Margaritaville at Sea Cruise: Where It’s 5’Oclock All The Time
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If you’ve never been on a cruise and just want to try one out, I highly recommend going on the Margaritaville at Sea cruise where it’s 5’oclock all the time. It’s Jimmy Buffet’s themed cruise and it is so much fun! If you do your research you might run into pros and cons, but as someone who has cruised with Disney, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival, I will attest that this was a great, short, and fun cruise and I highly recommend it! It is smaller overall from other liners, but it has all the bells and whistles you’ll love.
What You’ll Pay
The Margaritaville at Sea cruise only does 2 night/3 day cruises and they do have sailings throughout the week. They also have many affordable packages. The down side is that you do need to read what’s not included because you will pay for taxes, fees, port expenses, fuel charges, gratuities, and valet. I call these musts. Then there are extras like soda, bar beverages, casino, excursions, specialty dining, and phone calls. On our cruise, aside from the musts, we paid for one soda package and one cell phone device to make calls.
If you are either an educator, military, police, or first responder, make sure you check out the Heroes Sail Free program! You will get a free cruise per year, minus the musts and extras. I got approved as an ACSI valid certificate holder and substitute teacher!
Port of Grand Bahama
Let me start at what we did at the port of Grand Bahama. You do not need to make any excursions directly with Margaritaville at Sea cruise unless you really want to. When we arrived at the Grand Bahama island (the only port Margaritaville by Sea docks at), there are many locals who you can tell what you want to do/experience. Since we live in Florida and only 10 minutes to the beach, we wanted to explore the island and what Freeport has to offer.
Unfortunately, Grand Bahama was still recovering from the destruction of many hurricanes. Therefore, tourism is their main source of income and Bahamians want you to experience the best that the island has to offer. It made sense to help them directly, so along with two other couples who also wanted to see the island, we hired a driver. The driver we hired for our city tour guide was Pamela. She was super friendly and knowledgeable.
Pamela made stops throughout our tour so we could get off to visit the beaches and shop. One of those places was a small beach in which the locals poke a hole in conch shells, remove the meat inside, and throw the conch shells back. We were allowed, by Pamela and legally onto the ship, to take a conch shell home!
Pinder’s Point Lighthouse
Another stop Pamela made was at a small lighthouse at a beach. It was so tranquil there. There were benches facing the ocean that I could have been at for hours!
Port Lucaya Marketplace
This marketplace was fun to explore because you could shop and eat here. It’s not as busy here as you may think because they’re still rebuilding from hurricanes, but nonetheless, the vibe here is welcoming and fun.
Pirates Cove
As you can see Pamela did an amazing job taking us through the island. It doesn’t stop there! We went through taino beach (the t is not capitalized) and got off at Pirates Cove to check it out. This is a beautiful beach with food, shopping, and beach activities. In fact, this is where both my husband & I tasted conch fritters for the very first time. I have to be honest. I wasn’t a huge fan. They were crispy, but it was just ok to me. They kind of reminded me of hush puppies.
As soon as you debark the ship there is a restaurant in which you can feed sharks. The sharks are not in a special tank. They are in the ocean swimming around. They hang out there because they know they get fed by the tourists. Although we did not feed them (ask inside the restaurant if you want to do this), we were just mesmerized by these creatures. It also makes for a great picture spot!
Our Cabin
We stayed in room 6146 which is on the 6th deck. Excitedly, we were surprised with a free upgrade to an ocean view room! The cabin didn’t feel cramped at all. It was clean and the décor was beautiful. Our cabin steward was very nice as well. He greeted us every time we saw him.
It was meant for us to be on the 6th deck because it was appropriately named the Flip Flop deck. I literally wear flip flops all the time! I thought to myself “The Margaritaville at Sea cruise was meant for me!”
Day 1 Itinerary
This was our itinerary for day 1. However, I’m sure these change with every cruise.
Day 2 Itinerary
Exploring the Ship
We were one of the first ones to board the ship so this gave us ample time to take photos of the ship and we even had a private tour of the spa! We were very happy to see that the ship was so clean and beautiful.
Let’s Talk Food
The Buffet
The food on board was very good! There are a few places you can eat. There are some things I would recommend and some I would not.
One place you will want to visit time and time again is the buffet. We ate breakfast and lunch there. There is something for everyone at the buffet. From salad bar, pasta station, hot foods, soft serve ice cream machine, drinks, to desserts, they have it all. In my opinion though, the desserts were much better at Fin’s than at the buffet. For dinner, we went to Fin’s (the fancier dining room where they serve you).
Fin’s Restaurant
Fin’s restaurant is a must. All the food was absolutely delicious, including the desserts! I will strongly recommend to go to the second seating as opposed to the first seating because the service will be much quicker on the second. We went to the first seating the first night and we were there 2 hours! It took a long time between each dish to come to our table. When you order, you tell your server everything at once including the dessert. The starter will come out first, then the soup or salad, next the entrée (this is where you can pay additionally for entrée enhancements if you so desire to, but we didn’t because it wasn’t necessary), then dessert.
If you are a soda drinker, you might want to get the soda package in which you’ll get a choice of refillable cup. You can walk up to any bar and they will refill it for you. My husband chose the shark head! I wish they had a parrot head. It would just make more sense. The other choice was an alligator.
Other Places to Eat
The ship also has a pizzeria called Frank & Lola’s. You have to pay for the pizza. However, they do have 1 complimentary slice per person, but you’ll only get one slice once you’re in line. You’d have to wait for them to make more pizza before getting a second slice. We waited 25 minutes for just one slice! It wasn’t worth it so we didn’t go back. And why pay for pizza when you can go to Fin’s for a delicious sit down dinner?
The coffeeshop and liquor-infused ice cream were also not free. But, they are available if you’d like to go. This is on the same floor, next to the pizzeria.
Entertainment
There is entertainment all throughout the Margaritaville at Sea cruise. You will pass at least one thing happening on the way to wherever you’re going. There is never a dull moment. There are two things that I say you shouldn’t miss. The first one is the sail away party and the second is the main show that happens on the second night called “Tales From Margaritaville: Jimmy’s Ship Show.”
Like I mentioned, there are many other kinds of entertainment and these are a couple of others that we enjoyed.
Overall, I highly recommend that if you’ve never been on a cruise and you just want to try one out, I highly recommend going on the Margaritaville at Sea cruise where it’s 5’oclock all the time. Even if you are a seasoned cruiser, go!
PIN ME!
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