The ship’s name is Magic and the main attraction in its 1,350-seat Showtime Theatre is Las Vegas illusionist Jason Byrne. Fitting, then, that there was plenty of magic around for the naming ceremony of Carnival’s newest cruise ship yesterday in Venice.
Borrowing an illusion from the “Destination: Unknown” show, Carnival president Gerry Cahill arrived on stage in a red helicopter, and Byrne produced a rose for godmother Lindsey Wilkerson before conjuring up the bottle of Champagne which would be smashed to name the vessel.
Wilkerson is a young cancer survivor who was treated at the pioneering St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, which will benefit from Carnival Cruise Lines’ charity fund-raising. Senior cruise director and brand ambassador John Heald handed over a $50,000 cheque yesterday as part of the company’s $3 million pledge over the next three years.
Carnival Magic is the second of three planned Dream-class ships, at 130,000-tons and carrying up to 4,724 passengers the biggest in the company’s fleet. Sister ship Carnival Breeze is under construction and will be launched next year.
New on board Magic are the RedFrog pub – a Cahill brainchild – an outdoor fitness area, and Cherry on the Top, a shop offering everything from birthday cakes to formal night suit hire.
The ship will spend this summer in the Mediterranean before relocating to its home port in Galveston, Texas. Today is a leisurely day at sea en route to Dubrovnik, first port of call on a nine-night inaugural voyage to Barcelona.
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