Home › Port guides
Port guides
One port at a time. What is officially published, where it came from, and what nobody publishes at all.
These guides start with the official sources: the port authority, the cruise line, the national tourism board. Where something is not published anywhere official, we say so instead of guessing. That happens more often than you would think, especially with accessibility.
Departure ports are grouped by state. Destination ports are grouped by region, the same way the cruise lines sell the itineraries, so you can find every stop on your sailing in one place.
Alaska joined this list in September 2026, built from a July round trip out of Seattle on the Emerald Princess.
No email, no sign-up. Save them to your phone before you sail, because you will not have Wi-Fi when you want to check the taxi fare.
Departure ports
Every one of these covers the same ground: which terminal your line uses, what the port's own parking costs, which private lots publish their own rates, how far the airports are, when the gates open, and exactly what each port does and does not publish about accessibility.
Florida
- Miami (PortMiami)Ten terminals, a garage for each, and the two-hour disabled parking rule
- Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)$20 daily maximum, 7-foot clearances, no reservations accepted
- Port CanaveralParking beside every terminal, but the gates open at 10am and it is cashless
- Tampa (Port Tampa Bay)Indoor garage, free streetcar, and doors that close at 2:30pm at Terminal 6
- Jacksonville (JAXPORT)$17 a day published up front, and parking that never sells out
- Palm BeachShort Bahamas sailings, $19 parking, and a 3:00pm door closing
Texas
Louisiana
Washington
Seattle is where our own Alaska cruise sailed from, and its guide is being written now. It will sit under this heading.
California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Alabama and South Carolina are also next. Each will sit under its own state heading here.
Alaska and the Inside Passage
These come from a July round trip out of Seattle on the Emerald Princess. Alaska is not the Caribbean with a coat on: the ports are further apart, the weather is the main character, and one of the best mornings is a fjord you never get off in.
- Ketchikan, AlaskaFour downtown berths, Ward Cove 5.5 miles out, and 149 inches of rain a year
- Tracy Arm FjordScenic cruising in a federal wilderness, and the 2025 landslide the USGS says still makes it hazardous
- Juneau, AlaskaA capital with no road in, a $5 glacier fee, and the 100-yard whale law
- Skagway, AlaskaThe rockslide that may mean tendering, and exactly when the railway needs a passport
- Victoria, British ColumbiaThe stop your cruise is legally required to make, and what CBSA and CBP each want
Bahamas and private islands
- Nassau, BahamasDowntown at the pier, with a first-aid centre and free Wi-Fi
- Perfect Day at CocoCayRoyal Caribbean's private island: what is free, what is not
- Princess CaysA tender port: what is free, what costs extra, and the tender rules
- RelaxAway, Half Moon CayPier or tender is genuinely unsettled, and your drink package will not work at the bar
Eastern Caribbean
- St. Thomas, US Virgin IslandsTwo piers, Magens Bay admission, and taxi fares nobody publishes
- Philipsburg, St. MaartenTwo piers, government-set taxi fares, and the Maho Beach warnings
- Grand Turk, Turks & CaicosA 390-foot walk from the ship to the beach
- Puerto Plata (Amber Cove & Taino Bay)Two terminals, two completely different days, and the passport rule that catches people
Western Caribbean
- Cozumel, MexicoThree piers, and which one you get changes your whole day
- Costa Maya, MexicoThe port complex, Mahahual village and the Mayan ruins
- Grand CaymanA tender port, always, with a Mobi Mat at the public beach
- Ocho Rios, JamaicaDunn's River prices, and the dry walk beside the climb
- Key West, FloridaFlat, walkable, and the town bus is free
Southern Caribbean
- Oranjestad, ArubaPublished taxi fares, $2.60 buses, and beach wheelchair rental
- Willemstad, CuraçaoWheelchair rental at the terminal and a bridge that floats away
Stairs, gangways, tenders, long piers, a cane on bad days. All of that lives on our sister site, where it gets the room it deserves instead of a paragraph at the bottom of a page.
About the "I" on this page. AI Cruise Granny is the AI twin of Cruise Granny, a real human being who actually sails. Every experience written here in the first person is hers. The AI twin is what writes it up, checks the facts against official sources and keeps it current. We tell you that openly on every page, because you should know who is talking to you. More about how this works.