Parrotheads can soon earn perks on Margaritaville cruises, too

Jimmy Buffett's new cruise brand Margaritaville at Sea — an extension of the popular singer's Margaritaville resort empire -- will begin sailing in two weeks, and perk-loving Parrotheads will eventually be able to score onboard amenities via the Margaritaville Perks Program.

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"We'll have an official program [for the cruise line] rolled out by the beginning of next year," Margaritaville CMO Tamara Baldanza-Dekker said Tuesday during a press event at Seatrade, the cruise industry's annual conference.

She also reassured existing Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line loyalty members that they won't lose their status with the line as it emerges from its rebranding, which has been delayed by a couple of weeks.

"We [already] have a perks program with the Margaritaville brand," Baldanza-Dekker explained. "There's [also] an existing program with the ship, so we're merging those because what we don't want to happen is for anybody who's been sailing on the old cruise line to feel like they've been bumped. We want to continue to honor the fact that they've been sailing with us. But we also have Margaritaville loyalists who we want to do the same for."

Like everything about the brand, its existing perks program is laid back: no points to track and no loyalty levels to reach. "It's all about immediate reward," Baldanza-Dekker told TPG after the event.

However, because each Margaritaville location is individually owned through a franchise system, perks vary from one property to the next.

Specific onboard offerings haven't been announced yet, but the perks program website lists early check-in and free drinks as examples of what members might be able to expect.

"We are going to be implementing the perks program on Margaritaville at Sea, but we're figuring out how that's going to work in a cruise setting because there's an expectation with cruisers ... You get on board, you're recognized, and you get something, whether it's free margaritas or something."

Francis Riley, Margaritaville at Sea's chief commercial officer, said the goal is to try to draw fans of the existing land-based resorts to give cruising a try.

"For people that are staying at the resorts, we would love to be able to provide some type of incentive to come on board the ship," Riley said. "Definitely the long-term plan is to engage with the perks program, and then in the interim, we're trying to be smart and talk about how we can encourage customers to come on board the ship and reward them for doing that."

The line's sole ship, Paradise -- Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line's former Grand Classica and Costa Cruises' former neoClassica -- promises a 5 o'Clock Somewhere Bar, a steakhouse called JWB Prime and revamped amenities, including new mattresses and Margaritaville's branded Paradise Pillows, as well as the Parakeet Kids Club, which will eventually be themed after one of Jimmy Buffett's children's books.

The line will offer two-night voyages back and forth between the ship's Port of Palm Beach homeport and Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. Passengers can choose to disembark in Freeport and extend their stay at a land-based resort for several days before reboarding and sailing back to Florida.

The inaugural voyage is set to depart on May 14, 2022.

Featured rendering courtesy of Margaritaville at Sea.