Hi John,

I went on my first cruise on the Paradise quite some time ago. Recently, I convinced the most beautiful girl in the world to marry me, and we’re going to celebrate by taking our honeymoon on the Legend on April 11, 2010. Would you mind pulling some strings to get us seated near a window in the dining room?

Thanks for the interesting blog and any help you can provide,

Jason

Dear John,

I haven’t been on your web site in a while.. We are working out butts off to be able to pay for another cruise. LOL.

I read your blog on the screaming baby. Although I have run in to those flights also. I guess we are lucky as we have our own plane and fly mostly in the South East and don’t have to par-take in commercial flts. unless further then what we want to fly our plane.

But I do understand why those babies cry. Personally people shouldn’t bring there kids under a current age on planes, being the fact they can’t deal with the air pressure change. I know “some” adults have had problems with this. Me for one, this happen one time when I had a “head” cold. Being a pilot I should have known better then to fly. But I don’t turn down a flight.

When my husband got to our destination. We had to descend and my ears felt like they were imploding in my head. It hurt like a “B@$%^ch”. I had to deal with until my ears cleared. I knew we had to descend. The problem is a baby has only one way to say I’m hurting and that’s crying.

I know some people have to “travel” with theirs babies. But it is something to keep in mind. Personally I would “medicate” a baby because of that. Those medications have so many “side effects”. To me to give a baby medicine just to keep him “calm” is a scary thing.

Yours Truly,
Kim

The excursions….I have done it both ways and generally will do the ship tours. We have ventured out on our own in ports we have been to multiple times and know where we are going and what we want to do. I consider it safer to do the ship tour and especially the fact they advise they ship if there is an issue getting back.

No Christmas cards from me this year either. Between Thanksgiving and getting ready and sailing on the Carnival Dream, there was little time, maybe next year????

Regarding shore excursions, we generally opt for independent tours. As mentioned in an earlier post, we also like a much smaller, intimate and personal experience; we also like being able to design our own schedule. At many ports, grabbing a taxi for our group to go to the beach just seems much quicker and we get to come and go as we please. On excursions that might cut it really close with time, we choose Carnival every time and some tours are only offered by Carnival.

Hope you and your girls have a very Merry Christmas!

Glad you made it home safely. Give our love to the girls. Glad Kye recognized her daddy. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Mike & Lori

Welcome home. I hope you have a very relaxing holiday and new year with Heidi and Kye – you all deserve it. Thank you for always keeping us updated and entertained – you really mean so much to all of us. I have followed everything from this and the other bloggers cruise, and I really hope that next year, my family can finally join.

My family of four will be cruising on the Dream for the New Year’s Cruise (Dec. 26 – 2 weeks away). We have all been looking forward to this cruise and counting down the days for over a year. We were getting nervous after reading some negative reviews, but then we started to see them balanced out with positives and know that we will get to relax and have a great time.

We were hoping that our waiter Roberto DeJesus would be onboard so we could reunite with him after having first met him back in 2000 on our first cruise as a family on the Triumph, but you were kind enough to inform us that he will be on the Valor during that time. We have heard sooooo many great things about Ken and being in his dining room, and we were wondering – is it at all possible to have us placed in Ken’s dining room and possibly have him place us with a great, fun waitstaff (even though I’m sure they are all great) so we can make our Carnival dining experience even more fun and special? We have heard so many great things, and we would really appreciate it if you would be able to help us our with this if at all possible. Also… is there any way I could contact someone to arrange a small surprise or gift for my parents. They have been looking forward to this vacation for such a long time, and I want to show them with a little something how much they mean to me and help them kick back in relaxation and vacation mode.

Any recommendations of anything good to do in Belize or Roatan – these are two of the four ports that we have never been to and are looking for any good beaches, bars, or places to… have fun and relax.

Thanks so much for your assistance and help… and for being here for us bloggers. As I have said, you mean so much to me and all of us. I look forward to writing about all of my great experiences on the Dream when I return. Have a great holiday and new year.

Sincerely,
Matt T.

Hi John,

First, a quick note, the primary link to your bloggy thingy is broke on the Carnival website. I was able to get here via another link on Carnival’s site.

Just wanted to pass on an idea for Carnival’s future entry into the Hawaiian market while being based in Honolulu (I osted this idea previously on your blog). Here’s the idea;

Carnival Glory is moved to Tampa to replace the Carnival Legend, who repositions via the Panama Canal (let me know when, so I can book this cruise!) to Honolulu, which becomes her new homeport. To stay legal since she is not U.S. flag, her itinerrary includes a run out to Fannin Island, which Carnival has invested much $$ (e.g. Grand Turk, HMC), to make it a beautiful desination.

Now, Carnival guests that cannot take almost 2 weeks off (12 day cruise), as is in place now to sail the Hawaiian Islands on a Fun Ship, can now fly directly to Honolulu and board the Carnival Legend for a 7 or 8 day round-trip cruise and only have to take a week’s leave.

Oh, one more recommendation; in honor of the Carnival Legend homeporting out of Honolulu, Carnival changes the vessel name to the “Carnival Le’ale’a”, with le’ale’a being the Hawaiian word for…you guessed it, fun.

(Btw, no coincidence that the word “ale” is smack dab in the middle of the Hawaiian word for fun).

Sorry about just throwing my 2 cents your (& Carnival’s) way, but this idea keeps popping into my head.

NCL Pride of America my arse…

Marty Paul