At Sea with Doug Newman

Congratulations to my friend John Heald, senior cruise director at Carnival Cruise Lines, for winning Seatrade Insider’s first annual Seagoing Employee of the Year Award!

I am sure most of you are familiar with John’s blog which is undoubtedly the busiest cruising blog on WordPress (I can only hope that I come in at a distant second). It started out in March as part of Carnival’s inaugural festivities for Carnival Freedom but John has kept on blogging ever since, regaling all of us with hilarious - and occasionally poignant - tales of his life aboard, along with interviews with such luminaries as the leaders of various Carnival Corporation & plc cruise lines, shipboard employees from aboard Carnival Freedom, and even the incomparable comedian John Cleese (of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers fame).

The award was accepted on John’s behalf at the Seatrade Europe convention in Hamburg by Carnival UK CEO David Dingle as John is still aboard Carnival Freedom in the Mediterranean after working non-stop for the better part of a year. You can read Carnival’s press release and John’s comments here, however there is one thing I would like to mention and that is that John himself has, through his blog, worked tirelessly to highlight the work of some of his other shipboard colleagues including crew members from all over Carnival Freedom and even captains and cruise directors from other ships. In addition to his own contributions as a seagoing employee, I cannot think of anyone who has done more to bring attention to the great work done by the crew members of every department, from cabin stewards to pastry chefs to captains. So not only does John deserve this award - created to recognize a category of person often neglected by industry awards - in his own right, but for bringing our attention to so many other wonderful shipboard employees as well.

John, my most heartfelt congratulations go out to you on this occasion… Tonight have a romantic dinner with Heidi in the Supper Club and then break open some bubbly to celebrate! No, not a magnum of champagne, John… I mean an extra large box of sugar free jelly beans! (Note to readers: if you read his blog, you’ll understand…)