Cruise with John Heald

[NewKansasKruiser]

Anyone else booked on the cruise with John for next year?!  We are booked on it and looking forward to it!  We've never been on one of his cruises and are excited to go.  Anyone have any tips on it or things they do different?  

[Saint Greg]

I'm not on it but I know the additional activities were posted on his fb last week. They said registration will open up august 1st. It'll likely be a $25 excursion.

 

April 3rd - Sunday   Miami Florida                              3:30pm

Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party

 

April 4th - Monday - Half Moon Cay                          8:30am - 4:30pm

Breakfast with John, Q and A - Before Dinner Fun Hour

 

April 5th - Tuesday - Fund Day at Sea

Breakfast with John, Q and A - Private Slot Tournament. Private Tea Time, Formal Photos with John

 

April 6th - Amber Cove                                                 8:00am - 5:00pm

Breakfast with John, Q and A - Afternoon Fun Hour, Cigars Under the Stars

 

April 7th  Grand Turk                                                     8:00am - 5:00pm

Breakfast with John and Q and A - John's Marriage Show

 

April 8th  Fun Day at Sea

T Shirt and Gifts given out. Farwell Cocktail Party                              

 

April 9th Miami

[1025cruise]

If you are looking for your fellow cruisers, I would check out the roll call.

[NewKansasKruiser]

4 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I'm not on it but I know the additional activities were posted on his fb last week. They said registration will open up august 1st. It'll likely be a $25 excursion.

 

April 3rd - Sunday   Miami Florida                              3:30pm

Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party

 

April 4th - Monday - Half Moon Cay                          8:30am - 4:30pm

Breakfast with John, Q and A - Before Dinner Fun Hour

 

April 5th - Tuesday - Fund Day at Sea

Breakfast with John, Q and A - Private Slot Tournament. Private Tea Time, Formal Photos with John

 

April 6th - Amber Cove                                                 8:00am - 5:00pm

Breakfast with John, Q and A - Afternoon Fun Hour, Cigars Under the Stars

 

April 7th  Grand Turk                                                     8:00am - 5:00pm

Breakfast with John and Q and A - John's Marriage Show

 

April 8th  Fun Day at Sea

T Shirt and Gifts given out. Farwell Cocktail Party                              

 

April 9th Miami

Thank you for the details!  I hadn't read those yet (been busy with a snow and ice storm since we booked!).   

[versuco]

We had the pleasure of sailing with John Heald as a cruise director many years ago.  He was by far the funniest, most entertaining CD we have had (over 50 cruises).   I can't even remember the names of most of our past cruise directors.  You are in for a treat!

 

[xDisconnections]

I’d prefer not to.

[SF Cfan]

6 hours ago, NewKansasKruiser said:

Anyone have any tips on it or things they do different?  

We've cruised twice with John.

First time was in 2011, 12 day Mediterranean cruise out of Barcelona on the brand new Magic.  John was the Cruise Director.

Second time was in in 2015, 11 day Journeys cruise out of New Orleans to Bermuda ending in San Juan with calls in between.  That cruise was on the Dream and John was John plus whoever the Dream's CD was at the time.

 

Some impressions may have been ship, crew or itinerary related.  But, 2 cruises with different itineraries and 4 years apart, John was a common element both times.

 

The captain's receptions were more substantial, 'not phoned in' comes to mind as being different from the usual Carnival event.  The captain and the crew were in no hurry to leave and made a point of talking to individual passengers.  I don't know that this was a direct effect of John's presence.  Nonetheless it made an impression on me.

 

John was very approachable and visible.

 

John seemed to give more attention to what type and where the cruises were sailing.  By this I mean his comments were nuanced during events like the sail away party or welcome show in the main theater.  This was very noticeable when we did a second Mediterranean cruise in 2016 on the Vista.  Everything was very standard Carnival generic on that cruise.  That's not a terrible thing.  It just wasn't the 2011 Magic cruise with John's savvy dialog.

 

There are many CD's with good comic timing.  John is another level above on the Love & Marriage show and any else he touches for that matter.

 

John is chatty over the ship's public address in a good way including more thoughtful anecdotal information about upcoming ports or events on ship.  Some will bristle or remind me that the better CD's do this too.  I think John's years of experience make him seem more relaxed in his expertise than some.  Your upcoming cruise may be a little different depending on what role the actual CD plays.

 

The final thing that comes to mind in terms of being different was the food in the main dining room.  This observation is probably shaky ground because we have both time and circumstances to consider.  But, it was awesome on both 2011 Mediterranean and 2015 Journeys.  Full disclosure, the 2015 Journeys cruise included a traditional everything and the kitchen sink midnight buffet and wonderful food in the MDR.  Of course wouldn't you know that the food on the 2016 Vista Mediterranean cruise, sans John was just good, not great.  Not sure how much of a John factor was in play, probably more of a change in budget than anything else. 

 

I haven't given you as many things not to miss as I would have liked.  But, I hope this gives you some sense of the overall experience sailing with John.  Please let us know when you get back next year what the experience was like.

 

 

[sanmarcosman]

57 minutes ago, SF Cfan said:

Your upcoming cruise may be a little different depending on what role the actual CD plays.

 

It will be much different. This is one of John's FFS cruises where he hosts the specific events listed by member Saint Greg above for the members who sign up for his group. The cruise will have its regular full time CD and John will host his group for the 6 day cruise.

[May1cruiser]

The time we cruised with him, about two years ago, he did morning "walkies" with a live facebook feed. I believe, it was around 6:45 AM ish. He is very approachable. I was part of the video then stood in line after filming to get coffee. Super easy to talk to, and very friendly and "real" off camera. We did not attend many of his special events. 

 

[NewKansasKruiser]

4 hours ago, SF Cfan said:

We've cruised twice with John.

First time was in 2011, 12 day Mediterranean cruise out of Barcelona on the brand new Magic.  John was the Cruise Director.

Second time was in in 2015, 11 day Journeys cruise out of New Orleans to Bermuda ending in San Juan with calls in between.  That cruise was on the Dream and John was John plus whoever the Dream's CD was at the time.

 

Some impressions may have been ship, crew or itinerary related.  But, 2 cruises with different itineraries and 4 years apart, John was a common element both times.

 

The captain's receptions were more substantial, 'not phoned in' comes to mind as being different from the usual Carnival event.  The captain and the crew were in no hurry to leave and made a point of talking to individual passengers.  I don't know that this was a direct effect of John's presence.  Nonetheless it made an impression on me.

 

John was very approachable and visible.

 

John seemed to give more attention to what type and where the cruises were sailing.  By this I mean his comments were nuanced during events like the sail away party or welcome show in the main theater.  This was very noticeable when we did a second Mediterranean cruise in 2016 on the Vista.  Everything was very standard Carnival generic on that cruise.  That's not a terrible thing.  It just wasn't the 2011 Magic cruise with John's savvy dialog.

 

There are many CD's with good comic timing.  John is another level above on the Love & Marriage show and any else he touches for that matter.

 

John is chatty over the ship's public address in a good way including more thoughtful anecdotal information about upcoming ports or events on ship.  Some will bristle or remind me that the better CD's do this too.  I think John's years of experience make him seem more relaxed in his expertise than some.  Your upcoming cruise may be a little different depending on what role the actual CD plays.

 

The final thing that comes to mind in terms of being different was the food in the main dining room.  This observation is probably shaky ground because we have both time and circumstances to consider.  But, it was awesome on both 2011 Mediterranean and 2015 Journeys.  Full disclosure, the 2015 Journeys cruise included a traditional everything and the kitchen sink midnight buffet and wonderful food in the MDR.  Of course wouldn't you know that the food on the 2016 Vista Mediterranean cruise, sans John was just good, not great.  Not sure how much of a John factor was in play, probably more of a change in budget than anything else. 

 

I haven't given you as many things not to miss as I would have liked.  But, I hope this gives you some sense of the overall experience sailing with John.  Please let us know when you get back next year what the experience was like.

 

 

Thank you for your reply and your experiences!  It will be a fun experience for us, I think!  We enjoy his sense of humor and his bluntness.  We've had some good CD's with The Flying Scottsman probably my favorite.  We had Matt Mitchum and he wasn't our favorite.  We had others that were so blah, I really don't remember their names.  Thanks again for the reply!

[originalgeek]

We booked this  a little over a week ago.  Our last cruise was FFS#3 and it was a blast.  We wanted to go on the originally scheduled FFS#4 that was supposed to be an Alaska cruise but it got cancelled before we even tried to book so when I saw this announced we called up our PVP and got in that day.  It's such a relief to finally have cruise booked and something to look forward to.  

[originalgeek]

PS - there is now a roll call  here for this cruise:  Cruise With John Heald For Fun's Sake #4 - 04/03/2022

 

(If you're new to cruising and Cruise Critic a roll call is where people on the same cruise get together and plan stuff or just say howdy and generally get excited as the countdown winds ever onward until sail-date)