SITREP
The running log of whatever we're in the middle of. Right now that's a float.
Next movement: Margaritaville at Sea Paradise
- When
- November 2 to 6, 2026
- Route
- Palm Beach to Freeport and Nassau
- Paid, gifted, or comped
- Fare comped through the Heroes Sail Free veteran program. We are paying for everything else: parking, excursions, drinks, tips, and every green fee.
- Status
- Booked and packed. Both gear lists are done and posted below. Daily SITREPs start the morning of November 2.
Four days, two ports, and a Marine with a notebook. Daily SITREPs start the morning of November 2. The After Action Report, with proficiency, conduct, and an overall mark, posts after we're home and have had time to look at the receipts.
What gets graded
- The ship itself: cabin, chow, noise, and how far you walk to everything.
- Bodies over 50: stairs, handrails, gangways, and how long you stand in line.
- The cost, all in: what "free" actually cost once parking, tips, and drinks landed. Receipts on screen.
- The veteran rate: we ask at every desk, on camera, and report the answer either way.
- Golf: one round per port if the tee times work out.
What we worked out booking this one
Four things we had to figure out the hard way. Prices below came off Margaritaville at Sea's own site on 27 October 2026 and are per person, per night unless we say otherwise. Check them yourself before you book — cruise pricing moves.
1. Ask for the GOVX discount. Everywhere.
A verified GOVX membership is not a nice-to-have on this sailing — it is the gate. Heroes Sail Free requires GOVX verification at booking, and the free cabin covers fare for the first two guests in an auto-assigned interior room. Taxes, fees, and port expenses are still due per guest at booking, and the rest of the bill is yours.
Then keep asking. The same card gets you rates at outfitters, luggage, boots, and optics. The worst anyone says is no, and Gunny asks at every desk on camera.
Eligibility runs wider than people assume: military, first responders, educators, medical personnel, and government employees.
2. Do the math on the drink package. It is not automatically a bargain.
The Ultimate Beverage Chill runs $69.99 per person, per night. On a four-night sailing that is $279.96 a head, or $559.92 for two, before any service charge. Reports of a 20 percent gratuity on top are common; confirm it at booking, because it moves the number to roughly $336 a person.
Break-even, at list price: about five cocktails a day at $14, every day, including both port days when you are ashore and not drinking the ship's rum.
- Beer
- about $8.50 to $9
- Cocktail
- about $13 to $15
- Wine by the glass
- about $10 to $14
- Soda
- $2.75, or $12 a night for the unlimited package
- Already free
- filtered water, drip coffee, hot and iced tea, lemonade, juice
The part that catches couples: if one guest over 21 in the cabin buys it, every other guest over 21 in that cabin has to buy it too. So a pair where one drinks six a day and one drinks one a day pays twice and wastes half. That is the whole reason this rarely pencils out the way the brochure suggests.
The package caps at 15 alcoholic or specialty drinks a day and $20 a drink, and excludes buckets, pitchers, shared drinks, specialty coffee, and the minibar.
3. Go without the wi-fi, if you can go without it.
Internet is priced per device, per night: Connect from $19.99, Basic from $26.99, Premium from $30.99, Business from $39.99. Two people with two phones on the cheapest tier is roughly $160 for four nights, and that is before anyone opens a laptop.
Our move is to buy none of it. Four days unreachable is not a hardship, it is the point of getting on a boat. That is our opinion and not medical advice — but nobody has ever come home from a float wishing they had checked email more.
If you have to stay reachable — a business, a parent in care, a kid at home — buy the one device that has to work and leave the rest in the safe. Port days usually have cell service ashore.
4. Medical accommodations have a process, and a deadline nobody mentions.
The Accommodations Questionnaire covers far more than people expect, from distilled water for a CPAP all the way to getting a wheelchair on and off the ship. If you need something, ask for it in writing rather than hoping to sort it out at the pier.
- 45 days out
- Wheelchair, mobility assistance, accessible stateroom, special diets, CPAP or BIPAP distilled water and extension cord, refrigeration for injectable medication
- At booking
- Oxygen, with quantity, type, and delivery schedule. Dialysis equipment
- 30 days out
- Pier boarding and departure assistance
- 7 days out
- Early boarding and priority check-in
The 45-day wall is the thing to know. It is why we are telling you now instead of in the After Action Report. Miss it and you are negotiating at a counter with a line behind you.
Questionnaire and Access Desk: margaritavilleatsea.com, or (800) 374-4311, weekdays 9 to 5 Eastern. Onboard wheelchairs are limited and held for embarkation and disembarkation; for use during the cruise you bring your own or rent. Staff cannot lift guests, and anyone who cannot manage dressing or eating has to sail with a companion.
The two packing lists
What we pack, and what we quit packing. Both are one page, both print, and no brand paid for a spot on either one.
The Cruise Kit, 20 things we'd pack again (PDF) Leave It Home, 10 things that never earn their keep (PDF)
Rule of thumb on the second one: if you wouldn't pack it for a hotel, don't pack it for a cruise. And the iron or steamer gets taken off you at the terminal, every time.
Pick his tee times
Two ports, two rounds, and he will play whichever course wins. One vote each, closes when we sail on November 2.
We are not affiliated with any of these courses and none of them paid for this. If a round gets comped at the desk, we will say so on camera and in the brief.