Margaritaville at Sea, the Islander

Our home for 5 days was the Islander, Margaritaville at Sea Cruise Line. We left on Sunday and returned on Friday morning. A lot of our cruising friends asked us to give a true review of the ship and cruise itself. I think this was our 10th cruise, maybe more, and we have been on several different cruise lines, so I have lots to share about the cruise and ship and our adventure as well. If you know me at all you know I love to travel and I am up for just about anything. We had actually been to Key West and Cozumel in 2018 when we took advantage of Cuba being open to Americans. We were looking for a weekend get-away and did not consider the heat of August! Funny thing is when we went in 2018, we also went in August! I guess you really do forget the miserable parts and hold the good in your heart!

According to Wikipedia, The Islander is a renovated ship that Margaritaville purchased from Carnival. After renovation it reentered service in 2024. It has 1100 rooms and ours was a standard balcony. There was plenty of storage and the bathroom was more than adequate. Seasoned cruisers know that bathrooms can be extremely small, so this was a very good thing. We were quite comfortable in our room and would not hesitate to book it again. We do like the balcony and didn’t feel the need to upgrade to a larger room.

Everything about the ship is Margaritaville, from head to toe! it is fun and colorful, the staff is friendly, and I must say HAPPY. The ship was at full capacity, and we never felt cramped. Waiting for elevators, dining room seating, buffet seating etc. was never an issue. There are many small lounges with music, either canned or live, all over the ship, all the time. The main area, Flip Flop Lounge, was probably the most crowded and active and LOUD but it was easy to find a quiet spot elsewhere to veg and relax. We sort of expected a huge amount of very inebriated people but that was not the case. Yes, occasionally you’d run into it, but mostly it was just chill. There were no formal nights, a couple of themed nights (Boots and Bubbles was one with lots of cowboy boots and bling!) and a Caribbean theme night we didn’t even notice. There are gift shops, but not many, and everything was Margaritaville. None of the normal shops you find on most cruise ships. NO EFFY!

There were 3 pools, one was adult only, but it was just too hot. 95+ sun and heat were too much for our group. We mostly stayed in the buffet and people watched enjoyed the ocean views. and air conditioned! None of us came back sunburned! Our dermatologist would be very proud!

There was nothing fancy that we found, if you want a 5 Star experience this is not the cruise for you. If you want good food and relaxation, then this is it. They certainly know their market and they cater to it. Grilled hamburgers every day on the pool deck and they were good! Taco bar outside as well. Buffet had a good simple variety. Not the biggest I’ve ever seen but everything was good and hot. We actually preferred it to the main dining room which is a big switch for us. The coffee cups were a scream. Way too small and plastic. I don’t like drinking from plastic cups and glasses, and all the plates were also plastic.

And the last thing about the Buffet area, most everyone came in their bathing suits with little to no coverups. That was the norm. Apparently, shoes were optional as well. It wasn’t offensive (mostly) but it was different!

We had to do an old fashioned MUSTER! Honestly, I don’t think we have been on a ship where we had to line up since the 2nd cruise to Cuba! It was so hot and we had to line up! Did you hear me, LINE UP! And stand there until they did what the law requires, I get it. One lady fainted. It was SO MISERABLY HOT, All of us crammed in. I promised the good and the bad, so this was definitely not a good.

On to the adventure, our first port was Key West! John’s only request was to go to what I keep calling Mel Gibson’s Museum. For some reason I cannot get the name right! Hopefully not offending Mel Fisher and family! I am not a museum person so for me it was snooze city, but John and our companions really enjoyed it. There was a short video and then lots to look at.

This would be the last bench John would find to sit down for several hours.

We had already been to Truman’s White House and Hemmingway’s house (both highly recommended) on our last visit so didn’t need to go again. We decided to walk to the Southern Most Point. John and I stopped at a shop to get a soda and were told it was about a mile walk and lots of places to sit and rest. Stupid us believed that total lie! LOL.

This is to show you how we started out, because it gets much worse! Walking down Whitehead Street as instructed, and there was some shade but no place to sit. After a few blocks we thought maybe the Hop On Hop Off Bus might be a better idea. We passed John’s bank so went to the teller machine for some $$$ and there goes the bus past us so we continued to walk. All the buses were now going up the street instead of down the street, so we walked some more, still no place to sit and rest. I was fascinated with the Kapok tree.

It was shady so we liked it there. Kapok tree beautiful. and shady. No place to sit though. Did I say shady? We thought about sitting in someone’s front porch but decided against it. Now we are getting hot and frustrated and we are starting to bite each other.

Bayon Resort was beautiful. Look at these beautiful old trees. I would love to go back to Key West for a week and stay here. In the winter or spring maybe, when it is 70 degrees!

And a picture of the lighthouse, no we didn’t go into it. That required climbing stairs so a hard NO.

As we strolled down the street and sweated like crazy, I kept trying to do videos. This one I took sideways, I don’t know how but I could not edit it to the right angle, so you are treated to another one of my imperfections!

I don’t pay attention to what I am doing so I fall down a lot and John is trying to keep me focused. Silly man!

Kept waslking and finally got to the Southern Most Point, and of course there was a line, it wasn’t bad but John was having none of it.

If I was going to get a picture at all we would have to get to the side of the line and “share’ our picture with anyone nearby. It was ok, as you can see, we do not look our best! But at least I got the picture to prove we were there! And we were WAY too hot to care about looking good.

Walking back was no better than the walk up, all the busses were going in the opposite direction and no place to stop and rest. We plodded on and finally got to Hemmingway’s house. And there was a place to sit in shade, although we were not welcomed unless we paid admission. It was either sit or faint, so sit we did. When we were revived, I thanked the gate keeper for his kindness even though he was a jerk that was only doing his job.

On we went to Sloppy Joes! Good food, good fun and way too hot to enjoy much of it! Nice guy playing guitar and singing, I’d love to tell you his name, but I don’t know. We drank a LOT of water and sat under a fan and finally cooled down.

Our friend had a Sloppy Joe and said it was really good; John and I split a burger. And on to Kermit’s for their amazing Key Lime Pie! YUMMY, this is the place to get it.

YUM!

Back to the ship and the day is done. And in actuality I have no idea whether this sunset is from Key West of Tampa. But the day is still done!

Farwell to Key West and day 3 is a sea day. And we did nothing. We relaxed and ate and relaxed and went to the casino and lost money and relaxed some more.

Welcome to Cosumel! Day 4

We took a ship sponsored tour to the Mayan Ruins. It was a reasonably priced tour, an AIR CONDITIONED bus and a great tour guide. I will spare you ALL the pictures I took but it was an interesting and fun day, although again, very HOT. Lots of mesquitoes. Luckily while we were waiting for the tour to begin a sweet lady had a can of bug spray she offered and we sprayed ourselves down.

It’s hard to tell from the picture but the steps to climb up were very short (I guess they all had small feet!) and it was unsteady to climb up this thing. This was an alter for sacrifices to their gods. I got up and down without falling and was well pleased with that.

And that was an interesting tour. True to myself, I am not going to even try to explain any of this as I will get it all wrong. If you would like to know more about the ruins, I would suggest asking someone else! LOL. Google!

After the ruins, back on the bus and after a tour of the island and coast it was on to the Chocolate Factory. Cacao. We had been there before but it was just as interesting as the first time. Cacao, which is really bitter on its own, and the locals drank it with hot water. It was really yucky. Luckily the Eurpoean’s took it to Europe and added milk and made it wonderful! We had a fun demonstration of how it is mixed and flavors added to make it bearable.

After the demonstration there was a chocolate bar and apparently I was more interested in that than anything else because I didn’t take any other pictures! This was a drink bar, they had chocolate margheritas, chocolate martini’s and so on. I did sample a chocolate margherita and it was very good. I don’t think I’d ever want another one but I’m glad I indulged.

AND NO, I DID NOT DRINK 3! The gift shop offered samples of all their chocolate bars and many Mayan gifts. Very colorful and fun. I collect crosses so I got a cross and a napkin holder. My dishes are fiesta ware so the colorful items match well and will be used.

Back on the bus, and back to the ship. We were hot and sweaty and needed a shower and lots of water. If I didn’t mention it before, and even if I did, water was NOT part of the drink packages. I don’t know how I missed that in the early paperwork but if you wanted water you had to buy the bottles al la carte. That was not pleasing to me and I did voice a hard complaint on my survey. And one more negative thing while I am complaining, the WiFi sucked. There is no nice way to say it. We paid for it and it just didn’t work. This ship really had no technology at all. We did better with house phones to communicate between rooms and using our cell phones was miserable. If you MUST have your phone, it is a problem.

Day 5 was our last sea day and we pretty much repeated day 3. We relaxed and ate and relaxed and went to the casino to win a little bit this time. All in all I broke even so no complaints. I’m not a big gambler, I could be if I had money, but penny slots are as much as I am willing to loose. I did get 9 sevens and screamed like a little girl. I won $68.00. And of course, lost most of it back to the house. the casino is cash only, you cannot put a credit card or your room card into the machines. Cash only. You can go to the cashier and get $100 per day from your credit card. This is odd to me if you are a high roller, do you take cash with you? How does that work? Never mind, I don’t need to know!

We docked before 7AM in Tampa on Friday morning. Eveerything was smooth as could be for leaving and we had a pretty easy drive back to Orlando.

Would I take this cruise again? Yes. It is perfect for relaxation and a reasonably priced getaway. If you want all the fluff and fun shipboard, then no. The staff is great, food decent and you don’t have to dress up. If you want to find things to complain about, you will always find them. We had a ball!

AND BY THE WAY – THEY DO HAVE VERY NICE SPECIAL DISCOUNTS FOR ACTIVE-DUTY MILITARY AND FIRST RESPONDERS. ASK YOUR TRAVEL AGENT!