"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