We are sailing the Islander in December for our honeymoon. Neither of us have ever cruised before but we wanted to do something relatively cheap and easy, so we went with this Margaritaville cruise. This info is very helpful especially for a first time cruiser!
I’d try it, especially after this series of videos. I appreciate your honesty and objectivity and humor: “especially since the pool was already green”. Ha ha!! Great job!
I have sailed MAS Paradise 3 times this year sense Febuary, and have loved every single time. My first cruise, I was 13 years old and it was 1991, that ship brings me back to those days. The staff has remembered us starting on the second time. Living in FL, I would rather do a quick two day on Paradise then waste money in Orlando. They are doing 3 and 4 nights on the Paradise starting in Aug that will go to the Keys and Freeport and I look forward to going on that one after we get back from Islander. We go on the Islander on July 16th and can not wait. We booked the Islander the week we got off our first trip on Paradise. Rumor has it, MAS is planning on 6 more ships by 2030. I'm extreamely happy to be on the ground floor of the beginning of this Line!!
Just got off the boat and it was amazing! Thank you again for the information that helped us make this excellent choice for our vacation. From the food to the service, we were very satisfied. We’re definitely going to do this for vacation going forward. I highly recommend this ship for couples and families. My family enjoyed themselves very much!
I appreciate your videos! We just booked our first family cruise on this ship for later this month. I was honestly hesitant as this is literally navigating new waters for our family - two adults and four teens/tweens. I felt much better after watching your reviews. I’m hoping we have smooth sailing and become cruisers because it seems like a great way to have a good time and enjoy nice experiences while entertaining the kids and being smart with money. Wish me luck!! 😎🤞🏼
@@MaritzaBarrios Very happy to hear that. I want to book a trip on that ship once they open Jamaica and Cayman Islands next year. Thanks for your feedback.
We just got back on Friday from this cruise and were able to have drinks in the adult pool. They did tell us a couple of times that we had to stay to the sides so that they were over the "shelf" part, but we still had them in there. We didn't spend time in any of the other pools so I can't speak to those.
I think for the right price the Islander is worth giving a shot at least, especially with the pricing I'm seeing these days for Royal, Carnival, Norwegian and all the other cruise lines those three run.
Hey J. Oh wow. A private speakeasy? That would’ve been nice. Sorry you missed the cowboy theme. Don’t even get why some folks like to remove the gratuities. 17 cruises in and I’ve never met anyone who didn’t deserve. Thanks for the insight.
Maybe because not everyone is American, and programmed to expect to add 20% on everything as a tip. Tips should be at the customer discretion. Never obligatory. Pay a minimum living wage. The rest of the world seem to come just fine.
I actually am surprised any cruise line allows drinks in the pool because there's been countless times I've seen people spill their drinks in the pool including strawberry daiquiris and pina coladas. This is to keep the pools as clean as possible
We have been on the Paradise several times. & loved it. We are looking forward to going on the Islander for the 1st time & love it that it’s in Tampa. Thanks for your info.
Been on the MAS Paradise a couple times and have enjoyed it. Going on the Islander next week and looking forward to it. Thank you for your review. I did recently just learn about the cowboy theme which is different from most cruise ships.
One more thing. I keep hearing that much of the cruise is paid a-la-cart and not included. You were in a high end specialty suite that may have included things that us mear mortals would have to pay for. Anything you can add about what is not included that other lines would include?
Hey! I like the new intro and I love your videos! You guys, along with a couple other vloggers, inspired us to prioritize cruising and my husband and I took our first cruise this month. Our next one is in September on this ship. We figure by then, some of the bugs you mentioned in your first videos will be worked out. We love watching your reviews! You keep it real and we appreciate that. Thanks for the Speakeasy tip. It would be awesome to get an invite!
Good information. I am glad they won't remove the gratuities. It should NEVER be allowed! It will keep the prices low. The other cruise lines should not allow this either. The crew work hard and deserve the pay. Apparently, this guy does it with the other lines.
Your audio didn’t sound great though not as bad as Jared when you guys do a video together. I’m gonna assume y’all record off a phone and being as it’s landscape based on the audio I’m assuming the bottom of the phone where the mic is, is tilted to your right hand side. I would suggest investing in a couple off phone Bluetooth mics. Really appreciate y’all sharing your thoughts and insights on your cruising experience! I’m always looking forward to the next one!
I left paradise a few days ago and I couldn’t believe the Karen’s that were at guest services complaining about gratuity “their words we didn’t get any service”, umm so your saying you didn’t eat you didn’t have a drink your room was never clean? I am a bartender so I tipped in addition cash and let me tell you me and my group were treated like queens woke up to two drinks left on my wrist band. 🤷♀️Take care of your tipped employees and they will definitely take care of you!!
Sailed Sep 15-20 on Islander. They won't last long with 50% occupancy, no matter how many rationalizations. i.e. school in session, hurricane season, etc. That's a shame because there's a lot to like re ship, crew, shows and more. We're not foodies and as frequent cruisers we think we have a reasonable take on food. The food on the Islander was ok to excellent everywhere except the MDR. Chicken marsala was hideous. Final night fried rice appeared to have the leftover meats from the Mexican Cutie. We were not alone in our suspicion that leftovers were being recycled. Other points of service, pizza, burgers, tacos and Island Eats (conch, shrimp, crab ) were really good. The bars and lounges, although largely vacant were well-operated. Service throughout the ship was awesome. Maybe the best we've experienced ever. The shows were great, especially the county music production. As avid gamers the casino was a dud. The lone host, who we dubbed the "slot nazi" was indifferent and condescending in our interaction. If you're used to the casino mayhem on Carnival or action on NCL, you would have been very surprised and possibly disappointed. The cabin was great as was our steward. Turn down svc too boot. All in all we had a great time on the cruise, but damn, somebody needs to revisit the main dining room cuisine.
Craps was 10 USD. Didn't appear to be any PM action until the final evening. Other table games were prolly commensurate. The roulette table near the main walkthrough was oddly patronized each evening. Gotta say Wifey and I didn't hear any major win bells and whistles nor view a hand pay. Reaching the drink minimum was not difficult. @@shyamramaiya1103
I feel unfairness The cruise is being fair about the tipping I was on one ship when one person wanted trips taken off because he was short on money Plan your trip I plan and have no problem
How much are the added gratuities? I'm planning on going next year when they open Jamaica and the Cayman Islands as destinations. I like the vibe and the reasonable prices from what I have seen from your videos. Plus we live only about an hour and a half from Tampa.
@@jamestosches8553 I live about an hour and a half south of Tampa and it looked like a good, cost effective get away, But as I initially mentioned, I am more interested in the more exotic ports of call in 2025. The "mandatory tips" looked like one of the sneaky ways that the cruise line might try to sell "inexpensive cruises", but end up being just as expensive with all the small fees, like discount airlines do. I was just trying to get a feel for all that. I'm OK with that strategy as long as we know what we are getting into from the outset. My wife and I are more casual people and we like Jimmy Buffet style music, so thank you very much for letting us know about some of these hidden fees.
Actually, your comment about no drinks allowed in the pool reminds me of something that I've wondered about for a while now. During the first day of swimming lessons, our instructor would inform us of safety rules around the pool, and one of them was no glass containers, and no alcohol, because of the safety risk if any glass broke in an environment where most people had bare feet and would be sitting on the floor in a bathing suit, and the obvious risks of impaired judgement where one can easily drown. Same thing when a convention social event was held in a waterpark: no one was allowed into the pool because alcohol was being served. So I'm surprised when on cruise ships and resorts alcohol is openly served (in glassware as well) and encouraged around their swimming pools, and wonder how the safety aspect is regarded. Even if a pool is not deep enough to be over the head of an adult, you only need 4 inches of water to drown in. And what about broken glass inside a pool or on the deck? I guess they must have ample lifeguards and staff keeping a very close eye on the entire pool areas at all hours they're open?
I looked into sailing with them, but everything is 'a la carte' so it ends up being just as expensive as any other cruise line. You did an extravagant cruise so you were not really in the average 'budget' travel category.
Thanks so much for all the tips! We are cruising on this ship later this month. It will be our first cruise and people have lots of recommendations for cruising in general- one of which was the magnets for door decor and hooks. Is it just the doors or are there no magnetic surfaces for hooks in the rooms?
I love no drinks in the pool. If there's no swim up bar, keep the drinks out of the pool. If you call it gratuities it is at the customer's discretion. Now MAS could require requests to be submitted onboard but processed through HQ and refunded...by check via snail mail. 😂
My opinion on paradise is I had a good time were there some bumps along the way yes but none ruined our time and I did go with a 17 yr old and a 10 yr old I played beer pong for the first time ever won did the adult scavenger hunt won danced my ass off at both sail always even tho it rained Ate like a pig even tho the pasta was awful Didn’t do an excursion but Mike Ts cab service took care of that too ended up at the blue dingy swam with a pig snorkeled had some drinks played more games. My only complaint was the lack of things to do at night with my daughter the first night she’s 10 My son (17) 10 days shy of his 18th birthday had the time of his life in the club Not drinking or anything but being allowed into a night club. He was up til they closed it down. Would I do paradise again yes but I would not bring my 10 yr old did she have a great time yes she did.
On many cruise lines this was known as a differentiator for why cruise ship dining was truly better than most other all-inclusive dining experiences. If you wanted to try something new as well as something you know you love, you could order two entrees and not worry on anything being lost. This is still found on multiple cruise lines but others have changed to charging for a second entree like that of MAS.
I am GLAD they make you pay gratuity. I can’t stand people that have all this money to spend on what they want but try to save by shorting hard working people. I’ve never been on a cruise where the staff don’t bend over backward for us. And some people are just cheap which shouldn’t fly. Don’t drink if you’re worried about cutting some costs somewhere but don’t be selfish.
Well, it's just like buying a car The car dealers try to get all the money they can get from you, and you try to get the cheapest prices from them. What. wrong with that
We aren’t sure on the policy but we would say don’t bring anything that isn’t meant for walls. Duct tape is way too harsh and would hurt the doors/walls so do not bring anything like that.
No worries mam, this cruise line serves mostly locals. The majority of californians wont bother wasting money on flight and hotel for a 3 to 4 days cruise on thjis budget cruise line anyway.
Usually not tips. Just the taxes and port fees. But if these are impossible to remove that would be something they probably would have to include in the price with this new law.
@@TheMyliemoore I go on cruise one to twice a month and very familiar with the demography of cruisers. The 3 to 4 days duration cruises are predominately FL residents and especially the folks who can't afford to pay the week long duration cruise fare.
Delete QMN since not everyone can experience it, and enlarge the fitness center. I know someone who just got off and said the gym was worse than what you’d find in a Motel 6
Gym is perfectly fine. Most people do light cardio on their vacations. Gym has equipment to cover that. I am not sure why some cruisers expect squat racks on board.
@@bloodycrepe it has a small weight set no more than 25 lbs, 2 elliptical and a few treadmills. That’s pretty lousy and one of the smallest gyms out there
@@LlamaBobby it has at least 4 treadmills, 3 cycles, 2 rowing machines and 2 cable machines. Could it be better? Sure. But this covers the needs of 90% of cruisers.
yeaaa... soooo... i see you're of the prepaid grats ilk and that's cool. however, those of us who remove them do not do it bc we are unhappy with the service. we do it bc we pay in cash. do don't do us like that just bc you do differently.
The problem with cash is that it leaves out any and all crew working behind the scenes that you don’t see. This includes those making your food, housekeeping staff doing laundry everyday such as sheets & towels, and other unseen crew that do get a portion of pre-paid gratuities. 😊 The gratuities are intended to recognize the many crew members who contribute to the guest experience, including front-of-house staff like room attendants and waitstaff, as well as behind-the-scenes workers. This system is more equitable than the practice of cash tipping, which favores certain workers.
@@JJCruise nope, we're not doing that. i can list the problems i find with prepaid grats but i am not here to debate that, which is why i said "that's cool". you do YOU, i will do me. no arm wrestling over preferences. but and however... you misrepresented us, and that is my point. i am never dissatisfied with service. i tip in cash and judging by what is shared in cruise groups, i am typically tipping more than my prepaid friends.
@indivijewelthoughtz1150 this isn’t misrepresentation. It is the exact representation of what people who remove gratuities are doing when they decide to remove gratuities. They are either not tipping at all or only tipping those crew members they want to recognize and are visible to passengers. This leaves many crew without any tips who rely on those tips as payment for their work. Unless you are tipping, in cash, every behind the scenes crew member (which no one can do because these crew members aren’t in public venues), then you are not tipping a majority of crew who are paid through pre-paid gratuities. If this is something you are okay with doing just so you can pay a few crew in cash, then by all means remove gratuities. Just know that you are hurting the livelihoods of many crew by doing so. This is not judging, this is just stating the facts. Too many people think tipping in cash after removing gratuities is better as long as they are tipping more overall, but this is purely giving more money to a few while hurting the vast majority of crew by taking away their pay completely.
@@JJCruise this is untrue and instead of saying "my bad" here you are doubling down. not only that, i also told you this is not a debate. but i see you are incapable of understanding people who do not think or operate like you... and that's fine. i just hope one day that changes for you. happy sails!
We’re not debating. We are stating the facts. We have many crew who are friends and we’ve heard from them as well as directly from the cruise lines including what is posted on their websites. This is how most pre-paid gratuities operate on most cruise lines with pre-paid gratuities. You remove gratuities - you remove payment for all behind the scenes crew including those cooking/baking your food, anyone doing laundry in housekeeping to ensure you have clean towels and sheets, as well as luggage assistance onboard. These are facts. You stating what we are saying is “untrue” without any evidence is an attack on our credibility. Thus, we must note the facts for those who may read your comment and take it as truth. Below are two examples of proof that what we say is true. Cruise Line Proof: www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense#:~:text=Gratuities%20collected%20are%20distributed%20to,enhance%20the%20overall%20cruise%20experience. Editorial Proof: thepointsguy.com/guide/remove-prepaid-cruise-gratuities/#
Before a Month ago they had 1 Ship, 1 old bad Ship, you can't compare anything before June 1st, since Disney pays, you well, your opinions are biased, and a Travel Agent shouldn't be making these kinds of Post, as we all know your Disney / Carnival, people. MGAS serves a nitch market, you and your Husband are not that Nitch, no Butler's...
We are confused by your comment 😅 As Travel Agents, we are only helping others by preparing for their next cruise vacation. Not sure how this relates to Disney or Carnival (neither of which pays us for any reviews). MAS has not paid us as well to do this review. We do these reviews without ever being paid to do them by any cruise line. Maybe you are getting us confused for someone else? 🙃
