Dinner, drinks & MAGIC
New cruise ship features a club aiming to leave you Spellbound
Nathan Diller USA TODAY The pianist at a lounge on Princess Cruises’ new ship played the theme song from “Titanic” while guests sipped their cocktails. It may seem like dark humor, but the musician is a ghost, after all. As the fantasy story goes, Isabella lives inside the space entertaining guests (she even takes requests).
In actuality, the instrument – which appeared to play itself – is part of Spellbound by Magic Castle, a new venue onboard Sun Princess that combines dinner, drinks and magic. The speakeasy-like space was created in partnership with the Magic Castle, a legendary private club in Los Angeles. Denise Saviss, the cruise line’s vice president of entertainment experience, said during a recent sailing the Castle has been a “well-protected secret.”
“As a members-only club, you can only attend by invitation, but they are keen to expand and a partnership with us was a really great way to do that where we have a ton of international guests who may not ever get over to Hollywood,” Saviss said.
USA Today got a preview of Spellbound during a recent cruise ahead of its opening. Spellbound hosts magic in the bar, as well as its 30-seat theater.
Even the drinks appear enchanted. One cocktail I ordered, The Magician, featured butterfly pea tequila that turned from blue to purple as the server poured it into the glass (also containing mezcal, lime, grapefruit, serrano peppers and agave).
Before theater seating opened, magician Mark Gibson kept us glued to his card deck, at one point finding the card a fellow guest chose by cutting the deck with the assistance of a tiny plunger.
The Parlor Bar magician will stay on the ship for a couple months at a time, while the magician performing in the theater will change every cruise or two, but all are vetted by the Magic Castle team.
Guests will start the evening with dinner in the Horizons Dining Room, choosing from a menu not found elsewhere on board (our preview did not include the dinner portion). They will then be escorted through an inconspicuous black door off
the ship’s Piazza into Spellbound’s small foyer. There, a voice on a speaker tells the story of the Larsen family, who opened the Magic Castle in 1963, for a few minutes.
We were prompted to say the magic words (“open sesame”), and the fireplace in front of us moved aside to reveal a music room and the Parlor Bar, lined with art and artifacts, curated with help from the Magic Castle. A pair of handcuffs used by famed escape artist Harry Houdini even hung on one wall.
Isabella and her companion, a white bird named the Professor, can be seen in a portrait in the music room. She is the cousin of another ghost, Irma, who lives at the Magic Castle in California. Isabella disappears from view when she’s ready to play. The Professor, meanwhile, moves over to a nearby birdcage to enjoy the music.
“Irma never loved to travel, but Isabella did,” said Kerry Lovegrove, Princess’ director of entertainment experience. “She traveled probably one too many times across the Atlantic, and then all of a sudden, she was lost at sea. So, she suddenly found the Sun Princess being built in Monfalcone and thought she’d attach herself onto that ship.”
Behind the bar, a library holds its own not-so-hidden treasures. I picked up a gold rotary phone and heard someone ask, “How can I help?” before changing their mind and hanging up. Guests might also see books float and fall, according to Lovegrove.
Spellbound opened on April 8 and is now available to book. Guests must be at least 13 to enter and just like at the venue’s Hollywood namesake, there is a mandatory dress code (my invitation called for cocktail attire). The experience costs $149 per person, including dinner, entertainment and unlimited drinks.