I just wanted you to know that Mark Price does a great job as CD but can’t hold a candle to your Dolly Parton act – no, not even close. You are definitely the winner.

Our best to you, Heidi and “Thingy.”

Hi there, George and I will be at the Baltimore breakfast. We will have a total of 4 in our party.

Look forward to seeing you.

Lisa

We think it is wonderful what you all did for that woman and her child with Lyme Disease. It just shows how much Carnival cares for it’s customers and what a big heart you have! Glad you made the dicision to stay with Heidi.

Mike & Lori

I believe you made a wise decision about staying put until the Wee Little One has arrived.

And yes your life will definately change…but all for the better.

I wish we could come to the Baltimore Party, but we will be enjoying the company of Countess Carolyn and Don at Nascar’s Talladega Race that weekend. DJ is very excited!!!

As Carnival continues to reach out to the “uncruised” among us, I have been thinking that one thing that may be hampering their decision to try cruising is the “fear of the unknown”.

Since we have done it, we know that cruising is as easy as can be. But it may be intimidating for those who have never tried it.

It is a shame that folks can’t be shown or experience a “dry run” (so to speak) of arriving at a terminal…handing over the luggage…going through security…checking in…getting your embarkation 8 x 10 picture made…having your photo implanted onto your Sail and Sign card and then walking on the ship.

Perhaps Carnival could add an interactive component to their website that “walks people” through this process.

Just an idea….

Linda (Mom of your friend DJ)

I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but we just got off the Miracle Monday & I’ve been getting caught up since then!

The Miracle was fantastic! All of the crew did an outstanding job (as we’ve come to expect), but a few deserve specific recognition. Our team head waiter Charunet (or, “Chardonnay”, as we referred to her!) and her assistants did a FANTASTIC job with our table of 8 kids. She even insisted that the kids all come to the dining room for dinner on the night we ate at Nick & Nora’s Supper Club! This was a pleasant turn of events and really allowed us to enjoy Nick & Nora’s. By the way, Thank You for the assist on getting two adjoining tables with a view. We were in the side room (the Ariadne Room) off the main dining room, with the same wait staff at both tables. This was great!

Kudos to “T” and the other craps dealers (forgive me, I couldn’t hope to either spell or pronounce his name) for helping this novice player to learn the game. Although the casino (and especially the craps table) was slower than I’ve seen in several cruises, we had a great time there. This was mainly due to the courtesy and personality of most of the dealers. We made our customary sacrifice to King Neptune via the provided sacrificial altars (known as “casino tables” and “slot machines” by most passengers).

Kudos also to bar waiter Nenad who went out of his way to make sure that we were well taken care of and who also took the time to get to know us.

Finally, a shout-out to the Camp Carnival staff, who let our just-turned-12 daughter to stay in Camp Carnival with her 10- and 11-year-old siblings, cousins and friends. We saw the Circle “C” (12- to 14-year-old) crowd about ship a few times, and I can tell you that that particular group was no place for a 12-year-old girl to be. I imagine that the Circle “C” counselor had her hands full with that bunch, as they were behaving more like college students on Spring Break than middle-schoolers… I know this is an area you touched upon in your comments on 3/28; I’d like to add my two cents here that some degree of flexibility should be given to the staff to address this on a case-by-case basis. Our 12-year-old is relatively naive when it comes to the behavior of many of her age group. If she had been forced to go with the Circle “C” group, we probably would have had to withhold her from participating. She’s just not ready for that kind of behavior. (I don’t know that many of the others in that group were either; I suspect that much of what we saw went unseen and unknown by their parents…)

Overall, it was a great trip! Of the three other families traveling with us, one was new to Carnival and another hadn’t sailed arnival in several years. I think we’ve converted them to loyal fans!

On 3/28, someone asked about an on-board promotion offering a benefit for booking your next cruise while still on-board. I asked, and the Miracle staff was unaware of any such promotion. If one exists, it needs to be publicized. (If not, I think it’s something to consider. I know I would have booked the next one right then!)

Last week, you mentioned that Your Choice dining is already in place on the Miracle. We noticed no ill effects of this on our (preferred) fixed-time dining, other than it seemed to us that there has been a reduction in the number of dancing / singing events for the dining room staff (our kids asked why the waiters don’t sing & dance every night any more…).

If you enjoy “My Super Sweet 16″, you’ve GOT to search for the cable/satellite channel CMT (Country Music Television) and watch at least an episode (or three) of the program “My Big Redneck Wedding”! It will have you rolling with laughter. It will also validate just about every stereotype of the “typical” southern American that you’ve ever heard about! Just when you think you’ve seen and heard it all, it gets even better (or worse, depending on how you look at it). It’s like watching a train wreck – you know it’s gonna be ugly, but you can’t help but watch it anyway!

I’m glad you decided to stay near home for Thingy’s pending birth. I add my voice to those of others advising you to enjoy the ride. It’s well worth it!

I apologize again for the length of this post, but I wanted to give praise to the Miracle and her crew (who clearly deserve it) and to give feedback which I hope will help make Carnival even better.

Best to you, Heidi and the soon-to-be-here Thingy!

Rick H.

May 10th is Mothers’ Day! Can’t think of a more appropriate day to be born. I was born on Mothers’Day (it happened to be May11th that year) and each celebration of my birhday also required recognition of Mom, which really seems appropriate, doesn’t it? Talk about the gift that keeps on giving. On whatever day will be great I know, but May 10th would be recognition of a very gift to to you both.