Day Two on Carnival Magic – Sea Day

I decided to make our first full day on the Magic a relaxation day. I really needed it after this past year and a half.

Sea Day Brunch

We woke up fairly early, got dressed, and went to the Sea Day brunch for breakfast. We’ve always loved the brunch. On the Magic they serve the brunch in the Southern Lights dining room. That’s on deck 3, but you have to go up to deck 4 and then down again to deck 3 to get to it. You have to reserve a table in the Hub app before you go. You can specify whether or not you want to share a table. We normally like to share, so we chose that option.

By the time we got to the dining room our table was ready. We were seated at a large table with one other couple. I could not find the menu on the Hub app so we were given paper menus. I always choose Huevos Rancheros. I was a bit disappointed because it no longer comes with the salsa sauces that used to come with it. I think that the sauces really added to the taste. It was still good, just not as good. He got the steak and eggs that he normally gets. We had a nice time chatting with the other couple, and a nice breakfast.

HUB app

Before you even start your cruise you’re going to want to install the HUB app onto your phone. Right now they are not automatically giving out paper copies of the Fun Times or menus. What you’ll find on the app is your countdown, what you need to do for your cruise, and excursions, etc. But after you get on the ship is when it’s most helpful. You can download enough wifi for free to use the app. On it you’ll find the activities for the day, the open restaurants, the menus for the dining rooms, a place where you can reserve certain restaurants, among other things.

Shore Excursions show and Cruise Director

After that we went to the shore excursions show in the Theater. I’ve actually won prizes at these shows before. They give out tickets before it starts and and raffle out prizes during the show. They actually had good prizes like free internet, free excursions, snorkle equipment and free drinks packages. I didn’t win anything this time, but that’s fine. You also learn about the ports that you’re going to. Our Cruise Director, Gary, who is originally from Scotland, is great. I’m really enjoying him.

Time to relax!

I walked around a bit then decided that I’d take some time to relax and write my blog for day one. I’d heard some bad things about the wifi on the Magic but so far I’ve found it pretty good. I didn’t have any problems yesterday, at least, and I downloaded some videos to YouTube. A bit slow maybe, but that’s to be expected. You can use it on different devices, but only one at a time. There are computer kiosks around the ship so that you can use their internet on them. I brought my own laptop.

Elegant Night

This first sea night was Elegant Night. That means that if you plan on dining in one of the dining rooms, you should dress up. You don’t have to be fancy, just what you’d wear to a nice restaurant. I have to say something about the waiters, they are top notch. Our waiters are Johanna and Camille, and they are probably the fastest wait staff we’ve had. We always get to our table on time, and they’re always waiting for us. Johanna gets us our drinks and takes our order right away. We’ve never had to wait. And they’re friendly too. And they’ve always had sugar free desserts! If you have special dietary needs just let them know.

Since it was Elegant Night they had Lobster Tail and Prime Rib, along with assorted other entrees. I had the fried oysters for an appetizer, then the Prime Rib au jus with baked potato and vegetables for an entree. Very good. He had the Prime Rib and the Lobster tail. You can do that on a ship. If you want two entrees, feel free to order it. Or two desserts. Doesn’t matter.

We did get a nice surprise towards the end of our meal. The Head Chef, Santana, came over to chat with us. He’s a really nice man from Goa, India. Hope we get to chat with him some more. He said he was sending me a surprise. I love surprises!

After that the waiters did their evening show. I wish I had half the energy of these waiters. They really seem to be enjoying the dance. The Maitre d’ is dancing in the background.

Evening Shows

After dinner we went to the evening show in the Theater. This night’s show was called Flick. The dancers and singers on the Magic are extremely talented and we really enjoyed the show. It consisted of songs and dances from a lot of movies. The only thing that I do not like is that they like to flash blinding white lights out into the audience. I have sensitive eyes and had to close my eyes for part of the show and missed things. Seems like they could do the show without the bright white blinding lights.

And then we went to the PG Comedy show. I’m better off with a PG show, and this one was good. There were children there, and he even involved them in the show. Much better!

Coffee, back to the room, and surprises!

We decided to go to the Lido buffet for some decaf and head back to our balcony and wind down a bit before bed. We walked into the cabin and what did we see? Not one, but five towel animals, and two….yes two….gifts of chocolate covered strawberries and treats. One from the Hotel Director, and one from the pastry chef (I suspect Chef Santana of that one). What a nice surprise, and they went wonderfully with the coffee on the balcony.