Margaritaville at Sea Ready for Big Cruise Debut

[Host Jazzbeau]

New article on Cruise Industry News:

Margaritaville at Sea Ready for Big Cruise Debut

[emdia43]

Do you know what is included in the fare? 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

39 minutes ago, emdia43 said:

Do you know what is included in the fare? 

The fare is a typical cruise fare which includes your stateroom and meals. Taxes are an additional $88.44 per person per cruise. As is typical with cruises, gratuities are an additional $14.95 per person for night. If you park at the pier, that's $22 per night. New bookings earn a $50/cabin onboard credit.

[rkacruiser]

I like the hull art work.  

[rikitikitavii]

On 5/11/2022 at 9:46 AM, Host Jazzbeau said:

New article on Cruise Industry News:

Margaritaville at Sea Ready for Big Cruise Debut

On local tv channel WPTV Facebook…

https://*****/3yx416Y

[rkacruiser]

I watched her sail from the Port of Palm Beach this afternoon.  I saw many apparently pleased cruisers and thought that the web cam view of the aft bar to be interesting to watch.  I hope such a view continues to be available on the web cam.

 

What's the ship's actual name?  Seeing what was written on the stern it must be Paradise and not Margaritaville at Sea Paradise as I had thought.  Am I right or not?

 

The slogan written on the side of the ship:  "Changes in Latitude.  Changes in Attitude":  "Attitude", OK, I get.  But, changes in latitude?  What's the Marketing Department's thinking about using that word?  

 

It was an enjoyable sailaway to watch.  

[Fla Mike]

8 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

The slogan written on the side of the ship:  "Changes in Latitude.  Changes in Attitude":  "Attitude", OK, I get.  But, changes in latitude?  What's the Marketing Department's thinking about using that word?  

 

Thinking about Jimmy's best selling album and also a Number One Song

 

More than a few Parrot Heads are grabbing their chests 😵

[ew101]

After 35 years of travelling to and sailing in the Islands- you really can't simulate being in a beach bar in the Bahamas, BVI, St. Martin etc. very well.  It will be interesting to see if this ownership group can get any closer to that goal.  One piece of advice- hire more locals.   I remember being on a cruise ship fifteen years ago off of Tortola and asking the bartender for a Painkiller- he had no idea.   I was on the Carnival Valor recently - a well-run operation- but a plastic palm tree and ship's wheel on the wall does not an epic beach bar make.  

Edited May 15, 2022 by ew101

[F27TW]

On 5/15/2022 at 6:13 AM, ew101 said:

After 35 years of travelling to and sailing in the Islands- you really can't simulate being in a beach bar in the Bahamas, BVI, St. Martin etc. very well.  It will be interesting to see if this ownership group can get any closer to that goal.  One piece of advice- hire more locals.   I remember being on a cruise ship fifteen years ago off of Tortola and asking the bartender for a Painkiller- he had no idea.   I was on the Carnival Valor recently - a well-run operation- but a plastic palm tree and ship's wheel on the wall does not an epic beach bar make.  

 

Well, you are on a ship, after all. 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

On 5/11/2022 at 2:13 PM, KINGBOBOFTHENORTH said:

The fare is a typical cruise fare which includes your stateroom and meals. Taxes are an additional $88.44 per person per cruise. As is typical with cruises, gratuities are an additional $14.95 per person for night. If you park at the pier, that's $22 per night. New bookings earn a $50/cabin onboard credit.

Is that $22 per night or day? If it is day that is $66 for the cruise. Was it not $20? That is getting way high a cost. I really have no use for valet parking. It should be offered but not required parking. Is there parking off site with shuttle service?

[toad455]

Apparently the ship didn't get 100% completed and there are still signs of the old ship here and there.

[rkacruiser]

30 minutes ago, toad455 said:

Apparently the ship didn't get 100% completed and there are still signs of the old ship here and there.

 

Is this a surprise as a result of being out of service for such a short time?  

 

What are "signs of the old ship" that remain?  

[keeponcruising]

Griff and Alyssa YouTube channel has a review.  

[Fla Mike]

7 hours ago, keeponcruising said:

Griff and Alyssa YouTube channel has a review.  

 

Very good, fair, and honest review.

 

Most of the problems he mentioned are do to the age of the ship.

We will most likely give it a try now but wait until later in the summer.

[rkacruiser]

10 hours ago, Fla Mike said:

 

Very good, fair, and honest review.

 

Most of the problems he mentioned are do to the age of the ship.

We will most likely give it a try now but wait until later in the summer.

 

I thought the video was long on talk and short on video.   I think someone booking a cruise on this ship in the near future needs to adjust their expectations.  Clearly, it is a work in progress, but, I promising one it seems to me.  

[rikitikitavii]

On 5/16/2022 at 10:37 PM, keeponcruising said:

Griff and Alyssa YouTube channel has a review.  

Nice review, but this was the media cruise, I am waiting on a review from someone that has cruised the Grand Classica prior to renaming.  Unfortunately, this is an older, smaller ship that could have a difficult time competing with the newer , larger ships regardless of the margaritaville name. You can after all put on only so much lipstick.

Hopefully I am wrong!

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Well, just got back. 5/22/2022 A lot of good things to say and some not so good. I will start with the good. No masks required on the ship. Your choice. However you were required to wear them at Freeport. The ship itself was really nice. The outside looked really inviting. Lots of new. On outside and the inside. PVC inserts in all the windows so they all look new. In the public areas they had draw down motorized blinds for all the windows. Everywhere was nice and clean. The state room was a hand operated blind. Bright colors everywhere, Caribbean style, Nice! Lots and lots of Caribbean and nautical pictures. Many large monitors on the walls showing water views sea shore with the waves rolling in with sound. Really different and real nice. All seating was very comfortable. The show was super. Do not miss it. They had it each evening. Bingo once each day, one game $20.00 and trivia twice a day. The state room was real nice. We had an Ocean View. Big TV with about 50 channels. More than any other ship we have ever been on. New rug was shedding, it smelled new. Bed was excellent. Get your own ice. No daily planner put in your room. On the TV or go get one. Learned something very important. Going to bed the first evening, during the night we had no lights and the toilet would not flush. Low and behold. When you walk in your room the first switch is the master switch. It must be on for the lights to work and the toilet to flush. Who knew! Bathroom was a nice size. Large sink and fast hot water. Soap up the shower walls and spin around. It is small but useable. The towels were extremely plush and excellent. Some old showed but so what. 90%was really nice. FOOD! We did not do the Dining Room. The buffet food was surprisingly very good and a good selection. Enjoyed the food at every seating. Breakfast had everything you would expect. The crew cleaned off the tables fast. Really nice to see that. As for the crew themselves. Everyone we had contact with were all very nice and helpful. Now for things WE did not like. You might not care about these. ALL extras are way overpriced. With gratuity $17.00 regular cheese burger at the 5 o’Clock bar. I will not pay that for a burger. Pizza, was the same, with peperoni. $14.00 + $2.70 Gratuity so $17.69 BUT, the pizza was excellent. The best we ever had. The drinks were not what I expected. When we were on the BPCL before it switched. The drinks were strong and cost $2.00 less. Now less alcohol, that I ever expected on a JB cruise ship. My wife does not drink, she does not like alcohol. However the Pina Colada she drank. Said it was real weak. Your basic mixed drink will be just over $14.00 $12 + gratuity. So the 10 for $99 is a good deal. Gratuity on top of that also. You save about $2.00 a drink. If you have others with you, you can share the 10. I got the soda package for $24.00 with gratuity, unlimited. Add rum for $9.00. Lousy sound system for those doing trivia and bingo. Lots of feedback. All muffled. Super hard to understand. They need someone who can pronounce words in English clearly. The elevators drove us crazy. Sometimes over 5 min before you got one. One really disappointment for me. BPCL had a complimentary soft serve at the buffet. No longer. No ice cream anywhere. Gelato is $4.00 a scoop plus the gratuity. Ouch. Parking went up $2.00 a day. WHY? Most of the music was so loud it hurt your ears. Even the piano player had his mike so high you could not sit there. Most all got up and left. The music played so loud at customer service you could not hear them. Getting on the ship was fine. Getting off was aggravating. Got off the RCCL Harmony faster. It took over 1-1/2 hours from walking off the ship to getting in our car. Ship was almost fully booked. Not enough customs agents only 3 then later 4 plus they looked up each person’s pass port number. Really slow. All in all we had a super fun cruise. Looks like everyone got double billed. I am sure they will correct that. Last thing, $24.00 fuel charge per person. So my final thought. If you decide to go. Expect it to cost more for the extras than a regular normal cruise line.

[sail2day]

Thanks for the comprehensive review. How as the A/C in the cabins? Others have said it is stuffy.....

[rikitikitavii]

20 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Well, just got back. 5/22/2022 A lot of good things to say and some not so good. I will start with the good. No masks required on the ship. Your choice. However you were required to wear them at Freeport. The ship itself was really nice. The outside looked really inviting. Lots of new. On outside and the inside. PVC inserts in all the windows so they all look new. In the public areas they had draw down motorized blinds for all the windows. Everywhere was nice and clean. The state room was a hand operated blind. Bright colors everywhere, Caribbean style, Nice! Lots and lots of Caribbean and nautical pictures. Many large monitors on the walls showing water views sea shore with the waves rolling in with sound. Really different and real nice. All seating was very comfortable. The show was super. Do not miss it. They had it each evening. Bingo once each day, one game $20.00 and trivia twice a day. The state room was real nice. We had an Ocean View. Big TV with about 50 channels. More than any other ship we have ever been on. New rug was shedding, it smelled new. Bed was excellent. Get your own ice. No daily planner put in your room. On the TV or go get one. Learned something very important. Going to bed the first evening, during the night we had no lights and the toilet would not flush. Low and behold. When you walk in your room the first switch is the master switch. It must be on for the lights to work and the toilet to flush. Who knew! Bathroom was a nice size. Large sink and fast hot water. Soap up the shower walls and spin around. It is small but useable. The towels were extremely plush and excellent. Some old showed but so what. 90%was really nice. FOOD! We did not do the Dining Room. The buffet food was surprisingly very good and a good selection. Enjoyed the food at every seating. Breakfast had everything you would expect. The crew cleaned off the tables fast. Really nice to see that. As for the crew themselves. Everyone we had contact with were all very nice and helpful. Now for things WE did not like. You might not care about these. ALL extras are way overpriced. With gratuity $17.00 regular cheese burger at the 5 o’Clock bar. I will not pay that for a burger. Pizza, was the same, with peperoni. $14.00 + $2.70 Gratuity so $17.69 BUT, the pizza was excellent. The best we ever had. The drinks were not what I expected. When we were on the BPCL before it switched. The drinks were strong and cost $2.00 less. Now less alcohol, that I ever expected on a JB cruise ship. My wife does not drink, she does not like alcohol. However the Pina Colada she drank. Said it was real weak. Your basic mixed drink will be just over $14.00 $12 + gratuity. So the 10 for $99 is a good deal. Gratuity on top of that also. You save about $2.00 a drink. If you have others with you, you can share the 10. I got the soda package for $24.00 with gratuity, unlimited. Add 

Cruzin, thanks for the review.

Seems that the burger and pizza prices have increased with the rename!  I do recall the pizza was quite good.  Drink prices are ridiculous!  Port parking fee is set by the port, at least what I was told in the past.

Customs has always been slow in palm beach. The last carnival we were on in December, facial recognition. No customs contact as long as passport picture agreed with passenger snapshot.

Would like to sail the Margaritaville, but will wait and see if they have the 2 for 1 like they had for the classica.

[keeponcruising]

Thanks for your review @ALWAYS CRUZIN.  I have a cruise booked end of July.  I'm not too thrilled about the increase in charges and the fuel surcharge.

[ew101]

Excellent review- thank you.  The super loud music- not good.  

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

On 5/23/2022 at 9:39 AM, sail2day said:

Thanks for the comprehensive review. How as the A/C in the cabins? Others have said it is stuffy.....

Our A/C worked great. However the one in my Sons cabin would not go below 79 degrees. A wall night light was not working as the fridge was not also. He and my daughters room had the same problem when boarding. The toilet overflowed. Never again for any of us. So far over priced for everything. I just booked a 4 day cruise on the Carnival Liberty. The total price was less than the 1-1/2 day cruise. Ocean View with before tax and port charges. The Ocean View where we like it, $205.00 pp adding the port and tax charges came out $10.00 less than the Margaritaville cruise. Which of course includes, soft serve, pizza, Guys burgers and my wife's favorite the Mongolian Wok. Parking is also far less. Off site with shuttle and vets discount. $8.00 a day. Forgot to mention. Not only were the drinks watered down, they were small glasses. Why do I say watered down. I had them add rum to my coke at $10+. Almost could not taste it. He did not measure. Just turned the bottle upside down and poured. I thought is was going to be super strong. Nope. The best deal is to purchase a bottle at $99.00 instead of the 10 drinks for $99.00 and get the soda package for $24.00 unlimited. The bottle is sealed so you know it is the real thing. You can get a lot more than 10 drinks out of the bottle with the unlimited soda. Anyhow, once was enough for us. Never again at those high prices. Too rich for our blood.

[rikitikitavii]

1 hour ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Our A/C worked great. However the one in my Sons cabin would not go below 79 degrees. A wall night light was not working as the fridge was not also. He and my daughters room had the same problem when boarding. The toilet overflowed. Never again for any of us. So far over priced for everything. I just booked a 4 day cruise on the Carnival Liberty. The total price was less than the 1-1/2 day cruise. Ocean View with before tax and port charges. The Ocean View where we like it, $205.00 pp adding the port and tax charges came out $10.00 less than the Margaritaville cruise. Which of course includes, soft serve, pizza, Guys burgers and my wife's favorite the Mongolian Wok. Parking is also far less. Off site with shuttle and vets discount. $8.00 a day. Forgot to mention. Not only were the drinks watered down, they were small glasses. Why do I say watered down. I had them add rum to my coke at $10+. Almost could not taste it. He did not measure. Just turned the bottle upside down and poured. I thought is was going to be super strong. Nope. The best deal is to purchase a bottle at $99.00 instead of the 10 drinks for $99.00 and get the soda package for $24.00 unlimited. The bottle is sealed so you know it is the real thing. You can get a lot more than 10 drinks out of the bottle with the unlimited soda. Anyhow, once was enough for us. Never again at those high prices. Too rich for our blood.

I think a lot of people will have the same opinion as you, and they will have to make changes to pricing. This is after an older ship with few of the modern amenities newer ships have.

We are on Carnival Conquest in June, just over $500 for balcony, including fees., for both.

[donaldsc]

On 5/22/2022 at 1:24 PM, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Well, just got back. 5/22/2022 A lot of good things to say and some not so good. I will start with the good. No masks required on the ship. Your choice. However you were required to wear them at Freeport. The ship itself was really nice. The outside looked really inviting. Lots of new. On outside and the inside. PVC inserts in all the windows so they all look new. In the public areas they had draw down motorized blinds for all the windows. Everywhere was nice and clean. The state room was a hand operated blind. Bright colors everywhere, Caribbean style, Nice! Lots and lots of Caribbean and nautical pictures. Many large monitors on the walls showing water views sea shore with the waves rolling in with sound. Really different and real nice. All seating was very comfortable. The show was super. Do not miss it. They had it each evening. Bingo once each day, one game $20.00 and trivia twice a day. The state room was real nice. We had an Ocean View. Big TV with about 50 channels. More than any other ship we have ever been on. New rug was shedding, it smelled new. Bed was excellent. Get your own ice. No daily planner put in your room. On the TV or go get one. Learned something very important. Going to bed the first evening, during the night we had no lights and the toilet would not flush. Low and behold. When you walk in your room the first switch is the master switch. It must be on for the lights to work and the toilet to flush. Who knew! Bathroom was a nice size. Large sink and fast hot water. Soap up the shower walls and spin around. It is small but useable. The towels were extremely plush and excellent. Some old showed but so what. 90%was really nice. FOOD! We did not do the Dining Room. The buffet food was surprisingly very good and a good selection. Enjoyed the food at every seating. Breakfast had everything you would expect. The crew cleaned off the tables fast. Really nice to see that. As for the crew themselves. Everyone we had contact with were all very nice and helpful. Now for things WE did not like. You might not care about these. ALL extras are way overpriced. With gratuity $17.00 regular cheese burger at the 5 o’Clock bar. I will not pay that for a burger. Pizza, was the same, with peperoni. $14.00 + $2.70 Gratuity so $17.69 BUT, the pizza was excellent. The best we ever had. The drinks were not what I expected. When we were on the BPCL before it switched. The drinks were strong and cost $2.00 less. Now less alcohol, that I ever expected on a JB cruise ship. My wife does not drink, she does not like alcohol. However the Pina Colada she drank. Said it was real weak. Your basic mixed drink will be just over $14.00 $12 + gratuity. So the 10 for $99 is a good deal. Gratuity on top of that also. You save about $2.00 a drink. If you have others with you, you can share the 10. I got the soda package for $24.00 with gratuity, unlimited. Add rum for $9.00. Lousy sound system for those doing trivia and bingo. Lots of feedback. All muffled. Super hard to understand. They need someone who can pronounce words in English clearly. The elevators drove us crazy. Sometimes over 5 min before you got one. One really disappointment for me. BPCL had a complimentary soft serve at the buffet. No longer. No ice cream anywhere. Gelato is $4.00 a scoop plus the gratuity. Ouch. Parking went up $2.00 a day. WHY? Most of the music was so loud it hurt your ears. Even the piano player had his mike so high you could not sit there. Most all got up and left. The music played so loud at customer service you could not hear them. Getting on the ship was fine. Getting off was aggravating. Got off the RCCL Harmony faster. It took over 1-1/2 hours from walking off the ship to getting in our car. Ship was almost fully booked. Not enough customs agents only 3 then later 4 plus they looked up each person’s pass port number. Really slow. All in all we had a super fun cruise. Looks like everyone got double billed. I am sure they will correct that. Last thing, $24.00 fuel charge per person. So my final thought. If you decide to go. Expect it to cost more for the extras than a regular normal cruise line.

 

Sounds like a cruise to run away from as fast as you can.  If you really think that you love Jimmy Buffet enough to go on one of his cruises, book one on a better ship and put all of his CDs on your music player and you can listen to him as much as you want.  I counted that he has released 56 albums.  At $20 per album, that is only $1120.  Buy them all and play them on a better cruise.

 

DON

[sail2day]

17 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Our A/C worked great. However the one in my Sons cabin would not go below 79 degrees. A wall night light was not working as the fridge was not also. He and my daughters room had the same problem when boarding. The toilet overflowed. Never again for any of us. So far over priced for everything. I just booked a 4 day cruise on the Carnival Liberty. The total price was less than the 1-1/2 day cruise. Ocean View with before tax and port charges. The Ocean View where we like it, $205.00 pp adding the port and tax charges came out $10.00 less than the Margaritaville cruise. Which of course includes, soft serve, pizza, Guys burgers and my wife's favorite the Mongolian Wok. Parking is also far less. Off site with shuttle and vets discount. $8.00 a day. Forgot to mention. Not only were the drinks watered down, they were small glasses. Why do I say watered down. I had them add rum to my coke at $10+. Almost could not taste it. He did not measure. Just turned the bottle upside down and poured. I thought is was going to be super strong. Nope. The best deal is to purchase a bottle at $99.00 instead of the 10 drinks for $99.00 and get the soda package for $24.00 unlimited. The bottle is sealed so you know it is the real thing. You can get a lot more than 10 drinks out of the bottle with the unlimited soda. Anyhow, once was enough for us. Never again at those high prices. Too rich for our blood.

Thanks for the comment about the A/C. They need a newer vessel.