An Oceanview Cabin onboard Margaritaville at Sea's Paradise Cruise Ship: My Review

Welcome onboard ‘Paradise’, the first ever cruise ship in the Margaritaville at Sea fleet. If you haven’t found me before, then hello - I’m Fraser and (long story short) I love to cruise. In this post today, I’m going to share with you my thoughts on the Oceanview cabins onboard this cruise ship, which might just help you decide if this is a room you’d like to try in the future. Spoiler alert - I was pretty impressed with what I found in this cabin type!

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There are a number of different cabin grades available to book on Paradise, and I’ve reviewed them ALL on this website - just click here to head to my Margaritaville at Sea section, where you can find all of my reviews! There’s Interior (also called ‘inside’) cabins, Oceanview cabins, and a range of Suite options - you won’t be short for choice on this little ship!

Let’s get started with a few pictures of the room. Remember, before you look at these, this is a pretty old ship - infact, she’s the same age as ME (no jokes about who’s growing old and looking better, please…!).

That’s right - the photograph you’re looking at here is an Interior cabin onboard a cruise ship that was first launched back in 1991. Now, this ship has been very recently refurbished, but can we pause for a second and appreciate how fresh and modern this cabin looks, considering how old the ship is?

In terms of location, you’re able to find these Oceanview cabins on a number of different decks: 4, 5, 6 and 7, and they can accommodate up to 3 passengers. The room I’m showing you in these pictures was set up for 2 guests, so I’m unable to answer how this would be setup with a third guest - I’m assuming an additional bed would be brought in (and perhaps lined up infront of that window?).

Now, let’s talk about this room in a little more detail. On first glance, this room does look really comfortable, and I was VERY impressed that the cruise line are offering this standard of room for their price point. I’ve cruised on ships charging 3-4 times the price of Margaritaville at Sea, and I don’t even get a chair in my room, so this felt surprisingly ‘premium’ compared to what I had expected. Now, on the note of ‘premium’, there are some obvious cutbacks in here, which are obvious to see as you look a little closer.

First up, let’s talk about that window. You can see that you don’t get curtains in here, but instead a really simple blackout blind (To be fair to them, it does the job - you can see how much light it’s blocking in the above pictures). It’s little things like this that I reckon some people would be disgruntled by, but please remember you’re cruising in a very ‘budget friendly’ room on a short cruise (that’s what this ship offers) - do you really need plush curtains to cover the windows? I don’t think so!

Next up on the topic of ‘premium’, let’s discuss the effect that the lack of a wall covering can have in here. I did feel to room to have quite a cold ‘echo’ when I was in here, probably due to the fact that it had nothing ‘soft’ on any of the walls to try to absorb the noise. Again, not a massive issue, but I’d have been annoyed trying to shoot a YouTube video in here with the sound bouncing everywhere (again, not really an issue for most cruisers!).

As you can probably tell, I’m really clutching at straws finding items to critique in this cabin - well done, Margaritaville at Sea!

Even from a storage point of view, this cabin is really well appointed. I didn’t get photos of the storage, but come and subscribe to my Youtube channel as I’ll have room tours from this ship going live in due course - you’ll see storage options there. It’s clear that there are a few touches here that this cruise line have not altered as part of their remit. Personally, I think some of the wood finishes look a bit dated, but remember that this furniture would’ve been in a much more ‘traditional’ cabin prior to the refurb from Margaritaville at Sea. That said, it’s hardly worth losing sleep over - it’s all in really good condition, from what I could see!

In terms of amenities in this room, you’re going to find ever cabin has:

• A large window, or porthole

• TV

• Desk, chair and table

• Private ensuite bathroom with shower

• Hair dryer

• Storage Space

• A phone (beside the bed)

Size-wise, you’re looking at a total floor space of 176.3 Sq Ft on average for these rooms, so a decent size if it’s 2-3 people sharing this room, if you ask for my opinion! I’ve seen MUCH smaller cabins on some of the much more modern cruise ships.

Ok, let’s move into the bathroom:

Nice space, isn’t it? There are a few different things to report in here, and don’t worry - we’re not going to dwell too long on that shower curtain…

First up, the shower cubicle is round. If you’ve read my other reviews of rooms on this ship, you’ll know that this is probably the first time (from what I can remember, anyway) that I’ve seen a round-based shower. I’m not sure why more ships don’t have this - maybe it makes the space a little tighter with the curtain closed? I don’t know.

Next up, look at the length of that mirror directly infront of the door as you walk in. Yes, it can be a little startling if you go to the bathroom through the night and it looks like there’s a person (your reflection) in the bathroom when you open the door, but I love it! It makes this room feel so much bigger, and nice and bright as it helps to reflect and push the light around the room!

On the left hand side of the bathroom is where you’ll find the sink in this cabin. I need to mention how big the basin in - I’ve been on so many ships with tiny little wash hand basins, but this one was the same size as what I’d expect to find in a hotel room on land - RESULT!

For my final point from the bathroom, I need to show you a picture of the floor…

So, what are you looking at here, and what point do I want to make? You might think you’re looking at a badly damaged bathroom floor, but you’re actually looking at a really nicely done wooden bathroom floor (another thing I’d never seen on a cruise ship before coming onto this ship!). The scores on the wood are obviously where it has been damaged in the past and repaired previously. I’m not sure I prefer the wood to a more modern vinyl floor covering (and it would probably be way cheaper for Margaritaville at Sea to maintain), but I appreciate the nod to the past this floor gives you - so unique!

So, an ‘Oceanview’ cabin onboard Margaritaville at Sea Paradise - would I recommend it to you? In a word, yes. For the price point that this cruise line are operating these rooms at, I’m hard pressed to find issues with this accommodation - I genuinely thought they’ve done a really great job of modernising what is a really old ship!

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