Day 4: Our first Fun Day at Sea on the Carnival Magic

Two ports down and we now have our first "fun day at sea." I find it interesting just how polarizing sea days are. People either love them or hate them, with very little in between. Personally, I love sea days! I don't have to get up early to catch a dive boat (not that that is a bad thing), and the day is completely open to doing as much or as little as I desire. 

Today I desire.......

Sleeping in! 

With CUtL finishing up so early this morning (or late at night, depending on your view), I was in no hurry to get up. The plan was for us Big Sexy cruisers to attend the morning show and then do brunch, as a group, in the MDR. 

We still had coffee and pastries delivered, as neither Cindy nor I function well in the morning without that blessed brew. My appreciation for coffee is well known, as demonstrated here. Once room service delivered our tray, I opened the curtains to our balcony and was greeted with a marvelous view.

The view from our balcony

A cool breeze, the sound of rushing water and this view made our coffee and danish "first breakfast" perfect. It would be soooo easy to just sit out here most of the day, watching the waves go by, but there's fun to be had.

Do you recall from my previous blog how we told Simon the CD to "be very afraid?" We had a large turnout of Big Sexy cruisers at his live morning show and before he got started, he came down into the showroom to visit with us. He asked Josh if is still wanted to come up on stage and say a few words.

Hhhmmm.....asking Josh if he wanted to be on stage is like asking me if I want more bacon. 

Ummm, yeahhhh!

During this "pre-show" moment, Josh of course did a Facebook live event and panned his phone around to get all of us on the feed as well. Once Simon actually started his show, we were polite and listened when we should and reacted enthusiastically when it was appropriate...for the most part.

When Josh was finally called up on stage, it was almost like flipping a switch. He transformed immediately from audience member to this onstage presence that spoke of his years as a CD.

Josh joins the Morning Show

photo courtesy of Debbie Girouard

To his credit, Simon kept Josh on stage for much longer than any of thought he would. He and Josh discussed what it was like being a CD, some of their favorite CD moments and that type of stuff. Simon then asked Josh about all of us Big Sexy Cruisers, and Josh was all too happy to brag about all of us.

"Take a look at all my friends here, Simon!"

photo courtesy of Debbie Girouard

The way that Josh and Simon interacted, without any pauses or breaks, you'd think they had rehearsed this whole show. Nope, that was just two talented CDs having fun. Yeah, I know Josh isn't a CD anymore, but it's obvious that he still loves being on stage. This was so much fun that time just flew by and all too soon the show was over and our group started making our way to the other end of the ship, to the MDR (Main Dining Room) on deck 3 aft. 

Time for brunch! There were so many of us that we all couldn't fit at one table, even the largest one. It took a little extra time, but the MDR staff arranged for us to sit a two large tables side by side. Excellent!

While we were waiting for our tables, I happened to look up and watched people leaving the MDR from deck 4. It was an interesting view, to say the least. It kinda, sorta gave off that whole "Walking Dead" vibe for some reason. I don't know...don't ask me why....it just did.

The Walking Fed?

Sea day brunches have gotten more popular with cruisers, as you can tell by the long lines waiting to get in. I have my favorite that I order at least once per cruise, if not more. For being produced on a large scale, I have to give kudos to Carnival for doing such a great job with their eggs Benedict. They are fantastic! Not your thing? No worries. I'm sure you'll find something on the menu that catches your eye.

What'll you have?

Friendly reminder here. Don't forget to pace yourself when ordering your brunch. Dinner really isn't that far away. (Especially if you're thinking about a Guy's burger on Lido after a dip in the pool. Don't think I didn't see you looking that way!)

Eggs Benedict with crispy bacon

Aaahhhh....satisfying as always. Perfect for "second breakfast." don't you think? Even though we only met some of the Big Sexy Cruisers when we boarded the ship, it still felt like a family holiday gathering, sitting around the table, laughing at stories and enjoying each other's company. As much as we'd like to just stay there, hanging out, we knew we couldn't monopolize the table. There were still people waiting in line for their brunch. 

Cindy wanted to donate some more money to Carnival (she called it "playing bingo"), so after briefly dropping by our cabin, we went forward to the main showroom and got settled. We had plenty of time before the next activity, so I decided to hang out with my bride and see how she did.

Ready to win some bucks!

photo by Cindy Newman

I always think about the joke that goes:

What's the easiest way to make a bunch of old ladies curse?

Yell "bingo!"

Based on some of the reactions I noted around the room, this wasn't confined to just "old ladies." No, we didn't win any money, but Cindy had fun, and that's the most important thing. At least that's what I keep telling her as she wads up her useless bingo card.

So, from the very front of the ship we made our way to the very back of the ship, to the comedy lounge, for the Military Appreciation Gathering. Carnival does this on every ship (I think) on every cruise to honor veterans and their families. The CD will make a brief speech and honor each branch of the service with that branch's song. And the first song played? Well naturally it had to be the branch that leads the way. Go Army! While I admit that I like the original version a bit better, this new version is good, too.

After each branch's song is played, the CD will then open up the floor for anyone who wishes to speak about their experiences, or for family members who wish to share their thoughts. Some of the stories told are emotionally taxing, but it's a good benefit for those telling their tale. Of all the things Carnival does, this is one of the top activities I really appreciate them doing!

From this gathering, Cindy and I next found our way to the casino, where the Big Sexy Cruisers had an organized slot pull event. I found a great description of a slot pull here. While Cindy joined with the rest of the group, I dropped by the Red Frog Pub to grab us a couple of "Painkillers." The bartender made a full pitcher of them for us, and charged us for two drinks. Yes, a pitcher! For some reason, I was pretty popular that afternoon as I shared our drinks. #imaginethat

Wow! By the time the slot pull was done, we had to get back to our cabin to get ready for dinner. This day just flew by, which tends to happen when we are having fun. After changing into my dining clothes, I stepped onto the balcony to admire the full moon. Without having a dedicated camera, especially with a telephoto lens, I had to rely on my phone to capture this beauty as best as I could. As is usual, the photos do absolutely no justice to just how pretty it was.

Moon, pretty moon

As a reminder, you can click on any photo in my blog and a larger format will open in a new window. You won't lose your place here. Did you notice the caption above? Some of y'all might recognize it as a song title. And you'd be right! It's one of my favorite Statler Brothers songs, and you can see a music video of it here.

I zoomed in on the moon and took a few more shots. For such a tiny lens, the smartphones these days take amazingly good photos. In fact, pretty much all of the photos in my blogs are taken from my phone.

Nice detail

It's time to head down to dinner, so let's get going. Besides, brunch was several hours ago, and we didn't have a single snack. Quit laughing out there! It's true, we didn't even get a single ice cream cone or plate of cookies from Lido.

Appetizer: Romaine Caesar Salad

House made dressing, shaved parmesan

There's just something pleasing about a Caesar salad. The rich dressing balanced against the bite of parmesan and the crunchy croutons made this a satisfying appetizer.

Main: Rosemary Lamb Shank

Roasted cauliflower, root vegetables

My other choice was veal parmesan, and I almost went with that, except Kumara, the headwaiter, recommended the lamb shank. Done! I'm glad he did, too, as my lamb was cooked to perfection. A rich brown sauce added another layer of flavor that made the whole dish memorable.

Dessert: Apple Pie

Vanilla ice cream, cinnamon

This was a no-brainer for me. I love apple pie, and always choose this when I see it on the menu. Notice how cinnamon is part of the description? There's a reason for that. This pie was loaded with cinnamon flavor! I'm happy to see that Carnival isn't afraid to add that extra bit of cinnamon that greatly enhances the pie. I wish more places would put a lot of cinnamon in their apple pie like Carnival does. Our tablemates and I were talking about how good this pie was, and Kumara insisted that his team bring all of us a second helping of pie. How could we refuse?

Now that we finally finished dinner, we dropped by the shore excursions desk to see if we could find any interesting excursions for Aruba the next day. Since we had snorkeling gear with us, we focused on that. Several of the best excursions were already sold out, no surprise there, but we managed to find one that looked good and wasn't overly expensive. Booked! 

With that bit of business completed, we dropped by the Alchemy Bar on the way to the piano bar. This has been a favored location for us, depending on the piano bar entertainer ("PBE") happens to be. Most of the PBEs are good, while others need a little work. By far, our favorite PBE is Ben Gentry. We've had the good fortune to have him as our PBE on a few cruises and when he's onboard, most of our time is spent in the piano bar. Click here to read a previous blog I wrote about how much fun we have with Ben.

We found good seats and enjoyed listening to Scotty (the PBE) belt out the tunes. Someone must have hit "fast forward" on the time because it was almost time to head to Cigars Under the Stars. It will be hard on future cruises not to have this nightly fun. I guess we'll just need to book as many Big Sexy Flashback cruises as we can. 

Warning, nerd alert! You are about to be exposed to some extreme nerdiness, but my fellow Big Sexy cruisers, especially Josh, seemed quite amused by it, so I thought I'd share it with y'all. I noticed a unique tile pattern on the walls of the public restrooms. The first time I saw it, I immediately thought of how it looked like a DNA sequence image. I waited until I was the only one in the restroom and quickly took a photo of the tile. As I relayed this to the rest of the gang, I got a lot of "Only you would think of that" kind of thing. 

Interesting wall tile

Since we don't buy an internet package while cruising, I couldn't produce an image of a DNA sequence for them to look at. I did tell everyone that I'd include it in my blog series, so here it is. This is the best photo I could find that would work for what I needed. Can you see the similarity?

DNA sequence

image from Google search

Josh and his team had previously arranged private excursions for Aruba and Curacao, but at the time Cindy and I were still planning on diving, so we didn't sign up for either of these. Both of these would be full days so we kept the Cigars Under the Stars somewhat short. We did go to Lido for our late night snack, though, and ended up hanging out with several of the Big Sexy cruisers for another hour or so. 

Unlike diving, it took just a few minutes to get our snorkeling gear ready for Aruba the next day. We made quick work of that and called it a day.

For your convenience, here are the links to the previous blogs on this cruise:


Big Sexy Returns to the Carnival Magic

Day 1: Embarkation

Day 2: Half Moon Cay

Day 3: Grand Turk


Have you been to Aruba? What did you do there? Please tell us all about it in the comments section below.

Coming up next, our day in Aruba. You can jump directly to it by clicking here.



Until next time...



carpe cerevisi