ericrz

Blender cup not included, according to the website. I have a Margaritaville "5 o'clock somewhere" clock beverage holder that I got at the Grand Turk M'ville a couple years ago. If I bring it, will they fill it? 😄 I've had a drinks package on my last two cruises (one Carnival, one Royal). I think I came out ahead financially, but even if it's close -- it's so nice to have the booze paid for in advance, and not get a big bill on the final morning. My mom and I are taking the Islander in September, even with the two port days, we'll do our best to get our money's worth!!

From the FAQ page (Ultimate Beverage Package | Margaritaville at Sea) -- There is a 15 maximum per day for drinks, like Carnival Covers beer/wine/cocktails up to $20, mocktails, soda, specialty coffees, 500ml bottled waters Like all other cruise lines, everyone 21+ in a cabin has to purchase the package, except in the case of a documented medical condition I just called and added it to my 5-night Islander cruise in September. With gratuity added, it is $336.25 per person for a 5-night voyage. I am not quite sure how the math works, because that seems to be only adding 12% to $59.99 x 5. But the website FAQ says an 18% gratuity. Hmm. Boat drinks, here I come!

Is the only MAS drink plan the 10 for $99 offering? Not to sound like a lush or anything, but 10 drinks is pretty low for a 5-day cruise. While I know you can obviously purchase drinks after the pre-paid package is used up, maybe MAS will add a 20 or 25 drink package for the longer voyages??

Showed up on the website today: Islander Cruise Ship Deck Plan | Margaritaville at Sea

So my mom and I went and booked the MAS Islander for a September 2024 5-night cruise to Key West and Cozumel. Happens to leave on September 1, which will be the first anniversary of Jimmy Buffett's passing. I was thinking about going to Key West that weekend, but the cruise is much more economical! I picked a balcony cabin on the phone with the rep, but she warned me that cabin numbering may not match the existing Costa Atlantica deck plans still available on the Internet. She said Islander deck plans should be finalized next week, and I can call back and change cabins if I don't like where we ended up (deck 9, forward -- trying to keep my mom relatively close to the elevators). The rep said that major structural items on the ship (pools, dining rooms, etc.) are not likely to change locations. But there definitely could be some renumbering. Fins Up!

Confirmed (via their social media rep on Instagram) that when booking online, you don't get a cabin choice. Can call them to pick a cabin. The rep also said they will have deck plans for the Islander "by the end of the week." Obviously there are still deck plans available on the internet for the Costa Atlantica; not sure how much would change in terms of stateroom numbering / locations.

Ron, I'm experiencing the same thing. Doesn't seem to be any way to choose your cabin number, or even general location (Forward/Mid/Aft) or even the deck you are on. Was trying to book the new ship (Islander) but seems to be the same on the Paradise as well. Does anyone know if this is just a glitch? Or, if you book over the phone, can you pick specific areas/cabins?

Apparently, we passed the Magic (which had departed Curacao about two hours before us) sometime on Saturday morning. A couple of my family members watched us overtake them, and apparently the two ships were reasonably close to each other!!

Hi all: My family and I were on the Symphony of the Seas last week and in Labadee on Monday, November 20. We rode the tram to Columbus Cove beach and got a nice set of lounge chairs under a couple of umbrellas. When we looked at the water, we couldn't believe the amount of trash floating in it. Plastic bags, bottles, bottle caps, papers, you name it. I have been to hundreds of beaches in my life and I've never seen anything like it. Literally, the first thing people were saying as they arrived at the beach was "look at all the trash in the water." My brother took it upon himself to start cleaning some of the garbage out of the water. He soon had several kids helping, making a game out of it, and some adults jumped in to help as well. After about 20-30 minutes of this, some RCCL staff showed up with garbage bags and rakes. The in-water volunteers would pile the trash on the shore, and the RCCL staff would rake it into piles and then bag it. Whether they were already planning to do this or if they were sort of shamed into it by seeing passengers picking up garbage, I don't know. (In any case, the staff never went into the water to retrieve any trash, leaving that to the passengers.) Has anyone else ever seen this at Columbus Cove? Maybe we were just unlucky, a recent storm pushed a bunch of trash into the bay or whatever. But it was surprising and kind of disappointing to start our beach day by picking trash out of the water!! Given that RCCL recently reported more than a billion dollars in quarterly profits, it would have been nice to see them be a little more on top of this (either with additional staff or some sort of technological solution to filter trash at the mouth of the bay).

This is so incredibly true. My sister in law is Filipina and the crew from her native country love getting a chance to talk to her!! (Side note, we also found a great Filipino restaurant in Aruba on this trip). Loving this review, @APDMOM. We were also on this cruise and your review is helping me remember things as I make notes! Not sure if I'll write a full review or just a pros/cons list, but I'm loving yours! We might have crossed paths at Chobolobo, we were there for an 11AM (10AM ship's time) tour on Thursday!

To clarify re. the HUB app: you don't have to keep it actively in use (i.e. as the focus screen on your phone) to get messages. You just can't close it entirely (as in, swipe up on an iPhone and swipe the app up). If you do so (again, at least on an iPhone) the app will warn you "Hey, you have to keep the HUB open to receive messages). If configured to allow notifications, the phone will buzz when a new HUB message is received. We used it with our party of 6 (including two teenagers) on the Mardi Gras last week and found it worked really well!

I was on the Mardi Gras last week.....6384 passengers, the most ever carried by a Carnival ship! Despite that crowd, we never waited 30 minutes for a drink. That would be absurd. Now, 10-15 minutes? Sometimes, especially at busy bars -- Red Frog on sea days, or the Brass Magnolia when they had live music, etc. I do think Carnival has cut staffing levels too far, the bartenders and other staff are almost constantly slammed. However, once you get to know the ship a little bit, you tend to learn where to go to avoid the crowds when necessary.

But, "welcome on this sailing" does not automatically mean "allowed in every port." Some countries (Turks and Caicos seemingly being one) still require vaccination for 18+ visitors.

Sadly, it is not. Our cabana waitress told us that they've been waiting for repair parts "for a long time." My 13-year-old nephew was super bummed.

We were in Grand Turk last week on the Mardi Gras. Carried our vax cards per instructions from Carnival, but no one ever asked for them (we did not leave the cruise terminal / Margaritaville area). As others have said, I think vaccination status is coded onto the S&S cards, and the idea is they stop unvaxed guests at the gangway. Maybe even with notification beforehand, per this anecdote from TxTeach79's outstanding live report from last week: For what it’s worth, I just got out of the Tides pool after chatting with a nice couple from Florida, and they said they got a letter in their cabin yesterday reminding them they couldn’t get off in GT today because of their vaccination status. Nothing was checked by any GT official period (even coming back through to the pier), so it makes me assume that it’s coded on your sail & sign card.