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Margaritaville at Sea Paradise Resumes Service with New Features

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Margaritaville at Sea Paradise Resumes Service with New Features

The Margaritaville at Sea Paradise resumed service with new and enhanced features after undergoing a drydock in Grand Bahama.

In a social media video update, Margaritaville at Sea shared a behind-the-scenes look at the work carried out onboard the 1991-built vessel.

According to Taylor Karr, the company’s senior director for strategy and operations, significant work was carried out in areas such as the Euphoria Lounge.

The space was refreshed with new carpets, new upholstery, new wall coverings, and new light fixtures, he explained.

“We removed the flooring all the way down to the bare steel, laid some incredible-quality underlay and added a really incredible woolen carpet that looks good and feels really nice to walk on,” Karr added.

The ship’s Margaritaville Casino was also updated with a new look and updated features, he continued.

“In the casino, we’ve done a tremendous amount of work. All of our tables have been freshly refinished including new upholstery and new felts,” Karr said.

Other changes to the casino included a black-painted ceiling, as well as a new tropical-themed vinyl wrap across the lights.

“(We also added) new carpets throughout the whole venue and tons of new games for our guests to enjoy,” Karr continued.

One of the highlights of the drydock was the addition of the new High Tide Market, which replaces Paradise’s traditional self-service buffet.

Karr described the venue as Margaritaville at Sea’s new food hall concept, noting that the restaurant offers a range of stations serving different kinds of cuisine.

“We painted the entire thing in the most beautiful shade of blue, we took all of the floors down to nothing and we laid brand new carpet,” he said. The venue was also equipped with new lighting and a new ceiling.

The ship’s main pool deck now offers new cabanas with what Karr described as “high-quality furniture.”

Paradise’s 12-Volt Pool underwent a major update with a new synthetic flooring replacing the original deck floor, as well as new pool loungers and new paint.

“We took the tiles around the pool, we took it all out, and replaced it with a material called Life Floor,” Karr said.

The Margaritaville at Sea Paradise also got a Permanent Reminder Tattoo Studio as part of its refurbishment.

After first debuting onboard the Margaritaville at Sea Islander, the space was added to Paradise’s Deck 8.

MSC Cruises orders a pair of World-class ships

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MSC Cruises orders a pair of World-class ships

MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique have announced orders for two additional LNG World-class ships – numbers 7 and 8 – valued at US$4Bn

The announcement was made at a double celebration event to mark maritime milestones for two other LNG World-class ships currently under construction at Chantiers de l’Atlantique’s shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France: the float-out of MSC World Asia and the coin ceremony of MSC World Atlantic.

MSC Group executive chairman, cruise division Pierfrancesco Vago said, “We mark a proud moment today for MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique as we celebrate important milestones for our future – the float out of MSC World Asia, the coin ceremony of MSC World Atlantic and the order of two new ships.

“The World-class platform is a symbol of our vision to set new standards for the future of cruising. These are some of the most energy-efficient ships in the world, and we continue our commitment to LNG, ensuring we are ready for future renewable fuels. We look forward to continuing with our innovative and successful collaboration with Chantiers de L’Atlantique – our long-term partner for more than 20 years.”

Chantiers de l’Atlantique general manager Laurent Castaing added, “We are deeply grateful to MSC Cruises for their renewed confidence. What our shipyard is achieving today is truly exceptional – four new ships ordered in 2025. The World-class series, now totalling eight vessels, is a testament to our teams’ expertise and to MSC’s vision. It exemplifies our shared commitment to elevating the passenger experience while advancing environmental performance.”

MSC Cruises’ World class consists of MSC World Europa (2022), MSC World America (2025), MSC World Asia (2026), and MSC World Atlantic (2027), with the yet-to-be-named World-class 5, 6, 7 and 8 ships to follow by 2031.

The two new orders will be subject to access to financing, as per industry practice.

Juneau Reaffirms Cruise Passenger Limits Amid New Dock Proposal

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Juneau Reaffirms Cruise Passenger Limits Amid New Dock Proposal

While a proposed new cruise dock could expand the number of cruise berths in Juneau, the city currently has no plans to increase the number of guests arriving.

Speaking with Cruise Industry News, Tourism Director of the City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ), Alexandra Pierce, highlighted the town’s sustainable approach to tourism and said that the development project has not been approved yet.

“We’re one of the communities in the world that has negotiated cruise ship limits, and we don’t have any plans to change those limits,” she said.

Juneau currently holds a voluntary five-ship-a-day limit, which keeps the number of arriving guests steady.

“We’re proud of having these negotiated agreements with the cruise industry,” she said, adding that the deals “were pretty hard fought.”

Pierce noted that the project for additional cruise berths in Juneau, which is being carried out by Goldbelt, is currently pending approval from local authorities.

“They had some preliminary meetings with the city regarding their plans. However, there are very extensive permitting and reviewing processes pending, not just by us, but also by other government agencies that would be impacted,” she explained.

While the proposed port could increase the number of berths available for ships in the town, the actual growth of cruise passengers arriving depends on many other factors, Pierce continued.

“These limits that we have in place allow us to manage for the volume that we have today,” she explained.

Pierce said that such an increase would impact many areas, from transportation to emergency services infrastructure.

“All of that needs to be taken into consideration before adding an additional 500,000 people to a port that already sees 1.7 million visitors a year,” Pierce added.

“To raise those limits, we would need to see some pretty significant infrastructure improvements, which is what our city council is kind of grappling with right now.”

Juneau is soon putting together a visitor industry task force, which will also discuss the matter, she continued.

“One of the things that we’re asking them is under what conditions can Juneau grow? What are our infrastructure needs? What are our criteria for being able to welcome more passengers?”

She noted that the city is working on infrastructure improvements, but these are aimed at better hosting the number of guests that are currently arriving.

“While infrastructure is a great destination management tool, it’s also a very slow destination management tool and very expensive,” Pierce said.

“We want to make sure that we fully recognise and understand the burden on our public facilities of any sort of growth and how we can mitigate that burden going into the future,” she added.