Marina - Panama Potpourri: Miami to Panama City

Where this cruise calls, day by day

9 ports and 2 sea days over 10 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Miami, FL

   United StatesDepart

   PortMiami is the busiest cruise port on earth and behaves like it: a lettered row of terminals strung along Dodge Island - A for Royal Caribbean, B for Norwegian, C for MSC, D through F for the Carnival brands, V for Virgin. Traffic funnels in over the Port Boulevard causeway or through the tunnel under Government Cut, and on a Saturday with six ships turning around, both back up.

   • Ocean Drive and the Art Deco district in South Beach, 20 minutes across the causeway
   • Wynwood Walls and the warehouse murals around it
   • Calle Ocho in Little Havana - a cortadito and the domino tables at Maximo Gomez Park
   • Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, a 1916 bayfront villa in Coconut Grove

   Getting ashore

   Terminals A-G and V sit on Dodge Island, reached by the Port Boulevard causeway or the PortMiami Tunnel; Miami International is about 8 miles west, usually 20-30 minutes but longer on a heavy turnaround morning.

   Best months

   Nov-Apr (Aug-Oct is peak hurricane season and August ashore is punishing)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   Cozumel

   MexicoPort

   Cozumel is an island 12 miles off the Yucatán that runs almost entirely on cruise traffic - three piers, up to six ships at once, and a downtown built to absorb them. Which pier you draw matters more than anything else: Punta Langosta puts you in San Miguel on foot, while Puerta Maya and the International Pier sit a few miles south and need a taxi. The reason to come is underwater, on the Palancar and Colombia reefs.

   • Snorkel or dive Palancar Reef
   • Chankanaab Park's lagoon and shore snorkelling
   • A beach club day at Mr. Sancho's or Nachi Cocom
   • San Gervasio Maya ruins in the island's interior

   Getting ashore

   All ships dock; Punta Langosta is a walk into San Miguel, while Puerta Maya and the International Pier are 3-4 miles south, about 10 minutes by taxi.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr is driest and calmest; Jun-Nov is hurricane season, and sargassum can wash ashore May-Aug

4. Day 4

   Costa Maya

   MexicoPort

   Costa Maya is a port with no town attached. The pier was built for ships, and the village behind it - saltwater pools, tequila stalls, a dolphin pen - is a purpose-built shopping compound. The actual settlement of Mahahual is a couple of miles up the road: a sandy malecón, beach clubs, and reef close enough to swim to. Most passengers skip both and head inland to Chacchoben or Bacalar.

   • Chacchoben Maya ruins, about an hour inland
   • Bacalar's Lagoon of Seven Colours (a long day, roughly two hours each way)
   • Beach clubs along the Mahahual malecón
   • Snorkelling the Mesoamerican reef from shore

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at Puerto Costa Maya; Mahahual town is a 10-minute shuttle or taxi, or a hot 25-minute walk from the pier gate.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr is dry; sargassum is common Apr-Aug and Sep-Oct is the wettest, riskiest stretch

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 is a long, thin island sitting on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, and the day splits by pier. Carnival ships use Mahogany Bay at Dixon Cove, which has its own manufactured beach and a chairlift down to it; Royal Caribbean's Port of Roatán is in Coxen Hole, the workaday capital. Neither is really where you want to be - the reef at West Bay starts about twenty feet off the sand, half an hour west.

   • Snorkel the reef straight off West Bay Beach
   • West End village for dive shops and lunch
   • Gumbalimba Park's macaws and capuchins
   • A day pass at Little French Key

   Getting ashore

   Both Mahogany Bay and Port of Roatán are alongside berths, not tenders; West Bay Beach is a 30-45 minute taxi from either, and drivers negotiate hard.

   Best months

   Feb-Sep for the clearest water; Oct-Jan is the wet season, with November the heaviest month

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

    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

11. Day 11

    Panama City (Fuerte Amador)

    PanamaArrive

    Fuerte Amador is an anchorage off the causeway that links Panama City to four islands at the Pacific mouth of the canal. Many ships still tender here, though a cruise terminal opened at Amador in 2023 and some now berth alongside. Either way, the skyline across the water is a wall of glass towers, and the day belongs to Casco Viejo's restored colonial quarter and the Miraflores lock viewing platform.

    • Miraflores Locks visitor centre
    • Casco Viejo, the old walled quarter
    • Panamá Viejo, the ruins of the original 1519 city
    • Gamboa and Soberanía National Park rainforest

    Getting ashore

    Mixed - many ships still tender to the Fuerte Amador marina (15-20 minutes) while others use the Amador cruise terminal; downtown is another 15-20 minutes by taxi.

    Best months

    Dec-Apr is the dry season; May-Nov brings heavy afternoon rain most days