Summit CD - John Howell

[TechKnowBabble]

Although I know he stated he doesn't get a chance to read these board, he stated he had eyes and ears on here. Mike and I ADORE you. You are the greatest cruise director we have had. He promised to make everyone feel like family on the cruise and it certainly was true. It was torture leaving the ship. I felt like I was leaving behind family. Celebrity was everything I imagined and more. We will be definitely looking for another itinerary with Celebrity and another on Summit at some point. Everyone was so wonderful from Fernando (our waiter), Piotr (our asst waiter) & Santana (our cabin steward). We have already filled a page of compliments, which we returned with our surveys onboard, but we will still be writing another letter to Celebrity to commend them on the BEST STAFF on the high seas!

 

I hope your 'eyes and ears' return this message to you with our sincere thanks.

[stinsowm]

Mom and I have been blessed to cruise with John Howell twice. Once during 9-11 on the Zenith and once on the Horizon a year later. He was by far the nicest and most personable cruise director I have ever known. He hugged my mom and called her "mom" when he saw her. He sent us fruit to our stateroom and bought us drinks. Never too busy to have a conversation with us or anyone that he encountered. I hope to get to sail again with him someday. Now...if he would just come over to Mercury for our April 28th sailing. : )

 

Walter

[TechKnowBabble]

I thought he was such a sweetheart. Always smiling and always just a joy to talk to

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

I have had the pleasure of sailing with John a few times, and he is an outstanding Cruise Director. I hope we will sail with him on another Celebrity Cruise in the future.

[cruiseorbust]

Out of 28 cruises John Howell is tops in our book!!!!!!

 

Hope to sail with him again soon!!

[Lois R]

hmmmm...thought I posted a reply:confused:

 

Anyway, I am in total agreement:D John is an excellent CD...but,

an ever better person!:)

He was our CD back in October on Summit.

 

Hey John, if by chance you peek in here....Hiya:)

[stinsowm]

I might add that John Howell's beautiful wife also is one of the singers/dancers on many sailings. I had the pleasure of meeting her on the Infinity December 2004.

[Ma Bell]

I absolutely agree. He was very charming and really puts his heart into his job.:)

[Ine]

We have not met him yet, but soon we will.

We have had very nice CD's in the past, so we hope he is as good and nice as you all say.

[TechKnowBabble]

I might add that John Howell's beautiful wife also is one of the singers/dancers on many sailings. I had the pleasure of meeting her on the Infinity December 2004.

 

Darn I wish I could have met her as well. I'm glad he has someone wonderful to go home to.

[rebeljohn]

We had the privilege of having John Howell as our CD on two of our trips with Celebrity. OUTSTANDING CD and a great person as well. We too had the opportunity to meet his wife while she was singing aboard the same ship. We saw him everywhere on the ship, and wondered when and if he ever slept. We hope to sail with him again in the future............John & Phyllis

[wvufan]

We have been lucky enough to have John on three cruises. Last time he told me that I wasn't just a passenger, I was his friend. I feel the same way.

 

OOOEEE:D :D Bob and Phyl

[fent33]

We were on the July 1st Summit cruise - and the CD was not John Howell. I don't remember his name though. Just FYI

[Ships R Great]

We were on the July 1st Summit cruise - and the CD was not John Howell. I don't remember his name though. Just FYI

 

We are on summit in October. After reading all these comments, I hope he is just on vacation and will be back on board then. I don't remember ever sailing with him but i look forward to it now.

[PatC]

Hi Joan (Ma Bell),

 

You're so right. John has been the best CD for us yet, and it's going to be our 15th cruise in March. Miss the gang from Summit in Hawaii. I sure hope we get to sail with John again. We're on Galaxy this time so who knows who we'll get. With vacations and being this early you never know.

 

Hope things are going well.

 

WUFAN - "won't you let me take you on a sea cruise???"

 

Have a great day friends.

 

Pat C

[cruiser2004]

We had a different experience on our cruise with cruise director John Howell. John may be great when everything is going smoothly, but in the unfortunate events of the May Summit cruise he was a part of the downward spiral of the passenger attitudes. On our particular cruise John was just not the right man for that particular job at that moment in time. His attitude seemed to pour gasoline on a smoldering fire. I only wish we could have met John Howell in a non crisis situation.

[Drew B]

We had a different experience on our cruise with cruise director John Howell. John may be great when everything is going smoothly, but in the unfortunate events of the May Summit cruise he was a part of the downward spiral of the passenger attitudes. On our particular cruise John was just not the right man for that particular job at that moment in time. His attitude seemed to pour gasoline on a smoldering fire. I only wish we could have met John Howell in a non crisis situation.

 

 

Ditto.

 

But I have to say that even prior to any problems, I didn't see any sincerity there. He's got that game-show-host vibe down pat. It's perfectly pleasant, yet still feels totally phony...

[sdcruiser]

He has been one of our favorite CD's. Very pleasant and a nice person to talk to. Always recognized us and knew his job as a CD extremely well.

 

So, thanks indeed John if you're reading these boards, for a memorable Hawaii cruise on board the Summit in April 2006.

 

FYI! For others who think otherwise, I don't believe CD's are trained or experienced to handle out of the ordinary passenger crisis situations, such as the one that happened on the May Summit cruise. Give the guy a break, IMHO.

 

SDCruiser

[cruiser2004]

The problem with John Howell, on this cruise, had nothing to do with his training or his experience, it had to do with his condescending and patronizing attitude.

[Ma Bell]

John Howell is without a doubt one of the best Cruise Directors at sea as well as a wonderful person. His job is not to decide what kind of compensation should be received for a problem, but to try to make the best of the situation. I suppose if he were trying to be his kind, compassionate self, angry, grumpy people would not appreciate it.

[Ma Bell]

You are entitled to feel any way you like and I suppose you can continue to be angry forever. As I said if someone is upset they may not want anyone trying to "mimimalize" their feelings.

 

All I can say is I know John Howell and the kind of person he is and count myself fortunate to have met him.

[Drew B]

I'm not angry in the least! The 5/7/06 cruise was perhaps the greatest vacation I've ever taken in my life. I feel fortunate that the only irredeemable thing about the whole trip was the cruise director (and that is hardly a crucial element to me, anyway).

[renebfl]

I also wish I had seen the good in John during our May 7th cruise. Maybe he was just "under the weather."

[Drew B]

Again; I will ask where on this thread was it ever said that "Changes in itinerary, ship's scheduling and mechanical problems are in the realm of responsibility" of the cruise director??? Please forgive me if my opionion about posters who make up things up out of thin air, was not clear, but I will keep trying .

 

To further that point, changes in itinerary, ship's scheduling and mechanical problems" are not in the realm of responsibility of my room steward, my assistant waiter, or my blackjack dealers, either, and I had no problem with them. The difference is that they treated me with kindness and empathy (even knowing that they were likely to be the ones to suffer MOST due to the fact that the ship would be going into drydock and they would be losing their tips).

 

If John Howell had been anywhere near that compassionate, I woudn't have had a problem with him. Instead, he tried to make us feel like our disappointment was an inconvenience to him. His manner almost made me feel like he was laughing at our misfortune. Now, I doubt that this is the case, because I can't imagine that somebody so many of you love would be downright MEAN. However, if that was not the message he intended to convey, he should learn to communicate better and help soothe people who are unhappy. I believe that IS in his realm of responsibility...

[sonofasailor]

Wow...this is quite interesting! As someone who has worked with Mr Howell in many different ocassions in the past (a clue to my position with X), these comments are all correct. He, while under normal circumstances, is capable and pleasant. At the hint of any "odd circumstances", he is known around the fleet for his unconventional actions. This thread validates it.

 

I only surf these site periodically. I find it amazing to see this after not visiting the site for almost a year.