Margaritaville at Sea Islander Delays Tampa Embarkation After Diversion
Passengers were notified November 6 that terminal arrival appointments had moved from 9:30 in the morning–1:30 in the afternoon to 2–6 in the evening.
Margaritaville at Sea Islander, the former Costa Atlantica, is expected to return late to Port Tampa Bay on November 7, 2026, pushing embarkation for its next sailing back by four and a half hours. The delay follows an itinerary diversion that took the ship back to Cozumel during its current cruise.
The affected seven-night New Orleans and Mexico voyage had been scheduled to leave Tampa at 3:30 p.m. The revised passenger arrival window extends beyond that departure time, but Margaritaville at Sea has not announced a new sailing time.
Margaritaville at Sea notified passengers on November 6 through an emailed advisory and a Facebook post. Terminal arrival appointments originally running from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. have shifted to between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.; guests should add four and a half hours to their individual appointment times.
The cruise line instructed passengers to follow the revised schedule, not the times printed on their boarding passes, to limit waiting during the delayed turnaround. Its advisory attributed the disruption to “circumstances beyond our control,” without explaining the diversion.
The ship’s current six-night Mexico and Western Caribbean cruise left Tampa on November 1. Its scheduled calls were Cozumel on November 3, Belize City on November 4 and Roatan on November 5.
Cruise Hive’s ship tracker showed Islander returning to Cozumel after the Roatan call. Margaritaville at Sea has not provided details of the changes made to the current voyage.
Islander previously experienced a delayed Tampa return in November 2025, when dense fog temporarily closed Port Tampa Bay. Carnival Paradise was also affected by that closure.
The upcoming voyage is scheduled to call at New Orleans on November 9, Progreso on November 11 and Cozumel on November 12. No changes to those calls were included in the passenger advisory. The planned return to Tampa is November 14.
