Super Bowl Sunday on Carnival Magic was just like any other sea day in the morning. They did have a few activities in the afternoon. Normally tonight would be elegant night. They moved that to tomorrow which is also a sea day.

They had Super Bowl Trivia and Super Bowl Bingo. Then they had what they called a tailgate party in the theater. That consisted of about 8 people on stage for set of competitions that included touchdown celebration, play-by-play announcer, and cornhole. 

At the end they crowned two winners who received Super Bowl T-shirts, NFL hats, and NFL koozies. One got reserved seats for the game in the theater. The other got a ship on a stick and a bottle of champagne.

This is a look at their drink specials for tonight.

Here is the first major difference where you can tell today is not a normal day. This is the lido deck at 5pm. It would normally be dead at this time.

All of those seats were open a half hour ago. They’re all taken right now. 

No normal Super Bowl commercials on the ship.

Lido is filling up. I’m going down to check on the theater crowd.

The best seats in the theater are starting to fill up.

Another thing that is different is everyone tried to eat in the dining room when it opened at 5:30. It took 35 minutes for me to get a table assigned. I knew there was no way I would be able to eat and make it to the game. I canceled my table request and opted for Guy’s Burgers. 

I couldn’t get a spot at the bar that wasn’t taken or saved. It’s still pregame so I found a spot where you couldn’t see the screen.

This would actually be a usable seat if the cheap bamboo wasn’t there.

Here is a look at the pregame crowd.

At halftime I said goodbye to my waterworks friends. I’m going for food and a theater seat in the 3rd quarter. I want to be able to cover this from all venues. 

Usually halftime is when everyone goes to the concessions. The Super Bowl halftime show has opened that up a bit.

I also grabbed a Caribbean Wheat beer from the Rum Bar. They were out of Amber.

It looks like a towel animal takeover of the Super Bowl halftime show.

I went to the top of the theater and it is packed!

I decided to take a seat in the atrium to eat since it’s still halftime. 

I’m not a “just leave my stuff everywhere and someone will get it” type of guy so I took my plate back up to lido.

I have only missed one minute of the 3rd quarter at this point.

I’m going to try for a lower level theater seat on deck 3.

There is a lot of available seating on the sides. I found a spot there where I can see most of the screen. I’m on the second row. Once you get past that first row on the side your view starts to get obstructed.

You want to know when the best time to get an elevator on a cruise ship is? During the Super Bowl. At halftime I hit the down button. Three empty elevators opened. 

Then my second time going down two opened.

My thoughts on the Carnival Super Bowl:

The pregame activities are nothing special. They moved elegant night so it wouldn’t be up against the Super Bowl. Getting into the dining room and seeing the game is nearly impossible unless you are able to get a table right when the dining room opens. They have Guy’s Burgers and Blue Iguana Cantina open until 10pm to accommodate the Super Bowl.

I would say the most comfortable place to watch the game would be in the theater if you can get a good seat there. The most unique place to watch the game is the lido deck. And the most fun place is the Red Frog Pub. That may depend on the bartenders. These bartenders had a lot of fun with it even though they didn’t quite understand American football.

 

 

• Carnival Magic
• Magic
• Super Bowl