Industry | Transportation |
---|---|
Founded | 2014 as Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line 2021 as Margaritaville at Sea (as a cruise line) |
Headquarters | Deerfield Beach, Florida, United States |
Area served | The Bahamas |
Products | Cruises |
Website | Magaritaville at Sea |
Margaritaville at Sea (formerly Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line) is a cruise line that operates two-day voyages out of Port of Palm Beach in Riviera Beach, Florida to Grand Bahama Island. The company was originally founded as Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line in late 2014, and began operating its first cruises in February 2015 with the now retired Grand Celebration . In May of 2022 the company was rebranded to Margaritaville at Sea following a partnership between Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line and Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville brand. Their sole ship, the Grand Classica, was refurbished and renamed the Margaritaville at Sea Paradise . 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 ships starting in 2015 with the Norwegian Escape . The partnership with Norwegian Cruise Line ended in late 2019. The restaurants were later unbranded and converted into other dining venues. [1] [2]
The cruise line was formed after Celebration Cruise Line ceased operations following a grounding incident that left its only ship, the Bahamas Celebration, damaged beyond repair. [3] Former Celebration Cruise Line executives formed Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line and purchased the Costa Celebration to take over the route formerly operated by the Bahamas Celebration. [4] [5] 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. [6]
The company is currently majority-owned by the family of former Norwegian Cruise Line President and CEO Kevin Sheehan. [7]
On September 19, 2017 the Federal Emergency Management Agency chartered the ship for a 90-day period through December 2017 to house the National Guard in St. Thomas, which was devastated by Hurricane Irma. [8] The ship returned to service on December 23, 2017.
It was announced in December 2017 that the cruise line purchased the former Costa ship neoClassica. It entered service on 13 April 2018 as the Grand Classica. [9]
Beginning in September 2019, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line began running Humanitarian missions to Grand Bahama Island in the wake of Hurricane Dorian. [10]
In November 2020, the cruise line sold Grand Celebration to an undisclosed buyer, [11] and in January 2021 she was beached in Alang for scrapping. [12]
In September 2021, all cruises were cancelled as Grand Classica was chartered to Entergy in New Orleans to house over 1500 workers restoring power to the area following Hurricane Ida.[ citation needed ]
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 is scheduled to take place on April 16, 2022. Upon the completion of the final cruise, the Grand Classica will sail 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 will be renamed the Margaritaville Paradise. It is scheduled to begin sailing for the rebranded line starting April 30. It will continue to offer two-day cruises from the Port of Palm Beach to Freeport, Bahamas. [13] [14]
Ship | Class | Built | In service | Capacity | Tonnage | Flag | Homeport | Notes | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Current fleet | |||||||||
Margaritaville at Sea Paradise | Classica class | 1991 | 2018–present | 1,308 | 52,926 GT | ![]() | Palm Beach, Florida | Renamed the Margaritaville Paradise in April 2022. It began sailing for Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line as the Grand Classica in 2018. Prior to that, the ship was the Costa NeoClassica and originally the Costa Classica that operated for Costa Cruises. [15] | ![]() |
Margaritaville at Sea Islander | Spirit class | 2000 | June 2024 onwards (planned) [16] | 2,680 | 85,619 GT | ![]() | Tampa, Florida (planned) [17] | Originally transferred to Adora Cruises in 2020, but in October 2023, it was sold to Margaritaville at Sea. [18] | ![]() |
Former fleet | |||||||||
Grand Celebration | Holiday class | 1987 | 2015–2020 | 1,496 | 47,262 GT | ![]() | Operated for Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line prior to the rebranding. Previously was the Celebration for Carnival Cruise Lines, Grand Celebration for Ibero Cruises, and Costa Celebration for Costa Cruises. The ship was purchased on November 21, 2014, one day before she was to operate for Costa Cruises. [19] In November 2020, the company confirmed she had been sold to an undisclosed buyer, [11] in January 2021 she was beached in Alang to be scrapped. [12] | ![]() |
This article talks about transportation in the Bahamas, a North American archipelagic state in the Atlantic Ocean.
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Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas, with the town of West End located 56 nautical miles east of Palm Beach, Florida. It is the third largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is roughly 530 square miles (1,400 km2) in area and approximately 153 kilometres (95 mi) long west to east and 24 kilometres (15 mi) at its widest point north to south. Administratively, the island consists of the Freeport Bonded Area and the districts of East Grand Bahama and West Grand Bahama. Nearly half of the homes on the island were damaged or destroyed in early September 2019 by Hurricane Dorian.
Freeport is a city, district and free trade zone on the island of Grand Bahama of the northwest Bahamas. In 1955, Wallace Groves, a Virginian financier with lumber interests in Grand Bahama, was granted 20,000 hectares of pineyard with substantial areas of swamp and scrubland by the Bahamian government with a mandate to economically develop the area. Freeport has grown to become the second most populous city in the Bahamas.
Carnival Paradise is a Fantasy-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland, she was floated out on 29 January 1998, and christened as Paradise by Paula Zahn. During 2007, in common with all of her Fantasy-class sisters, she had the prefix Carnival added to her name.
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The MS Renaissance is a cruise ship that re-entered service in June 2023. The ship was built in Italy in 1992 as Maasdam for Holland America Line. While sailing for Holland America, the vessel operated primarily in North American waters. In 2020 she was bought by Seajets and renamed Aegean Myth, but did not trade. The ship was bought in 2022 by a new French operator, Compagnie Française de Croisières.
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville is a United States–based hospitality company that manages and franchises a casual dining American restaurant chain, retail stores selling Jimmy Buffett–themed merchandise, and hotels.
Grand Bahama International Airport (GBIA) is an international airport in Freeport, Bahamas. It was privately owned until the government of the Bahamas purchased it in April 2021.
Norwegian Sky is a Sun-class cruise ship owned and operated by Norwegian Cruise Line. She was originally ordered by Costa Cruises as Costa Olympia from the Bremer Vulkan shipyard in Germany, but she was completed in 1999 by the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany for the Norwegian Cruise Line under the name Norwegian Sky. Between 2004 and 2008, she sailed as Pride of Aloha for NCL America.
MS Bahamas Celebration was a midsize cruise ship formerly operated by Celebration Cruise Line. Between March 2009 and October 2014, she operated two- and three-day cruises from Port Everglades to the Bahamas. In March 2010 she started operating two-day cruises from the Port of Palm Beach.
Carnival Freedom is a Conquest-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. She is the 22nd operating vessel in the fleet, and the last of the Conquest-class ships. The ship was built as part of a four-ship deal with Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard and was launched in Venice, Italy on April 28, 2006. She was delivered to Carnival on February 28, 2007.
Carnival Ecstasy was a Fantasy-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland, she was floated out on January 6, 1991, and christened by television hostess, entertainer and long time Carnival spokesperson Kathie Lee Gifford. Her inaugural voyage began on April 2, 1991. During 2007, in common with all of her Fantasy-class sisters, she had the prefix Carnival added to her name. With the departure of the Carnival Fantasy in 2020, the Carnival Ecstasy became the oldest ship in the fleet until her retirement in October 2022. She was replaced by Carnival Spirit out of Mobile, Alabama in October 2023.
Margaritaville at Sea Islander is a Spirit-class cruise ship previously owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. She was built in 2000 by the Kvaerner Masa-Yards Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland as Costa Atlantica for Costa Cruises. Costa Atlantica was sold to CSSC Carnival Cruise Shipping in 2019. After four years she was sold to Margaritaville at Sea, re-entering service in June 2024.
Margaritaville at Sea Paradise is a cruise ship owned by Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line and operating for Margaritaville at Sea. The ship was built in 1991 in Italy for Costa Cruises as Costa Classica. In 2000, a planned lengthening and refit was cancelled at the last moment. She was renamed Costa neoClassica in 2014, then left Costa fleet in 2018 when sold to Bahamas Paradise as Grand Classica. Since May 2022, the ship has been sailing as Margaritaville at Sea Paradise, after the cruise line announced a partnership with Margaritaville Resorts & Hotels.
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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 from Port Everglades to the Port of Palm Beach in March 2010.
The Celebration was a cruise ship originally built for Carnival Cruise Line. She was the last of three ships to be built in Carnival's Holiday Class of cruise ships. She last sailed for Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line between 2015 and 2020.
Hurricane Dorian was an extremely powerful and catastrophic Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, which became the most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the Bahamas, and is tied with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane for the strongest landfall in the Atlantic basin in terms of maximum sustained winds. The 2019 cyclone is regarded as the worst natural disaster in the Bahamas' recorded history. With winds peaking at 185 mph (295 km/h), it was also one of the most powerful hurricanes recorded in the Atlantic Ocean in terms of 1-minute sustained winds, and the strongest since Wilma in 2005. Dorian was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, the first major hurricane, and the first Category 5 hurricane of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season. Dorian struck the Abaco Islands on September 1 with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 km/h), tying with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane for the highest wind speeds of an Atlantic hurricane ever recorded at landfall. Dorian went on to strike Grand Bahama at similar intensity, stalling just north of the territory with unrelenting winds for at least 24 hours. The resultant damage to these islands was catastrophic; most structures were flattened or swept to sea, and at least 70,000 people were left homeless. After it ravaged through the Bahamas, Dorian proceeded along the coasts of the Southeastern United States and Atlantic Canada, leaving behind considerable damage and economic losses in those regions.
The effects of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas in 2019 were among the worst experienced for any natural disaster in the country. Hurricane Dorian struck the Abaco Islands as a Category 5 hurricane on September 1, and a day later hit Grand Bahama Island at the same category. The hurricane then stalled over Grand Bahama for another day, finally pulling away from the island on September 3. Damage amounted to US$3.4 billion, and there were at least 74 deaths in the country. Another 282 people were left missing after the hurricane.