Dreams can be exciting things……like the one I had last night about Catherine Zeta Jones dressed all in leather and a bucket of whipped cream. Dreams can also be horribly frightening as well like the one had which was exactly the same except Catherine Zeta Jones had been replaced by Judge Judy.
Also…..why is it that when anyone has a bad dream they feel compelled to talk about it? As soon as I hear: “I had the worst dream last night,” I know it’s my cue to ask what happened. What follows is a strange story that makes no sense and has no point. I would never admit to anyone that while I was in a deep sleep I dreamed of covering her Judgeness in whipped cream.
And of course whoever had the dream is expecting me to be as interested in it as they are. If I’m barely able to pay attention to the details of things that happen in their real life. What makes them think I’ll give two shiny shites about things that happen when they’re floating and flying? But even if you don’t ask what happened, they’ll tell you anyway. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being around people who have vivid dreams, it’s that they love to share them. Why? Because it felt so real. For the person who didn’t experience it, it’s boring.
Listening to someone who actually climbed the bloody wall on the Paytoeat of the Seas would be more appealing.
I say all of this because I watched a program last night about what dreams mean.
They had a live phone-in where people would tell a panel of bearded vegetarian experts who would try and explain what each dream meant……what a load of bollocks. One man called and started his conversation with “You won’t believe what I dreamt last night.”
“I DO believe it,” I shouted at the. TV, “because it’s a sodding DREAM. You could tell me you chopped your own bollocks off, cooked them on a George Foreman Grill, fed them to George W. Bush who then vomited them back up in one of the 100 square foot cabins on the Epic thingy……. And you know what? I’d believe you!”
The worst is when someone is telling you a dream and you don’t know they are telling you a dream until halfway through the story. Heidi once told me that she had coffee with Boris Becker who had given her two tickets for Wimbledon……wow, I punched the air and was just about to hug my wife when she told me it was dream. I thought about telling her to bugger off but then I would have stayed with the tennis theme and would have required “new balls.”
But Dreams can come true…….and today I got to board your Carnival Dream. I have been joined by Carnival President and CEO Gerry Cahill, VP of Cruise Programming Roger Blum and a host of Carnival executives, as well as Todd Wittmer who will have the honor of being her cruise director.
I asked Roger Blum if like me he still gets that feeling of total excitement and wonderment in a shipyard…….after all he has been involved in new build projects since the Holiday back in 1985.
This is what Roger replied: “One of the most exciting parts of this business is seeing what it takes to build one of these giant ships, but to be honest, for me it’s even more exciting when our crew arrives, and we bring the ship to life!”
Well, the crew won’t arrive until the end of August and today believe it or not the ship is astonishingly quiet as it’s a public holiday here in Italy and all the shipbuilders have buggered off. I am not sure what holiday it is as Italy has more than any other European country. Maybe they are celebrating St. Pasta or it could be that there eccentric Prime Minister Silvio Bellasconi decided just to give every Italian a day off to shout at each other about whose mama’s tomato sauce was the best.
But it was a good thing because the ship was quiet. There were no workers hammering, drilling and painting leaving all of us to walk around open mouthed as we took in the astonishing Carnival Dream
My hotel has no Internet and I have no time so I will be writing a special Dream blog when I get home describing all the areas and featured in full. This also means that I won’t be answering questions this week which I sincerely apologize for but I promise will answer every single one next week with an extra blog just answering questions…..please forgive me.
Tomorrow we have the rest of the ship to see and no doubt our jaws will be dropping again.
Here are today’s photos and I will write about all you are seeing later this week.
But for now ……Dream on!
Goodnight
Your dream machine
John
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Wow, John! Thanks for the pictures of the Dream! I am so excited to know that I will b sailing on her in just over four months!!
Best to you, Heidi and sweet little Kye!
Melissa
Hi John!
What great pictures…
I can truly see the vision and the completed project through the dust and partial build.
It looks amazing and I can’t wait to see more.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Take care!
David
John:
Finally, some real live pictures!! woo hoo
I can’t wait to see those hot tubs in action!!
Linda (Mom of your friend DJ)
John,
Thanks for the photos! We are all so excited about our upcoming cruise on the Dream, 10/27/09! The only thing that would make it better would be, if you were going to be there with all of us, as we honor the California Heros. We are happy that you will be joining us in Bermuda though. A little bit of time with you is better than no time with you.
Not a word today about Kye, what are you trying to do, put us thru withdrawl along with you?
Sheryl
John, when to started talking about dreams I was hearing Susan Boyle singing “I Dreamed a Dream” in my head. I was hoping you were going to tell us she was to be the Godmother ot the Carnival Dream or at least sing at the Christening. But I guess I will just have to settle for the pictures of this beautiful ship coming to life.
Say Hi to all there with you.
BIG ED
There will never be a dream about the Dream.
Dream a Little Dream of Me John
Wow
I could even tell the Hot tubs on the sides of the ship and feel the steam… hmmmmm
The red lights of the disco too!
Its coming together very well……
Thnaks for the great pictures and a very large blog for a small raspberry..
Take Care
Ciao!
the Tuckers
Elizabeth & Arnold
John would you check out room 10288 and please tell me it is some other color than orange. Please?
Carolyn
PS we miss our daily update about our sweet little niece, Kye.
John, I could hardly wait to get home today to check out the pictures. She’s looking fantastic. November can’t come soon enough!!! (Oh wait, I have a couple more ships to hop on first!)
Best wishes to you, Heidi and Kye!
Stitch
I know this has already been said but what the heck. To cruise on the Carnival Dreams is my “I Dreamed a Dream”. Sorry I just had to say it. But wow, what a ship. I can’t wait until January 23rd, 2010 where I can really have my dream come true. Thanks John and I can’t wait for more photos. Well done Giovanni e avere una buona notte il mio amico.
Paolo F. Pietrangelo. If you don’t know me it’s Paul
John Please Reply
Thanks John, Carnival Dream is a beautiful beautiful ship.
I will be interesting to see how the cove balconies work out. I wonder how high will the seas have to be before the bulkheads be ordered to be closed?
I am glad that Carnival and the ship architects planned this piece out, because I could imagine in high seas someone would want to experience high seas on their balcony when of course it would not be a good idea. Kinda like those folks that think a Muster drill is an option!
Ciao John!
Dear John,
Thanks for the pic’s. and keep them coming. It looks like they are starting to put the finishing touches on the girl. From now until she is commisioned I expect the pictures to just keep getting better and better.
James & Nancy
The Cruzin2some
John, (Please reply)
My husband and I just returned from a wonderful cruise on the Valor. The ship was beautiful, the food was fantastic, and the service was superb. Big Tex is an exceptional cruise director. I have not had the privilege of cruising with you as CD but of my 6 cruises, he was definitely the best. Our cabin steward was amazing as was the waiter, Mariano, in the cigar bar. Gladdie and Anna, our wait staff at late seating in the Washington were very attentive. I filled out the comment card with exceeded my expectations as it truly did. I also made sure that I mentioned the staff members by name that went out of their way to provide service. My husband personally wants to thank Carnival for caring enough to provide non alcoholic beer as medication prevents him from drinking alcohol. Also, the VIP check in in Miami was unbelievably efficient. From the time we dropped our bags at the curb, we were on the ship within 15 minutes.
Kathy & Robert Phillips
San Antonio, TX
Hi John, thanks….looking forward to more photos, videos and commentary on this very special ship. Can’t wait to board her….are you home sick yet?
Cheers,
Ray & Deb
John,
How about a picture of Todd?
Gary
John,
Thanks for the pictures. I can’t wait until December when we do the 9 days cruise. The only thing is I wish is that there were more modified balconies and suites. I dreamed that we got a modified suite for our cruise but awoke to find out that it was only a dream, oh well at least it was a good one, I hate the ones that don’t make sense. I’m going to go dream about the Dream and what a beauty she will be. Thanks so very much.
Thanks for the pictures!
OK I’M really confused I heard that James Dunn was going to be the new CD on the Dream appearently I heard wrong so tell me Either John or Stephanie what ship is our friend James on Now??
I love it and can’t wait for more!
John Please Reply
I know you are busy being a father, husband, Senior CD and blogger, but when you get a moment (9 minutes and 5 seconds to be exact) can you watch this amazing video from a Carnival fan vlogger named circlelimit1?
Circlelimit1 is not my son nor myself or a family member…but produces what I have found some very interesting and entertaining Carnival Cruise videos.
In this video, Circlelimit1 attends the Captain’s Reception and interviews Captain Rocco Lubrano (Conquest), Hotel Director, Dany Petrenko. Features shots of Funship Freddy….oh and Circlelimit1 also is a fan of his Raspberry and is amazed that he has email reception at sea!
Do let me know what you think? For those that haven’t figured it out yet, vloggers are bloggers but use video as their medium as opposed to the written word.
Mark Brass
If anyone
Stunning… she’s becoming stunning, John.
PLEASE keep our Dream alive with as many pictures as you can manage to cram on this Blog Thingy!!!
Please say hello to my twin, Roger, for me!!!
Ciao!!!
Host Mach
John,
When I have a free moment I will post a long reply with details of our cruise on the Legend. I sent pics to the socialnetwork address yesterday. I will say this though . . . Jen was great and so was Sam! We got past guest pins! I was very happy to get some of the last ones. Also we received the new sail and sign cards, we really like the new design. I am still catching up on the blogs I missed while on the ship but I did watch the video of Lady Kye. She is beautiful! Congratulations again John & Heidi.
Roxianne
Thanks John, can’t wait until 15 November for our Dream cruise
Hi John!
Thanks for the video of you and Kye, she sure is staring at her Daddy….think she already feels the love from her daddy. Very sweet video…
And thanks for the Dream pics…even though we have to wait until Feb. to board her….we can’t wait!
Edy
Hi John,
Those photos of the Dream have me so excited. I am counting the days (and hours & minutes) until I’m there. Can’t wait to hear and see more.
Regard, and hugs to Heidi & Kye,
Carol
Thanks for the photos John. We can’t wait for our 10/27/09 TA on her. Maybe you can post some photos of the cabins. That would be wonderful.
Pics of two “Dream Girls” at one time – WOW
Thanks,
PennyB of New Orleans
Hi John, (please reply)
We had B2B Splendor 4S Spa cabins last Nov and it was paradise even with the 4S Cabin which was wonderful for us. We are doing the B2B DREAM with a 8S Spa Deck and another 4S this Nov from N.Y. and would love to hear and see more about the Fabulous Cloud Nine Spa and the spa rooms if you can manage. We are doing the Spendor Oct 11 in 4S spa (we love that cozy and quiet cabin for us) to the Mexican Riviera. We are soon approaching our Plantinum level and can’t wait for our 51st Anniv Cruise on the DREAM.
Thanks for all you do and best regards to your beautiful family. You must be so proud!
John – thanks so much for feeding my appetite for more Dream photos.
She’s gonna be a beaut – though nothing like Kye
!
Tom
John,
I’m really looking forward to more photos of the new “cove balcony” staterooms. Hope you get the chance to spot one for us.
Luc
John why don’t we get you a life size cardboard cut out of catherine zeta jones for you to take on stage with you???
Big Fans as Allways,
Frank and Bridie
John, You answered a couple of days ago my complaint that I still had not received the Carnival Current and the back issues.
Yesterday I received the Summer 09 Issue. Thank you.
Bill
THAT was one heck of a segue, my friend. Bad dreams, dreams come true, Carnival Dream, your dream machine.
You are a blog ARTIST!! A blogger extraordinaire! Kudos and all that good stuff to you — I always get such a kick out of reading your thingie!
Hello John,
Congratulations to you and your wife on the new little addition to your family. Just wanted to say thanks for getting my wife and i started in the right direction with Carnival. You were our CD back in 1998 and we are still going with Carnival today. It would be great if you could make a surprise visit on the 1/23/2010 Dream cruise with the first ever Monkey Head Wasters Cruise.
John reply if you have time. I know the little ones keep families very busy
Thanks Joe Smith