Galveston continues to pile up cruise line wins, and the latest one comes from Margaritaville at Sea, which will become the seventh cruise line to sail from the Texas port when weekly cruises begin in October 2027.
The Galveston Wharves Board unanimously approved an agreement with Margaritaville at Sea on August 25 for weekly departures primarily from Cruise Terminal 28. The initial agreement covers 13 months, with options for two additional five-year terms, while the cruise line says details about the ship and itineraries will be announced during a special event in September.
Normally, the ship assignment would be a fairly minor detail. In this case, however, it may be the most interesting part of the entire announcement because Margaritaville’s three known ships already have homes, and all three are scheduled to be sailing from Florida when Galveston service begins.
That raises a pretty obvious question: is Margaritaville at Sea about to add another ship?
Galveston Keeps Getting Bigger
Before getting into the ship mystery, it’s worth looking at the market Margaritaville is entering because Galveston isn’t simply adding another cruise line. The Texas port has rapidly developed into one of the most competitive cruise markets in the country, with newer and much larger ships being positioned there.
Carnival Jubilee already sails year-round from Galveston, MSC Cruises has brought MSC Seascape to the market, and Royal Caribbean is preparing for an even bigger move. Icon of the Seas will begin sailing from Galveston in August 2027, just a couple of months before Margaritaville is scheduled to arrive.
That timing is important because it makes the idea of Margaritaville simply moving its oldest ship to Texas seem a little strange.
Margaritaville at Sea Paradise, built in 1991 as Costa Classica, has been the obvious candidate mentioned whenever the Galveston announcement comes up. Paradise currently sails short cruises from Palm Beach, and with Islander based in Tampa and the much larger Beachcomber arriving in Miami in January 2027, it would be easy to picture Margaritaville abandoning Palm Beach and sending Paradise west.
The schedules, however, don’t support that theory particularly well.
Paradise Is Still Scheduled From Palm Beach
Margaritaville recently expanded Paradise’s 2027 schedule from Palm Beach with additional three-, four- and five-night cruises, and those itineraries continue well beyond the October 2027 Galveston launch.
Islander presents the same problem. The former Costa Atlantica is scheduled to continue operating cruises from Tampa during late 2027, while Margaritaville at Sea Beachcomber is being positioned as the company’s new flagship from Miami beginning in January. Margaritaville itself currently describes the three-ship setup as Paradise from Palm Beach, Islander from Tampa and Beachcomber from Miami.
Cruise lines can certainly change deployments, and a published itinerary isn’t a guarantee that a ship will remain somewhere forever. Still, moving Paradise or Islander would require Margaritaville to cancel or substantially rearrange cruises it is already selling.
Then there is another issue with Paradise: putting a ship that will be roughly 36 years old into one of the fastest-growing cruise markets in America doesn’t seem like the strongest way to introduce the brand to Texas.
Margaritaville doesn’t need to compete with Icon of the Seas by building a waterslide-covered mega-ship of its own. That’s not its product, and there is obviously a market for smaller ships and a more laid-back cruise experience. But there is still a considerable difference between offering an alternative to the megaships and entering Galveston with a ship built when George H.W. Bush was president.
Especially when Margaritaville may have another option.
Margaritaville At Sea Paradise: The Grand Old Lady of Cruising
Margaritaville Has a Thing for Old Costa Ships
If we’re trying to figure out what Margaritaville might do next, there is one pattern that’s becoming difficult to ignore.
Every ship the cruise line has operated has come from Costa Cruises.
Paradise started life as Costa Classica in 1991.
Islander is the former Costa Atlantica, which entered service in 2000.
And Beachcomber is the former Costa Fortuna, built in 2003 and purchased directly from Costa by Margaritaville. The ship leaves Costa service in 2026 for a major conversion before beginning cruises from Miami in January 2027. Margaritaville announced the acquisition in May 2025 as part of what it described as the next phase of its fleet expansion.
At this point, asking whether another Costa ship could become Margaritaville’s Galveston ship isn’t exactly a far out idea.
It may actually be the most logical place to look.
Is Costa Preparing to Sell Another Ship?
There is currently no public announcement that Costa is selling another ship, and that’s an important distinction to make before the rumor mill gets too far ahead of itself.
Costa still lists nine ships in its fleet today, including Costa Fortuna, which is preparing to leave for Margaritaville. Once Fortuna departs, Costa will effectively be down to eight ships: Costa Toscana, Costa Smeralda, Costa Diadema, Costa Fascinosa, Costa Favolosa, Costa Deliziosa, Costa Pacifica and Costa Serena.
Costa has already undergone a substantial fleet reduction over the past several years. Since 2020, ships have been sold, scrapped or transferred elsewhere within Carnival Corporation, including Costa Luminosa moving to Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Venezia and Costa Firenze becoming part of Carnival’s fleet, Costa Atlantica eventually becoming Margaritaville Islander and now Costa Fortuna becoming Beachcomber. Costa also currently has no new ships on order.
That doesn’t mean another sale is imminent, but it certainly means another Costa disposal wouldn’t be unprecedented.
And there are several ships in the remaining fleet that would look a lot more interesting in Galveston than Paradise.
If It Is Another Costa Ship, Which One Makes Sense?
One place to look would be Costa’s group of approximately 114,000-gross-ton Concordia-class ships: Costa Serena, Costa Pacifica, Costa Favolosa and Costa Fascinosa.
Those ships were built between 2007 and 2012 and typically carry around 3,700 to 3,800 passengers at maximum capacity. They are still older vessels by today’s standards, but they’re dramatically newer and larger than Paradise while remaining small enough that Margaritaville could potentially transform them without trying to become another Royal Caribbean or MSC.
They would also fit the Galveston agreement much more comfortably.
The port agreement reportedly calls for Margaritaville to generate at least 200,000 passenger movements during the initial 13-month term. Because Galveston counts an embarkation and a disembarkation separately, a cruise passenger generally represents two movements.
A ship carrying somewhere around 3,000 passengers on weekly cruises could clear that minimum easily. Paradise, with a capacity of around 1,680 passengers, gets much closer to the line and would need to have very high occupancy rates, something it currently struggles with, to reach the requirement on weekly cruises alone.
The problem with naming a specific Costa ship today is that Costa already has 2027 cruises on sale for its remaining vessels. Costa Pacifica, for example, has Mediterranean cruises scheduled throughout October 2027, while Costa Favolosa and Costa Fascinosa also have published itineraries extending through the same period and beyond.
So there isn’t an obvious Costa ship sitting around with a conveniently empty calendar.
But we’ve seen this before.
Costa Fortuna was still an active Costa ship when Margaritaville announced in May 2025 that it had purchased the vessel. Costa continues to operate the ship before it hands it over for conversion in just a few days, and Margaritaville gave itself plenty of time between acquisition and the ship’s eventual January 2027 debut as Beachcomber.
If another acquisition is already being negotiated behind the scenes, existing Costa schedules don’t necessarily rule it out. They would simply need to be changed once the transaction becomes public.
The Timing Makes a Fourth Ship Look Increasingly Plausible
This is where the Galveston announcement gets particularly interesting.
Margaritaville isn’t starting service next month. It isn’t even starting next year. Galveston cruises don’t begin until October 2027, giving the company more than a year to acquire another vessel, send it through a major refurbishment and reposition it to Texas.
That’s almost the same strategy Margaritaville used with Beachcomber.
Beachcomber was announced as an acquisition well before its transformation and debut, allowing Margaritaville time to take a former Costa ship, strip away much of its previous identity and rebuild it around the Margaritaville brand.
There is no confirmation whatsoever that another Costa ship has been purchased, but Margaritaville’s history makes the possibility worth watching. Three ships have come from the Costa family already, Costa continues to operate several older ships that could theoretically be candidates for disposal, and Margaritaville has now announced a fourth homeport without identifying where the ship will come from.
The mystery may not be which Margaritaville ship is moving to Galveston.
It may be which Costa ship is about to become a Margaritaville ship.
Costa Pacifica… are you there?
