Apart from the odd bad diabetic low energy day and my bleeding hemorrhoid who has been with me since the Carnival Splendor’s delivery and whom I now call Horatio…….my time on the Carnival Magic was spent in relatively good health. Yes, my carpool tunnel thingy is ongoing and I will have more news on this shortly but overall I had a good four months. So it was then sod’s law that said the moment I stepped off the plane that would change. And it did.
I am so bloody ill. For the last week I have had a runny nose, a sore throat, a nasty hacking cough and every few minutes my eyes fill with water — all the ingredients you need to make a convincing Nyquil commercial for the television. Yep, I have a cold. I was so pissed off because instead of playing with Kye in the park and taking my wife for a romantic dinner and sitting with my feet up watching my plasma TV, I spent a day in bed and three days feeling bloody awful and feeling like a total bastard because I gave it to Kye and seeing her little red face and runny nose was just awful. How come we’ve been to the moon, invented the Eyepad, built the Carnival Magic and created ways to watch Latvian women remove their clothing very slowly, on the World Wide Web thingy but still no one with a beard knows how to simply cure the cold?
And on Wednesday…….and you won’t believe this, even though it was my vacation, my one week off, Heidi decided to be selfish and get the cold, as well. Yep, that was me then looking after Kye and fetching and carrying chicken soup and throwing away her snotty tissues even though I was on my holiday and that I wasn’t feeling great myself. Unbelievable isn’t it? Anyway, this whole cold thing is not to ask you to post loads of sympathetic comments below (OK, maybe a bit) but to lead you into this next subject, which is entitled The Worst TV Program Ever Made. I came across this while Kye was having a nap and while Heidi lay on the sofa wrapped in a blanket blowing bits of Shrek out of her nostrils every five minutes. My suggestion that we should watch a whole day of Sopranos reruns was ignored. She was ill, I had made her ill and thus she would watch “her programs.” Those words alone have my old mate Horatio flaring up because in the past that has meant I have had to endure Sex and the City, The Bold and the Bollocks and various British soap operas. But nothing prepared me for that afternoon where I was forced as a loving dutiful husband who had not seen his wife for two months and had given her a cold upon doing so…….to watch back to back to back to bloody back episodes of something called Real Housewives of New York. I had no idea this program ever existed and as the opening voiceover told us we would be watching “wealth, glamour and New York style.” Style my arse. If you fed 50 cows on nothing but laxative chocolate for a week they would still not be able to produce as much s**t as the people who commissioned this show have.
Have you seen this? If you haven’t let me just say well done and tell you that all you missed were bullies in dresses happily parading their Cartier-filled lives in the reality television equivalent of a freak show. I don’t get it. Why does my wife like this, why does she record every episode and record the other shows like Real Housewives of New Jersey? Nothing happens. The women bitch and they moan and they bitch some more and then they get some Botox and then they get drunk and then they and their fake breasts go to bed. OH FFS!
I watched the first episode and then was told there were three more to go. I sat in my chair silently wishing my cold would rapidly turn into Bird Flu and I could slip silently into a coma. But I didn’t and episode 2 arrived. This featured some woman with mad looking eyes and another woman who was married to an Australian man who epitomizes the term Metrosexual.
This episode they were renovating a house and at the start of the show Heidi said that the woman would get “screwed” by the builders. Great, finally something worth watching. She would show some serious interest in his tool box and we would get some rumpy pumpy action…but we didn’t. She got screwed by the builders because the wine cooler was built into the wrong area of the kitchen. Oh joy. I am sure there are many of you reading this who love this show but honestly I would rather develop a genital wart then ever have to sit through this bollocks ever again. Fire the lot of them and bring the cameras to the ship and film Real Stateroom Stewards of Carnival Cruise Lines. Watching Ketut use a crow bar to get my underpants off the bathroom floor is far more exciting than watching a bunch of plastic women drink skinny margaritas. Countess my arse!
Time for some Q and A. Off we go.
Martin Ramsden asked:
John,I need help with an excursion question before our cruise on the Carnival Freedom. I want to book the Chukka Cove horse back riding trip in Ocho Rios but need to make sure that my weight is not going to be a problem. I can definitely not as large as you but am definitely on the heavy side. The web site says 250 pounds and I am 260. I don’t want to get there and have them weigh me and tell me that I can’t ride. I called Carnival twice and got two different answers sums up Carnival’s customer service department recently which has been less then good and is always talked about on Cruise Critic. What do you advise I do, book or not? We cruise in January 2012 so let me know as quickly as you can so I can get my plans made.
John says:
Hello Martin Ramsden,I checked with the tour operator and they are bringing in a special horse for you. His name is “Easy Rider.” He’s not any bigger than the others but he will have drunk 10 margaritas before you get on him and he won’t care how big you are. Seriously, I did check with the tour operator and you can indeed go on the tour so book away. It’s a wonderful trip and one I know you will enjoy in beautiful Jamaica. Have a great cruise.
Best wishes.
John
Kelli H asked:
John,We’ll be sailing the Carnival Pride for the 7th time this October. Please be sure to convey to “The Beards” how happy we are that the Bermuda itinerary has become available. Carnival Pride feels like our home away from home, but I have to admit, the Bahamas/Port Canaveral itinerary has become a little stale. My husband and I are so looking forward to the change up. I would love to see some new and exciting routes added, maybe offering nine-day cruises, or trying to work Half Moon Cay in a little more often. We love Carnival (This is my 12th, husband’s 10th), and we love sailing from Baltimore………so please!!! Let’s see if somebody can get creative in Miami. We’ll be purchasing our FCC either way.
John says:
Hello Kelli H,I am very glad to know that you enjoy the Carnival Pride and the addition of some Bermuda cruises. We love Baltimore and signing an extension with the port shows our commitment and I am sure that in the years ahead there will be more itineraries and longer cruises as well. The beards read the blog every day and will see this for sure. Thank you so much for your support and I wish you a wonderful time on your forthcoming cruise.
Thanks for your loyalty and my best wishes to you both.
John
Chris Holloway asked:
John,I am a long-time cruiser but relatively new to the Carnival line of cruises. My first Carnival cruise was last year. I just wanted to write you and let you know how upset I am about the recent changes in policy regarding smoking and cigar lounges in particular. Some of my fondest memories of the cruises I have taken are of sitting in the cigar lounge with a good scotch in one hand, a fine cigar in the other and surrounded by good, friendly people who were total strangers 30 minutes prior. Not having somewhere to sit back, relax and enjoy the finer things in life will take a lot of the fun out of cruising for me. Is there any chance that these policies will be changed? Are people pushing back on the changes or is it even worth doing so? I had planned on booking a cruise on the Carnival Magic for March of 2012 but now I may have to look elsewhere with more friendly policies toward cigar smokers.
John says:
Hello Chris Holloway,I am not sure if you are aware but I am a cigar smoker too and have been for the past 15 years or so. I too spent many wonderful nights sitting with guests and sharing stories and conversations with other cigar smokers about the joys that a fine cigar always brings. So I know exactly how you feel when you lament at the passing of these beautiful lounges that were created especially for cigar smoking. But times change and while many places on land have completely banned smoking Carnival has a at least allowed for smokers still to have options and they include smoking cigars on the cabin balconies and in various lounges depending on the class of the ship. Carnival Magic is a ship I have just returned from and there we have some wonderful outdoor areas on deck 5 portside and while you will miss the big leather chairs of the cigar bars, smoking a great cigar under the stars is the next best thing. I wish you many wonderful cigar moments some of which I hope will be on the brilliant Carnival Magic.
Best wishes.
John
Rachael Ragsdale asked:
John,I’m a new reader to your blog so I apologize if you’ve answered this before. I’m sailing with 11 people on the Carnival Magic on Jan 8, 2012 out of Galveston. We’ve cruised a lot, but never on a big new ship. Our family is so excited! I have two questions. First, I’ve heard rumors that the public areas, like the pool, slides, buffet, and comedy club get really crowded because there are just so many more people on this huge ship (compared to the older smaller ships). Is that true? I just want to be prepared. We are so excited, and I don’t want to be let down. Second, we have the Bahamas itinerary, and I’m a little worried about Freeport. There’s just so much more to do in Nassau than Freeport. My cousins and I (all between 21-28) will enjoy snorkeling and the beach, but our parents (ages 52-62) choose not to be seen in a swimsuit any more. Do you have any suggestions for excursions for the older adults in Freeport? Thanks for your help and I look forward to being a dedicated follower of your blog.
John says:
Hello Rachael Ragsdale,Welcome to the blog and I hope it brings you some smiles and some good information. The Carnival Magic is our best ship yet. Yep, she really is that good and despite the fact that there are anywhere from 3,700 – 4,500 guests on board I can assure you that the way she is designed means you will never think that there is. Now there will be some lines at lunchtime, saying there isn’t would be ridiculous but they move quickly and with all the new lunchtime options including the barbecue, the new dining room lunch menu and the food served on Serenity I promise you will never grow hungry. We carried some large numbers while in Europe and even with 4,500 plus on board there were few, if any, comments about lines. Now Freeport has some good excursions and I would recommend the Freeport Island Tour and the botanical gardens for your parents and you can find out more about that at carnival.com. You will love the ship, you really will and I hope you will let me know if you have any other questions before you sail. Once again, welcome to the blog thingy and have a brilliant cruise.
Best wishes.
John
Lea J. asked:
Hi John,I just wanted to tell you what a wonderful time my grandson and I had on our cruise. We just got off the Carnival Glory yesterday from a four-day cruise. I wanted to take him on a short cruise just to spend some time with him before school started back up. He’s 10, and this was his second cruise. His first cruise was on the Carnival Victory about three years ago, and he still remembers it. I have to tell you his favorite memory will always be the comedy shows we went to. We attended all four of the family shows. Al Ernst and Tommy Drake were our comedians and they had us laughing the entire time. The last sea day during Tommy Drake’s show, he chose my grandson to come up on stage to help him with a rope trick. I don’t think I have ever seen that child grin that big or for that length of time, consecutively! Tommy gave him the rope that was used and he says he is keeping it “forever.” I wish I could have taken a picture because it made the whole trip worth it to see the joy on his face at that moment in time. We had a few issues and frustrating moments during this trip, however nothing that was worth getting our panties in a bunch over! We ate ice cream for breakfast and room service for dinner at 11 o’clock on our last night. We sat in the drizzling rain, wrapped in a blanket, and watched a movie on the Lido deck. He finally got his warm chocolate melting cake for dessert. And BTW, he says that the chicken nuggets on the kids menu in the dining room are the absolute best he has ever eaten in his whole life! His words, not mine. Like I said, I just wanted to let you know what a nice time we had. They will be memories we will always be able to cherish, just between us! Carnival Rocks!!
John says:
Hello Lea J,This is something that made me smile from ear to ear and I wanted to thank you for sharing this with us all. Both Al and Tommy are such wonderful people and always go that extra mile to help and entertain our guests and I wish I could have seen your grandson’s face while he was on stage. I will make sure both Tommy and Al get to see this and I know they too will be smiling when they do. Thanks again for taking the time to write and I hope you both get to spend some valuable time together soon. And I had better try the chicken nuggets I think.
Best wishes.
John
Juli Gilbert asked:
John,My husband and I are cruising on the Carnival Liberty on Dec 10, we will be in room 8455, our first balcony (and an aft wrap at that) It will be our 20th anniversary. We are wondering if it is possible to have a nice dinner delivered out on the balcony one evening. Might as well get some use out of it, other than just excessive sun exposure. We think this would be a great way to dine as the sun sets. Is this available thru room service? I am new to the blog, but have been enjoying it very much.
Thanks!
Juli
John says:
Hello Juli Gilbert,While you can order complimentary room service 24 hours a day, including wine and other spirits, we don’t serve the dinner menu on the balconies. I wish you a wonderful cruise and thanks for joining me here on the blog. If you have any more questions please let me know.
Best wishes.
John
Jessemon asked:
John,Have you ever considered writing for one of your famous British tabloid newspapers? With the lies you tell about a company that is continuing on the downward spiral and your constant references to sex and other filth means IMHO you would be perfect.
John says:
Hello Jessemon,I wanted to thank you so much for making me realise the one thing that this blog has been missing. A Page 3 girl. Yep, instead of John’s Mate of the Week we can have a Page 3 girl which for those who don’t know is a standard in a newspaper called The Sun here in the UK and its page 3 is two of the reasons The Sun is by far the most popular newspaper in the UK. So thanks so much for that brilliant idea and I don’t know you well enough madam to even suggest that you feature in this new section but please let me know if you decide to whip your bra off for the good of the blog and thank you in advance for your support.
Best wishes.
John
Peter Winters asked:
John,Just got off the Carnival Sensation and another fantastic cruise. I wanted to ask a behind the scenes question if I may? I notice that many of the staff on this ship was from Eastern Europe and there were less from the Caribbean than before. Is Carnival not hiring from “the islands” anymore?
Thanks John for all you do.
John says:
Hello Peter Winters,I am very glad to know you had fun and enjoyed the Carnival Sensation. If you ask any senior beard at any cruise line they will all tell you that one of the greatest challenges they have now and one that will always be a challenge is finding the right crew. By this I mean finding crew members that have the right qualifications and abilities to be a waiter, stateroom steward, photographer, cook, cleaner or plumber. If you go back to when I first started with Carnival the island boys as we called them were the domineering nationality with Jamaicans, Grenadians and others making up most of the dining room staff and bar department. Then we started hiring in India and then Latin America and now as you say we have gone to countries like Russia, Belarus, Romania, Croatia and other Eastern European countries. That’s because there are at anyone time many thousands of crew at sea in this industry. I have no idea how many but each and every cruise line is hiring constantly to keep each position filled. On the Carnival Magic we had 48 countries represented (fleetwide, it’s more than 100 countries represented) and that I think is the answer to your question and shows that we are hiring from……well most everywhere ………except France….obviously. It’s our job to train the crew and mould them into the best at sea and for the most part I think we do a great job with this and can continue to proudly say we do have the best crew on the seven seas. I hope you agree Peter. Thanks for writing and I am glad that you had such a great cruise.
Best wishes
John
David asked:
Hello John,I’m currently deployed to Afghanistan with the Air Force and I have a couple of weeks before I head home to be with my family. It’s been a long year and my lovely wife decided to let me book a cruise with Carnival. This will be my first cruise with one of the big ships and my wife’s second with Carnival. Originally I wanted to book the Spirit in December for Hawaii, but my darling wife made other plans. It was her idea to book a B2B in November on the Glory for the Western and Eastern Caribbean, which I think is awesome and will let me spend some time with my wife since we have been apart for a while. The second leg of the B2B is during Thanksgiving week. I do have a couple of questions. I’ve read on your blog there was a veteran’s meet and greet on your ship. Do most ships have veteran’s meet and greet? Veterans are wonderful people and there is always a great connection with military and veterans. I love talking to veterans since they have been there and know what we are going through. My wife always tells me that my face lights up when I talk to veterans. My other question is during Thanksgiving, does Carnival do anything special?
Thank you for your wonderful blog which I find great to read during my off time here in the desert.
-David
John says:
Hello David,Let us start by saying thank you for your service and I see that you posted this just under a month ago so you should be home now and I hope you are relaxing and enjoying some time with your family. Congratulations on booking the back to back cruise on the Carnival Glory, your wife did good there and you will have a brilliant time. There will be a veteran’s meeting and it will be listed in the Fun Times. I hope you can go along and meet some people who have done what you are doing now and I am sure they will be thrilled to meet you too. As for Thanksgiving, there will be a big dinner and a wonderful night of celebrations. Talking of which, maybe you could ask your wife to send me a note on Facebook a few days before you cruise so that I can send you a welcome home gift from us all.
Have a brilliant time. Best wishes to you both.
John
That’s all for today and I will be back with more tomorrow.
So here I am again, sitting here in my underpants in the office at home. It’s 9:45am, Kye has gone to play school and Heidi is shopping and so it’s just me and Planet Rock Radio and a cup of tea. I want to thank you so much for allowing me this last week off. It really meant a lot not just to me but to the girls, as well. So I guess we had better crack on then and let me tell you what’s happened and what will be happening.
More and more the beards are reading our blog and Facebook page and as one very senior beard said in a recent email “the blog and Facebook have become valuable of tools for us to see what our guests are talking to you and each other about. The opinions are written by honest Carnival guests and not by people as on other websites who may have an ulterior motive in writing negative statements.” This really was great to read and I can tell you now that from our President and CEO Gerry Cahill on down through the rank of beards they read this blog daily and the comments you make here and on Facebook. I am honoured by this and while I can’t promise that they will agree with everything you say or suggest that they are listening and that has to be a good thing.
Immediate proof of this came last week where after reading a comment on the blog about seat saving at the Punchliner Comedy Club a change in how we seat guests was made. So starting this past weekend each Punchliner host has been instructed to clear the lounge of all guests at the end of each show and then 10 minutes before the next show the doors will open again. This was already in place on a few ships but will now be standard practice across the fleet and should truly help. I also received a commitment from the same beard that the subject of deck chair saving would be addressed once again and this also came about from them reading your comments on Facebook. Yes, I know we have heard this before but there are new beards in town and I have nothing but faith in what they say. I will keep you informed on this of course.
I need to get something off my chest and apologise to someone on the Carnival Magic. I have no idea who that person is but I have asked Calvyn to post this bit on the crew notice boards on the vessel. Now like most major corporations on land we also have crew suggestion boxes. This is where the crew can drop in anonymous notes about anything they would like the ship’s command to address and these notes are then read out at the captain’s meeting each week. Now with the introduction of the new human resources director on the ship I am sure that these boxes will become obsolete as the crew will have face to face chats with someone should they have a concern. Most of the time the suggestions are about food with crew wanting different food based usually on their ethnic backgrounds. Occasionally there is a note about life on board or one that will have a little rant about a supervisor or manager but for the most part they are well written and usually things that we can act on. Although my suggestion of replacing my cabin steward Ketut with a 20-year-old Latvian girl was never honoured.
So at the captain’s meeting this past week there was apparently a note about me. James, the current CD, wrote to me and told me that a crewmember had complained that he had seen me smoking a cigar on the Lanai. Now as you know crew have been banned from smoking in all guest areas and are only allowed to smoke on the aft area of the lifeboat deck. Now for the most part I have adhered to. But during my last week on the Carnival Magic I was tired, my arm was hurting and late at night I took a walk, sat down with some guests from my home town who were sailing and did an informal “Cigars Night Under the Stars with John” which we host from time to time. This promoted an anonymous crew member to write “Cruise director was smoking a cigar in guest area. Should be one rule for everyone no?” Now obviously there were some giggles around the senior officer table as the senior cruise director and brand ambassador was mentioned in the crew suggestion box. But the crew member is right because as the rules stand I should not have been smoking and I certainly apologise to whoever wrote this and hope he or she sees this apology.
Do you remember a few months ago I wrote about a lady who had though she had booked a European cruise on Celebrity and realised she hadn’t when she boarded the Carnival Magic? Well it doesn’t just happen in Europe as you will see now from my colleague Butch on the Carnival Dream.
Hi John……thought you should see this.
Thank You and Kind Regards,
Butch Begovich
Cruise Director, Carnival Dream
Carnival Cruise LinesFrom: DREAM CRUISE DIRECTOR
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 04:48 PM
To: Heald, John (CCL)
Subject: FW: A – **** – BOOKED THE WRONG SHIPA – **** – BOOKED THE WRONG SHIP
At 2:40 PM, Ms ___________came to GSS stating that she wanted to leave the ship now and wanted to have cruise fare refunded back. Gst claimed that she had verified with CCL Reservation Agent so many times that she expected to have a suite and a normal stateroom, to book them on the newest ship with animated characters walking around the ship, a turtle tank in the dining room, and a large water slide and leaning over the sea. Gst was very disappointed. Since gst also purchased CCL insurance. GSS found out that gst wanted to book for the Disney Dream but called in to CCL for the Dream reservation. GSS escorted off the ship. Their bookings were cancelled in the system.
There are so many places to go here but I think all I have to say is that we should have tried to keep her on board. Maybe we could have gotten her to believe that she was on a Disney ship. We could have doubled the charge of her cruise tickets for a start. Ahhh…….but she wanted animated characters walking around the ship. Well, we could have stuck two huge ears on the top of Fun Ship Freddy’s funnel…..do you think that would have fooled her? Still, thank goodness she had insurance and can now join Mickey and Goofy and have what I hope is a fabulous time on her Disney Dream and enjoys eating her dinner while being entertained by Donald Duck on a comedy trombone.
Just a quick note about my carpool tunnel thingy. A week’s rest has really helped but even now it has started to ache again. I saw Doctor Longfinger and he sent me to a specialist who I have an appointment with tomorrow and we shall see what he has to say. I have been trying a voice activated program and it works, well, sort of. It’s slow and it also won’t let me write words like bollocks or bugger or underpants……..so what’s the point. Let’s see what the doc says tomorrow. I will be writing another blog tomorrow and on Thursday and will be on Facebook each day.
I was supposed to be leaving home and heading for Miami on October 7 but that’s all changed because on Saturday October 1 I climb aboard a Virgin…….. sorry, the phone rang…….. what was I saying? Oh yes, I will climb aboard a Virgin Atlantic flight to New York. Why? Well to host a very special event on October 3 where I will be joined by Gerry Cahill and other very senior beards to announce the news you have all been waiting for regarding the Carnival Liberty and some other surprises as well. I will post minute by minute information on Facebook as the announcements and details are made and I am being joined by Peter the Hair and the video crew because there may just be some people there that you may recognise. You know, I have received a lot of flack on Cruise Critic about me not revealing what we are doing on the ship during her dry dock period and some of it has been quite nasty. So I hope they will be amongst those who join me on Facebook and on the blog on October 3. It’s going to be a great day and not just for those booking on Carnival Liberty!
Obviously this means I have to leave a week earlier which I don’t like and neither of course does Heidi. I haven’t told Kye yet either. I also have to tell Kye some other bad news when she gets back from play school today ……….Harriet her Hamster died today. Heidi found it face down in its food bowl, which was where it always was. But this morning it was different in the fact that its little feet were as blue as the Caribbean Sea. I wrote about Harriet six months or so ago here on the blog thingy and how Kye loved her……..for about 3 days before loving Barney more. Since then Harriet sat in her cage and just ate away her rejection. She ate and ate and refused to use her exercise wheel. I urged Harriet to be more active but she looked at me as if to say “Who are you to give me advice you fat bastard?” I did care though and had I known that her end was near I would have bought those diet pills from the guest on the Carnival Magic.
But now she is gone. Well…….ummmm………actually she hasn’t yet. She is still in the cage, her nose in the food bowl. I didn’t want to upset Kye before she went to school so I decided to wait until she returned and for the last few hours I have been rehearsing the words “hamster heaven” in my head.
But Kye is two and a half years old and although blessed with her mother’s common sense and intelligence, I don’t think she has quite grasped the concept of death yet. So I just say that she has gone to play with other hamsters and along with last night’s bucket of KFC. It’s what she would have wanted.
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.
John,
Sooo glad you’re back. Been missing your blog! I hope you, Heidi and Kye get over that nasty cold!! Once again….WELCOME BACK!!!
Welcome back John, I wish you had taken the rest of your short time off so you could be full time Dadda and Hubby without worrying about the FB and the blog.
Hugs to the Heald family.
GC
John,
Thank you for a fun and funny posting! I will be cruising on the Carnival Ecstacy out of New Orleans (my home port) in 25 days, so to prepare I’ve been reading your blogs. They get me in the Carnival state of mind! (Plus, I have “Bang on my Drum” as my ringtone. . .that song always gets me in the mood to cruise!)Enjoy your remaining time with your girls!
Dr. Deany
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for the new changes made in relation to “seat saving” in the comedy clubs!! I wrote to you about this before, as we had a terrible time with it on our August cruise on the Triumph. Not only did people remain seated from the first show to watch the next, but many arrived as much as 30 mins early and have one person saving an entire block or area of seats. There were lots of us walking around trying to find seats and everyone kept saying they were all saved. We asked several times if we could sit down and continued to be told that they were “saved”. Even as the show began, most of the ‘saved’ seats were still empty. Many, many guests had to walk away and didn’t get to see the show. It was very frustrating! Your new policy sounds very fair and I just wanted to express our gratitude to CCL for making this change!
Tell Horatio to behave! Glad to have you back, John.
Hello John:
Make sure Harriet is dead, and not just hibernating. If you hold her in your hands to warm her up, and rub her a bit to get the blood circulating, she may wake up and resume her little hamster life. If she is cold, and stiff, well then, she has gone on to hamster heaven, and is ready for a burial at sea, or whatever dignified interment you have planned.
We buried several hamsters that we thought had died, it was the fall and temperatures were lower upstairs where we kids slept. For some reason, we picked one up before the funeral service, and in a few minutes Herman was good as new, well almost, he got a leg caught in the wheel, and it didn’t work very well. His leg that is.
Sorry you gave the whole family the cold, thought you were awfully quiet this past week. At first I thought Heidi made good on her threat. Maybe you could try those filter masks the asians wear. Might save your girls the fun of sharing your misery.
When you have the meeting with the big beards, how about hitting them up for the daily cocktail shrimp? Wonder what the service charge would be if I brought a 5lb frozen brick of 26-30s onboard in my carry on?
Welcome Back!
Your friend
Bill Heck
So the woman who thought she had booked on Disney – did the Fun Pass not clue her in ? The luggage tags – did she not actually read them ? The big ship saying Carnival ? The wonderful greeting you get when you check in- Welcome to Carnival ?… What a doofus ! Takes all kinds ! Hope she found her way home !
Enjoyed Carnival every time ! Four cruises down – many more to go ! Thanks for the laughs John. Hope you enjoy your time with the family !
So glad you are back John and was able to be back with your family although things didn’t go quite as you planned.
To comment on the question about the countries of origin of the crew and hiring policies. On my recent cruise on the Carnival Magic I noticed a very wide list of countries represented in the crew. Our room stewardess was from Romania. Our dining room waiters were from Honduras, Thailand, Africa (don’t remember specific country) and Poland. During the Behind the Fun tour I noticed a larger proportion of Asian crew members in the “crew only” areas of the ship, specially from the Phillipines, Malaysia, India and others. In my previous cruise in the Caribbean in 2006 I did notice a larger number of latin and “islanders” among the crew. Our dining room waiters were from Phillipines, Barbados and East Europe. The room steward was from Jamaica.
Welcome back John! As to those at Cruise Critic, they can kiss your underpants!
Now, now Isabel, most of us at Cruise Critic love John and his wonderful sense of humor!!! There are jerks everywhere and yes we at Cruise Critic have ours, but it’s not all of us.
I wish John would acknowledge that. In fact our Host Mach is one of those that is a staunch John Heald fan!!!
One bad apple and all that.
Cheers
Don’t know who this “mach” is and why is his first name “host”? However, on most of these blogs you see nothing but cruise critic complaints and problems and whiners!
John –
I have a simple solution for your carpool tunnel issue – I shall volunteer my transcriptionist service to you. Of course, this means I get to cruise with you. I’m sorry, I’m not a 20 year old Latvian but I do appreciate classic rock and British humour… I can also get rid of all the idiot snake oil salesmen, shoddy actors and whingy guests who attempt to harass you.
Greetings John,
Just disembarked the Pride yesterday from Bermuda. Absolutely amazing cruise. Have to say kudos to the Entertainment Staff (shout out to Chloe, Lewis, Lady Di, and Eric). I was actually aboard the Pride during Hurricane Irene with my son and returned three weeks later. They all chatted and remembered us. Also, our waiter from last cruise, Garry, actually found us in the dining room this cruise to say hi. Now that is service!
P.S. Have to say I so agree with Kelli about varying the Baltimore choices.
I believe it was uncalled for to say that nasty comments have been made on CC about you not revealing upcoming changes to the Liberty.
The comments have not been nasty. There have been comments on how frustrating it has been to have you tell us you will be announcing changes on a certain date and then you failing to do so. Please, don’t say you will announce changes when you will not. And please do not accuse us of being nasty when we have not. You are better than this.
Please disregard and delete my previous post. I reviewed the thread in question and found no evidence that John actually said he would anounce changes before dry dock occurs.
However, I still maintain that no one has been nasty…only frustrated and speculative.
Hi Katy! If you go back through the facebook posts over the last few months you will see at least once in July someone asked about it and it was posted that the news would be realeased ‘next month”… August… But I digress…
No, no one was nasty at all I don’t think.. just like u said… frustrated and speculative…
CC is nasty I stopped reading it b/c it is full of crap as well. To be quite frank it is none of anyones business what they do on the Liberty until it is done and they want to make a press release. And even then book a damn cruise and see it for yourself.If someone is going to decide whether to book a cruise on a certain ship solely based on it being refurbished and not where its going, how much it costs, and what you want to do on the islands etc… then I really dont know what to say, I just cant get over some people on here that think Carnival or John for that matter owes them something. I guess as the saying goes “its their world we just live in it” Maybe a little less self absorbed might be the order of the day.
Just saying.
I understand the whole comedy club thing, but I have to admit, that it’s also annoying for those of us that enjoy sitting and relaxing and having a drink in between shows. I had no problem finding seats, and enough people vacated the lounge after each show that everybody that wante dto come in for the next also could find seats. They may not have been the “best seats in the house” but they were there.
Now, I’m going to have to leave my comfy seat, take my drink and walk around with it and waste 30 minutes, or go to another lounge, fight for a seat there, only to return and be part of a freakin cattle call 10 minutes before the next show, where I PROMISE there will be large groups pushing and shoving and knocking drinks around to get back into the lounge.
I have opposed this idea of clearing the lounges from the beginning and I continue to do so. Just wanted to throw that out there, as a counter-point to those that really like the idea. There will still be a lot of problems-just different problems-and it will mean quite the fiasco as hundreds try to shove their way back into the lounge to find a seat four times/night.
I don’t understand how you could begin to think that your way is fair. With thousands of guests on board, you catch the show of your choosing then move on, not camp in the comedy club all night. And if you are foolish enough to stand around nursing a drink for half an hour so that you can push your way back in,you will only hasten the day when they have to issue tickets or wrist bands so that everyone who wants to has a chance to see one comedy show a night.
You know Sarah, I am guessing the reason why they have several shows a night in the comedy club is to accomedate the many thousands that are on the cruise ship and might enjoy a (meaning ONE) show a night.
I’m sorry you have to leave your nice comfy seat to allow me to see a single show, but I think the whole point in them doing it is to allow everyone a chance for a good seat and to be able to enjoy a nice show.
Cheers, I don’t think your counterpoint is going to be very popular, but we all have a right to our own opinion.
Carole
Hi John, Glad your enjoying the time with your family. Sorry to hear your sick. It sounds like you have the end of the season allergies. My wife gets them in spring and towards the end of summer when it rains a lot. She gets the same symptoms as you have now.
As I sit here now in the most awful of places, the dreaded dentist office, I am reading your blog. While the administer of pain, um I mean dentist, drills away on my tooth he is constantly telling me to stop laughing. This is because I am reading your blog to take my mind off the incessant drilling and pain he is inflicting on me. Damn you for being so funny and making this take longer than it should
. Missed you and glad to have you back!
Welcome Back John! Not having you in my day has been challenging. My attitude went to hades, my friends might talk to me again sometime before years end, or not, even the dog runs out of the room when I get up from the computer with ‘the look’ on my face.
I’m sorry you caught the creepin crud, but with your generous heart, I am not surprised to hear you shared with your loved ones.
(insert laughter here)
Please don’t invite the negative posters from that other site that begins with a “C” & “C”. I was a member there for awhile and found it was turning my opinion of Carnival Cruise to crap and made me sorry I booked my 1st vacation in 20 years on the Destiny in 3 weeks! I was threatened with having skunk juice thrown on me & tossed overboard if I booked a balcony and I smoked on it Though there was a great price on balconies at the time, I opted not to do so as a result, went for an inside which I later was able to upgrade for OV.
I know these types of people rarely follow thru on their behind the keyboard threats, but as a solo traveller, I let it scare me.
I left “CruiseCritical” and haven’t posted or read anything there for monthes. I enjoy your blog & facebook page, please don’t allow the toxic pollution to flow in.
Wow, while I had mentioned to you John, that I had been threatened before, I never told people it influenced my decision as to what I booked on my 10-17 cruise! I was as embarassed as a defrauded old lady too blushing to report. And now? I’m even more embarrassed to have admitted it at this late date!
I wish I had your fortitude.
Please keep up the good work, many of us lean on your good humour to spark up our day.
Wow Michelle, Toxic Pollution????? Isn’t that rather harsh???
Any medium you will find those smoker haters, it doesn’t have to be just credited to one place. If you had posted about smoking on Carnival boards or Cruzfools boards there would have been those for, and those against. And unfortunately we will probably never see eye to eye on the whole thing.
I am a nonsmoker, but I have no problem with others smoking, my husband smokes on the balcony because he doesn’t want to smell up the room although I’ve never requested or complained about it.
I do remember that thread and it did get very harsh. I’m sorry this happened to you, but there are some awfully good people at that C and C place too. I hit the ignore button on the creeps, there are people that just have to be cruel, but we don’t have to listen to them do we???
Cheers, Carole
Actually, in deferance to John and our family here, I was employing restraint with my descriptive.
John – I know it’s hard to believe, but I too watch all the Real Housewives shows. Sick fascination of self absorbed rich people and all their problems. Moral of the shows is that Money can’t buy you happiness
Can’t wait to hear about the Liberty, I’m booked on her for a b2b May 5 and May 12.
All my best to you, Heidi and Kye!!
Great job on the Punchliner change! I was aboard the Carnival Fantasy and experienced the old way and the new way all in one cruise. For the old way the doors opened, nothing happened and my group looked around, wandered around and for the most part wandered off. I forged ahead, across the stage, up the aisle, atop some feet and found 4 seats. And my friends saw me wildly waving them in! Interesting but a bit stressful I believe. Next time, for the Cowboy Comedian, who btw was excellent and easy on the eyes, the doors opened, everyone left and we all went in and got seats. Much more civilized!
John – I want to book a cruise on the Pride in October 2012 for my mom’s 65th birthday and want to find out if she will be able to make all ports of call. She is handicapped and is mostly in a wheelchair and need to know that she will be able to get off the ship and enjoy all ports.
It would be impossible to say without knowing your itinerary. A number of ports are tendered, some docks are in downtown areas close to sites and shopping, and some are not.
The ports of call are Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Freeport.
Hi John
I am sorry that you don’t feel well. I hope you feel better before your rip across the pond.
Just wanted to comment that we returned from the Carnival Fantasy just last week. We had an awesome fun time. The entire staff and crew were terrific. We loved Risa as CD. She is always a joy to cruise with. I can’t name all the crew but our steward was great. I can’t spell his name, but cabin was U59. Your time dining hostesses knew us by name after the first night. The food was wonderful and the seating was very quick. We had a great time and will be waiting to cruise again in a few months. My hubby has knee replacement surgery in 3 days, so we are ‘dry-docked’ for a little while…lol
Give my best to the girls and have a safe trip.
Gloria aka Sue
Hi, John,
I’ve spent the past 35+ years typing on a keyboard for a living (I’m a software engineer) so I know what you are going through with the carpal tunnel thingy.
I’d like to pass on what I’ve learned that has saved my aching arms and numb fingers.
Every few minutes take a break and move your hands around in a circle.
Get a split / “Ergonomic” keyboard. It takes about two weeks of mental anguish to get used to one, but it makes a huge difference. Once you change, you’ll never go back. Also don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t have an external keyboard with a laptop because you can and it will work fine.
Doctors may suggest surgery, but the problem is that unless you change what caused the problem in the first place, it WILL come back.
Since you have to change your habits to keep it from coming back anyway, why not change in advance of getting your wrists cut and see if you can keep it at bay yourself.
As always, my advice is worth every penny you’ve paid for it. I just hope it helps at least a little.
Keith
John,
So glad to have you back but so sorry all of you have been sick. I hope everyone feels better soon. Please take care of your hand/arm and thanks for all the laughs today. We missed you!
John you are wonderful! I have a difficult request for you, and if you would like please feel free to email me. My husband, son and I LOVE Carnival, and all 3 of us are sailing on the Destiny Oct 17, 2011. We are in Room 2341. My husband has been fighting brain cancer for the last year and we treat each cruise as if it’s our last. Sadly this will be our last as my husband has now been given 2 to 3 months to live. His dream has been to see the bridge, but sadly I do not think he could handle the 3 hour behind the scenes tour. Is there any way whatsoever that my husband could see the Bridge? It would mean the world to him! If not I will completely understand, and I thank you for your time John!
Good one, John. Jeesemon is a miscreant on your favorite cruise board who is still pissed off about the smoking policy. He really shouldn’t be allowed near a keyboard when he has been drinking.
Did you ever stop to think that maybe someone is using his name? He says he didn’t post the comment and since I know him personally, I believe him.
I have to agree. It didn’t even sound like Jessemon and if he says he didn’t post it I believe him.
Probably one of those simpletons over on the CCS site, just stirring up trouble with their juvenile form of afternoon entertainment.
They don’t have the backbone to use their real names or actual email addresses and Jessemon wouldn’t be the 1st CC persona who’s had their screen name hijacked.
Did you ever think that there is someone else who fancies this pseudonym? Can I remind ALL of you…including you , John…Cruisecritic represents only 2% of the cruising public. I have this problem all the time. My screename is popular. Cruisecritic people, get real already. You are totally insignificant.
Yep, Shelley hit the nail on the head. Wasn’t me that posted that garbage. It is way too easy on this site to use anyone elses name to post crap and try to make it look like that person said it.
As for Billy’s comment, not worth the effort to comment…lol
If he says it is a fraud, then perhaps it is. It seems to me he has posted on the Blog before, or was that also a fraud?
I guess he was quoted on the blog, but posted elsewhere – see here:
http://johnhealdsblog.com/2011/08/12/is-this-the-start-of-another-cold-war/
Hi John, welcome back.
Have the beards check into Dragon Speach Rocognition for you. The docs at work use it and love it. I know the premium edition allows you to add words, so bullocks ect… can continue to colour your pages.
Can;t wait to hear more about the plans for BC5.
RonRN
Poor Harriet, rejection then eating yourself to death. Sorry you spent your holiday sick.
I had no idea that insurance would cover you for booking the wrong cruise line??? I agree, she had to be a bit dense to think she was cruising Disney for the price she paid.
Your description of the “Real Housewives” of whatever city in this county was sadly very accurate. I have never seen it but neither have I watched Jersey Shore and it’s beyond me what everyone finds so interesting about them.
I thought a long time ago that your blog was better for Carnival than spending thousands on market surveys and the beards got instant answers to questions. Valuable input from repeat cruisers and on the other side of that it is nice to know that your thoughts and suggestions to help make the experience better are even considered. What other huge corporation allows that to happen?
The voice activated thingy hasn’t worked real well for me either. Sorry as the carpool tunnel thingy is very painful. Welcome backn John…we missed you!
John, THANK YOU! Great blog and so funny of co:-)urse! We missed you so last week. Our evenings weren’t the same and very boring at times without you making us laugh! Hubby and I talked about you several times saying it just wasn’t the same without you.S Then FB buggared up and made changes everyone dislikes a lot and you weren’t there to laugh with. So very sorry you and your girls were sick though. My hubby had a cold too all week, did you give it to him too? Just kidding. We missed your blog thingy, your FB quips, your fabulous humour (spelt correctly). Looking forward to more of you this week. But may i make a suggestion? Shorten your blogs a bit so you won’t hurt your carpool thingy as much. Rest your hand ok?So looking forward to all the news but We Galveston Inaugural guests are DYING TO KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE IN STORE FOR US!!! Just a little bit of hint? Please.Thank you, your humble friends and fans Chris and Charles
I got such a laugh from the first letter “I’m definitely not as large as you”….and you completely replied without even a blink LOL Priceless.
Wait Laure he did get one in on him. He said the horse would not be larger but would have drank 10 Maragaritas so he wouldn’t care how big he is, that was a polite zinger in my opinion, I laughed very hard!!! Love John and the way he gets his little ones in there!!
Cheers, Carole
John:
Sorry to hear that your “carpool” is still acting up.
We just returned on Thursday from the Carnival Triumph.
We had a BLAST.
I almost did not recognize Charlie Davidson (and we had just sailed with him in May). He has changed his hair style and I never knew that could make such a difference in appearance.
Before, he wore it spiked up like many young men do today….but now he is wearing it straight back without all tha gel and he looked so professional. He looked cute before, but now he looks like a future Cruise Director.
As you may know…..Steve O and Robert O (Carnival Rep from New Orleans) both booked this cruise to sail with me as a surprise.
And boy, was I surprised. OF course Carolyn knew all about the plot. Man, can she keep a secret. Not even one little slip…..
I promoted St Jude like an 80 year old “carny” (no pun intended) at the local county fair and we almost DOUBLED the previous week’s donations.
$1,750.00 !!! Not bad for a 5 day cruise!
Just proof again that everyone has a “Hero” inside them….
DJ is a Florida Gator fan and Tex had a Mardi Gras Beads with a huge ceramic Florida Gator head on the end of it. Tex had bought it in May just after we sailed with him and kept it all this time (through vacations on and off the ship) because he knew we were coming back in September.
Reason number 4,695,504 why we cruise with Carnival!!!
Linda (Mom of your friend DJ)
For the Non Carnival Dreamer, I can’t believe that her insurance covered stupidity. She must have paid some good premiums.
can you try and sneak in a new hamster for Kye? It might not be as a hardship if she has a little cute one sitting there… Sorry for your loss Kye.
I think it’s a great tribute that the MATE OF The week IS A CHARTER MEMBER OF cruise critic sucks!
Nice going Tony! Wear it well!
Welcome Back John! Two weeks till paradise, literally, Carnival Paradise! So excited. We will miss her when she and Carnival Inspiration trade places, but look forward to “meeting” the new ship.
Do hope every one is on the mend in your house, I have had the obligatory fall cold as well, but I just told it it had to be gone for the cruise! So far so good. Hope the specialist has some good news for you about the car pool tunnel thingy.
Thanks for another great blog, had me laughing out loud again. Take care, my best to Heidi and Kye. And those ding dongs at Cruise Critic can kiss my **** I don’t care what they think.
Your Friend, Jodi
I just wanted to let the person travelling to Freeport know that the Garden of the Groves excursion should be a lovely one. I know it’s 35 years since I lived in Freeport, but the Garden of the Groves was a place we always took our visitors from the UK, and it was always a highlight of their visit.
Welcome Back John! Greetings from the Carnival Dream where we are having a wonderful time and will send you a review
after the cruise. The staff is brilliant, Butch is an awesome CD and that lady who left doesn’t know what she is missing.
Thanks to the beards for making your blog free to read onboard as well as the Funville site and Carnival.com. To be honest they tell us over 4000 on board but we have gotten great seats in the Theatre and the BBQ on deck 5 on our day at sea yesterday was *gasp* no line at 12:55!! Wonderful!!!!
Thank you for the help with the dining room table seating and the strawberries & champagne, it was very generous and unexpected!! Oops, sun is rising so I better go. Cheers!!
Tina Goodwin
Welcome Back John!
You were sorely missed. A laugh in the morning is good for soul.
Dwayne
Jessemon – why are you even reading this blog if it offends you so much? If you don’t like the show, change the channel.
John – nice retort.
I think an “amen” about covers this one!!
Deb, wasn’t me. Someone thinks it’s fun to use my name from a popular cruise site to try and make me look like a jacka$$.
That person needs to get a life…
PLEASE ANSWER
Hi John
The Carnival Liberty is my favourite Carnival ship.nits my home ship with you and I’m a platinum cruiser with you. I’m very happy with the Mexican food bar that’s open with lunch. It’s something I look forward to every day when I’m on the ship. Please tell me that with the refurbishments you aren’t doing away with it? Please ?
Cheers
Mark
It’s good to have you back, John. I wish you had more time at home with the girls but I, and I suspect most other Bloggers as well, will be anxiously waiting for the news on October 3.
Sorry about Harriet. As one hamster looks much like another a quick trip to the pet store might be in order… or to the taxidermist.
All the best to you and the girls.
Ciao!
Host Mach
RE: Jessemon
I knew I have seen you name all over the Cruise Critic boards.
So I am not suprised at your somewhat nasty comments.
Nasty has becone quite a big part of Cruise Critic lately.
Guess whaat, I didn’t post that…Someone is using my board name.
I have done two bloggers cruises and have a great time with JH and respect him and love his humor.
Punchliner seating change.
just got off the Dream where the new policy was in place. I’ll admit I was slightly annoyed at first when we had to get up and leave before the second show, specifically since the line was a mile long to get back in but it all worked out and it really is fair.
Hi John, I am not sure why some people who come here and your FB page will tell you about all the bad stuff (only seen a couple of posts here and there) that people are saying about you on Cruise Critic are also not telling you about the good stuff (maybe they think they will earn brownie points) majority of CC members are saying about you. I been a CC member since 2006 and always respected you and appreciated your hard work you put in to make our cruises more enjoyable (and from what I seen on CC most of the CC members feel the same as I do). I was excited when I heard you are going to be our CD on the Oct 22 Liberty cruise and looking forward to say hello to you again.
Here are just a few posts that were posted on CC this morning.
1- I think that John has it so ingrained in his head that CC is the enemy and he truly believes people over here hate him so any little thing that’s said or done it taken as more then it’s meant.
Just a thought that ran through my mind. The only thing I read here was frustration at being teased and lots of ideas on what the upgrades could be!
2- I haven’t commented on this but have been checking in on this thread and agree that there has been a lot of frustration at the teasing about the “when” and “what” of the upgrades. Heald is probably in a tough spot himself in terms of what Miami is allowing him to say and maybe even changing course on him a few times (which makes him look silly) but I didn’t think the CC folks were being “nasty” towards him. When I read that comment of his on the blog I was really disappointed because I think he has more than a few fans on this board and basically saying “read my blog and my FB page, forget CC”, that wasn’t fair.
3- I like John… having said that, I do not WORSHIP him as many people apparently do. He is a kind and caring soul – tasked with a large responsibility. I do not envy him. I feel you are correct in that he has been put in these types of situations thanks to erratic signals from Miami. At least that’s my take, as I don’t think it was his intention to lead us on… at least not THIS long!!
4- I totally agree! I don’t think it’s Johns fault, I think he would love to tell!! He seems to like making people happy, & telling would make lots of people happy!!!
And you will find countless of support comments. I just wanted to give you the other side of CC members. we respect and appreciate you John
Nice how you picked only the “nice” ones! LOL
Luisa, maybe you misunderstood the purpose of the post. I know some CC members run as fast as they can to John’s blog or FB to report when someone says anything negative about John (unfortunately most of the time is the same members being repeat offenders) but at the same time they forget to also post the good stuff that CC members say/post about John. I went yesterday morning on CC and I looked at 1 thread (only) and found 4 positive comments within seconds (no did not see any negative comments on that same thread, maybe some disappointing comments) I am sure I could have found hundreds of positive comments if I would have spent some time on the site. I wanted to let John know that there are a lot more CC members that respect him then not. I worked in customer service related jobs for over 20 years and the majority of the time we hear the negatives or complaints not the positives just like in this case.
Marius, I wish they would post this inside the blog for everyone to read. Your first quote was mine!!!! CC gets a bum rap…. it’s just a forum to talk about cruising with a lot of different personalities. Some people are mean… most people are great… just like in life.
It’s the losers who come over here and post something like “LOOK AT THIS JOHN!!!!” and post a thread about something stupid that was irrelevant and most of us passed over.
Thank you Marius for posting this. I came here for more info on the Halloween party for our cruise next month and got to reading, with really a heavy heart.
So many people are posting so hatefully about Cruise Critic and it’s hurtful.
Are there mean, ignorant people there? Yes there are, as there are on any medium, including here. The names you are calling people that frequent CC is hateful, which means they are no better than the ones they are hating on.
We have an ignore button on CC, we can shut out the haters, but it feels very much like racism, you hate CC’ers, all CC’er because they are all “fill in the blank”
Hmmmmmmmmm kinda sad.
I’ve always liked John and his English Humour, never said a thing bad about him.
Have mostly tried to help those posting a valid question or problem if I can. And do my best to stay polite, yet I’m toxic because I’m a CCer.
Just wow.
Carole
Hope your carpool discomfort eases. I have it in my wrist from hours and hours on the GDS and goccl. Gee I’m glad you had the time off but, golly, I’ve missed you! Saw this and thought it very appropriate:
“There is no unhappiness like the misery of sighting land (and work) again after a
cheerful, careless voyage.”~ Mark Twain
Oh how I agree!
John, I just got off the Dream on Saturday which was my second cruise on the ship and I love it. I am so glad they decided to close the doors before showtime in the Punchliner. I know from expereince for saling different ships with Carnival that seating is hard. May 2011and everything before that we actually had to sit through 2 shows and have a seat for the 3rd which was usually uncensored. Then a week ago after boarding the Dream I noticed things had changed. I love this new arrangement. So what if I had to stand in a line most of the time but it gave everyone a chance to see all the shows equally. Also I had an onboard credit this cruise for $138. I blew it on what I WANTED. Actually Carnival gave me a check back for $1.04. <3 Keep up the good work.
I was amazed (and did a LOL) moment when the question by Pokemon (or Jessemon) appeared on this blog. To think that someone believes that Carnival is on a “downward spiral” is equivalent to hearing that Lady Gaga is now retired and in a convalescent home. IT AIN’T HAPPENING ANYTIME SOON (if ever)!! I’d just like to know– what have you been drinking or smoking??
BTW JOHN– We missed you. Welcome back!! And I think we are all waiting with worm-baited breath on the upgrades to the Liberty. You guys are keeping better secrets than women’s underwear.
Welcome Back Big Daddy!!!
Congrats to Tony on Mate of the Week!
John I am sitting on the Destiny at Grand Cayman getting ready to set sail again (wife is taking a nap before the past guest party). This is cruise 15 with Carnival and it is as wonderful as the other 14. Just wanted to add 2 cents about CC, we have been members there since 2006 and in the last year have stopped posting and very seldom even read it anymore. It seems the boards have been taken over by nasty immature mean natured people who have nothing better to do than cause problems. Ignore that site, you and Carnival do a wonderful job and those of us “Carnival Lovers” appreciate it! Enjoy your time off and rest assured you are doing a wonderful job.
Again to clear up this matter of me sending that message to John…
I did not send that. Some numbskull is using my signature name from Cruise Critic.
Have done two bloggers cruises with John and had a great time with him. Love him and his humor…
So for those trying to blast me blast the jerk that is trying to make me look bad here.
Shame on him/her.
I hope when the mods here see this they will let John know about this and maybe make a point of this happening here…
John, think of Eva and Jeff in the bright green t-shirts that said “John Who?” LOL
See you again in the future on another Blogger’s cruise.
Ummmm the next shirts will say who’s Eva LOL!!
Good to see you here setting the record straight, those of us who know you, knew that was not you!!!
I hope the beards are on tracking down the IP address of the sucker loser who thought they could ever measure up and be you
Hi Floatie! To the “real” Jessemon…i’m so glad you cleared this up! I’ve cruised with you before, and I was shocked at what i first read, only to discover that someone had hijacked your CC name…there are some mean and nasty people around who have nothing better to do than write John nasty letters….they really should get a life!
Dear Martin,
My wife Nancy & I did this excursion and had a ball. My wife Nancy had the biggest smile in all the pictures. Audrey took our underwater disposable cameras and took several pictures of us on the horses so we didn’t have to buy the ones they took which were very pricey. We of coarse gave her a really good tip. She was great and showed us several sites along the way as we rode from the sables down to the water which was a couple of miles. Have a great time on the seahorses.
James
I’m sorry, I usually agree with certain crowd control measures, but clearing the comedy club after each comedian is ridiculous. Never have I seen the Improv or any other comedy club empty the room between sets. The whole idea of an evening at a comedy club is sitting in one spot, having a few cocktails, and listening to multiple comedians! That is what a comedy club is! If you want to empty the room after each show, then go back to having one comedian a night multiple times. Otherwise, the comedians play in pairs on alternating nights. Pick a night. Don’t ruin the whole comedy club experience.
What’s next, emptying the Piano Bar every hour??
Can’t wait to read/see the announcement on Oct 3. Only 24 more days till we sale on the Liberty and I’m so excited to see the changes being made.
John, having been on 10 CCL cruises, you’ve got plenty of talent on board any of your ships for the “Page 3″ girls!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi John, first of all I want to say “welcome back” and I hope, even though you were sick, enjoyed some good times with the family. I see you’ll be in my neck of the woods, New York City, and was wondering if you’ll be dropping by the piers? I just wanted to meet you in person. Since there will be two AIDA ships docked, I know I’ll be working since I speak German, well a little anyway. If you can, come on over! I would love the opportunity in convincing you to convince the “beards” to hire me! Cheers dear!!
Dear John,
I am so sorry to hear about you getting a cold on your long awaited holiday. I am also so sorry for Heidi and Kye. I can sympatize with all of you, because last week my dear husband John brought me home a horrible cold as well. Of course with him it lasts 3 days and with me for some reason it seems to turn into either bronchitis or sinus infection and lingers for 10 days or more. I felt like I had the cold from hell and I was sooooo mad that he gave it to me. So, I definitely sympathize with Heidi and Kye. I know you didn’t want to give it to them, but well, so much for that, lol.
As for some of the posters here, I can’t believe how rude so many are to you. You are the kindest sweetest man I know (next to my hubby of course, incase he’s reading this, lol) and I can’t believe what people say to you. I think some of the things they say are so terribly hurtful, I just don’t understand. My mother always taught me if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Yet these people seem to feed on being mean, I just don’t get it.
As far as poor Harriet goes, couldn’t you have pulled a fast one and found an identicle hamster and not have to break poor Kye’s heart…not that I condone lying to our children, but just maybe one little white lye (replacement hamster) might have saved you having to tell her the bad news, and her not having to experience the loss at such a young age…anyway, I hope she didn’t get too upset.
As a last thought, I know you always try to please everyone (which is virtually impossible, lol) and I know you offer help, but some posters here take it as a liscense to ask for all kinds of free things. I can understand a dinner seating request etc, but for birthday cakes, and cabin decorations, please….what is wrong with some people. God Bless you John, you are a saint for what you have to put up with, lol….looking forward to hearing about the changes on the Liberty, and hoping I don’t want to kick myself myself for booking another ship, lol…have a great time in New York…bring some sunshine with you if you would, it’s been raining here for the last two weeks.
Hugs,
Barb