Super Bowl Magic: Day 1

By
Saint Greg

March 17, 2023

I just boarded Carnival Magic. I stopped by my room to drop my bags off and was told I could have full access to my room now, even though it isn’t supposed to be ready for another hour which is 1:30pm.

This room is a 4J cabin on lido deck. I have stayed in a couple of 4J cabins before. The difference with this one is it is all the way on the end, making it a much larger cabin than the other 4J cabins I’ve stayed in. On some ships this is an accessible room. On others it is not. This one is not.

Let’s step out on the “secret deck.”

That’s my room.

Jewel of the Seas is in port with us.

Here is a look at today’s Fun Times.

Let’s step out onto the lido deck.

I recently noticed the prices at Seafood Shack vary by ship.

These are the beers available at The Tides Bar.

I’m starting off with a Fun Ship as usual. At first the bartender said I couldn’t get another drink until I went to my muster station. I told him I haven’t had any drinks yet. He had to write this up as a manual drink. I’m going to get something to eat. Then I’ll get one more drink to take to my muster station.

I’m going with Pasta Bella for lunch. This is in the Cucina Del Capitano restaurant on deck 11. It is usually a quiet spot on embarkation day because most people have already stopped for food before they get up to deck 11. Many of the new cruisers don’t even realize it exists until halfway through the cruise.

Here is a look at the menu.

This is what I’m going with. After the waitress took my sheet I realized I forgot to mark my pasta.

This is the view out the window from here.

When the waitress brought my salad I told her about my pasta mistake and requested linguini.

On my way out this is where they prepare the salads.

This is where they cook the pasta.

This is someone’s order.

A look down at the cakes.

It’s the first day. We’re struggling with cake cutting. This is the funfetti cheese cake.

If they knew this was going on a blog they probably would’ve cut me a better looking slice.

I got another fun ship from this wandering fun ship salesman. I knew he wouldn’t find out it I haven’t been to my muster station until it was too late.

I’m heading down to the main lounge which is where my muster station will be.

My muster station is A4 which is deck 4 and all the way forward.

Who is ready for mustard?

They have one person on stage doing the training for all A stations.

It’s still the quick and painless one where they just show you how to put on a life jacket.

That’s an explosive muster station!

I’m back at The Tides Bar for another Fun Ship.

We’re in port with what I believe is the Disney Fantasy and Norwegian Escape.

I’m taking a seat up here on deck 11 for a bit.

There’s a bride and groom on the other side of the deck. This is also a Valentine’s Day cruise.

I’ve been getting an aerial view here and it doesn’t appear that the servers are still waking around with copious amounts or fun ship. That Rum Bar line is something I don’t want to deal with so I’m going back to The Tides Bar.

A guy walks up and says “I need two ship mates.”

bartender looks at him funny as do I.

He says “you know ship mates…ship mates…ship whatever.”

Fun ship? The bartender asks.

“That’s it.”

That’s another bride and groom situation over there. That’s two in two hours.

This is definitely the biggest room I’ve been in. The TV feels small for being this far away.

I stopped by the room now because my steward said he was going to be here at 3pm today to introduce himself. He’s pretty straight up. He said he cleans rooms 8:30-1 and 5:30-9. I told him anytime 5:30-9 would be fabulous.

I asked about THE Steward, Rafael from my New York Magic cruise. He said Rafael signed off today.

We are sailing away.

I stepped out on the “secret deck” as we passed Mardi Gras.

After sail away I went to check out the alchemy bar team. It looks like three ladies. Annamaria may be the most popular alchemist.

Monica is new to me. She’s making my first drink.

This is the first Alchemy drink from Monica.

Next I had a good strawberry drink from Monica.

This is the bar waiter, Aleksandra in action.

I asked Monica for something with coconut or pineapple. This is a coconut drink.

Maria made this. It’s really good. A lot of people ordered it after seeing it. I think it would be a really good Christmas drink.

I met several good couples during my alchemy time. All people I expect to drink with this week. At this point it’s a couple from Texas currently in Arizona who like spicy. So we’re all doing spicy drinks. This is a good habanero vodka drink from Maria.

Deal closer from Jango.

This is what they have on the buffet tonight.

This is what they’re having in the Main Dining Room tonight.

I have a steakhouse reservation.

On my way to dinner Jurassic World: Dominion is on.

We dine!

Courtesy of the chef. It was funny to see how excited the table of four next to me was about this. I assume they are new cruisers.

Watermelon martini.

I asked for two appetizers instead of dessert. I got shrimp cocktail and risotto.

They made me cut into the filet to verify the temp. I tried to put it back together so you can’t tell.

I’ve been doubling up on sides as well because I like mushrooms with the steak.

I sent my free bottle of wine to this couple at the end because they were drinking wine.

They insisted I still order a dessert. I got cheese cake to go and put it in the fridge.

I picked up my platinum water on my way back to the room.

Wakanda is on the big screen.

I see a crew member putting these on select doors. It looks like a printed version of the muster drill. I wonder if they let people slide on muster and dropped these off at their rooms.