Day 1: Embarkation on the Carnival Magic

With a good night's sleep, Cindy and I awoke with minimal difficulty to start what would probably be a long day. By the time we got downstairs to the breakfast area, it was already hopping. Thankfully we were able to get us a big cup of coffee without delay and start waking up properly. We opted not to eat any breakfast, as we'd soon be on an 8-day feeding frenzy. Guy's Burgers, Blue Iguana tacos, chocolate melting cake, ice cream on Lido....well, I'm sure you get the point.

Magic in the Morning

photo by Stephanie Schneider

Right at 10 am, our shuttle, or bus actually, pulled up and we climbed aboard for the short drive to the cruise terminal. Having never cruised out of Port Everglades before, I was curious about what to expect. We drove through an industrial area which reminded me a little of the old Port of Houston terminal. Apparently, there's a lot of expansion and renovation going on. I couldn't immediately discern exactly where to go after we dropped our bags off, but a helpful employee pointed us in the right direction. Whoaaa! Look at that long line! I'm glad we are at that stage where we could bypass the general boarding and go straight to priority boarding. Once through security, we were escorted to the "Priority Lounge" to await actually boarding the ship.

Obligatory pre-boarding selfie

Time for a little Facebooking, ummm, "social media,"  before we board the ship, right? No college games have started yet, so I didn't need to open my ESPN app for any scores. Meh,  no worries. Just about 20 minutes or so of waiting and we were moving towards the gangway. Let the good times roll!

What's special about our cabin number?

I wrote about this very thing in a previous cruise blog, so for those that read it (thank you, by the way), please let some new readers take a guess first. Yes, the color is red, which means we are on the port side of the ship. That's not what I'm referring to, though. What is special about our cabin number? There were some pretty good, albeit wrong guesses the last time. Do you think you know? Please write your guess in the comments section below. 

Since we had immediate access to our cabin, we dropped off our carryon bags and headed up to Lido for some lunch. One of the best advantages of boarding early is there are no lines in the most popular dining venues. Our choices were wide open so where did we go? We followed our noses to the Mongolian Wok. 

Embarkation lunch

If only these photos could convey just how wonderful our lunch smelled! I made mine much spicier than Cindy's and enjoyed every last bite. Did I want a second bowl? Of course! Did I get a second bowl? No way! Remember, my faithful readers, pacing is everything on a cruise. Even though dinner was still a good six hours away, we wanted to be hungry so we could enjoy it. 

With lunch now complete, we decided to enjoy a cold beverage on aft Lido, and enjoy the scenery. The weather was almost perfect, with blue skies, and a mild breeze. It was...magical. See what I did there? Maybe it was just the Funship Specials we were drinking. 

Post-lunch libations

This trip would make cruise #5 for us on the Magic, so we didn't need to do much exploring. By this time, several of the college games had started, so I was happy looking up scores from some of the games and sending out a few "see y'all later" messages on social media. And taking a few photos of the Port Everglades terminal, since we haven't cruised out of here before. 

Three other cruise lines

You'll have to click on the photo above to see all three ships.  Go ahead and try it. I'll wait. See? You didn't lose your place here, did you? Can you identify all three cruise lines? Two should be easy, but the ship on the right is mostly hidden by the crane. The answer will be in the next blog.

Why is it that time flies by sooooo quickly when we are cruising? In what seemed like just a few minutes, we had to start heading down to deck 4, where our muster station is, for the mandatory safety briefing. During the safety briefing, all bar and food service is closed. Fair enough. We seasoned cruisers, at least some of us, know that timing is everything. We'll drop by the Red Frog Pub to refresh our drinks before they close. Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I'm not advocating going into the safety briefing drunk, blitzed, buzzed, schnockered or whatever term you wish to call it. This briefing is important, especially for new cruisers. I am simply pointing out a way to make it a little more enjoyable. 

Thankfully everyone showed up to their assigned muster stations on time and the briefing went smoothly and quickly. We were released in relatively short order and it was off to Lido for the sailaway activities. Ahh, sailaway....perhaps one of my most favorite cruise activities. The embarkation sailaway is generally a big party on deck, with the CD and entertainment staff putting on dance moves with the crowd. Sailaway from the ports of call aren't big events, but I still enjoy standing at the rail as we get underway.

All of us "Big Sexy Flashers" (my term, by the way) had our custom shirts on and what a large contingent we made on Lido. The more, the merrier as the saying goes, and merry we were. I can tell already that there will be no shortage of fun on this cruise. Like there was ever any doubt to begin with...

Todd getting his groove on

We hung out on Lido for most all of the activities, then headed down to the cabin to freshen up for dinner. Our muster station just happens to be in the upper main dining room (MDR) where our table is. Cindy and I hoped we'd be seated at a large table with fun tablemates. We've never really had bad tablemates, and fortunately, we've usually had really fun people to dine with. Oh, wait, before heading to our cabin, I need to get a sunset photo. 

See ya next week, Ft. Lauderdale!

Not only had our bags already been delivered, but Rowena, our cabin steward, placed them inside the cabin for us. Wow, thanks, Rowena! That was really cool of you. Some people live out of their suitcase on a cruise, and others, like me, unpack everything and put it away. Personally, I'd rather unpack everything, but for those that live out of the suitcase, well, fine by me. It's your cruise, and you should do what works best for you.

D'oh! We were so busy unpacking that we let the time get away from us. We hurriedly changed into our dinner clothes and hustled down to deck 4 aft, to our dining room. For this cruise, we were assigned to table 769, which is all the way aft. Had it not already been dark, I'm sure the view would've been fantastic. We found our table, a rectangular 8-top, already occupied by two couples. All of us were Big Sexy Flashers, so I knew we'd have a blast. Our tablemates were Jeff Denise from Ohio and Randy and Diane from Pennsylvania. 

I'm always hesitant to heap praise on specific Carnival employees because I don't want to imply that others I didn't name aren't deserving of the same praise. That being said, I would like to say that our waitstaff on this cruise was the best we've had in the past several cruises, bar none. We were fortunate to have Kumara as our Headwaiter and Setiawan and Jose rounding out the team. These three rockstars were attentive to every detail and we never had to wait for any courses or anything special we asked for. 

Setiawan, Kumara, and Jose

As is our custom, we asked for a cheese plate from the dessert menu as a "standing appetizer" each night. This is in addition to whatever appetizer is also on the menu, as the cheese wedges add a nice little touch. We enjoy sharing this with the rest of the table for those who want to partake.

Cheese plate appetizer

Those who have read my other cruise blog series, this will be familiar to you. For my new readers, I'll include the exact menu name and description of each dish I had during the cruise. I'm sure some of y'all will even notice familiar dishes. Yes, once I find a dish I particularly like, I'll order it again....and again.

Appetizer: Smoked Poblano and Corn Soup

Charred roma, crema fresca, cumin, lime

I don't recall ever having this appetizer before, and I'm glad I tried it out. The soup had a rich, smoky flavor with a nice mouthfeel. This is a keeper!

One of the few things I wish Carnival would change is their menu. Several dishes have gotten to be a bit, well, boring for me and a change would be nice. Other dishes, though, are really enjoyable and I'm happy to order them each time. Overall, I guess these balance each other out. 

Main: Pork Chop

Caramelized onions, stewed apple, mash

Nothing on the regular menu caught my eye, so I ordered off the "From the Grill" menu, which is available every night. The combination of apple and pork chop worked well and adding some of the caramelized onion to the mashed potato finished it to my satisfaction.

Dessert: Caramelized Phyllo with Caramel Cream

Caramel sponge, almond crumble

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure I've had this dessert before, either. As light as it was, this dessert packed a good punch of flavor. Both Cindy and I learned long ago to pace ourselves (sound familiar?) when it comes to dinner, so I was pleasantly full without being miserable. Good thing, too, as we still had plenty to do tonight. One thing was abundantly clear after our first dinner with our tablemates. We were going to get along fabulously! Even after this limited time, I could tell that all of us thought along the same lines on pretty much everything.

The timing worked out perfectly for us to attend the first "Clue: The Murder Mystery" show. This is a cruise-long event that plays out much like the classic board game Clue. This first show would introduce all of the suspects and their potential motives for the murder. While all of the names and weapons were identical to the original board game, the locations were adapted to the ship. Clues would be given throughout the week, and on the final sea day, the case would be revealed. Each participant would have until then to find all the clues and make their guess. One lucky person who had all the correct answers would be drawn from those who took part. Our first experience with this was on the Liberty, back in 2013. Josh definitely had fun with this. I know.......I know!

Once we finished with Clue, we headed all the way aft to the comedy club to catch comedian Graig Murphy's show. Cindy and I have never attended one of his shows, and I'm glad we were able to see him perform. He does a great show, and both of us had lots of laughs. I guess that's the whole point, right? If you ever get a chance to check out one of his shows, I encourage you to do so. I'm sure you'll have as good a time as we did.

By now it was close to 11 pm and our first "Cigars Under the Stars" (I'm lazy, so I'll just refer to this in the future as "CUtS") on the Lanai, deck 5 port.  With the exception of only a couple of nights, this would become a nightly event for us Big Sexy Flashers. What? You don't smoke? No worries, I don't, either. All were welcome to just hang out and enjoy the fellowship of the rest of the group. And enjoy an adult beverage or two (or more) should that strike your fancy. Many of the Big Sexy Flashers were longtime friends, or at least have sailed together on the previous two Big Sexy Flashback Voyages. Cindy and I were relative strangers to this august group, but we definitely departed as family at the end of the cruise. We were warmly welcomed (try saying that phrase three times really fast) that first night and made to feel part of the family right then and right there.

Cigars Under the Stars

Time definitely flew by and before we knew it, it was late! We broke up the fun and as we were heading back to our cabin, I made a detour to Lido. Some of y'all know what's coming, right? Yes, in true form, I decided to grab either a slice of pizza or a grilled ham and cheese sandwich? Why? Because I could! We started this "tradition," if you will, back in 2015 when our scuba club took a group cruise on the Magic. One late night, a few of us wanted a snack so we went up to Lido to grab something. I've done this off and on since then, and look forward to this nightly bite.

Snacks in hand, Cindy and I were walking to the drink dispenser when I heard "Hey Patrick, over here!" I looked around and had to laugh as I saw Josh and Frank sitting at a table, enjoying their own late-night snack. Well, I guess we just transitioned from "Cigars Under the Stars" to "Late Night Snacks on Lido." We enjoyed our food and called it a day. Our first port was tomorrow. We didn't have anything scheduled at Half Moon Cay, so we could sleep in before going ashore. It's been a long day, and our bed is definitely calling our name.

Do any of you have cruise "traditions" like late-night snacks or something unusual? I'd love to hear about it in the comments section below.

Coming up next, our day in Half Moon Cay.

The first blog in this series can be found here.

Until next time.....

carpe cerevisi

Advent Ghosts flash fiction 2019

If it's December, it must be time for another round of Advent ghosts flash fiction. Thanks to Loren for hosting this again on his website. I always look forward to the latter part of the year when Loren hosts this annual event much like our mutual friend Eric Douglas hosts a Halloween fiction event on his website. I will resume my blog series on our recent Carnival Magic cruise after posting this blog, so all you "Big Sexy Flashers" have no fear. 

image from Google search

For my new readers, any links you see in blue will open in a new window, so you won't have to leave this page. Also, clicking on any photo will open a larger format version of it without leaving this page.

What's this "flash fiction" thing, you may ask? In my very humble opinion,  think it's the most challenging type of fiction to write. Flash fiction, as it relates to this event, is a story of exactly 100 words, no more, no less (excluding title). Like last time, I prepared two short stories for your reading pleasure. So, stretch out on the couch in front of a roaring fireplace, grab your favorite holiday libation and enjoy my take on Advent Ghosts 2019.

Silver Belles

Pearl couldn’t wait for Christmas this year. She was finally eligible to join the Silver Belles, a bell choir she’d heard of from the other residents. Membership to this all-female group was very exclusive, and only a few were invited each year.

Pearl’s neighbors spoke of those who got to attend the Christmas concerts but finding those who actually went were hard to find. Why was that? “Be patient,” she chided herself, “you’ll find out soon enough.”

“Mommy, Gramma Pearl looks like she’s smiling. And do you hear the bells?”

Sara looked into the coffin. “Yes, I hear them, too.”

Silent Knight

“This is the best I can do. Take it or leave it.”

Caleb looked at the angel, and sighed. “I can see my kids during Christmas, right?”

“Yes, you can watch, but that’s all.”

“And after Christmas, can I still see them?”

“That depends on what they do. Who knows, you might get lucky.”

“OK, let’s do it, then.”

A flash of green light. Caleb found himself peering out of a helmet’s visor. He could see other gifts in his limited periphery.

“Oh, cool!” CJ exclaimed, “A Sir Galahad knight! I wish daddy was here. I miss him so much.”

What did you think? I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading them. As much of a challenge as it is to write these flash fiction stories, I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when I'm done. I'd love to know your thoughts. Please leave me a comment in the section below and tell me what your thoughts.

I made it extra tough on myself this year, for a specific reason. I came up with the titles first, and developed the story to fit the title. Loren, I'm sure you'll figure out why.

Please be sure to check out the rest of the entries on Loren's website at the link I made at the start of this blog.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

carpe cerevisi

"Big Sexy" Returns to the Carnival Magic

No, I'm not "Big Sexy," but I'll introduce you to him shortly. I'm hoping the title at least got you curious enough to look, though. Well, obviously if you're reading this, then you did decide to take a peek. Yay! I'm glad you are here. Sit back, relax and let me regale you with tales of high seas adventures and carousing that tend to happen when Cindy and I cruise. As I've done in the past, this is the first of a day-to-day series I'll write about our most recent cruise on the Carnival Magic. Each day will have its own blog, so you can pick and choose what you want to read about. I hope you'll want to read about everything so you can take a virtual cruise with me.

Carnival Magic

photo by Cindy Newman

Before I go any further, I'd like to remind my faithful readers, and inform my new readers that any links you click (these will be in blue) will open in a new window. You won't lose your place here. The same holds true with photos you'll see. If you'd like to see a larger version of the photo, just click on it. 

The last time Cindy and I cruised on the Magic, she was still homeported in Galveston. Our scuba club, Bay Area Divers, took a group cruise to celebrate the club's 40th anniversary. Seven days and three ports of diving made for a wonderful time. On this cruise, we would be part of a much larger group, like 151 members! We would be part of "Big Sexy Flashback Voyage III." Since we had already booked other cruises the past two years, we didn't take part in BSFV I or BSFV II. After hearing so much about these from Josh "Big Sexy" Waitzman, we decided to book BSFV III way back in February of this year to take advantage of Carnival's early saver rates. 

So who exactly is this "Big Sexy" person I've been referring to? It is none other than Josh Waitzman, a former cruise director (CD), and now PVP with Carnival. Cindy and I first met Josh when he was the CD on the Carnival Liberty in 2013. He was one of the very few CDs who was so approachable and gave off what I call a "college frat boy" vibe. And that's a good thing, at least in my book. After his daughter was born, he decided to take a shore position with Carnival as a PVP so he could be home with his family. Great idea, Josh! I'll let him, if he chooses, explain how he got the moniker "Big Sexy" in the comments section below. Whaddaya think, Josh, care to explain the origins of "Big Sexy?" I'm sure we'd all love to know that story.

CD Josh "Big Sexy" Waitzman

Once we made the decision to book, we contacted our Personal Vacation Planner, or PVP to set everything up for us. Our PVP is William Luke, and we've used him long before Josh joined the PVP ranks. For those that aren't familiar with a PVP, think of them as your Carnival cruise expert, who will find you the best deals on the best cruises. They do all the leg work, at no charge to you, and will set everything up for you. 

William Luke, PVP

photo courtesy of William Luke

Another benefit of having your own PVP is that they will look out for specific cruises to become available and will let you know when bookings are available for them. I'm amazed at the long hours both of these guys work, and they are easy to contact. How easy? I've got that covered, too. With their permission, I'm posting contact information for both of them below. The Facebook links are clickable, although they don't look like normal links. Both of these groups are closed, but once approved by their respective admin teams, you'll be able to access them.

William Luke

1-800-819-3902, ext. 85159

wluke@carnival.com

Facebook: Carnival Cruising with William

Josh Waitzman

1-800-819-3902, ext. 82990

jwaitzman@carnival.com

Facebook: Big Sexy's Funship Family

Notice that both of them have Facebook groups, and both are quite active on them as well. Make sure to greet Will with a hearty "Willy Willy!" if you contact him, and I know he'll appreciate it. (Ok, fine, click here for the reference if you must.) And Josh? Check his Facebook page and you might find him doing a live show once in a while. I guess you can take him out of the CD position, but you can't take the CD out of him. And that's a good thing. Hey Will, here's an idea: Find a good photo of Josh and do one of those "what is different" things you do. Brilliant!

This trip would mark our third cruise out of Florida, but this time from Port Everglades instead of Miami. Carnival called it an "Eight-Day Exotic Southern Caribbean" cruise. We just called it fun.

Saturday: Embarkation in Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale)

Sunday: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Monday: Grand Turk

Tuesday: Fun day at sea

Wednesday: Aruba

Thursday: Curacao

Friday: Fun day at sea

Saturday: Fun day at sea

Sunday: Disembarkation in Port Everglades

Those who have read my other blog series on our cruises will note that we always fly into a port at least one day prior to the cruise. We prefer not to fly into the port city on embarkation day due to too many things that could go wrong. As it worked out, we flew from Houston Hobby (HOU) into Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) on Thursday night so we would have time for a few extra activities on Friday.

Our ride Thursday night was on Southwest Airlines, flight 484. We boarded N8560Z, a 737-800. I definitely prefer the 800 series over the 700 series for the extra room (and the cool lighting). Even though we were wayyy down the B boarding group, we still got good seats. I was able to pick a good view of the wings for this leg of the trip. Aren't those scimitar winglets the coolest?

Boarded and ready to go

As is typical for most of the flights I've been on departing HOU, we used RWY 13R. Our departure was right on time, and soon we were climbing out of HOU bound for FLL.

Departing HOU

Once we were airborne, our flight crew informed us that due to favorable tailwinds, we'd arrive into FLL early. Excellent! It would be late enough by the time we got to the hotel that saving even a few minutes would be nice.

Nice tailwinds!

Wow, they weren't kidding on the flight deck. Check out our ground speed above.  Cindy and I had a light dinner in the terminal but I'm always up for a snack. Southwest was generous to both Cindy and me by sending each of us some drink coupons. Thank you, Southwest! We made great use of them.

Puttin' on the Ritz

My cocktail for the evening was a "Ruby Red and Cran Apple." Just one sip and I think I just found my new favorite drink on SWA. It was quite tasty and well balanced. Mix some cran apple juice with Deep Eddy Ruby Red Grapefruit vodka and you'll have a sweet, smooth drink to wash down those Ritz bits and pretzels. Neither of us is driving for the next 10 days so why not? Actually, I just had the pretzels and saved the Ritz bits for another time.

Our flight was nice and smooth, with just a few bumps here and there to remind us we were still in the air. We made a looping approach into FLL and landed on RWY 28L. Upon collecting our bags, we called the hotel for their shuttle to pick us up and waited. And waited. And waited some more. After a little more waiting, about 45 minutes total, the van finally appeared and we took the short ride to the hotel. Checkin was efficient, and soon we were in our room, ready to call it a long day. 


Friday, 12/6/19

We set the alarm to get us up in time for their complimentary breakfast. Well, at least the last half hour of it. Our top priority was coffee, and lots of it. We had a full day ahead of us, and a bit of breakfast and coffee would go a long way towards that end. While our official meet and greet wasn't until later that evening, we met several of the "Big Sexy cruisers" at breakfast. 

Big Sexy's Breakfast Club

photo courtesy of Josh Waitzman

I wonder how many can relate to this? For the most part, I've met pretty much everyone on my Facebook friends list in real life. Not all, mind you, but the vast majority. Today I'd get to add another name to a Facebook friend I've (finally) met in real life. Cindy and I set up a lunch meeting with Loren Eaton, who I met through another author, Eric Douglas. Ironically, I have yet to meet Eric in real life. Such is the way of social media. Both Eric and Loren host flash fiction events on their website, and for the past few years I've participated in both. In fact, either the next blog or the one after that will be this year's contribution to the Advent Ghosts flash fiction 2019 event. I'll post that link once it's active. If you are curious what to expect, you can find last year's submission here.

As soon we knew when we'd be in Ft. Lauderdale, I messaged Loren about meeting him for lunch and he enthusiastically agreed. We decided on The Royal Pig Pub & Kitchen as recommended by Loren. And what a great recommendation it was! The food was fantastic, and their beer selection was quite impressive. 

I'm truly glad to have finally met Loren, who was both gracious and entertaining. It's just a shame we live so far apart. Even in the relatively short time we had to visit, due to his job's time constraints, every minute of it was truly well spent. Thanks again for lunch, my friend. The next time it's on us.

Yours truly (L) and Loren (R)

photo by Cindy Newman

With lunch finished, we parted ways and Cindy and I knocked out a few more errands before returning to the hotel and the official Big Sexy Meet and Greet. As it turned out, Cindy and I had, maybe, twenty minutes at the most to freshen up in the room before heading downstairs to meet all the other Big Sexy Flashers. Wait, that's probably not the name I should be calling our group. Some people may get the wrong idea. Then again, maybe not.

Josh very generously brought in a bunch of pizzas and sodas for our meet and greet. If the amount of fun we had at that event, before even getting on the ship tomorrow is any indication of things to come, then watch out. It's gonna be a wild ride.

Our fun-loving group

photo courtesy of Josh Waitzman

By the time Cindy and I ate our fill (which didn't take much after our lunch), and made the rounds, we decided to call it a day. Both of us knew we probably wouldn't get a lot of sleep on the cruise and we wanted to be as fresh and recharged as possible the next morning. 

The next blog in this series will cover embarkation day. For my fellow cruisers, if I've miscredited a photo, please let me know so I can correct it. 

I'd love to see your opinion on what I've written thus far. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. 

Until next time.....

carpe cerevisi