Hello Bloggers.
John sends his regards from yesterday’s Carnival Dream Naming Ceremony event.
Steph#343 
Filed under: Links, Travel, Video | Tagged: Carnival Dream
John Sends His Hello’s From The Carnival Dream
Posted on November 13, 2009 by John Heald
Mr. Blum, Please let John eat. We don’t want him getting sick before the Bloggers Cruise. The Evil Crew has some real Evil planned for him. I hope your going to be there with us.
BIG ED
Stephanie:
I think you would have been justified to throw that light at John after that comment.
I think he owes you a couple of mojitos!!!!
John:
I heard that Vince Strong ROCKED in the Piano Bar last night. We have not sailed with him but would LOVE TO one day!!!!
I know a good time was had by all. And yes, we do wish we could have been there…but we will be there SOON!!!
Blogger’s Cruise December 3rd….WOO HOO!!!
Linda (Mom of your friend DJ)
John,
Was that Monique (hope I spell it right) twin in the background(ha ha).
Loved the ceremony, just wished I was booked. Have fun and please get something to eat soon, don’t need you out of shape.
Can anyone tell me how to get one of Johns bobble heads weve been seeing in alot of the pics.
Dear John,
Was that a Cheese Bugger that you wanted? I think you will be able to find something to eat on the Carnival Dream. Tell Roger to take you to the Supper Steakhouse Club.
The Cruzin2some
James & Nancy Enslow
John,
Loved the ceremony and thanks for checking in. Wish I could have been there but I watched all the festivities on-line while at work. (Don’t tell my boss!)
Cheers to you and the Dream crew. Looking forward to sailing on her again in less than 60 days.
Melissa
Dear John,
I almost forgot. Who was that lady at the Naming Ceremony and why was she showing you her Butt? What did you do in Jamaica Mon? Is she why you quit drinking anything other than Diet Coke? You had better start working on some answers because when you get home you my friend are sooooooooo busted!
The Cruzin2some
James & Nancy Enslow
John. please eat and take care of yourself. We can’t have you getting sick and your diabetes out of control. This time 3 weeks from now we will be on the Carnival Dream with you and sick you do not need to be.
We enjoyed the video of the christening. Thanks to Stephanie #343 or whomever was responsible for posting it.
Carolyn and Don
BTW how is Heidi’s Mum doing since her accident?
Dear John,
The ceremony was wonderful! Thank you for sharing it with us. I was sad to miss the festivities in person, but am thrilled to be able to watch it upon my arrival at home.
I was honored to meet you when you arrived to join the Transatlantic sailing (yes I was one of the lucky young ones bringing the Dream to the USA!). We spoke briefly about how amazing the crew and staff on the Dream had been and what an amazing cruise we’d been lucky enough to enjoy. I can’t say enough good things about the entire Carnival Dream Team (there’s not enough room here…) but I wanted to reiterate that Todd Witmer and his entertainment peeps, the crew, the staff and the captain were lovely, wonderful people who ensured that everyone on the ship had something fun to do every hour of every day for our crossing while ensuring the safety of 3000+ people… no mean feat to be sure with that many people for 16 days!! I am truly grateful for all of their efforts and cannot wait to see them all again when we return to sail with the Carnival Dream!
In the meantime, congratulations to you and Carnival on this important occasion and a hearfelt THANK YOU to everyone who sailed on the Transatlantic Dream Crossing with us for making our Dream vacation come true. See you soon!
Carin
OOOOPs Sorry I meant to say Hello to Mr. Blum.
I really hope you are going to join us on the BC.
Also of the over 200,000 hits on the blog last month 3/4 of them were made by me, Big Ed and the Evil Crew…
Countess Carolyn
Loved watching the ceremony! Not as good as being there OF COURSE, but so much fun! Look forward to sailing again with you soon, John.
Linda
Dear John,
I was thrilled to be able to catch the ceremony Live yesterday, albeit online and not in person. I wish I could have done the live chat with the other bloggers, but my boss is also one of my facebook friends, and I didn’t want to risk getting busted for watching the ceremony when I should have been working.
Shhh! Let’s keep that last bit about me watching the ceremony just between us…and the 285 thousand other people who read this blog!
Laura
John, it was awesome. We cant wait to see her for are own eyes wednesday when she makes it here to port canaveral.
Big Fans as Allways,
Frank and Bridie
Hi John,
Chris was at the ceremony and bumped into you a couple of times, one of which was captured on camera. She told me the ship is beautiful, the food was magnificent and the shows were some of the best she’s seen. I have a feeling we’ll be sailing on her before to long. Our best to the family.
Alan & Chris
Boston
We don’t have any cruises book now. But I’m hoping to sail Dream in the next couple of years. She looks like a nice ship…
Kim
THANKS JOHN & STEPHANIE
HOPE YOU BOTH GOT SOMETHING TO EAT
AND SOME REST
IT WAS AWESOME
TAKE CARE
THE TUCKERS IN FLORIDA
ELIZABETH & ARNOLD
SEE YOU SOON
DEC 3,2009
Hello John, PLEASE…PLEASE…PLEASE reply
Hope you are well and that you got your cheeseburger. Sorry I missed the ceremony on the Carnival Web site but my work doesn’t allow streaming. I’m sure it was fantastic. But even though I missed it I will be seeing MY Carnival Dream in just 10 more days.
You may not remember but I wrote to you a while back voicing my concerns about smoking policy in the Casino and you re-assured me that it will be fine and even asked me to write back after the cruise to give you my impressions. (I thought that was VERY nice of you).
As much as my family and I are looking forward to our “DREAM” vacation coming up the week of Thanksgiving I there is a department within Carnival that is leaving me with a very bad taste and causing more gas than if I had eaten several bowls of chili. It concerns the people who handle the Early Saver Program. I know there was a comment about the ES a couple of days ago but I have to vent about my problems with the program. First let me say that I love the idea of the ES program that allows us to make sure we can ALWAYS take advantage when we find lower fairs after we originally book. Also the program worked great…up until I made my final payment. Since that time, trying to get the credits for my OBC from rate reductions I found has been like pulling teeth. It took 3 weeks to finally get the credit I was applying for the first time I found a reduced rate. I am now involved in another fight to get a new reduction I found.
I submitted the online form originally on Oct 18th ($279.00 senior rate for passengers 3 and 4 which is GREAT…if I can get it!). I re-submitted on Oct 31st because I had not heard back on my request. I also sent an e-mail to my PVP to let her know about what was going on. She wrote back and stated “the supervisors are asking me you to wait until Monday” which was Nov 1st. I waited adn no response so I gave it another couple of days. On Nov 3rd I wfrote to my PVP and she replied “The Early Saver Department is working on your request. We should know by Friday” that would have been Nov 6th. THe 6th comes with no answer or e-mail from either PVP or the early saver department. On November 9th I talked to my PVP again and she talked some supervisor and requested to fill out the online form again and that I would hear in 48 hours! So…I did submit again!!! So now we are here on Nov 13th and still no word. Sooooooo (are you detecting a trend here John?) I called my PVP at 11 AM eastern time about this continuing problem and she said she was tied up with another customer and would “call me right back”. Well I got home from work at 5:15 PM and checked my e-mail since I had not heard back from her. Upon openning my e-mail I found an email from her which was sent at 3:49 PM (so much for calling right back). And to my shock…surprise…dismay (pick any term you would like) she tells me that my request was never recieved and that I have to re-submit (if we are counting that will make 4 times!!!!!) and have to allow yet another 3 days to see if I hear anything!!!! Needless to say that was NOT acceptable to me and after some conversation back and forth she told me that “her supervisor” is going to handle this problem and I will get a call on Monday.
Now you can call me a cynic…but I do not have a warm fuzzy feeling about how this is going to work out.
John, I truely do love Carnival and am so looking forward to our upcoming cruise but this is leaving a VERY bad taste in my mouth. The best way I can describe the frustration I am feeling is the following : You, John, by using the ES program that I will get to have “rumpy pumpy” with 3 of the most beautiful women in the world…at the SAME TIME (you are obviously trying to kill me but that is a different story). Anyway as the selected day for the rummpy pumpy aproaches you let me know that I will have to wait a few more days. And then you postpone the time again and again. Finally the day arrives after being put off again and again and you tell my “sorry…no rumpy pumpy for you BUT you can wash, dry and fold all the underwear I used over the past 6 months instead of having the rumpy pumpy”
At the rate this is going it will finally be resolved 2 weeks AFTER we get back from our Thanksgiving week cruise. PLEASE…PLEASE…PLEASE tell/ask the people with beards to either get the ES program to work or drop it all together. As it is running now the rpgram is taking away from what should be pure and total anticipation of a fantastic cruise.
Thanks for allowing me to vent and in a long winded fashion explain a serious shortcoming to what should be a wonderful program.
Sincerely,
Alan
PS…can’t wait until I can finally be on a cruise with you.
John- thanks to you & Carnival for a great job with the naming ceremony on our Carnival Dream!! I think the way the ceremony was carried out epitomizes the way Carnival conducts business…with FUN! Great fun having your CEO (Gerry Cahill) meld in with the Fun Force and then surprise everyone! Also, great choice for godmother…Marcia Gay Harden is a classy lady with a great sense of humor (perfect for Carnival’s flag ship). Hope the weather cooperates for these upcoming cruises out of NYC, but no worries mate, I can attest, the ship handles heavy weather/seas like a champ (we were on the Oct 15th sailing and encountered 40 ft seas and 70 mph winds). Wish we could sail on the bloggers cruise with you, but since we are in Houston, maybe Jeanne & I can catch up with you on the Conquest out of Galveston. Cheers & Ciao!
Marty & Jeanne
Hi John,
I was on the Dream for its trans-atlantic cruise. I have to say it is the nicest of all the Carnival ships I have been on. It is tastefully decorated not all those wild decorations some of the other ships have. I love the lighting around the atrium and the glass elevators. So sad though that we didn’t get a welcoming cermony when we entered the NY port. I also want to commend the Dream team, expecially James, Ellie, Mark, Simon, Dei, and Amy. Without them this could have been a very long trip. It was a great journey and I hope to see them all again.
Great, fantastic, unbelievable,etc. about the ceremony on the Carnival Dream. Marcia Gay Harden is a beautiful, sexy looking, tremendous Godmother and you weren’t that bad either John. Thoroughly enjoyed it. January 23rd, 2010 is the date I will be onboard the beautiful ship, the Carnival Dream.
Paul F. Pietrangelo
I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to send John an email.
Thanks!
John,
Really enjoyed the naming ceremony. Thanks for sharing it with us online. Can’t wait to see the Dream for ourselves on the Blogger’s Cruise.
Cheers mate!
Lisa and George
JOHN, PLEASE REPLY….
Hi, John! Congratulations to you & everybody that made the Dream’s naming ceremony a success! Thank you for sharing the videos with all of us.
John, you mentioned a few wks. ago that there was a possibility that you would be sailing on the Freedom or maybe on the Sensation on Sat., Nov. 21. We would like to know if by now you know if you will be on the Freedom or not. As we mentioned on earlier comments, we’ll be sailing on the Freedom from Pt. Everglades on Sat. Nov. 21 (a week from tomorrow!) and would love to have you onboard. Would you pls. let us know? We are aware that you have been super busy and that you and your Stephanies haven’t had the time to post/read/answer our earlier comments, but if you by any chance are able to read this comment before we sail on Nov. 21, please let us know.
Regards to you and Heidi & kisses to beautiful Kye.
Juan & Maria
The Santanas of Miami Beach
John, Please reply.
My wife and I just completed our cruise on the Carnival Destiny, we got off the ship on Thursday 11/12/09. As usual we had a terrific time and hated to leave this beautiful funship. We did encounter the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, with some strong winds, but nothing to dampen the fun aboard the Destiny. I have to point out an incredible experience we had aboard the ship, we had the pleasure in being served by a headwaiter named Fu. Fu made our dinner experiences unforgettable, he offered us the very best service we have ever encountered on or off a cruise ship. After hearing my wife’s comments on how much she loved the pumpkin soup, Fu arranged to have a bowl (or 2) of this delicacy for her every night of the cruise, even though it was not offered on the menu. We expect great service aboard the funships, from our past experiences, but Fu is in a league of his own.
Captain Pier Paolo Scala has a great sense of humour and was very approachable, our CD Brent was terrific and we loved the shows in the Palladium lounge. I have to admit that I enjoyed the warm chocolate melting cake 5 times during our cruise, each was better than the one from the evening before!!After I finish this entry I will be back online booking our next Carnival vacation, which will be my 7th and my wife Michelle’s 10th aboard the funships!!! We will be back on the Carnival Destiny during March of next year, and the Carnival Dream in September, as we celebrate another anniversary aboard a funship. Hopefully Fu will again be onboard the Carnival Destiny and we can rekindle the friendship started this week.
Linda (DJ’s mom),
You are in luck. Vince Strong will be returning to the Dream for the last two days of the Blogger’s cruise in December.
I highly recommend checking out his show. He certainly does rock the piano bar!
Laura (divetrash)
What an awsome job. Hope you got something to eat. Surely they have food on that nice big ship. Also saw the ship sail into nYC on the Webcam. Mighty cool! Jan 9 is getting closer and closer.
Lexi
What a great blog, I wish I had discovered it earlier. I started a blog about cruising and am now (just about) making a living from it, however I have very little on or about Carnival as my site is mainly UK based.
I guess after looking at this, I need to get my finger out and start to promote Carnival, after all they are the biggest, but are they the best?
John,
It was great seeing you at the naming ceremony. I have put together some photos and excerpts from the speeches that I thought you might like to see. http://beyondships.com/CarnivalDream-art-naming.html It was a great occasion.
Love all the updates John, I believe you talked to my parents on the Dream after you got on the ship in Bermuda. They told me to try and get in touch with you.
P.S GO get something to eat
You do not have to apologize to us John, we know how busy you have been. We would love to hear anything you can share with us that you learned in your meetings.
Keep smiling John, you truly are one of the good guys.
My best to Heidi and Kye.
The debut of the Carnival Dream got a thumbs-up on AAA’s travel blog. http://www.aaatravelviews.com/post/2009/11/23/The-Carnival-Dream-Embarks.aspx
Great job.