It was 7:50am when the team walked up the gangway here in Port Canaveral. It was obvious by their beards that these were important visitors and as they entered the ship they produced identification that always turns grown men and women into dribbling nervous wrecks………………..United States Public Health were onboard.
During the next few hours the USPH team inspect everything and I mean everything. From food preparation to food and beverage service to the storage areas to lockers to the water you drink ….it is all checked and double checked by the all seeing eyes of the men and women in high visibility jackets. Sanitation procedures are also looked at carefully, not just in the galleys and food service areas but in guest areas. Nothing is over looked and I mean……..nothing.
What was the score I hear you ask?
Well…………..here it is
100%
I AM NOT ONE TO GLOAT BUT LET ME SAY THAT AGAIN
100%
Here is the official report card.
And so we sail today as proud as proud can be and this is a true reward for the hard work of so many who I promise to feature in Monday’s blog .
Without wishing to sound pompous, my heart swells with pride that I am the Cruise Director of such a brilliant, fun, gorgeous and now 100% Public Health certified ship. Although it’s a good job they didn’t check my underpants.
Goodnight
Your friend
John
Look, friends — there are a few things you should remember before you comment. The space below is for you to post your comments about the post I've just written above. If it is something that's unrelated, please use the Ask John tab above. Now, while I may not be able to reply to your comment below, I do sit in my underpants almost every morning and read everything that is here. So feel free to comment on the comments and then if someone wants to comment on the comment to the comment then go ahead as well. Please be courteous unless the poster is French...........then you can say whatever you want.
excellent score, i am sure you are proud of your ship. we have always enjoyed how well cared for the carnival ships are – from our first cruise on the Fantasy in 2001 to the Valor in 2008 we have enjoyed all our Carnival Cruises…can’t wait for April and our next vacation…
Sharon
That’s awesome! Congratulations Carnival!
What else can I say but Congratulations Carnival Dream!
Just 100? — LOL
Congratulations — not that I EVER doubted the cleanliness in the kitchen to begin with. We have taken several tours which included the kitchen (I used to work in food service) and I have always been impressed with what I have seen “behind the scenes”. Granted, the USPH are the ULTIMATE in the “WHITE GLOVE INSPECTION TECHNIQUE”, so that just slightly trumps my informal evaluation!
Again – CONGRATS!!
Tom
Congratulations Carnival Crew – This is no small accomplishment and you should party tonight.
I am proud to know you are all so very very great at your jobs.
Just stepped off the dream today…We had a 9 hour drive back home but it seemed like nothing at all because we had so many fun moments from the shop to talk about. I know your weeks are probably like that every single time you get a new group but for us, those were funny moments we will never forget. You are an AMAZING cruise direction and we will be looking you up again when we choose a cruise. God Bless You!!
Congratulations to the Carnival Dream. Glad to know I will be on a healthy ship in 7 more days.
BIG Ed
We will see you there!!
The crew deserve a good party to celebrate a perfect score!
The 100% score is a great reflection of the hard work done by the crew of the Carnival Dream.
Fantastic job! Congratulations to all that work on the Carnival Dream!
wow that is wonderful news! we all knew it was so but now it is “official”!!! congratulations!
smiles, bonnie and prince charlie
Way to go Carnival Dream team. See you in a week!!
Congrats! Looking forward to sail with you in 2 weeks!
Congratulations Carnival Dream on your perfect score. All the Carnival Ships I have sailed on have been perfectly clean and wonderful.
Marie
To the Crew of the Carnival Dream – Congratulations for a job well done.
Charlotte
Congratulations! I know this is not something easy to obtain. I know your guests really appreciate the hard work that is done behind the scenes to make such a score a reality.
BRAVO!!! YAHOOOOO!!! MAGNIFICO!!!!!
Fantastic job and thank you Carnival. We loved our clean & healthy transatlantic cruise on the Dream last October!!!
John:
Congrats for a job well done by all !!!
Say Hi to Countess Carolyn and Don AND Don P. who are onboard.
Btw, it is a good thing the inspection team came this week….had they come after NEXT week’s cruise with Big Ed, Ms. Pat, Tom and Cheryl…..well, let’s just say after the 27th cruise…the ship may never be the same again!!!!
Linda (Mom of your friend DJ)
I have no idea what you mean… LOL
BTW – DJ should be getting a little care package very soon!!
Tom
Awesome Glad to hear that,. Good job crew and you also John. You work your butt off john. You deserve to gloat for all your fine work. OH thank god they werent doing it next week or we wern’t visting today. We will see you next saturday John.
Big Fans As Allways,
Frank and Bridie
Please reply John!
Do you have the next bloggers cruise date picked yet? I would really love to go this time.
Congratulations, I can’t wait to sail on the Carnival Dream one day!
Cindy
That is great. Congratulations!!!!! Nice and clean and ready for us next Saturday. It can’t get here too soon.
Dear John,
First off, I do like the new format of your blog though it will take just a bit to get used to it. Second, congratulations on the Carnival Dream taking the Gold Medal in inspections today (can you tell I’m on Olympic overload?). I seriously doubt my house would get a 100% passing grade so I’m glad to know that when I step onto a Carnival ship, things are clean and safe
That is such a wonderful thing to hear! Good job everyone on Carnival Dream. Jan
Just because I’m no longer on the ship dosen’t mean I can’t send a Dear John letter, right?
Dear John,
Thank you again for making my first cruise such a memorable one. Thank you especially for sending down a few gifts to me and my cousin this morning. I was looking forward to seeing the Bridge, but I understand that the circumstances dictated otherwise. I’m sure you were plenty busy with 4,000 guests disembarking, so your thoughtful gesture by sending us a few gifts made me realize how great a guy you are! When I walked on to the Dream last Saturday I was unsure of what to expect and walking off today, I was so impressed by how great my experience was and how great you treat every single guest that you encounter. Thank you so much!
Sincerely,
John Crozier
P.S. My grandmother was so elated when I told her that our cruise director was Irish and Scottish!
Dear John,
I have a question, and figured you’d be the one who might know.
As you might have heard, Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida is soon to have the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I am on the Carnival Pride 10/3/10 and one of our stops is Port Canaveral. I am a travel agent and I called Carnival today, to see if there are any plans for Carnival to offer shore excursions from Port Canaveral to Universal Studios. The reservation agent said none were offered and knew of no plans to do so in the future. I can honestly see this as being something in big demand. I know, as I am looking now for my 8yr old son, he wants to go there in the worst way and thought it would be a good excursion from Port Canaveral. Upon doing some research, I found NCL is offering shore excursions to Universal, but not Carnival. Can you put a good word in for this kind of excursion? I am sure it will be super popular, once Harry Potter opens!
Thanks for your help! I heard a rumour that you are the CD for the Pride in October and am hoping the rumours are true. You were the CD on the Glory for our honeymoon trip and now we are on the Pride for our 5th anniversary! Hope to see you soon!
Peg, John and Jackson Forgotch
John well done but did they check under the bed that Corrin was using ( the Drunk) on the bloggers cruise for empty bottles.
Len Christine and Corrin
Good Job Dream Crew….
note to the 343 Stephine s, the link thingy on the left side of the blog page(Cruise Director Schedule Jan-June 2010) is giving me fits. Clicking out the link freezes the page and never opens the .pdf.
thought you might want to know.
555
Job well done! Good for you!
Spent a wonderful week (Superbowl Cruise) on our first cruise. I can agree on how well it is kept clean & the wonderful staff. Thanks again for the DREAM !!
Congratulations to the crew! We cruised on the Dream 2/13-2/20 and we all commented on how immaculate the ship was and how hard everyone worked.
I did leave a note thanking our cabin steward Putu for always greeting our family with a smile and by name. He kept our cabin neat as a pin made us feel that it was his pleasure to do so. He was tops!
In our group we had 10 adults and 9 children (8-17). In the dining room the adults sat at one table and the children in another table next to ours. Raymond was one of our dining staff that needs a special mention. He took great care of our kids and was always so happy to see them. He entertained them at dinner with a new trick, then showed them how to do it. It was a favorite part of their meal.
John, thanks for entertaining us we had a great time and can’t wait to schedule our next cruise with CCL.
Dear John (Please reply) -
I am new to your blog thingy, but I have to say I LOVE it. I look forward to each new update.
I have two questions for you, and I apologize if you’ve answered these recently. My family will be sailing on the Carnival Miracle on March 28th. It will be the fourth cruise for my husband and I, and the second cruise for my daughter (all on Carnival – we are loyal to the end!). We, of course, are very excited.
My first question is regarding Nick and Norah’s steakhouse. We are considering having dinner there one evening and wondered if our daughter (age 9) would be welcome. Are there any age restrictions?
My second question is regarding the formal nights – can you tell me when they occur on an eight night cruise? This will help us with our steakhouse plans.
Thank you so much for your help!
Best wishes to you and your beautiful family.
Shelly
Carnival and the crew deserve kudos for such a well run ship. Looks like the big one didn’t fair as well
http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionScoresAll.aspx?ColV=MTExMDQwMzg%3d-5mNH7xdIK60%3d
Wow – when you start to read that, you see how TOTALLY detail oriented that inspection is. To think that any ship could score 100 is a testament to good management and an attentive crew!
Tom
John (No reply needed).
Congratulations to the Crew of the Carnival Dream. I had already booked the Dream for Nov 6th, Cruizen with Carnival DREAMers!!!
ERNIE
Wonderful!! Way to go Carnival and the Dream. I just stepped off of the Carnival Pride this morning and I have to say, impressive as always!!! My mom and I celebrated our 20th anniversary of cruising!! She took me for my 16th birthday 20 years ago (it was on the Holiday with my most favorite cruise director of all time, wink, wink JOHN) and we celebrated my 36th birthday on the Pride yesterday with a behind the fun tour and a meeting with Captain Vito. What an amazing tour. Anyone fortunate enough to find the availability, DO NOT WAIT!!! It was amazing!!! I am looking forward to my next FUN SHIP cruise in July on the Spirit to Alaska with my new husband Joe. He is a virgin, a cruise virgin of course is what I mean. It should be interesting. I am a Platinum cruiser with a virgin!!! But he is looking as forward to it as I am and I am sure it will not be long before we are both Platinum cruisers. Thank you John for all for the memories of 20 years ago, I shall never forget your Bedtime stories!!! And thank you Carnival for many other past and future fun memories!!!!
The Carnival Spirit is a wonderful ship and your husband couldn’t loose his virgin status on a more beautiful ship. She was our first and still favorite. Happy sailings
The Cruzin2some
James & NAncy Enslow
congratulations we just got off the dream on sat. everything was great and clean . john we spoke to you on the morning show. i,m the one that was shot in the milatary. we had a wonderfull time and your girl is beutiful. and remember now that i kissed the ground that you walked on will you “melissa” marry me. we hope to cruise with you again. your the best .
Congratulations to the wonderful Crew of the Carnival Dream! The Sagara’s
hi john
great job!!!!!!!!! we just got off the ship on sat. it was great sailing with you again our 4th time with you. we have already booked our 22nd carnival for aug. on the valor again another great ship. your girl is beautiful. we had a great time with you again. my wife & i spoke to you on the morning show. i was the one that got shot in the army. and remember now that i’ve kissed the ground that you walk on will you “melissa” marry me. again thanks for the laughs i can’t wait to cruise with you again. YOU CAN REPLY IF YOU WISH.
Well of course she got a 100%!!!
Congrats to you and all the crew!
Congratulations to Carnival and the hard-working, highly professional crew of the Carnival Dream for the 100% USPH score!
I just got off the Carnival Dream yesterday and had the best time! It is an incredible ship. great weather in the ports, Nassau, St. John and St. Maarten. We took the tour of the Dream, Ashley was an excellent guide. The food and service outstanding. Congratulations on the inspection score of 100% ,Amazing. Just wanted to say how fantastic Barry Miller in the Sam’s Piano Bar is,and of course Marius the Bartender. John you did an awesome job. Thanks for making my first cruise a trip of lifetime! definitely will travel with Carnival again.
Where can we find the scores of other Carnival ship inspections?
Congratulations to the Carnival Dream and to you John!
Hi John,
Congratulations on the Carnival Dream getting 100% on their inspections. I also wanted to let you know that the Carnival Splendor and the Carnival Freedom also scored 100% on their inspections. The following ships ranked 99% (which is still hard to get as well) and they were the Carnival Conquest, Carnival Elation, Carnival Fascination, Carnival Glory, Carnival Paradise, Carnival Pride and the Carnival Victory.
When I looked at the website for the Center of Disease Control, no other cruise line rates as high as Carnival does. I just thought that you would enjoy knowing these facts
Please give my love to Heidi and Kye,
From your #1 Bloggy Thinggy Fan
Kathy M..
That is a wonderful score! Congratulations to all of you on the Dream.
John, Good thing they didn’t use Carnival’s comment card grading system. Your 100% would have just been a “Meet our expectation”. Since like us our expectation is 100% so you could never get an “Exceeded my expectations”.
BIG Ed
Gotta chime in on the new look. I LOVE it! Great job Stephanie!. And I think the pic of John is cute.
John, I think the fact that you do a full day’s work as a CD and then take the time to blog for us fans is wonderful. I, for one, appreciate it and find you very entertaining and warm hearted. In August when we cruise with 25 other family and friends, we will be taking granny who lives with us (87) and our 9 year old. I read the blog to both of them daily and they are BIG fans as well. So I guess your demographic is diverse. I think it says a lot about your appeal. Keep up the great work John…..and take care of yourself.
Another reason why we only sail Carnival…..
That is wonderful…congrats John and the Dream crew and staff!!!
Great to hear! We are planning on sailing on the Dream in October 2010!!!
Dear John,
First the Carnival Splendor and now the Carnival Dream. 100% Clean Fun. Congratulations to both ships, Captains and Crew.
The Cruzin2some
James & Nancy Enslow
Congrats! I can’t wait to live my Carinval Dream! Good job John and crew!
Congratulations on a perfect score John! I have not had the privilege of the “Dream” experience yet but it sounds like I’d be in wonderfully clean hands if I did!!
Hi again John! I am wondering how I can write to you offline. Would you mind responding to my email address so I can send you a message about an incident that occured on a cruise I was on in October aboard the Paradise? Thank you! Carla
John, please reply
1st Congrats on the perfect 100% score. In my 7 CARNIVAL cruises I have noticed but the same spick & span treatment on each of the ships I have sailed.
I will be sailing on 3/13 on the CARNIVAL FREEDOM. This jsut happens to be the same ship as my last cruise back in July 2009. I remember the CD being so fellow by the name of John, sorry but I can’t recall his last name, but I do remember the cruise quite well because it was by far the BEST I have ever taken. This John, made this man do crazy things on stage EVERYDAY professing his love of his wife. I beleive her name was Kathy. This man would NEVER have done these things had it not been for John. I noticed that the CD for my upcoming cruise is Felipe Couto. Please tell me that he was trained by the John that was the CD on my last cruise. I am sure it will be a good cruise but I KNOW it just won’t be the same. Could you tell me what he collects of likes that I may bring him a small thank you gift ??
Thanks
Mike from VA
19 days & counting down
John-Congrats on the 100% We loved the Dream so much we are going back in Oct to celebate my Husband US citizneship and our Anniversary. We will be traveling with memebers of the 1968 summer Olympic team.
I just wanted to share my excitement in finding out today that John is going to be the cruise director on MY Carnival Dream when we sail on March 13th!
We’ve been building up anticipation, reading everything from reviews to sample menus. We talk about what we’ll eat , what we’ll pack, what new things we’ll experience, and again, what we’ll EAT. This morning my husband forwards me the most recent blog and as I read about the 100% score I think, “hmmm… John is on the Dream.. I wonder how long he’ll be on it??” I find the schedule, and sure enough! he’s there until the 20th! Of everthing that we’ve learned about the Dream since we booked our cruise, this is TRULY the most exciting! As if taking another cruise isn’t enough, We get to experience the best cruise director Carnival has to offer! How am I ever going to wait another 19 days?
Wonderful new format. And did anyone ever doubt that the Carnival Dream would get a perfect score
That is outstanding!!!! Hooray for our Carnival Dream!
John
Saw no reference to your cabin and your underpant inspection. How would you have scored..?? lol
Gaz
We sailed Dream in January, 2010 and while the cruise was great, the overcrowding detracted somewhat from our always excellent experience. I assume CCL has this fixed by now.
Dream was our 12th CCL cruise and we have booked Magic for June, 2011 and look forward to seeing you once again.
My husband and I were just on the 20-27Feb trip to the Western Carribean. This was our first cruise ever and let me tell you what a GREAT time that we had. We were with the HANOVER TWP volunteer firefighter group and we all had a wonderful time. Between us the and the New Hampshire group we had the latre seating in the Scarlett room just a rockin’ with the “Hey Baby” song. Go Penn State!! John was an incredible host and funny as could be. “Romeo”, “Hainesville, FL” and “Mary” from the talet show , well you just had to be there. I had to go to the bathroom so bad from laughing but I was not about to standup and leave the Encore. Poor Kim. Thanks again to the entire staff for all they did for us. Can’t wait until we can do it again.