Florida en cruise

[Michael66]

En een interview met John Heald, Senior Cruise Director bij Carnival:

Going cruising: favorite ports
John Heald's favorite destinations on Caribbean and European itineraries:
Ocho Rios, Jamaica: "It has had its critics over the years but it also is many people's top spot. I love the people, the rain forest, and there is no bluer water anywhere in the Caribbean. I am a huge Ian Fleming fan and you can see why he chose to write all the Bond novels there."
Cannes, France: "I love the South of France and our stop on the Carnival Freedom (his current vessel) in Cannes allows the exploration of the best of France in St. Tropez, Nice and Provence and . . . passage to Monte Carlo."
Dubrovnik, Croatia: "The old town is like something out of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale and when you consider the living hell this town and the country went through in the early '90s, it is extraordinary to see it today. It truly is the Mediterranean as it used to be."
Venice: "The sail in alone is worth the price of the cruise, as this huge super liner cruises past St. George's Cathedral, St. Mark's Square and past the Grand Canal . . . Venice is incomparable."
- - -
Forget the TV or movie images of a dashing figure in a crisp white uniform strolling among a cruise ship's passengers: That would be the captain, and he's merely the fellow in charge of the vessel, responsible for getting you to port safely.
The real face of your cruise ship, the person you are most likely to actually speak with, is the social director - the ship's master of ceremonies, if you will.
And for the 22 ships of industry giant Carnival Cruise Lines, John Heald is that face.
It's a rotund one, usually getting wider with his frequent smiles. Briton Heald is quick with a joke - at his expense or yours - and willing to kick off a shoe or tug his shirt from his pants if that will bring a laugh. Heald is the wittiest insurance agent you'll never meet.
It took only a year and a half with the legendary Lloyd's of London as a marine insurance broker, Heald recalls, before "I got tired of riding the train in and out of the city, sometimes in the total dark." He quit, traveled the world and, while in Miami in 1986, answered a help-wanted ad placed by then-small Carnival.
Heald was hired for the bar department, though he now admits he knew little about wine.
What he did know was how to amuse the diners. In less than three years he was a "social host." A career was launched just as the industry was rising in popularity.
In 2004, Heald became Carnival's senior cruise director, responsible for overseeing all of the line's onboard activities and entertainment. Last month, he was named the industry's "Sea Going Employee of the Year" by the trade publication Seatrade Insider.
The St. Petersburg Times caught up with Heald, via radiotelephone, while his current ship sails through the Aegean and Mediterranean. Here's part of our conversation:

You've been at sea for more than 20 years, on dozens of ships. What do you do, and how has your job evolved?
I was the first cruise director Carnival hired who did not have an act: Before, they were magicians, singers, jugglers, comedians or something. I was just mostly a bar waiter and a wine steward who knew nothing about bars or wine, so I was very lucky . . .
Generally, the cruise director job has changed so that more and more time is spent doing things other than entertaining and being with the guests - which is the only time I truly love my job.
Now, I supervise the dancers, the entertainers, the orchestra, the band, the entertainment staff itself. I have 69 staff and meet with all of them, as a group, once on every cruise.

How many activities are routinely planned for, say, a seven-day cruise?
There is a module, which we know works from history, so probably 80 percent of the activities that we do each day on a seven-day cruise are planned pretty much for that whole season.
We will change according to the demographics on the ship: We watch the guests come onboard and we'll see that maybe instead of doing an '80s dance party, these passengers look a little bit older, so we'll doa '60s dance party, and things like that . . .
On that first day onboard, I'll have a walk around the ship for an hour, usually after (life) boat drill, and also the entertainment staff will talk to me after the drill and say, we've got a lot of kids, or we've got a lot of people who are maybe not from the U.S., who maybe are Latino. Therefore, we'll throw some Latin activities in . . .
If we're at sea, we basically will start the first activity at 9 in the morning. And the last activity lounge will close at 3 a.m. So, on a seven-day cruise in the Caribbean on a sea day, you're looking at 30 to 40 activities.

Has the popularity of the TV shows such as American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance increased the popularity of the amateur talent contests?
Hugely, hugely. . . . We've actually adapted something we call Carnival Legends. We will audition for guests to impersonate Frank Sinatra, Britney Spears, Garth Brooks, Aretha Franklin. Then we rehearse them with our cast of 16 dancers, a 10-piece orchestra and all the lights.
And then on the last night, we perform a show with the entire (professional) cast and the passengers in costume, as these different legends . . . It's immensely, immenselypopular.

This March you began a blog (www.johnheald.wordpress.com) as a way to publicize the new Carnival Freedom. One day in August the blog received 11,400 visitors, and it has totaled more than 700,000. It must take you quite a while just to write your answers . . .
Yeah, yeah, normally my blog (writing) starts early in the morning. I usually wake up at around7 and I start blogging for an hour or so . . . then I'll do a little bit again in the afternoon and then usually from midnight to 2 a.m.
But I know that . . . having a direct contact with somebody on the ship who will answer their questions, for a lot of passengers that's the most important thing.

Do you ever sail on other cruise lines, as many executives do, to see what the competition is like? Or are you glad to be off the ship?
It's funny: In all these years, I have never, ever sailed on a cruise to look at what others are doing or to even take a vacation . . .
My one ambition is to do a trans-Atlantic crossing on a Cunard ship. If you've got the sea in your blood, then that's something that you really have to do.

[bono]

He Micheal66 bedankt voor de info, dat zal zeker helpen met de aankomende boeking voor volgend jaar.

Bedankt!

Gr. Monique

[Renske1978]

Tip 1 Boek vroeg

Tip 3 Boek laat

[Michael66]

Tip 1 Boek vroeg

Tip 3 Boek laat

tja, beide opties zijn niet slecht. Tussenin-boeken is nou eenmaal het duurst ....

[jaap]

Wij hebben beide opties al gedaan. Vroeg boeken was bij ons duurder dan laat, dit jaar toch weer vroeg geboekt. We wilden namelijk perse een hut met balkon en dit jaar hebben wij een strak tijdschema. Wij gaan voor het eerst naar de andere kant van Amerika, dus geen Florida volgend jaar

[bono]

Hoi Jaap,

Wat voor cruise gaan jullie maken, heb nogal moeite met kiezen 8-[

Gr. Monique

[Nijntje]

Wij hebben ook beide opties gedaan, maar zijn tot nu toe met vroeg boeken goedkoper uit... Heb bv mijn cruise voor volgend jaar mei al geboekt in augustus dit jaar. Denk ook dat het eraan ligt via welke maatschappij je boekt en voor welke cruiseline je kiest.

[jaap]

Wij hebben gelukkig geen moeite om een reis uit te zoeken. We gaan nu met de "vision of the sea"" een riviera cruise doen. Op het verlang lijstje staan nog Hawaii, Bermuda, Transatlantisch en Alaska. Wat mij ook leuk lijkt is een vertrek of aankomst in Nederland, maar op Florida terug te komen wil nog een keer vertrekken uit Tampa en Port Canaveral.

Hier is een overzicht met alle havens, kan je ideeën op doen. Dan wordt het nog moeilijker! :lol:

www.cruise.com/cs/HomePorts/HomePort.aspx?PortID=9361&AG=1&EDID=&LID=

[bono]

He bedankt Jaap.

Waar boeken jullie altijd??
Gaan jullie zelf op zoek op het internet of gaan jullie via het reisbureau.
Met welke gaan jullie meestal.................ik vind de royal caribieen altijd wel goed klinken en de boten zien er ook goed uit.

Gr. Monique

[jaap]

Meestal boeken wij rechtstreeks bij royalcaribbean. Als we meerdere hutten willen boeken via:
http://www.amca.nl/.

Is het zelfde maar dan boeken zij voor je, maar ik zoek wel altijd internet af. Kijk altijd bij deze site:
http://www.cruiseweb.nl/

En op dit forum vind ik altijd veel informatie over hotels, taxi enz.
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/.

Ik denk dat de meeste deze site wel kennen. Ik ben wel een beetje nieuwsgierig waarom jij het zo moeilijk vind om een cruise te boeken. Kennissen van ons willen alleen met de 'Carnival' varen. Mijn zus en zwager gaan in november met een Italiaanse maatschappij mee, ben benieuwd hoe dat bevalt.