Just returned from March 30th-April 1st sailing!

[Rothko1]

1 hour ago, kidz_rn said:

Hard to believe anyone would pay for round-trip airfare to take a 2-night cruise. Perhaps these were folks who added days in Freeport and sailed back on a later cruise?

 

Or it could be people who came to the West Palm Beach area a few days earlier, but were leaving right after the cruise.

[manders175]

4 hours ago, kidz_rn said:

Hard to believe anyone would pay for round-trip airfare to take a 2-night cruise. Perhaps these were folks who added days in Freeport and sailed back on a later cruise?

We did it actually! Lol. We are from Ohio and flew down the day before but stayed 3 nights on Singer Island in an Air BnB post cruise. Had we not had the "Free" promotion we probably wouldn't have done it. 

[bazbaz65]

With the Heroes Sail Free promotion, they let one person occupy a double cabin?  My husband just booked and got his free but paying for mine.  Not exactly cheap.  $94.40 for him but $514 + $94.40 for me.  Oceanview since he kept getting error messages when trying to book an inside cabin.  I'm looking forward to this but can't really imagine paying $514 + $94.40 for each of us for just two nights!

 

Thank you for your review as I had so many questions about how this will be and you answered many of them!

[Tapi]

On 4/4/2023 at 3:15 PM, kidz_rn said:

Hard to believe anyone would pay for round-trip airfare to take a 2-night cruise. Perhaps these were folks who added days in Freeport and sailed back on a later cruise?

We flew down from Atlanta strictly for the cruise (no pre or post cruise stay). It wasn’t bad. We left Atlanta at 8:30am and we were eating lunch at Riviera Beach by 11:00am before boarding the ship. On the return, we debarked at 8:00am and were back in Atlanta at 1:00pm.

We didn’t pay for the airfare (we flew on standby as airline employees), but we saw several  people with Margaritaville luggage tags both on the flight down and back. 
 

Considering what a short and cheap cruise this is (we paid a cruise fare of $49pp), there was no way that I would’ve taken it if I’d had to pay more for airfare than the actual cruise, or if I’d had to spend money on hotels before or after the cruise. 

 

But reading other message boards and Facebook groups, it seems like there’s a lot of people sailing on this cruise line who are super happy to spend, not only on airfare, but also on all sorts of packages, upgrades and add ons that somewhat defeat the main reason to take this cruise (which is because it’s cheap). 
 

It boggles my mind when I read from people who booked this cruise for cheap, but then spent extra not only on airfare, but also on upgrade packages, drink packages, steakhouse, massages, priority embarkation, VIP sections, priory luggage delivery, shore excursion assistance, extended stays, etc etc.
 

It’s a 2 day cruise on an old, budget minded refurbished ship! But to each their own. 

[manders175]

On 4/13/2023 at 8:51 PM, Tapi said:

We flew down from Atlanta strictly for the cruise (no pre or post cruise stay). It wasn’t bad. We left Atlanta at 8:30am and we were eating lunch at Riviera Beach by 11:00am before boarding the ship. On the return, we debarked at 8:00am and were back in Atlanta at 1:00pm.

We didn’t pay for the airfare (we flew on standby as airline employees), but we saw several  people with Margaritaville luggage tags both on the flight down and back. 
 

Considering what a short and cheap cruise this is (we paid a cruise fare of $49pp), there was no way that I would’ve taken it if I’d had to pay more for airfare than the actual cruise, or if I’d had to spend money on hotels before or after the cruise. 

 

But reading other message boards and Facebook groups, it seems like there’s a lot of people sailing on this cruise line who are super happy to spend, not only on airfare, but also on all sorts of packages, upgrades and add ons that somewhat defeat the main reason to take this cruise (which is because it’s cheap). 
 

It boggles my mind when I read from people who booked this cruise for cheap, but then spent extra not only on airfare, but also on upgrade packages, drink packages, steakhouse, massages, priority embarkation, VIP sections, priory luggage delivery, shore excursion assistance, extended stays, etc etc.
 

It’s a 2 day cruise on an old, budget minded refurbished ship! But to each their own. 

I totally agree with you! We turned this into an extended trip and stayed on Singer Island for a few days after we got back.

 

The only extra we paid for on the ship was the drink package for $99. No massages, no upcharge dining restaurants just the main dining room and buffet. We also didn't get off the ship in Freeport for an excursion, just stayed on the ship by the pool all day.

 

  I don't think I would have flown down from Ohio just for a 2 night cruise at full price (We had Heros Sail Free)  then flown right back. 

[manders175]

On 4/11/2023 at 8:18 PM, bazbaz65 said:

With the Heroes Sail Free promotion, they let one person occupy a double cabin?  My husband just booked and got his free but paying for mine.  Not exactly cheap.  $94.40 for him but $514 + $94.40 for me.  Oceanview since he kept getting error messages when trying to book an inside cabin.  I'm looking forward to this but can't really imagine paying $514 + $94.40 for each of us for just two nights!

 

Thank you for your review as I had so many questions about how this will be and you answered many of them!

We booked back in September for our late March cruise. At that time we were each able to book our own room. I read somewhere they only allow so many cabins to have single occupants but can't confirm. 

[daniTS]

On 4/4/2023 at 12:15 PM, kidz_rn said:

Hard to believe anyone would pay for round-trip airfare to take a 2-night cruise. Perhaps these were folks who added days in Freeport and sailed back on a later cruise?

I have family that lives in Freeport and they use it like a ferry (as we do when we go visit them), so we've flown in/out on the day of the cruise. I think it's pretty common for people to live on GB to do it--you can even use it to transport cargo like furniture and whatnot from Florida via big crates at the Port!

[daniTS]

Great review! Pretty much aligns with our experience too...I think they might try and time the jump across the Gulf Stream a little bit for weather--we had a decently rolly crossing in February and we were across and into the lee of GB by 8pm; I'm sure they wanted people feeling up to drinking and gambling! On the way back we floated around by GB until well after midnight and then popped back across, it was funny to keep looking out at the port's lights (and pick up Bahamian cell signal for so long!)

[Rothko1]

I wish there was a less expensive way to get over to GB than taking a cruise ship, even if you are using it as a ferry.

[daniTS]

6 hours ago, Rothko1 said:

I wish there was a less expensive way to get over to GB than taking a cruise ship, even if you are using it as a ferry.

I think flying and the actual ferry (https://www.baleariacaribbean.com) are both a little bit cheaper but not by much; you save a bunch of time tho!