Heroes Sail Free Program Is Back On Popular Cruise Line
The heroes sail free program is back and it’s going to be on Margaritaville at Sea. So, this is a new program by Margaritaville at Sea offers free fares for members of the military. Additionally, this program is for police, firefighters, EMS personnel, nurses, and educators. So if you fit into one of those professions, you can travel free on one of their two ships with a paying guest as many times as you like during 2024. One of the ships will be sailing from the Port of Tampa. The Margaritaville at Sea Islander will sell her maiden voyage on June 14th this year from Tampa.
The ship will sail to the Western Caribbean and will go for four or five nights. They have a port of call between Cozumel and Progreso in Mexico and Key West. The Islander ship has room for 2,650 guests.
The heroes sail free program was launched in 2022. So if you would like to go on this cruise you need to verify your eligibility through the govx website.
“Since we launched our first ship, Margaritaville at Sea Paradise, last year, we’ve been working to expand what our guests have been asking for: more amazing views, longer itineraries, and new ports of call,” said Christopher Ivy, CEO of Margaritaville at Sea. “The addition of the Islander is an exciting moment for Margaritaville at Sea and marks the next chapter of growth for our business.” Christopher continued, “We are also pleased to add Tampa as a new homeport – the perfect location to provide access to our adventurous new itineraries in and around the Gulf of Mexico.”
The Margaritaville Name Is World Famous
The name Margaritaville is based on Jimmy Buffett’s 1977 song by the same name. Jimmy Buffett turned it into a restaurant chain which became highly successful with the first one opening up in 1985 in Key West. Additionally, they are headquartered in Orlando. There are 23 locations of the Margaritaville restaurant in the world. Finally, the Margaritaville name can be found at other places, including retail outlets, vacation clubs, hotels, casinos and cruises.
Finally, Jimmy Buffett passed away on September 1, 2023 at the age of 76. He released over 30 albums and sold over 20 million of those albums. Other songs that he released other than “Margaritaville” that became very popular include “Come Monday”, “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and he also teamed up with Alan Jackson for “It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere”.
Most Popular Cruise Destinations From Port Tampa Bay
Port Tampa Bay has become among the busiest ports in the country. Along with cargo, cruises from Tampa have become increasingly popular. Where can you sail from Tampa?
Port Tampa Bay hosts five cruise lines. They are, in fact, Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity Cruises and Margaritaville at Sea. Collectively, these cruise lines offer a variety of cruises from 4 to 14 days long.
There are over 30 ports of call to visit from Port Tampa Bay. Surprisingly, they span from as far southwest as Panama Canal to as far east in the Caribbean as Barbados.
Whether you are new to cruising, or if you’re an experienced traveler, there’s something all cruises have in common. That is cruising gives travelers a variety of ways to see the world, one port at a time. Because ships usually travel each day to a new location, guests aboard ship are given opportunities to visit exciting and exotic places that they’ll remember forever.
Between the five cruise lines, there are eight ships that call Tampa Bay home. The ships are:
- Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Paradise
- Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Pride
- Royal Caribbean International’s Radiance of the Seas
- Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas
- Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas
- Celebrity Cruises’ Constellation
- Norwegian Cruise Line’s Jade
- Margaritaville at Seas’ Islander
Travel agent Lorrie Durbin of Able Go Travel did the leg work and compiled a list of all of the destinations that can be visited by taking a cruise from Port Tampa Bay. The list intentionally left out the various cruise lines’ private island ports of call. The remaining destination ports were then tallied. This is the result of the collection of all cruise destinations from each of the cruise companies’ itineraries.
Based on which cruise port destinations appeared most often, here are the most visited cruise destinations from Port Tampa Bay.
