spiritually a lot more like ME as well as having
physical healing take place.
I am so lucky to have chosen the Valor last week
and so lucky to have gotten to meet you.
Thanks again for setting aside the DVD for me.
You and Heidi are in my prayers- may you have
many wonderful years and may never a guest- like
Dana- try to tackle you onstage again.
You are blessing !! Many many thanks-
I will never forget this cruise.
Cheri