Zuiderdam - Panama Canal from Fort Lauderdale

Where this cruise calls, day by day

7 ports and 4 sea days over 10 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

   George Town

   Cayman IslandsPort

   George Town has no cruise pier, and that shapes everything: every passenger from every ship arrives by tender at one of two small harbourfront landings. When winter northwesters blow up, calls are cancelled outright and the ship sails on. Ashore it is a tidy, expensive capital of banks and duty-free shops - the actual draw is offshore at the Stingray City sandbar and up the coast at Seven Mile Beach.

   • Standing waist-deep with the rays at the Stingray City sandbar
   • Seven Mile Beach
   • Cayman Turtle Centre in West Bay
   • Starfish Point and Rum Point on the north shore

   Getting ashore

   Tender port - 10-15 minutes to the George Town landings, with Seven Mile Beach another 10-15 minutes by taxi or public bus.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr is driest; Sep-Oct brings the most rain and hurricane risk, and winter swells can scrub the tender operation entirely

4. Day 4 · At sea

5. Day 5

   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

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

   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

8. Day 8 · At sea

9. Day 9 · At sea

10. Day 10

    Half Moon Cay

    BahamasPort

    Little San Salvador Island is owned by Carnival Corporation and called on by Holland America, Carnival and Princess ships. It has long been the best-regarded of the private beaches - a two-mile crescent of pale sand with very little built on it - and it is now being expanded and rebranded RelaxAway, with a pier that finally ended decades of tendering in 2026. The barbecue lunch is included; cabanas and horseback riding are not.

    • The two-mile crescent beach and its shallow entry
    • Horseback riding that finishes in the sea (extra cost)
    • The included beach barbecue
    • Kayaks, snorkelling and the stingray encounter (extra cost)

    Getting ashore

    Historically a tender call; a pier opened in 2026 as part of the RelaxAway expansion, so check what your particular sailing lists.

    Best months

    Dec-Apr for the calmest conditions; Aug-Oct calls are the likeliest to be missed for weather

11. Day 11

    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)