This morning I walked along the promenade after hosting my port adventure talk to find a group of three or four teenagers huddled around a laptop dancer computer watching something intently on the screen. Asking them what they watching I was told “Watchmen,” the movie

“Oh,” I said and as I walked away I realized that this movie was still in theaters and was not available on DVD.

Young People today……little buggers! ……..If they like a TV program, they go online and download the whole series. If they want to go to the movies and have spent their pocket money already, they download a movie. Everyone’s at it. My mate Alan told me he recently downloaded a program called Spotify, which gives you pretty much all the music in the world on your computer instantly, whether you’re into Mozart or Madonna.
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I am proud to tell you about the latest way Carnival is bringing their kind of fun to you………………have a read of this. (more…)

I had a very strange conversation with a guest on Saturday. It all started when I was at the Coffee Shop on Saturday morning with the doctor and the food & beverage manager. We were all getting our morning cuppa before the senior officer meeting. Anyway, I heard this very excitable voice say “Peter”…………now because my name is John I ignored it and carried on ordering my skinny frapacrapapoochino thingy.

Then the excitable voice got much louder………….”Peter”………………”Peter,” it bellowed and this time I looked up to see a lady in her fifties waddling towards to me ay 90 mph. Now, my first reaction was to look over my shoulder for a Peter but I already new that it was 8:50 am and the only two other people at the coffee shop were Doctor Carlos and the food & beverage manager whose name is Anhil……..who then………….was Peter ………….it was then I realized …….she was talking to me.
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I normally don’t write a blog on a Saturday as it’s a very busy day. However, I wanted to show you a letter from Jaime but before that I had two other things to share with you. First, it’s time to say hello to Chris “Bubba” Roberts. Many of you will remember his brilliant blogs from Alaska and Hawaii last year and have been asking how he is doing……………….. so, let’s find out.
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There was a wonderful sight to behold last night here onboard the good ship Carnival Valor as many of our Indian crew members gathered in the crew lounge to watch the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

Yes………I know it’s not out on DVD yet but we do have it as one of our Pay per View movies……… and oh…………..the look on their faces was just priceless. Many of our crew are from Mumbai, or Bombay as it was known, and for them to see this film was something very special.

I have been able to call many Indian crewmembers friends for many years as well as storeowners across the Caribbean and you will not find a people more complex – and complexed – than Indians. It’s amazing that many Indian citizens had just been heaping abuse and lawsuits on Slumdog Millionaire for showing India in a bad light, and for using the intolerable word “dog” to describe those poor little slum kids, is now in a state of total joy.

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Let’s start by wishing each other a very happy second blog anniversary. Two years ago I wrote my first thingy and look where we are now……….3.8 million readers and a community of fun and caring people who love life and love cruising. I thank you all for taking your valuable time to read it each day and a huge thank you to Stephanie and Vance and all the people behind the scenes who have made the blog’s continuing success possible…………..long may it continue.

It’s that time of year when cruises become a popular destination for a lot of people, including students, taking spring vacations.

And it’s not surprising that so many people gravitate to a cruise based on some of the reports out there in the news about tourists having terrible things happen while trekking through some fleapit on the wrong side of the equator.
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The great thing about having your own blog is that I can pretty much use it to say what I want. Of course, if I was to out one of our vice presidents as a secret member of the Judge Judy Appreciation Society or suggest that all the cruise directors perform their shows naked……well I am sure the PR folks would take issue with this and edit it out.

However, they give me a lot of room to express my feelings and occasionally I take the opportunity to do so even though it has bugger all to do with my job or this great industry that I love more than the thought of eating strawberries and cream out of Angelina Jolie’s belly button.
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Guest: Mr _______ Ref: 835005386A
Cabin: _____ Booking#: ________ Added-Changed: 03/02/09 – 03/02/09

WANTED TO SPEAK TO CRUISE DIRECTOR.
Guest called the desk asking to speak to the cruise director who was at the time hosting the Captain’s Party. Guest said he would not hang up the phone until she had spoken to him. GSA asked if she could help. Guest said that he had just finished watching the cruise director’s port orientation talk where he said that guests must not rent Mopeds in the ports. Guest was very angry about this as he owns a moped rental company in the Florida Keys. GSA apologized and said that it was company policy to advise guests not to rent them. Guest then started to shout and then put down the phone. Guest called back but there was no answer. E-mail sent to CD

Good morning everyone from Grand Cayman………well………sort of……………and I will explain what I mean about that later. Firstly, let’s talk about the comment above. Yes, I did indeed advise the guests that renting mopeds is not a good idea as I and my fellow cruise directors have been doing for many years. All of us have seen first hand the accidents that these machines can cause. This includes guests coming back to the ship having left various bits of skin on the road for the iguanas to nibble, guests having to stay in the islands’ hospital, and in a few cases not coming back at all.
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The most important part of a building is its foundations and that is the same for any successful company. The Carnival of today was built on the foundations laid by the many and today at noon the fleet will lower their flags to half mast to remember a true gentlemen of the sea………………….Captain Carlo Chiarella
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Last week one of the bobbleheads that we gave to the bloggerss during the cruise on the Carnival Fantasy sold on eBay for an astounding $47. I had hinted that our President and Chief Executive Officer Gerry Cahill had sold some of his pet fish and used the money to buy it and that it was now sitting on his desk……………..looking at him.

Then it was revealed that this was in fact bollocks and that a lovely lady blog reader had snapped up this bargain. And now I am told that the bloggers T-shirt, mouse pad/photo frame and other wobbly heads have now found their way onto the auction site.
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