Sailing from
Departure ports: parking, drop-off, wheelchair assistance and where to stay the night before. Embarkation day is the hardest day of the cruise.
Sailing to
Destination ports: dock or tender, how far the free beach really is, and what each day ashore asks of your body.
Where you sail from
The hardest day of a cruise is the first one. These pages cover parking, drop-off, wheelchair assistance and where to stay the night before.
| Sailing from | What decides your morning |
|---|---|
| Florida | |
| Port Canaveral · full page | Garages sit beside each terminal, so there's no shuttle — but you pay for the arrival and return days both. |
| Fort Lauderdale · full page | The airport is under two miles away. Two garages, colour-coded by terminal, and no shuttle needed for most. |
| Port of Palm Beach · full page | Short two- and three-night cruises from one small terminal. A hard 3pm boarding cutoff and roadworks to plan around. |
| Miami · full page | Garages sit beside the ships, so no shuttle — but the rate depends entirely on which terminal you sail from. |
| Jacksonville · full page | One terminal, one lot beside it, and smaller ships — the calmest embarkation morning in Florida. |
| Tampa · full page | Compact and manageable, and the only port here with valet — about $20 to skip the walk entirely. |
| Louisiana | |
| New Orleans · full page | Two terminals side by side. One parks at the door; the other parks elsewhere and shuttles you in. |
| Texas | |
| Galveston · full page | Four terminals a few minutes apart, and lots that serve only some of them. Book the wrong one and you're in the wrong place. |
Last checked 22 September 2026.
More departure ports are added as we sail from them. Want yours sooner? Tell us which port and we'll move it up.
Where you sail to
Grouped the way itineraries are sold. Within each region, the easiest ports for a body with limits come first — and the ranking across all of them is in the patterns below.
The single most important thing about any port day: whether the ship ties up to a pier, or anchors and sends you ashore by tender boat.
| Port | Getting ashore | Free beach | What decides your day |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Bahamas | |||
| Perfect Day at CocoCay · full page | Docked | Short, paved, tram | Paved paths, free beach wheelchairs, pool lifts. Royal Caribbean only. |
| Nassau · full page | Docked | 10–15 min flat walk | Free and walkable, but packed when several ships are in. |
| Eastern Caribbean | |||
| Grand Turk · full page | Docked | Steps from the pier | Best free beach in the Caribbean. Some chairs are free. |
| St. Maarten · full page | Docked | 12–20 min flat, or a $5–7 water taxi | The water taxi removes the walk entirely. |
| Amber Cove · full page | Docked | No real beach at all | A pool resort port. The cable car is the best view-to-effort ratio anywhere. |
| St. Thomas · full page | Docked | None within walking distance | Hilly island, no walkable beach, everything needs a taxi. |
| Western Caribbean | |||
| Cozumel · full page | Usually docks | 10 min to a rocky beach | Everything worth doing needs a taxi. Three terminals, different days. |
| Ocho Rios · full page | Usually docks | Beach near the pier | The famous sights are far inland, and the falls are a genuine climb. |
| Costa Maya · full page | Docked | None within reach | A 600-yard walk to the port gate before you meet any transport. |
| Grand Cayman · full page | Always tenders | Free, but a tender then a taxi | The hardest common Caribbean port. Rough seas can cancel the day. |
| Southern Caribbean | |||
| Aruba · full page | Docked | Town yes; best beaches need a bus or taxi | Flat, walkable town. Accessible beach excursions exist if booked ahead. |
| Curaçao · full page | Docked | Town yes; beaches need a taxi | Prettiest port town, but historic paving is uneven and the bridge swings open. |
| United States | |||
| Key West · full page | Docked | 20–25 min walk; beaches are mediocre | Flat, American kerb cuts, and a seated trolley that reaches everything. |
Regions are how cruise lines group itineraries, and some ports appear on more than one. Whether a port docks or tenders can also change between visits — confirm your own sailing with your cruise line, and check again closer to the date.
The patterns worth knowing
- Best free beach for the least effort: Grand Turk, then CocoCay, then St. Maarten.
- Best walkable towns: Key West, Willemstad, Oranjestad, Philipsburg.
- Hardest on a body: Grand Cayman for the tender, St. Thomas for the hills, Costa Maya for the walk to the gate.
- Best value for very little walking: the Puerto Plata cable car, then the Key West trolley.
- Ports where a free beach day doesn't work: St. Thomas, Costa Maya, Amber Cove and Grand Cayman. Budget for transport at those four.
- The rule that holds everywhere: plan the sitting, not the walking. The mistake is never doing too much on the first port day — it's doing too much on the first port day and losing the next two to it.
Before the ports, there's the paperwork
The free Accommodations Guide covers what every major cruise line can arrange, how to ask, and the deadlines nobody warns you about. Add your sail date and we'll time the reminders to it.
The sail date is optional — we only use it to time your reminders. Unsubscribe anytime.
Every port here has a full page. They get deeper as we sail them — been somewhere recently? Tell us what you found and we'll fold it in.