The blog hosted by Carnival Cruise Lines’ Senior Cruise Director John Heald continues to achieve new milestones.

On Aug. 25, Heald’s blog held the number one position for a period of time, before ending the day ranked number three, based on readership volume among the one-million-plus blogs of WordPress, a leading blog-hosting service. That day’s blog, which featured a preview of sister company Cunard Line’s new Queen Victoria, also set a personal one-day readership record of more than 11,400 visitors.

The dramatic rise in readership is just the latest milestone achieved by Heald’s highly popular blog, which was originally launched as part of the micro-site for the Carnival Freedom but has now has taken on a life of its own. The blog can be accessed both via Carnival’s web site (www.carnival.com) and its corporate parent site (www.carnivalcorp.com).

Since its debut in March, Heald’s blog has attracted more than 600,000 visitors, who enjoy his often-colorful stories about the Carnival Freedom’s inaugural European season, while he serves as senior cruise director with his wife Heidi, the ship’s assistant cruise director and frequent contributor to the blog.

Within the blog, Heald details his day-to-day encounters with guests and crew aboard the 110,000-ton SuperLiner, while offering his own insight into various topics, both cruise and non-cruise related, along with helpful information regarding on-shore activities, travel tips and more.

The success of Heald’s blog has also spawned the “John Heald’s Bloggers Cruise,” a seven-day Caribbean voyage aboard Carnival Freedom operating round-trip from Miami Jan. 19-26, 2008. Prices begin at $599 per person, based on double occupancy.

For additional information on the Carnival Freedom or any other “Fun Ship” in the Carnival fleet, contact any travel agent, call 1-800-CARNIVAL or visit carnival.com.

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Carnival Cruise Lines, a unit of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), is a proud member of the exclusive World’s Leading Cruise Lines. Our exclusive alliance also includes Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Cunard Line, Costa Cruises, and The Yachts of Seabourn. Sharing a passion to please each guest, and a commitment to quality and value, our member lines appeal to a wide range of lifestyles and budgets. Together, we offer exciting and enriching cruise vacations to the world’s most desirable destinations.