Marina - Panama Canal Navigator: Double Transit from Miami

Where this cruise calls, day by day

17 ports and 4 sea days over 20 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Miami, FL

   United StatesDepart
   Miami, FL port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   Cozumel

   MexicoPort
   Cozumel port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
4. Day 4

   Costa Maya

   MexicoPort
   Costa Maya port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
5. Day 5

   Harvest Caye

   BelizePort

   Norwegian built this 75-acre island off southern Belize precisely to avoid Belize City's long tender ride - ships tie up at a pier and you walk ashore. What is there is a resort day: a large freshwater pool with a swim-up bar, a saltwater lagoon, a zip line, a ropes course and a shopping village, on Norwegian ships only. Food and drink are for sale rather than included.

   • The saltwater lagoon and the freshwater pool
   • Zip line over the water and the ropes course
   • The butterfly house and wildlife exhibit
   • Boat-and-bus excursions to Placencia and the southern Maya sites

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at Harvest Caye itself; mainland Belize excursions leave by boat to Placencia or Independence, adding 20-30 minutes each way.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr is the dry season; Jun-Oct is wet and hot, with hurricane risk peaking Aug-Oct

6. Day 6

   Santo Tomas de Castilla

   GuatemalaPort

   Guatemala's Caribbean port sits in the Bay of Amatique next to Puerto Barrios, and it is a commercial pier with a shed of craft stalls rather than a destination. This side of the country is Garífuna and Q'eqchi' rather than highland Maya, and the good excursions reflect that - a river gorge, a coastal town reachable only by boat, and one of the great Maya carving sites.

   • Quiriguá's carved stelae, a UNESCO site about 90 minutes away
   • A Río Dulce gorge boat trip and the Castillo de San Felipe
   • Livingston, the Garífuna town reachable only by boat
   • Las Escobas waterfalls in the Cerro San Gil reserve

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at the commercial pier; there is no town at the gate, Puerto Barrios is a short drive, and everything else is an hour or more.

   Best months

   Jan-Apr is driest; this coast is wet most of the year and Sep-Nov is heaviest

7. Day 7

   Roatán

   HondurasPort
   Roatán port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore

8. Day 8 · At sea

9. Day 9

   Puerto Limon

   Costa RicaPort

   Limón is Costa Rica's Caribbean port and a working one - the pier is in town, the town is scruffy and humid, and almost nobody stays. This coast is the country's wettest and its most Afro-Caribbean, with Jamaican-descended Creole culture and rainforest starting right behind the city. Everything worth doing runs inland to the canals, the aerial trams and the whitewater rivers.

   • Tortuguero canal boat trips
   • The Veragua Rainforest or the Braulio Carrillo aerial tram
   • Whitewater rafting the Pacuare or Reventazón
   • Cahuita National Park and Puerto Viejo down the coast

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at the pier in central Limón; you can walk into town in minutes, though there is little reason to linger.

   Best months

   Feb-Mar and Sep-Oct are the driest windows - the Caribbean side reverses the national pattern and rains hardest Nov-Jan

10. Day 10

    Panama Canal (Transit)

    PanamaPort
    Panama Canal (Transit) port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
11. Day 11

    Panama City (Fuerte Amador)

    PanamaPort
    Panama City (Fuerte Amador) port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
12. Day 12

    Panama Canal (Transit)

    PanamaPort
    Panama Canal (Transit) port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
13. Day 13

    Cartagena

    ColombiaPort
    Cartagena port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
14. Day 14

    Santa Marta

    ColombiaPort

    Santa Marta is the oldest surviving Spanish city in Colombia, founded in 1525, and the pier puts you within a short walk of its cathedral and the restored Parque de los Novios. It is smaller and rougher than Cartagena, with a working-port city beach you would not swim at, but it sits between the Caribbean and the Sierra Nevada - Tayrona's coves an hour east, coffee farms climbing the mountains behind.

    • Tayrona National Park's beaches and jungle trails
    • Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino, where Simón Bolívar died
    • Minca's coffee farms and waterfalls in the Sierra Nevada
    • The Centro Histórico and Parque de los Novios at dusk

    Getting ashore

    Ships dock at the city pier; the historic centre is a 5-10 minute walk from the terminal gate.

    Best months

    Dec-Apr is dry and windy; Sep-Nov is the rainiest. Outside the main hurricane track

15. Day 15

    Oranjestad

    ArubaPort
    Oranjestad port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
16. Day 16

    Willemstad

    CuracaoPort
    Willemstad port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore

17. Day 17 · At sea

18. Day 18

    Port Antonio

    JamaicaPort

    Port Antonio is the north-east corner of Jamaica, the wettest and greenest part, and it never got the resort build-out the rest of the north coast did. Only small ships call, tying up at the Ken Wright Pier in the middle of town. This is where jerk cooking comes from, where Errol Flynn turned bamboo rafting on the Rio Grande into a business, and where the Blue Lagoon of the film actually is.

    • Bamboo rafting the Rio Grande
    • The Blue Lagoon
    • Frenchman's Cove, where a river meets the beach
    • Jerk pork at Boston Bay

    Getting ashore

    Small ships dock at Ken Wright Pier and you walk off into town; Frenchman's Cove is about 15 minutes east by taxi.

    Best months

    Dec-Apr and Jul-Aug are the drier stretches; this is Jamaica's wettest coast and rain is possible any month

19. Day 19 · At sea

20. Day 20

    Great Stirrup Cay

    BahamasPort

    Norwegian's Berry Islands beach is the oldest of the private-island calls - the line has used it since 1977. It was a tender operation for decades, which made short calls miserable, until a two-ship pier opened at the end of 2025 and ships began tying up. Bertram's Cove is the main swimming beach. The buffet lunch is included; cabanas, the Silver Cove villas, watersports rentals and the spa are not.

    • Bertram's Cove, the main beach
    • The included beach barbecue buffet
    • Snorkel gear, kayaks and floats for rent (extra cost)
    • Private cabanas and the Silver Cove lagoon villas (extra cost)

    Getting ashore

    Ships dock at the pier that opened in December 2025 - older trip reports describing a tender ride no longer apply.

    Best months

    Nov-Apr for calm seas and reliable calls; summer is hotter with afternoon storms

21. Day 21

    Miami, FL

    United StatesArrive
    Miami, FL port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore