Talk to the employees of any cruise line, and they’ll tell you that their fondest wish is to help you have an awesome vacation. But every now and then, one rises so far above the call of duty as to achieve hero status in our eyes. And today, we want to take a moment to recognize one such person currently working on the Carnival Vista, who not only saved a passenger’s vacation, but quite possibly their life!

Now, generally speaking, the only time cruise-related stories tend to be reported by mainstream outlets is when they involve a new ship, a norovirus outbreak or some form of bad news. But we here at Cruise Radio are big believers in shining a bright spotlight on the type of stories that don’t grab headlines. You know, the kind that put a smile in your step and help remind you why you love cruising. Stories like this one.

On Friday afternoon, John Heald — Carnival’s much-loved senior cruise director — posted a note on his Facebook page detailing an incident which had unfolded aboard Vista. “Meet Boris,” wrote Heald, “and what he did today as described in his own words by Ivo, our Food Operations Manager.” At that point, Ivo took over the story: “Today in Lido at about 1:35 p.m., a guest [named Janice] was running towards me when I was passing by, shouting that her husband was choking. Borisov, a team head waiter, noted this, was closest to the choking guest and without any hesitation performed the Heimlich maneuver, potentially saving the guest’s life.”

Heald went on to add that most of the servers aboard Carnival vessels are trained to handle just such an emergency, adding a “huge bravo to Boris for doing what he did so quickly and calmly.”

Please join us in saying “thank you” to Boris for his quick-thinking actions.