I stayed in Margaritaville at Sea's renovated cabins. My 176-square-foot interior stateroom wasn't the best, but it felt larger than other cruise cabins.
My brother and I shared a 176-square-foot interior stateroom on the Margaritaville at Sea Paradise.
The ship, which is over 30 years old, recently debuted a multimillion-dollar renovation.
Our entry-level accommodation slept four people, with two twin-size beds and retractable bunk beds.
This summer, my brother and I embarked on a three-day voyage from Palm Beach to Grand Bahama aboard the Margaritaville at Sea Paradise.
The vessel, which is over 30 years old, is the first cruise operated by the Jimmy Buffett-founded hospitality brand. It made its inaugural voyage as the rebranded Margaritaville at Sea Paradise in 2022 and has since undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation.
Because the voyage was short, I reserved a 176-square-foot interior stateroom, the 658-cabin cruise ship's entry-level accommodation, directly through Margaritaville at Sea.
I booked my room during the cruise line's spring sale, scoring a 40% discount that brought the total cost for each passenger to $330.70 (including taxes and service charges, gratuities, and fuel surcharges). However, this rate didn't include any add-ons like drink packages, specialty dining, Wi-Fi, or excursions.
Here's what our cabin was like.
The interior stateroom I initially booked smelled like cigarettes, so guest services moved us twice before we found a suitable cabin.
Located on decks four, five, six, and seven, the interior staterooms accommodate up to four travelers. I figured my party of two would have plenty of space.
While booking my room, I could choose to be on the lower, middle, or upper decks, however, I didn't have the option to pick a specific stateroom. I requested placement on the upper deck, and the cruise line assigned me to a room on the starboard side of deck seven.
When I entered my cabin, I was overwhelmed by the smell of cigarettes and promptly requested to switch cabins at guest services. The employees reassigned us to a cabin on the port side of deck seven, but I thought it also smelled like cigarettes (with the addition of some air freshener).
A representative for Margaritaville said that smoking "is not permitted in the cabins or interior areas of the ship," however, there are "designated smoking areas on the lido deck."
After our second try, we went back to guest services. Luckily, the third time was the charm. Guest services moved us down a level to a room on the port side of deck six. The area surrounding the cabin was mostly quiet, aside from a handful of late-night partiers returning to their staterooms in the wee hours each morning.
After entering our interior stateroom, I stepped into a long hallway.
When I walked inside, there was a large bathroom on the left. On the right, there was a full-size closet, a cabinet with shelves, and drawers.
The hallway opened to the main room, which had a mounted table on the left, two twin-size beds, and a small bedside ledge.
The mattresses were firm and the pillows were plush, but the sheets felt scratchy to me.
On the right side of the back wall, there was a narrow closet that provided extra storage.
The back wall also had two bunk beds that I could pull down.
On the ride side of the room, there was a TV mounted on the wall, directly above a small wet bar.
I was disappointed that my room didn't have a Bridge Cam, which are webcams that show the ship's location and sometimes simulate an ocean view. They can help alleviate seasickness, especially in a room without an exterior view.
Even though the journey from Palm Beach to Grand Bahama is short, some passengers might still feel motion sickness without a window or balcony.
The wet bar was stocked with a mini fridge, a stainless-steel ice bucket, and drinking glasses.
Our room didn't have a kitchenette or microwave.
There was an abundance of lighting options in the stateroom, which was necessary given the lack of windows.
Hallway lights, decorative lights near the bunk beds, reading lights above the twin-size beds, and two high-hat lights above the desk made the cabin feel brighter and more spacious.
The cabin had such ample storage space that we had room to spare, even after we unpacked.
The main closet was standard in size. It had a chest of four drawers on one side and open space on the other. The bottom two drawers were filled with sheets.
Inside the closet, there were 11 plastic hangers — five for skirts, three for pants, and three for shirts — along with a 6-foot-long shelf, where I found a life vest and a plush white comforter.
The cabinet adjacent to the wet bar had two shelves inside, one of which stored four life jackets and another with a space where I expected to see a safe (though there wasn't one in our room).
The bottom half of the cabinet had four drawers, with a blow-dryer in the top one.
The bathroom was right off the entrance hallway in the front of the room and had a decent amount of space inside.
The bathroom was larger than many others I've seen in cruise cabins.
A vanity with two cabinets and a full-length mirror was on the right, and on the left, there was a toilet and shower.
The shower was compact but featured a handheld showerhead with five adjustable settings and impressive water pressure.
The circular shower was so small that its beige shower curtain frequently clung to my body instead of preventing water from spraying all over the bathroom floor.
After changing staterooms two times, I realized that they seemed to be inconsistently furnished and stocked.
Several of the appliances I tested in the three interior staterooms didn't work very well.
In the first cabin I walked into, water had accumulated at the bottom of the mini fridge. In the room where we ended up staying, the mini fridge and blow-dryer barely functioned.
The amenities also didn't seem to be evenly distributed. The first room had a safe but no blow-dryer, and the third room had a blow-dryer, but the safe was nowhere to be found.
When asked about the missing amenities, a representative for Margaritaville told Insider that they "may have been removed to be repaired," but that guests can and should report "damaged or missing items" to guest services for assistance.
I also noticed that none of the rooms I entered had the armchairs or cute throw pillows I saw in the website's photos. Insider reached out to the Margaritaville representative about the decor changes, and they said that "there are a variety of room types and small differences within singular categories."
I was also baffled by the lack of Margaritaville spirit I felt in my cabin.
Except for a few branded items, like a notepad with the Margaritaville logo, a pencil with lyrics from Buffett's "A Pirate Looks at Forty," wallpaper with a map on it, and some island-inspired artwork, I would've never assumed this was a Margaritaville room.
Our no-frills interior stateroom did the job, but it certainly wasn't luxurious.
Because of Margaritaville Paradise's mixed reviews and low rates, I went in with low expectations and high hopes. I found that Margaritaville Paradise had all the cruise basics, but the overall quality seemed to be scaled back.
Even though I found our room's decor outdated and uninspired, especially fresh off of a renovation, the stateroom felt like the largest interior cabin I've ever stayed in.
And because there were so many activities available on the ship — like nightly music, wine tasting, bingo, and game shows — I hardly had any incentive to spend time in my stateroom anyway.
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