Celebrity Ascent - Panama Canal & Southern Caribbean

Where this cruise calls, day by day

8 ports and 4 sea days over 11 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Fort Lauderdale, FL

   United StatesDepart

   Port Everglades is the easy one. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International sits barely two miles from the berths - the shortest airport-to-ship hop of any major US homeport - and the eight passenger terminals are spread far enough apart that traffic rarely knots the way Miami's does. Check your terminal number before you set off; they are not close together.

   • Las Olas Boulevard for lunch, then the walk down to the beach
   • The Water Taxi loop along the New River and Intracoastal, past the yacht basins
   • Bonnet House Museum and Gardens, a 1920s estate hemmed in by condo towers
   • Hollywood Broadwalk, 20 minutes south, for a flatter and cheaper beach day

   Getting ashore

   Eight passenger terminals (2, 4, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26 and 29) ring the harbour on separate access roads, and FLL is about 2 miles out - often under 15 minutes door to door.

   Best months

   Nov-Apr (Aug-Oct is peak hurricane season)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3 · At sea

4. Day 4

   Cartagena

   ColombiaPort

   The berth sits inside a working container port, and the walk out passes a small aviary the port maintains - flamingos, macaws and monkeys in the trees, an odd but real feature of the arrival. The walled city is 20 to 30 minutes by taxi and earns the trip: a complete colonial core inside Spanish fortifications, with Getsemaní's murals just outside the gates. It is punishingly hot and the plaza vendors are relentless.

   • The walled city and Las Bóvedas
   • Castillo San Felipe de Barajas
   • Getsemaní's street art and Plaza de la Trinidad
   • A boat out to the Rosario Islands

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock in the commercial port; the walled city is a 20-30 minute taxi ride, and official port taxis queue at the terminal.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr is drier and marginally less humid; Sep-Nov is wettest. Outside the main hurricane track

5. Day 5

   Panama Canal (Transit)

   PanamaPort

   This is a sea day where the ship itself is the excursion. A full transit takes eight to ten hours, lifting the ship 85 feet through the Gatún chambers, across Gatún Lake and the Culebra Cut, then down through Pedro Miguel and Miraflores. Partial transits go only as far as the lake, land passengers for shore tours, and back out the way they came. Forward deck space fills before dawn.

   • Watching a lock chamber fill from a forward deck
   • The Culebra Cut, the section hacked through the continental divide
   • The wider Agua Clara and Cocolí locks, if your ship is Neopanamax
   • The onboard canal narrator, who boards with the pilot

   Getting ashore

   Not a port call - the ship transits; on partial transits passengers tender ashore in Gatún Lake for excursions and rejoin the ship there.

   Best months

   Jan-Apr is the dry season; drought years have cut the number of daily transit slots, so schedules can shift

6. Day 6

   Panama Canal (Transit)

   PanamaPort

   This is a sea day where the ship itself is the excursion. A full transit takes eight to ten hours, lifting the ship 85 feet through the Gatún chambers, across Gatún Lake and the Culebra Cut, then down through Pedro Miguel and Miraflores. Partial transits go only as far as the lake, land passengers for shore tours, and back out the way they came. Forward deck space fills before dawn.

   • Watching a lock chamber fill from a forward deck
   • The Culebra Cut, the section hacked through the continental divide
   • The wider Agua Clara and Cocolí locks, if your ship is Neopanamax
   • The onboard canal narrator, who boards with the pilot

   Getting ashore

   Not a port call - the ship transits; on partial transits passengers tender ashore in Gatún Lake for excursions and rejoin the ship there.

   Best months

   Jan-Apr is the dry season; drought years have cut the number of daily transit slots, so schedules can shift

7. Day 7 · At sea

8. Day 8

   Oranjestad

   ArubaPort

   Aruba sits below the hurricane belt and gets under 20 inches of rain a year, which is why the leeward coast is one long resort beach and the interior is cactus and divi-divi trees permanently bent by the trade wind. The cruise terminal is in central Oranjestad, with Dutch-colonial pastel shopfronts starting at the gate and a free streetcar running the main street.

   • Eagle Beach and Palm Beach
   • Arikok National Park and the Natural Pool by 4x4
   • Baby Beach at the far southeast tip
   • The California Lighthouse and the dunes below it

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock in downtown Oranjestad - walk out of the terminal into town; Eagle Beach is a 10-minute taxi or bus ride.

   Best months

   Good all year; Jan-Apr is driest and busiest, Oct-Dec brings brief showers. Outside the hurricane belt

9. Day 9

   Willemstad

   CuracaoPort

   The arrival is the best part of the day. Ships either tie up at the Mega Pier just outside the harbour mouth or sail directly into St. Anna Bay past the Handelskade's row of ochre and mint waterfront houses. Willemstad is a UNESCO site and a genuinely Dutch city dropped into the tropics - floating market, a pontoon bridge that swings open for shipping, and the oldest synagogue still in use in the Americas.

   • The Queen Emma pontoon bridge and the Handelskade waterfront
   • Mikvé Israel-Emanuel synagogue and its sand floor
   • Kurá Hulanda museum's slavery collection
   • West-coast beaches like Cas Abao and Grote Knip

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock; the Mega Pier is a 10-15 minute walk into Otrobanda, while the inner-harbour berth puts you beside the pontoon bridge.

   Best months

   Year-round; Oct-Dec is wettest but the rain is brief. Outside the hurricane belt

10. Day 10

    Kralendijk

    BonairePort

    Bonaire's entire coastline is a protected marine park, and the island is organised around getting into it - shore diving is the default here, marked by numbered yellow stones along the coast road rather than dive boats. Ships dock in the middle of tiny Kralendijk, so town is a two-minute walk, but town is small. The point is the water, or the salt pans and flamingos down south.

    • Shore snorkelling and diving in Bonaire National Marine Park
    • Klein Bonaire by water taxi
    • The southern salt pans, slave huts and flamingo colony
    • Washington Slagbaai National Park

    Getting ashore

    Ships dock right in Kralendijk - you step off into town; any in-water activity requires a paid STINAPA nature tag.

    Best months

    Year-round; Oct-Jan is the wetter stretch. Outside the hurricane belt

11. Day 11 · At sea

12. Day 12

    Fort Lauderdale, FL

    United StatesArrive

    Port Everglades is the easy one. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International sits barely two miles from the berths - the shortest airport-to-ship hop of any major US homeport - and the eight passenger terminals are spread far enough apart that traffic rarely knots the way Miami's does. Check your terminal number before you set off; they are not close together.

    • Las Olas Boulevard for lunch, then the walk down to the beach
    • The Water Taxi loop along the New River and Intracoastal, past the yacht basins
    • Bonnet House Museum and Gardens, a 1920s estate hemmed in by condo towers
    • Hollywood Broadwalk, 20 minutes south, for a flatter and cheaper beach day

    Getting ashore

    Eight passenger terminals (2, 4, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26 and 29) ring the harbour on separate access roads, and FLL is about 2 miles out - often under 15 minutes door to door.

    Best months

    Nov-Apr (Aug-Oct is peak hurricane season)