Food on the Margaritaville at Sea Paradise Cruise

I recently went on a cruise on the Margaritaville Paradise from Port of Palm Beach to Freeport in The Bahamas. Here's the food I ate on the ship:

There were some issues in the port where boarding the ship took longer than expected. Headed straight to the Port of Indecision Buffet for lunch as soon as I was on board. Unfortunately, they were clearing the buffet by the time I got there. I was able to pick some stragglers that were still there including some sort of vegetable curry, rice, a pig in a blanket, and a hot dog with no bun. Everything tasted like I got the leftovers just before it was thrown out.

Walked around the corner after getting some of the leftover buffet food to find the Cheeseburger in Paradise Burger Bar. They were still serving food. Got a cheeseburger and fries that tasted fresher than the buffet food.

That evening, I ate dinner in the Fins Dining Room. This was the fancy dining room that was included in the cruise. There was also a steakhouse, pizzeria, and coffee shop that were upcharges. My meal started with a bowl of Jamaican Pumpkin Soup:

This was followed by a Caprese Salad. Wasn't my favorite. Hunk of cheese, lots of arugula, and not much flavor.

I had the Antigua Shrimp Skewer for my main course. This was jumbo shrimp with mango salsa over jasmine rice. Broccoli was served as a vegetable. It was fine, but could have used a little more sauce for flavor. Everything on the plate lacked any distinct seasoning.

I ate the Key Lime Sponge Cake for dessert. I liked it, but the consensus among others at the table who ordered this was that they would have preferred regular key lime pie.

For breakfast the next morning, I went back to the Port of Indecision Buffet. They were serving food this time around. Besides the issue with the buffet closing when I boarded, breakfast was consistently the worst food on the ship. It was really bad. Eggs were cold. Certain items were still frozen. Scarfed it down so I'd have energy for the day, but I didn't enjoy it.

Left the ship and explored Freeport. When I got back on board the ship, I won a hula hoop contest where the prize was a free drink. I don't do alcohol, so I had a virgin pina colada. 

Also made it back to the Cheeseburger in Paradise Burger Bar for a late afternoon meal to hold me over until dinnertime. 

Back to the Fins Dining Room for dinner that night, my meal started with the Cajun Gumbo:

This was followed by a Caesar Salad. Pretty standard, but better than the caprise salad from the night before.

I had Shrimp & Grits as my main course. This was the best food item I had in Fins. It was really tasty.

I tried the Baked Florida for dessert. This was layers of ice cream with marshmallow meringue as an outer coating. Not my favorite.

Later I found myself back in Port of Indecision Buffet for a late night snack. They had Butter Chicken. This was really good. I had the chicken over rice with naan. Good flavors, good spice levels. I really enjoyed this. The desserts from the buffet, not so much...

For my final meal on the cruise, it was back to Port of Indecision Buffet for breakfast. Regular buffet food was just as bad as the previous breakfast, but waiting for the omelet bar was worth it. The omelet was really good. Weird how the ship has a good grasp on semi-decent food, but they can't figure out how to make breakfast well.

Here's some video I took of the food on the ship: