Margaritaville at Sea (formerly Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line) is a cruise line that operates cruises out of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

and the Caribbean. The company was incorporated in 2018 as Classica Cruise Operator Limited Incorporated. Originally founded as Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line in late 2014, they began operating its first cruises in February 2015 with the now retired , and later in 2018 with the addition of ''Grand Classica''. In May 2022, the company was rebranded to Margaritaville at Sea following a partnership between Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line and Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville brand. ''Grand Classica'' was refurbished and renamed . In 2024, a second ship was acquired; the former ''Costa Atlantica'' was also refurbished and renamed . Before the cruise line's rebranding, Margaritaville at Sea was previously a small chain of Margaritaville-style restaurants and bars that were included or later added to the newer

Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) is an American cruise line founded in Norway in 1966, headquartered in Miami, Florida, and incorporated in the Bahamas. It is the List of cruise lines, fourth-largest cruise line in the world by passengers, controlling ...

ships starting in 2015 with . The partnership with Norwegian Cruise Line ended in late 2019. The restaurants were later unbranded and converted into other dining venues.

History

The cruise line was formed after

Celebration Cruise Line Celebration Cruise Line was a small cruise line that operated two-day voyages out of Port of Palm Beach to Grand Bahama Island. The company was founded in late 2008, and began operations on March 9, 2009. The company moved the ship's operations f ...

ceased operations following a grounding incident that left its only ship, , damaged beyond repair. Former Celebration Cruise Line executives formed Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line and purchased '' Costa Celebration'' to take over the route formerly operated by ''Bahamas Celebration''. The cruise line's first cruise was scheduled to depart on February 1, 2015. Due to technical difficulties, the voyage was cancelled. Repairs were made and the ship set sail on February 3. The company is majority-owned by the family of former Norwegian Cruise Line president and former CEO Kevin Sheehan. On September 19, 2017 the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

chartered the ship for a 90-day period through December 2017 to house the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

in St. Thomas, which was devastated by

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Hurricane Maria, Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered ...

. The ship returned to service on December 23, 2017. It was announced in December 2017 that the cruise line purchased the former

Costa Cruises Società per Azioni, S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1948 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily caters to ...

ship ''Costa neoClassica''. It entered service on April 13, 2018 as ''Grand Classica''. Beginning in September 2019, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line began running Humanitarian missions to Grand Bahama Island in the wake of

Hurricane Dorian Hurricane Dorian was an extremely powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone, which became the most intense on record to strike The Bahamas. It is tied with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane for the strongest landfall in the Atlantic basin in term ...

. In November 2020, the cruise line sold ''Grand Celebration'' to an undisclosed buyer, and in January 2021 she was beached in

Alang Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Because it is home to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Alang beaches are considered the world's largest ship graveyard. Demographics As of the 2001 Indian census, Al ...

for scrapping. In September 2021, all cruises were cancelled as ''Grand Classica'' was chartered to Entergy in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

to house over 1500 workers restoring power to the area following Hurricane Ida.

Rebranding to Margaritaville at Sea

On December 8, 2021, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville announced the partnership with the cruise line to rebrand it as Margaritaville at Sea while still retaining the same ownership and CEO as before. The last voyage under Bahamas Paradise took place on April 16, 2022. Upon the completion of the final cruise, ''Grand Classica'' sailed to the Grand Bahama Shipyard for a rebranding and refit of the ship's interiors and venues to be themed under the Margaritaville brand. During the refit, the ship was renamed ''Margaritaville at Sea Paradise''. It began sailing for the rebranded line on April 30. It continues to offer two-night cruises, and additional three- and four-night cruises from the Port of Palm Beach to Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas, and

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

, Florida. On December 4, 2023, Margaritaville at Sea announced that a second ship would be acquired and sail four- and five-night cruises to Key West and Mexico from the Port Tampa Bay. The ship is a previously operated by Costa Cruises, and was renamed to ''Margaritaville at Sea Islander''. The ship's inaugural sailing for the company was on June 14, 2024.

Fleet

References

External links

Margaritaville at Sea Website
{{Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line Cruise lines Transport companies established in 2014