100 Selfies, Zero Sleep: A Day in the Life of Carnival’s Star Cruise Director

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Carnival Cruise Line fans rework their itineraries to ensure they’ll be on her ship. Onboard, she can hardly walk a few feet without getting stopped for a hug or selfie. Several hundred thousand social-media followers track her comings and goings.

You’ve probably never heard of Kyndall “Fire” Magyar. But for a certain segment of cruise enthusiasts, she’s about as big as it gets.

As cruise director of the Carnival Jubilee, Magyar is the social engine of one of the world’s largest cruise ships. She leads game shows and morning programs, kicks off deck parties and serves as the ship’s main public-address announcer. In short, it’s on her to make sure everyone on deck is always happy. Her days can start at dawn and end after midnight.

“Just make sure you like people and don’t like sleep,” Magyar advises aspiring directors.

Carnival employs 48 cruise directors, who typically work four- to six-month stints on ships, with two months of vacation in between. They are critical to cruise lines’ success, serving as ringmasters and chief problem solvers in an ever-changing environment.

Magyar, a 31-year-old Texan who grew up going on Carnival cruises, joined the company a decade ago as a member of the team that runs activities like bingo and karaoke. She now oversees the Jubilee’s 13-member Fun Squad, and let me tag along during a recent sailing.

To the uninitiated, passengers’ devotion to Magyar could be unsettling. When she walks through the Jubilee’s main entertainment hub, guests routinely shout “Fire,” a nickname given by a former boss who was impressed by how quickly she came up with alternative activities when bad weather hit. “It’s like my Sasha Fierce,” said Magyar, referring to the alter ego of music superstar Beyoncé.

She estimates she takes at least 70 to 100 photos a day with guests, calling herself “the only free photo booth on the ship.” She’s also a living guidebook, offering advice on everything from where specific slot machines are to best spots for family photos. Guests listen. When she announced a rainy-day sale on spa packages, dozens of passengers booked treatments.

Kayshaun Harris, 43, chose to sail on the Jubilee last month because of Magyar alone, even though it meant flying her family to Texas from Jacksonville, Fla.

“She had the boat rocking,” says Harris, who had sailed with Magyar on a different cruise.

Magyar has nearly 300,000 followers on social media, making her one of the most popular cruise directors online. She uses her digital megaphone to chronicle her life onboard and update passengers about schedule changes.

Disruption is part of the job. Deck activities are canceled if it rains, forcing Magyar to add indoor events like karaoke or trivia if she can.

Bad weather isn’t the only disrupter. Normally, she hosts a massive sail-away party on the main deck the day the ship departs, with line dances and games. But Magyar knew a majority of passengers on a recent sailing were from Texas and wouldn’t welcome a party that coincided with football games featuring the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans.

“Football season really does control the operations on board,” said Magyar, who postponed the party to clear more space for fans to watch. “You’ve got to try and find a way that you can appease everyone.”

When she’s not with guests, Magyar works out of a small office she shares with the entertainment director handling more mundane tasks: planning crew schedules and safety drills, ordering supplies and relaying status reports to the shoreside offices. Shipwide announcements often can be made from her cabin, which has its own P.A. system.

Much of Magyar’s face time with guests happens in the evenings, when she “swans” around guest spaces or hosts dance parties and licensed versions of game shows like “Deal or No Deal” and “Family Feud.”

Magyar seamlessly switches from channeling her inner Paula Abdul while leading line dances, to embodying Howie Mandel or Steve Harvey.

“Remember, this is real money you can spend on this cruise, but are you going to let the greed get you?” Magyar asks a contestant competing in “Deal or No Deal” after receiving the banker’s offer.

Between evening events, she races down multiple decks for outfit changes, going from floor-length gowns and sparkly suits for hosting gigs to custom-made jerseys for dancing.

Shows, like her safety briefings, are done within specific guidelines. “How you choose to color within the lines is almost like artistry,” says Lee Mason, who helps oversee Carnival’s cruise directors.

During the Halloween version of the “Love and Marriage” show inspired by “The Newlywed Game,” Magyar chose questions from a preapproved list. But the banter was all her.

“The hilarity is not the question—it’s the answers,” she says. (The audience roared when she got a woman to admit she would save her dog from a haunted house rather than her husband.)

Magyar goes months without seeing friends and family, including her husband, Joey Boyes, who also works as a Carnival cruise director. The couple sometimes keep their phone conversations short to save their voices.

She says it’s worth it for the passengers who become like family. George and Mary Schaeffer brought their grandson, who sought out Magyar every night to tell her he was heeding her challenge to try new things, including chocolate ice cream.

“Even a 7-year-old wants to engage with her,” says Mary Schaeffer.