I paid $300 for a 2-night Margaritaville cruise from Florida to the Bahamas, and I wouldn't do it once more

• In June, I took my first cruise with Margaritaville at Sea from Florida to the Bahamas for two nights.
• As a Florida native, I appreciated that it was a fast worldwide journey that did not require any flights.
• The cruise was underwhelming and isn’t one thing I’d care to expertise once more.

I boarded a cruise with Margaritaville at Sea to the Grand Bahama Island within the Bahamas final June, two months after the model began crusing out of Florida. 

Prior to now few months, Margaritaville at Sea has been trending on TikTok as customers share movies of their underwhelming journey experiences. In response to suggestions from cruisegoers and followers, the ship is present process a multimillion-dollar building with new upgrades and enhancements meant to enhance the expertise for future passengers.

With reserving charges as little as $189 per particular person earlier than taxes and costs, the cruise markets itself as a brief, inexpensive tropical getaway. After extra charges ($12 a day for gas and $15 a day for gratuities), one tour, and different gadgets bought across the ship, I ended up spending simply over $450.

Though I did not anticipate a lot from this finances cruise, it nonetheless fell wanting my requirements as a visitor. This is what my expertise was like. 

There weren’t many eating choices included within the cruise fare and those that had been included got here with limitations 

The cruise ship has 5 eating amenities onboard, two of that are included within the reserving price. The Port of Indecision Buffet is an off-the-cuff buffet that serves an infinite number of American meals you’ll be able to load up on in the course of the specified eating hours within the morning and daytime.

Nonetheless, the buffet closed at 5 p.m. on daily basis, so we needed to search different choices if we obtained hungry later. This appeared like a strategic technique to get visitors to purchase from the opposite eating locations, which had been open till midnight.

Fin’s Eating, the principle eating room, is the opposite possibility included within the cruise fare. The vibe in Fin’s was extra upscale, with a lovely ambiance. Nonetheless, we had been solely scheduled to eat there as soon as with a reservation {that a} workers member created as we boarded the ship. 

Different choices included a pizzeria, ice cream store, steakhouse, and a bar and grill. The meals was fairly good, however I want extra was included. 

The swimming pools had been a lot smaller than I anticipated and I did not assume they had been crammed with sufficient water 

The ship had solely two swimming pools: one for visitors of all ages and one solely for adults. I used to be very dissatisfied with the swimming pools, as I believed they had been fairly small and did not appear to include a lot water. The water inside one pool didn’t even go previous my knees. 

There have been two jacuzzis on the ship as nicely, however they had been typically being utilized by bigger teams. 

When requested in regards to the swimming pools, a consultant for Margaritaville at Sea stated, “The swimming pools are applicable for a ship this measurement, and punctiliously maintained to make sure correct water ranges.”

My members of the family bought Wi-Fi but it surely solely labored in sure areas of the ship 

Wi-Fi was out there to buy during the cruise for a further $25 per machine. I selected to unplug for the three-day journey, however my members of the family bought Wi-Fi for his or her gadgets. 

They could not get the Wi-Fi to attach inside their staterooms and located it solely labored for them whereas they had been within the hallway or in different areas of the cruise ship. Fortuitously, the ship had loads of seating areas all through.

A consultant for Margaritaville at Sea stated the ship upgraded its Wi-Fi in October to offer “stronger service” but additionally famous that “there are particular instances when passengers might not be capable to entry it attributable to location within the Atlantic Ocean and climate.”

Our tour to go swimming with pigs was enjoyable however disappointing 

On day two, the ship arrived at Grand Bahama Island, the place we had been in a position to go away the ship for an tour run by a 3rd celebration earlier than heading again to the Port of Palm Seaside. We had the choice of reserving an tour when reserving the cruise or whereas on the ship the day we boarded.

Passengers had been ready to decide on between issues like swimming with dolphins, swimming with pigs, having an up-close encounter with dolphins, or spending the day at both the Viva Wyndham, Taino Seaside, or Grand Lucayan Resort. 

My sister and I booked the tour to swim with pigs on Crystal Seaside, which price $100 per particular person. This was the spotlight of our journey, however the expertise was not what we thought it will be. 

The tour was much less about swimming with the pigs and extra about feeding them. The pigs had been swimming round whereas the we had been attempting to get them to come back over utilizing the apples we got. As well as, 40 different visitors from the cruise had been competing for the eye of about six giant pigs, which was overwhelming and overstimulating. 

It was a good time, however the human-to-pig ratio was a bit imbalanced, and it was a “race” to get a pig’s consideration earlier than one other visitor obtained in your approach. The pigs had been so huge they virtually knocked individuals over, and there was numerous pushing.

I discovered the onboard cruise leisure to be corny and boring 

Each evening the ship placed on a nightly present titled “Tales from Margaritaville,” a 45-minute musical manufacturing inside a big theater. The theater was a pleasant contact to the cruise expertise, however the present was very kid-like. 

Between the exaggerated plotlines, tacky dialogue and jokes, and dance strikes, I felt like I used to be seated to look at a middle-school play. The ship additionally had themed events, a on line casino, dance nights, and bingo video games. 

For the worth I paid, I did not anticipate as a lot leisure as I’ve seen on different cruise traces, however I anticipated the actions on the Margaritaville cruise to be extra participating. 

Even the midnight events hosted on the principle deck had been primarily only a small crowd listening to the tunes coming from the DJ sales space. Evidently, I did numerous studying and writing on this cruise.

Fortuitously, in accordance with a press launch from Margaritaville at Sea, the ship is planning so as to add a number of new reveals, an arcade, and a dueling piano bar to its line up when it units sail once more in June. 

We had a three-hour delay when disembarking the ship 

On the third day of the cruise, we arrived again on the Port of Palm Seaside round 8 a.m. Shortly after this time, the cruise was supposed to permit visitors to start disembarking the ship.

However attributable to an inflow of passengers attempting to go away the ship instantly upon docking on the port, workers members blocked the pathway to the doorways so we weren’t allowed to hitch the check-out queue.

As an alternative, we had been instructed to return to and keep in our room and a workers messenger would make an announcement as soon as passengers may proceed with disembarking the ship.

We by no means acquired an announcement, so we had been sitting in our room ready till we went to examine on the queue ourselves. This prompted us to be delayed by three hours. To be honest, the method might have gotten a bit smoother since our early crusing, however I discovered all the disembarking course of I skilled to be extremely disorganized.

When reached for remark, a consultant from Margaritaville at Sea stated the disembarkation “course of has been drastically streamlined and improved since these first early sailings.”

General, the expertise was OK

For my first cruise, Margaritaville at Sea may have been extra spectacular. It was a superb preview into cruise journey, but it surely’s not one thing I’d do once more.

I admire that we did not must guide any worldwide flights or journey far to go on this journey. I additionally acknowledge that my journey was shortly after the cruises started setting sail and any new enterprise comes with points in its early phases. And I am curious to see how the upgrades Margaritaville at Sea is at present engaged on may enhance the expertise for future passengers.

Nonetheless, I do not assume my expertise was definitely worth the value. I’d’ve quite used the cash towards a significant cruise line and a extra elaborate crusing expertise.