Margaritaville At Sea Islander Full Review: What We Loved, Didn’t Love, and Hated

[@CarolineBairdCoaching]

What a great review and adore the ship rating. 🎉

[@thiscruiselife]

Thank you so much for watching! And that ship rating was all Rocky’s doing. He’s so creative! :)

[@CarolineBairdCoaching]

Love the tribute to Jimmy Buffet. Was just reading about his life.

[@thiscruiselife]

We learned so much about Jimmy from close friends this sailing. We had no idea all that he was involved with and how he gave back so much. Definitely have a new appreciation for the man and the legacy he left behind. 💙

[@sharonpatnode454]

Love love your channel your negative you put a positive twist to it thank you again guys

[@thiscruiselife]

@@sharonpatnode454 thank you for your kind words! We love cruising and want to bring the same joy to others. We lead with positivity in everything we do, but we’re always honest. Really appreciate the fact you picked up on the positivity. 💙 -Mark

[@Mike-hz4cp]

Your reviews are great! Fun, informative, and most importantly not boring.

[@thiscruiselife]

Thank you so much! We're just trying to show the world our passion for cruising and hope that it'll inspire others to go and check them out as well! Thank you for watching our videos and the kind words. ❤

[@GiGifromMississippi]

Great review and you went above and beyond in your analysis and observations! I was like, “wait, I was there and didn’t see that!” Y’all are so good and I am booking another cruise just to go back to do and see all those things I missed! Absolutely amazing! Love y’all so muchhhhhh! Yall are my new faves❤!

[@thiscruiselife]

Thank you so much! We had some amazing human beings make epic cameos during our cruises and in the full review! ;) It was so amazing getting to meet and spend some time with you. Thank you for the kind words about the video and what we shared; sometimes we worry we’re the only ones that get excited about all the details! 😂 So happy to have you as part of our cruise community, GiGi!!! -m

[@fredgarrison4463]

Going in a couple days thanks for the honest review!

[@thiscruiselife]

@@fredgarrison4463 our pleasure! We only spread the truth about cruise ships and our experiences.

[@lisaschlechty]

Very nice ship review. Happy to see how positive you guys are. I've been looking for a review that actually includes information regarding accessible features. If you ever would like to do that on any upcoming ship well...I'm your girl! Thanks again for the positive vibe review, love it!

[@thiscruiselife]

Aww. We're so glad that you found us! We love sharing the positives from our experiences. People are just so negative these days and we always seek out the positive things when it comes to sailing. We did notice a few struggles around the ship from an accessible perspective and hopefully the cruise line will be able to address those soon.

[@Pauly_Sticks]

This is my new favorite travel channel. I love how thorough you are. I also love that you come from a place of positivity (it doesn't seem like you are trying to find flaws). Because of this, when you do find things you don't like, there is much more validity. Great jobs!

[@thiscruiselife]

You made our entire day today. It’s comments like these that honestly keep us going and remind us it’s more than just Rocky’s mom we can help out there!! (Tho we are super happy she subscribes! lol) Thank you for recognizing our focus on the positive. When we started the channel, we did so to bring the joy of cruising to others and have always believed in leading with positivity. We are always honest and share the other stuff too, but we always find something good about a cruise, regardless of the experience. Really appreciate you being part of our community and glad you found us. Can’t wait to keep sailing and sharing our journey with you! -mark

[@SharonMcNeil-o1u]

We have booked a cruise with friends on the Islander and after seeing your video we are so excited about our upcoming trip. We wanted a cheap, fun cruise and I think we chose the right one. Besides we are Parrotheads! Jimmy was such a Renaissance man! This is another example of his legacy. Thanks for the in-depth review. Much appreciated!

[@thiscruiselife]

So glad we could share details about this ship. It's a great vibe on board and they did a great job to honor and celebrate Jimmy's achievements! We hope you have an amazing cruise! Thanks for watching. Fins up!

[@sosopepper]

Love love love. You two are sooo cute. We are a military retired couple and beginning to travel more. I (the wife) was not sure I would even be interested in cruising after so many years in the Navy, but I am truly excited about Margaritaville Islander. 4 cruises already booked. I will let you know and hope to see you both. Stay blessed and fabulous. ❤

[@thiscruiselife]

@@sosopepper oh my gosh this made our day! Thank you both so much for your service. We absolutely love the heroes program that Margaritaville at Sea implements. We hope you have an amazing cruise! They do a fantastic ceremony each sailing for the service men and women on board and it’s just so touching. Thank you for watching our videos and for the wonderful comment!

[@mars0720]

Great review! Was wonderful meeting both of you on the Inaugural Cruise!!

[@thiscruiselife]

Thank you for watching! It was great meeting you as well. Hope you enjoyed the cruise as much as we did!

[@blakeshoemaker2478]

Hyped for this review! 🔥

[@thiscruiselife]

@@blakeshoemaker2478 we are with you! It’s a big review and we can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks! Warning: there is a part that gets a little emotional…… -m

[@jjnshane413]

QMN! I am crying! How cool and I can’t wait to see what is to come for that space! Wonderful review! Love your energy!

[@thiscruiselife]

Thank you for watching and for your lovely words!!! Really means a lot. And, yes, QMN definitely had us feeling all the feelings! Such a beautiful experience for us. 💙 -m

[@michellebowles7991]

Love the review. I can not wait to sail in November. Really love all things Jimmy Buffett, so I know we will love it. I am still heartbroken over losing him last year in September😥 He did bring so much love and happiness to this world. Fins up! I do wish I could find a way to see the QMN area of the ship, that would be so cool. Thank you for all this wonderful information.

[@thiscruiselife]

@@michellebowles7991 oh my gosh, as a Parrot Head, you’re going to absolutely love the ship! They did a great job at theming the ship. Hopefully by that point, they’ll have figured out the selection process for the QMN by then.

[@lindsaymishaw4341]

Glad to have you guys back! Thanks for the review ❤

[@thiscruiselife]

It’s good to be back! Had soooo much fun with this video - hope it brought you lots of smiles along the way. Appreciate the kind words and support!! -m

[@jordangibson3587]

Hey guys! ZeeJay was great and it was so fun to meet you both on board! Thank you for being welcoming and informative as well as super nice in person as well! ❤

[@thiscruiselife]

@@jordangibson3587 we loved her as the cruise director. So. Much. Fun! Glad we were able to meet you. Thank you for the message!

[@buckeyehc]

I was only gonna watch bc I love your reviews but I'm srsly tempted by the corn hole and pickleball! Soooo fun.

[@thiscruiselife]

Haha. They really did a great job at creating events and activities for everyone on board! We were never bored over the entire two sailings. And thank you so much for your support of our channel by watching our videos. It means the world to us!

[@smurphy7266]

Fantastic review, enjoyed hearing about the ship and the new feel of the Islander. Spirit class is a classic!

[@thiscruiselife]

Thank you for joining us for the review! We had so much fun putting this one together - a definite favorite! Glad we were able to give you a feel for the ship and the amenities. And we agree, Spirit is a classic! Fins up! -mark

[@paulntpa1122]

Hey Guys, Tampa here. I am glad to see your review on our new MAS Islander, because I am on her Aug. 23rd and can't wait. Love the "Spirit" class, like CCL LE and CCL MI, but I want to see how they rehabed this ship. Thanks and you guys are so much fun, I would love to sail with you some time. Sail safe.

[@thiscruiselife]

Tampa! You’re right there; so nice and easy. :) We think you are in for a treat as we also love the Spirit class and it was so awesome to see what they did with the ship! Thanks for the support and the kind words. It’s a small cruise world out there, look forward to our ships crossing! -m

[@sailingwithstacy]

You both are so fun to watch! Thank you for the detailed review!

[@thiscruiselife]

You’ve got me feeling all 🥰🥰🥰! Thank you for the kind words and for being part of our cruise community. Hope you found a lot to love in the video like we did! -m

[@whobdis77]

Appreciate an honest review. A few to many complainers on other reviews. They are just starting out so be patient.

[@thiscruiselife]

@@whobdis77 it’s so true! Thank you for watching and sharing your perspective. There’s so much to celebrate that many others look past.

[@GiGifromMississippi]

Oh yeahhhh, I shared this on my Facebook page! ❤❤❤❤

[@thiscruiselife]

Woohoo! Thank you for sharing this cruise life of ours. Hope the video brought you a lot of smiles throughout!!

[@jonathankent5898]

Thanks for the info. Great review! I'll be on the 1/28/25 sailing!

[@thiscruiselife]

Oh how fun! Thank you so much for watching and leaving a comment. We hope you have an amazing cruise journey. We'll be back on board in the middle of December so there will likely be some more videos coming to the channel ahead of your cruise. Fins up!

[@jonathankent5898]

@@thiscruiselife I look forward to the videos, you guys are quite entertaining! Do you plan on giving the Margaritaville Paradise another try?

[@thiscruiselife]

@jonathankent5898 Thank you! We will get back on the Paradise eventually. Mark isn’t so excited about it, but I think it’s necessary. Just going to let it go through dry dock before we head back out on her.

[@thiscruiselife]

Hey! It's Mark here. I will ABSOLUTELY give MAS Paradise another try! Will just be more diligent scanning the room before I crawl into bed. LOL ;) -mark

[@richardtanaka8003]

Thank you for the review. I really enjoyed your preview video and this was a great follow up.

[@thiscruiselife]

Thank you for watching! We thought the launch party would be a fun way to get people excited for the premiere of the full review. We appreciate you joining in the fun!

[@troytravels]

Fantastic video! Cannot wait to eat! Thanks so much!

[@thiscruiselife]

Thanks for watching! We'll be working on many more food reviews in the coming weeks as well, so be prepared to get hungry!

[@shirleycompitello3167]

Sailing in August, six more weeks, can't wait. I have already booked a suite for September of next year, maybe we will get to meet you both?! Your videos are always so informative and well put together, thank you!!

[@thiscruiselife]

We're so excited for you to check this ship out! The Margaritaville team did a great job at redesigning her and we think you're going to love it. How awesome that you've booked one of the suites! They look amazing. We know we'll be going back on her, it's just a matter of when, so stay tuned!

[@conniecashman]

Looks amazing! What a great vibe❤

[@thiscruiselife]

It truly was! They did a phenomenal job with changing the ship over to Margaritaville at Sea brand. Loved the experience!

[@candyrose8473]

thank you, we are doing this!

[@thiscruiselife]

@@candyrose8473 so happy to hear this! We hope you have an amazing time. Please let us know if you need any help booking: I’m a travel advisor, too! -Rocky

[@KarenHenderson-j6l]

You both did a really good job I'm telling us about The islander

[@thiscruiselife]

@@KarenHenderson-j6l thank you for watching! Hopefully it helps you with making decisions about sailing on this ship!

[@TheRealMoanmyname]

My sisters and I will be on this ship in July. Can't wait

[@thiscruiselife]

@@TheRealMoanmyname awesome! We hope you have an amazing cruise!

[@TheRealMoanmyname]

@@thiscruiselife thank you!

[@Jon_T19]

I really want to try this cruise. I really wish they used real plants/palms inside and out, but that is not a big deal! I hope they continue to improve the experience onboard.

[@thiscruiselife]

We really appreciated all of the little touches throughout and believe the plants (even if they're not real) step up the appearance of the ship. Given that we started to see improvements on our second sailing, we have confidence that things will continue to get better!

[@mwoods1052]

I want to know how a vegan would do on this cruise line? The burger joints are lauded but do they also include a veggie burger at least? What about the regular menus? Any vegan options?

[@thiscruiselife]

That’s a great question. On the very first day, I had a fellow cruiser ask about veggie burgers - and so we found a crew member who escorted us to the deli where they serve them. I don’t know if it’ll always be at this location, but I can confirm they exist. As for the Main Dining Room, I just pulled up several of the menus from our sailing and there was always a (V) vegan option: STUFFED PORTABELLA (GF) (V) Pepperonata, chickpea crust, barley pilaf CAULIFLOWER STEAK (GF) (V) Roasted vegetable couscous, pomegranate chili dressing VEGETARIAN THALI (GO) (V) Cottage cheese, vegetables, lentils, pilaf Unlike other lines, you are not required to order this 24 hours in advance which is nice, however, we do always advise speaking to the maître d when you board to let them know about any dietary restrictions and preferences. We’ve always found the best luck accommodating requests with this approach. Sorry for the long answer; hope it helps! -mask

[@huntlewis8938]

Great review guys! I too have been looking for what's been kept and what is new! I think they did an amazing job with this renovation. Yes, I'm a cruise nerd too. I'm sooo looking forward to sailing on Islander! "thiscruiselife" is my new fave Vlog to watch!

[@thiscruiselife]

You just made our night! Cruise nerds unite!!! :) Thank you for the kind words - so happy you enjoyed the video and that you’ve become part of our little cruise community! 💙 -m

[@meganrobertson3418]

When will your ultimate dining package video be available?

[@thiscruiselife]

Great question! The video is recorded and we're working on edits as I type this. Great minds think alike! :) -Mark

[@yushengwixoss]

Watching the first half part. They do put efforts on the design details of their brand! I wonder if I can feel as excitied as you guys if I am there since the structure is the same as Spirit class. By the way, my first cruise trip was on Carnival Miracle in 2022.

[@thiscruiselife]

We think you're going to love the ship, both from a design perspective as well as the vibe. Super fun and very familiar!

[@brokenheartmender]

So we are booked to sail in November 2024 and are on the fence about the drinks package - mainly because we don't really consume alcohol and will maybe have one or two the whole cruise BUT we LOVE mocktails and coffees! Are the mocktails about the same price as the alcoholic drinks? what is your opinion on package or a la carte?

[@thiscruiselife]

Thanks for watching and reaching out! Mocktails are available at select bars (we'll be uploading the bar menus to our website soon). Just looked at several of those menus and noticed that the mocktails offered are about 1/2 the price of cocktails on board. That being said, we also only consume a couple of drinks each cruise and therefore the drinks package really isn't for us. It's important to consider the cost per day and divide that by the average cost of the drink to see if there's true value for you. If you'll only be enjoying mocktails, expect to spend no more than $7 per drink. Hope this helps you decide!

[@CallMeVie]

You had me at the décor and the pickleball and beanbag toss! My question since there were so many alcohol drinks to chose from how do the non alcoholic drinks measure up?? Maybe something to think of because not all of us can enjoy! As usual Watching the replay on Monday! 🇨🇦🍁Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canucks! Much 💚💚💚 ~Vie

[@thiscruiselife]

@@CallMeVie great question! Several of the bars on board have mocktails on their menus as well. Great news: we managed to capture photos of all of the bar menus and plan to share them to our website in the coming weeks, so stay tuned to the site! We were very impressed at how much thought they put into the ship activities

[@CallMeVie]

@@thiscruiselife perrrrrfecto!!!

[@thiscruiselife]

@@CallMeViewe just have to be on dry land long enough to get them posted! ;) Hope you are having a great start to the week! -mark

[@RickRICKOMadill]

Walter from Where's Walter Travel told me about you guy's . love your video!!!

[@thiscruiselife]

That’s amazing! We tell everyone about Walter ourselves; great guy. So blessed we had the chance to sail with him again and share several dinners together. Thank you for the kind words about the video and for being part of our cruise community, too! :) -m

[@richarddeason1845]

Look like carnival need to watch out for this cruise ship Glad they make it great ship

[@thiscruiselife]

On Carnival’s investor call yesterday, an analyst asked if they had concerns about impact to the operations with new players and discounted offerings. The CEO shared he wasn’t concerned “Regradless of what some nameless brand chooses to operate.” With Carnival’s size and scale, likely true today, but who doesn’t love a good underdog story?? Excited to see what’s ahead for MAS as we really do believe they have the ability to swipe market share from the big guys! Thanks for watching! Hope it brought you a lot of smiles throughout!

[@seemoreseascruises3791]

Agree with much of this but you paid an up-charge for most of your dining. If you do not have added for a fee dining, the buffet was less than appetizing and most items were cold and pretty bad. You mentioned that you did not have cold items but you paid for upgraded meals. The MDR breakfast was very cold and just not something I would ever recommend. The Islander breakfast would have been great to know if it was not marketed as a $15 up charge for a Champagne Brunch. The MDR and Islander $20 upcharge dinners were great! JWB was awesome! The disembarkation for the inaugural cruise was a disaster. I know that they have already have begun working the process improvement from my conversation with the CEO onboard. Seems that your Key West sailing was a bit better. Great to see. The final thoughts, Inaugural sailings have issues and is still a training experience. I am confident that they will improve and will get better as they sail. It is not a 4.5. It is a 3.5 and for the budget cruiser IMO.

[@thiscruiselife]

Hey there! Thanks for checking out the full review!. :) Sailing back-to-back, we purchased the Ultimate Dining Chill on the second sailing so we could tell folks about the upcharge dining options - which were fantastic. However, for any inaugural voyage we do, we only eat at included options throughout the sailing as that is what the majority of cruisers will get to experience. Our first sailing, we loved the food - and this was before it started getting even better on the second cruise. We ate at Mexican Cutie Cantina, Cheeseburger In Paradise, Frank & Lola’s, and Fins every day and stand by our rating of love for the food. As we mention in the didn’t love, there were definitely some issues with breakfast and some buffet options, but we found that you didn’t need to eat there (and didn’t need to pay more) if you don’t want to. Similar to what we love about Carnival food: we love all of the fast-casual options! We actively advise cruisers to avoid the Carnival buffet as there’s so much better food on board. With the options I mentioned above, we ate well every day of the inaugural sailing with enough variety across 4 days never to get bored. Fun fact, even when purchased the Ultimate Dining Package on the second sailing, we still ate at the included options every single day. I might recommend skipping the buffet options on board and going for the included fast-casual ones as we had a great dining experience. Again, thanks for watching through and sharing your own experience. Hoping the buffet options (both Port of Indecision and the MDR breakfast you reference) continue to improve. We’ll spend more time checking them out next time we sail Islander for sure! -mark

[@seemoreseascruises3791]

@@thiscruiselife I am happy to support the other channels and love your videos! I wanted to meet you onboard however every time I say you guys you were filming and I did not want to interrupt. I was beside you at breakfast at the Cutie Cantina but you were filming the breakfast burrito! LOL. I agree that, at least for the near term, guests need to skip the buffet for everything and go for the Cheeseburger in Paradise or Cantina for lunch, upgrade to the Islander dining room for breakfast and either do the Fins MDR or Islander for dinners! I, too, believe that Islander will get the processes improved and learn from their growing pains. I think this is a great competitive product out of Tampa but not for a cruiser looking for an upgraded or even partially upgraded experience. This is a low price cruise but if you have to upgrade everything, from dining to boarding and disembarkation, it now is no longer becomes a budget cruise. Keep up the great work!

[@thiscruiselife]

@seemoreseascruises3791 darn it! Just interrupt next time; we literally don’t use even a quarter of the stuff we record anyway. lol ;) As for who this experience is for… I agree; if someone loves the Edge-class ships from Celebrity for their new cutting-edge design, or Seabourn for the over-the-top service, this probably won’t live up to expectations. I do think the market they can draw from has more potential than just budget-conscious consumers tho. Those looking for a smaller ship that’s been gutted and redone will love this ship/experience. In fact, Islander was in better condition than the newer Celebrity Solstice we sailed earlier this month! With that said, it’s pretty clear to us they’re going after a Carnival consumer with a very similar lineup of offerings. Lastly, and I might get flack for saying this, I actually think I prefer MAS drinks and variety over Carnival. 🤯 We didn’t get to try many these two sailings because we wanted to experience everything else, but the drinks we did try were all absolutely fantastic. We also very much enjoyed them on Paradise. Next time we go back, I think we’ll invest in the drinks package so we can try each of the bars and drinks on board - for research purposes, of course! :) -m

[@bonnieramsey9042]

Now for regular cruises, are you welcomed with champagne or was it just for the inaugural cruise

[@thiscruiselife]

@@bonnieramsey9042 we’re not totally sure. They did it for the second sailing as well which surprised us!

[@genekostcruiser]

Will contact on booking weds. Working on logistics because we have a celebrity cruise we will get disembarking in ft Lauderdale. Then travel to Port Palm beach

[@thiscruiselife]

Sounds great! Just an FYI, though the Islander sails from Tampa. West Palm Beach is the home of Margaritaville at Sea Paradise.

[@pedrozatravel]

Nice review thank you

[@thiscruiselife]

Thank you for watching!

[@susanbarber1046]

Did they show movies at night on the big screen?

[@thiscruiselife]

They did not. You could tune your TV to different channels to catch sports and a couple of movies, but nothing like that on the big screen on deck 9. They would show Jimmy Buffet concerts and other music videos up on deck.

[@mariapinto5385]

Do you know if they'll have mini fridges in interiors further down the road? Just an empty space where a fridge should be feels like a punishment, as if to say "see if you had just paid a little more money..."

[@thiscruiselife]

We don't believe that they'll be adding refrigerators to the interior cabins. When reviewing the website for the Islander cabin types, mini fridge is completely missing from the amenities for "Cozy Interior Staterooms".

[@mariapinto5385]

Even though there's no fridge mentioned on website description for interiors, I still went ahead and called Margaritaville at sea to see if they'll put them in later. First representative in reservations said no plans to include fridges. I called back and second representative in customer service said they'll soon be updated to include fridges.

[@thiscruiselife]

@@mariapinto5385 Sounds like we'll need to sail Margaritaville at Sea Islander again soon to get the true answer! The sacrifices we make for this channel... 😜

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

2:10 The cutest couple on the ship!

[@thiscruiselife]

Blushing! Thank you for watching! What was your favorite part about the ship that you saw?

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

@@thiscruiselifeThat answer is too obvious!

[@stephenthompson439]

BYOK.. Bring your own Ketchup...😂

[@thiscruiselife]

@@stephenthompson439 great advice! Haha

[@grneal26]

Do they have comedy shows like Carnival?

[@thiscruiselife]

They did have a comedian on board who did a couple shows. So many people said he was the funniest they had ever seen!! We thought he was pretty good. Comedy tasted vary widely, of course. Haha

[@stacey2502]

The ship's decor is great but they def have some hiccups that need to be worked out. Overall seems like a fun ship!

[@thiscruiselife]

@@stacey2502 any new ship added to a cruise lines’ fleet will have a few hiccups. We loved that there was already progress and changes between the first and second sailings.

[@BrianBeery-y4z]

Looks like a fun ship! I've been on 44 cruises, and am now targeting this ship as my 45th. About eight of us might book a September sailing. Do they host an LGBT gathering?

[@thiscruiselife]

Love all of your cruises! That's fantastic. Please let me know if you need any help with your booking (I am able to complete the booking process for you)! They don't have an LGBT meetup officially scheduled. ~Rocky

[@stephenthompson439]

Why is the pool water Green ??? Looks Nasty..

[@thiscruiselife]

@@stephenthompson439 there were some chemical balance issues. Thankfully the water turned a nice hue of blue as the sailings continued along. I don’t think the team was sure what to do once there was a bather load in the pools! 😬

[@stephenthompson439]

So... Wait a few days before getting into the pool ?? NO THANKS..

[@thiscruiselife]

@@stephenthompson439 only from the inaugural cruise. Everything has been addressed since then! You can safely swim the moment you board the ship! 🏊

[@MidshipsCruise]

Missing Margaritaville yet?

[@thiscruiselife]

We are! Had such a great time on board. They're definitely onto something with their refreshed approach!

[@stevengower]

Blah blah blah

[@thiscruiselife]

Thanks for watching. Recommend you check the ship out yourself! So much goodness to talk about once you’ve experienced it! -m