Bimini in brief
Bimini is the one Bahamas call on a short itinerary where the question has a real answer.
You can leave.
That sounds too obvious to print until you look at what else a three- or four-night Bahamas sailing is selling you. Most of those stops are cruise-line private islands, where the property line is the whole day.
This is a settled Bahamian district instead — Wikipedia's entry records 2,361 residents at the 2022 census, two airports, a ferry from Fort Lauderdale and a capital at Alice Town built along a road called the King's Highway.
The pier is private. The island is not.
Resorts World Bimini owns and runs the only cruise berth here, and its own site dates that berth to 2021.
The same pages say the port has welcomed over a million cruise passengers since it opened. Wikipedia dates an earlier pier on the site to 2013, built for the Bimini SuperFast ferry from Miami — a service long since discontinued, and not the same thing as the cruise port.
Ships tie up alongside. Resorts World's own port page describes "a single berth capable of accommodating cruise ships of all sizes" — so one ship at a time, and no size that rules itself out.
Our own Bimini shore excursion guide found nothing describing a tender operation here either.
So the gangway question is settled. The walking question is the live one.
Everything within a few minutes of the ship belongs to the resort.
A complimentary tram runs from the pier into Fisherman's Village every 10 to 15 minutes, on Resorts World's own published figure, and the same page describes the village as a short walk from the pier, adjoining the hotel lobby.
Nine boutiques, a Bahamian restaurant with live music, a pizzeria, a gelateria and a 136-slip marina. The terminal building behind it is thin — restrooms and an excursion desk, and no complimentary wifi, per that guide.
That is a pleasant hour. It is not Bimini.
Alice Town is, and it is a long way down the island.
North Bimini is about 11 kilometres long and 200 metres wide on Wikipedia's figures — a strip, not an island in the shape most people picture.
The resort sits on the northern arm and the town sits south of it. More island runs north behind the pier.
Our own excursion guide puts that walk at roughly 45 minutes each way, or a taxi at about $5 per person for about 15 minutes.
No operator, government or tourism board we could reach publishes a pier-to-town distance. The coordinates we do have imply something like 4 km — consistent with 45 minutes, and not a figure anybody publishes, so we are printing the walk rather than the distance.
Forty-five minutes each way, in Bahamian sun, on a road built for golf carts, is a real cost against a short call. Take the taxi if the town is the point, and agree the fare before the car moves.
Which ships actually call here is the genuinely unsettled fact at this port, and the operator's own site does not settle it.
Resorts World Bimini publishes two different partial lists that do not match each other. One page says "Cruise companies dropping anchor here include Crystal Cruises, Carnival Cruise line, Virgin Voyages, and MSC Cruises" — and "include" is doing real work in that sentence.
Another page carries excursion links for Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian instead.
Seven names across two pages. No page names more than four, and no calendar sits behind either.
Holland America is not one of them. The operator's site does not name it anywhere we could read.
Our Bahamas cruise guide takes a different position again, naming Resorts World Cruises as the regular caller with Virgin Voyages and Norwegian occasional — and Resorts World Cruises is one line the port operator's own pages never mention.
Our own excursion guide is the most cautious of the three. It confirms Virgin as frequent, notes Carnival pulling Bimini from several longer 2025-26 sailings, and says Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Norwegian each publish a destination page with no sailing calendar behind it we could confirm.
We could not verify the roster. Check your own itinerary, not this port's reputation.
One access rule matters more than the roster. The Beach Club at Bimini is Virgin Voyages' own, reserved for Virgin sailors on days a Virgin ship is docked, and it sits on Resorts World's land rather than an island Virgin owns — Virgin's own copy says as much.
If you are on any other line, treat it as closed, not as maybe-open.
Which boat trip earns its money, and whether the ship's version or the dive shop's is the better buy, belongs in our Bimini shore excursion guide.
On foot from the ship
Resorts World's own cruise page gives the frequency and calls the village a short walk from the pier, beside the hotel lobby — so the tram saves minutes rather than distance. Nine boutiques, a Bahamian restaurant, a pizzeria, a gelateria and a 136-slip marina, with the ride itself about five minutes per our excursion guide.
Our own Bimini shore excursion guide's figure, and the only one anybody publishes. No operator or government source states a distance — the coordinates imply roughly 4 km, which fits 45 minutes on foot. North Bimini runs about 11 km long and 200 m wide on Wikipedia's numbers, so the island continues north behind the pier as well.
A flat per-person rate, not a meter, commonly cited around $5, per that guide. There is no public bus on Bimini at all, per whatsinport.com — so the taxi is the alternative to the walk, not a convenience on top of it. Agree the fare before you get in.
Caveat first, then the tile. The free-beach names and directions rest on a single independent travel blog with no corroborating source, and nothing on Resorts World's, the tourism board's or the government's pages names a free Paradise Beach here — so treat a walkable beach with food trucks as reported, not established, and confirm on the day.
The range our excursion guide found across several local operators, some a short walk from the pier — no operator publishes a rate card. It is the only way to see both ends of the island without repeat fares.
Included for Virgin Voyages sailors and closed to everyone else while a Virgin ship is in. It sits on Resorts World's land rather than an island Virgin owns — and a non-Virgin-day pass is reported, though neither company publishes a price or a policy.
What's nearby, broadly
Fisherman's Village and the casino are a tram ride or a short walk. Paradise Beach and Radio Beach rest on one travel blog's account and nothing we could corroborate, so treat their names as reported. The next five are down the island by taxi or golf cart, and the last three need a boat. That split is the whole planning problem here — Bimini gives you a free resort day at the gangway and a real Bahamian town 45 minutes away, and the day goes to whichever one you commit to first.
Commonly reached from
Bimini is the closest Bahamian landmass to the US mainland, roughly 50 miles off Florida's east coast per the national tourism board, which is why short Bahamas itineraries reach it easily and why it also has a ferry and a seaplane of its own. Our Bahamas cruise guide weighs it against Nassau and the rest of a Bahamas week, and our Caribbean cruise guide covers where it sits if Bimini is one stop among several. The ranked tour decision lives in our Bimini shore excursion guide.
Planning your Bimini day
The specific picks — which paid excursion is actually worth it, what to skip, and why — already have their own dedicated guide, built and kept current on its own schedule. This page stays at the port-identity level on purpose; that one goes deep.
Booking a tour yourself? Our comparison of Shore Excursions Group and Viator covers which of the two suits which kind of port day — and when the ship’s own tour is still the better buy.
How does Bimini compare with the other cruise-line beach stops? Our private islands and beach clubs showdown scores twelve of them in six categories, with families and couples fit shown separately.
Best Bimini shore excursions
Bimini docks you steps from a casino, a marina and one of the Bahamas' great fishing towns — 50 miles from Miami.
See the full excursion guide →Practical notes
Money here is the easiest in the Caribbean, and there is nothing to work out.
The Bahamian dollar runs at par with the US dollar. The Central Bank of The Bahamas' own daily rate table shows USD at 1.0000 on both the buy and the sell side.
US dollars are accepted everywhere on the island, and change can come back in either currency — per that guide rather than a published rule.
Carry small bills anyway — some vendors take cash only, and a driver quoting $5 a head is not carrying a card terminal.
We could not confirm the current Bahamas VAT rate. The Department of Inland Revenue's own VAT page defines the tax without stating a rate where we could read it, and its rate page returns an error — so we are not publishing a number rather than borrowing one.
Entry is straightforward and the hub states the version most readers need.
US tourists enter visa-free for up to 90 days, and you bring a passport — that is our Caribbean cruise guide's own position for The Bahamas.
The UK Foreign Office's own Bahamas page sets different terms for British citizens: a passport valid at least six months after your planned departure, and 30 days visa-free, extendable to a maximum of eight months.
One trap on the same FCDO page catches people combining a Florida trip with a cruise. Time spent in The Bahamas counts against the 90-day allowance on a US ESTA, so check your US status before you fly home.
A yellow-fever certificate is required only if you arrive from a country listed as a transmission risk, again per the FCDO.
The advisory is Level 2, and it does not name this island.
travel.state.gov has The Bahamas at Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution, issued July 28, 2026 and last updated September 17, 2026 — the level did not move. The stated reason is crime.
Read that advisory carefully and it localises itself. Most crime occurs in Nassau and Freeport, on New Providence and Grand Bahama, and the one neighbourhood it names is the Over the Hill area of Nassau south of Shirley Street.
Bimini appears nowhere in it — which is absence of a named concern, not a guarantee. Use the caution you would use anywhere.
Two national rules on the same page are worth carrying ashore. Its own wording is that "firearms and ammunition are illegal, including small quantities in carry-on bags or luggage" — and it flags inadequately regulated boating and jet-ski operations, with reported sexual assaults by operators.
That second one matters at a port whose best days are on the water. Use an operator your line or the excursion desk names, not a man with a boat on a beach.
Getting around is taxis, golf carts and your own feet, and there is no fourth option.
whatsinport.com states it plainly: there is no public transportation on Bimini. Traffic drives on the left.
Taxis run a flat per-person rate, not a meter — around $5 is the commonly cited figure for the roughly 15-minute run to Alice Town or Radio Beach, per our excursion guide.
Golf carts rent for roughly $60 to $90 a day through several local operators, some a short walk from the pier — a range from that guide, not a published rate. For a group wanting both ends of the island, it beats repeat fares.
No official Bahamian taxi tariff document was available to our excursion guide and none was available to us. Agree the price before the ride starts.
The season and the weather are the two things that can take this call away from you entirely.
Our hub puts Bimini on the same November-to-April regional dry season as the rest of the Caribbean — and the State Department's advisory puts hurricane season at June to November.
Wind is the specific risk here rather than rain — Virgin's own guidance, carried in our excursion guide, notes that strong winds can prevent docking altogether and turn a Bimini day into a sea day with no notice.
One pier, one ship at a time, and no tender fallback. That makes the weather binary here, not merely inconvenient.
Connectivity, hours and the all-aboard.
The cruise terminal has no complimentary wifi, per that guide, and nearby restaurants will share a password if you are buying something.
The casino is a walk-in, not an excursion. Resorts World's own casino page posts 10am to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 10am to 2am Friday and Saturday, 18 and over to gamble, with over 160 slot machines.
Six of those are live. Its own page names them — 3-card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat and Blackjack — plus 21 electronic table games and a VIP room.
Posted hours are the resort's and are subject to change. A casino is an easy place to lose an hour you needed.
Neither the Bimini Museum nor the Dolphin House publishes a schedule we could confirm. Ask at the excursion desk before you spend a taxi fare on either.
Accessibility is the thinnest part of this page, and we would rather say so than guess.
Nothing published by Resorts World, the Bahamian government or the tourism board describes step-free access at the pier, on the tram or at either beach — and that is an absence of published detail, not a finding that the port is inaccessible.
The tram is open-air and boarding it is the obvious question nobody answers. Ask your line's accessibility desk before you sail, not at the gangway.
One last structural fact, and it is the reason this page reads differently from a private-island one.
People come to Bimini without a ship. Balearia Caribbean runs a Fort Lauderdale fast ferry with fares from $180 on its own site, and a Wednesday Bimini day trip from $199 a passenger that now includes a free Resorts World day pass.
No Balearia page we could reach publishes the crossing time, so we are not printing one — its terminal and help-centre pages are disallowed by robots.txt and we did not go around them.
There are flights too. bahamas.com puts Tropic Ocean Airways' Fort Lauderdale seaplane at about 25 minutes, and says most visitors fly into South Bimini Airport and cross to North Bimini by ferry.
That is why the island has restaurants, taxis and a town that were here before the pier was — built for residents and independent visitors, not for you.
Sources: Seabound Journeys' own Caribbean cruise guide and Bimini shore excursion guide, Resorts World Bimini's own site and cruise pages (rwbimini.com), the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism (bahamas.com), Balearia Caribbean's own routes and destination pages (baleariacaribbean.com), the Central Bank of The Bahamas' own daily rate table (centralbankbahamas.com), the U.S. Department of State (travel.state.gov, The Bahamas travel advisory issued July 28, 2026 and last updated September 17, 2026), the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (gov.uk, Bahamas entry requirements), GeoNames' records for Resorts World Bimini and Alice Town, Wikipedia's Bimini and Resorts World Bimini entries for island geography and the pier's history, and whatsinport.com — all consulted September 21, 2026. Resorts World Bimini's own pages carry two different partial lists of calling lines rather than one roster, and name no line in common beyond Carnival; neither names Holland America Line or Resorts World Cruises. The Bahamas Department of Inland Revenue's VAT rate page and the Balearia timetable pages could not be read, and no figure from either is printed.
Planning a Bimini port day?
Tell us how much time you've got and who's with you.
A short call, a full day, kids in tow or a couple wanting quiet water — we'll point you at the actual right answer, not just a list.
Answers verified against current pricing and itineraries before you book.
Bimini FAQ
Where do cruise ships dock in Bimini?
At a single pier on the northern end of North Bimini, owned and run by Resorts World Bimini. The operator's own cruise pages date the port to 2021 and say it has welcomed over a million cruise passengers since.
Ships berth alongside. Resorts World's own port page describes "a single berth capable of accommodating cruise ships of all sizes" — one ship at a time, with no size ruled out and no tender operation described anywhere we could read.
No source we found gives a coordinate for the berth itself. GeoNames places Resorts World Bimini at roughly 25.7553 north, 79.2786 west, and the pier runs off the same property.
Can I leave the resort and walk into town?
Yes, and that is the thing that makes Bimini different from a private cay. Alice Town is a working Bahamian settlement on the King's Highway, not a gated attraction.
The cost is the walk. Our Bimini excursion guide puts it at roughly 45 minutes each way, or a taxi at about $5 per person for about 15 minutes.
Nobody publishes an actual distance — the coordinates imply something like 4 km, which is consistent with 45 minutes rather than a source for it. North Bimini runs about 11 kilometres long and 200 metres wide on Wikipedia's figures, with the island continuing north behind the pier. Treat 45 minutes as a floor. In the heat it is longer.
Which cruise lines actually call at Bimini?
Nobody publishes a roster, including the company that owns the pier.
Resorts World Bimini's own site carries two lists that do not match. One page says "Cruise companies dropping anchor here include Crystal Cruises, Carnival Cruise line, Virgin Voyages, and MSC Cruises" — hedged with "include." Another carries excursion links for Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. Seven names across two pages, four on either one, and no calendar behind either.
The operator's site does not name Holland America Line anywhere we could read.
Our own Bahamas guide takes a third position, naming Resorts World Cruises as the regular caller — a line the port operator never mentions. Our excursion guide is the most cautious of all, confirming only Virgin as frequent. Check your own itinerary.
Is there a shuttle from the ship, and does it cost anything?
There is a tram and it is free. Resorts World's own cruise page says the complimentary tram departs every 10 to 15 minutes and runs from the ship to Fisherman's Village.
The same page calls the village a short walk from the pier, beside the hotel lobby — so the tram saves you a few minutes rather than solving a real distance.
It does not reach Alice Town. Nothing free does.
Can I use the Beach Club at Bimini if I am not sailing Virgin Voyages?
Not while a Virgin ship is docked. It is reserved for Virgin's own sailors that day, and it is adults-only because the whole line is.
What it is not is a private island — it sits on Resorts World Bimini's land, and Virgin's own copy says so directly.
Our excursion guide found reports of a day pass sold on non-Virgin days, with one blog naming a figure around $67 and no official confirmation from either company. Treat it as closed rather than maybe-open, and confirm it in writing if it matters.
What does a day in Bimini cost if I want to spend nothing?
Close to nothing, which is rare — though one part of the answer is thinner than the rest.
The tram is free, Fisherman's Village costs whatever you eat and the casino is free to walk into. Those three are on Resorts World's own pages.
The free beaches are not. Paradise Beach and Radio Beach come to us from a single independent travel blog with no corroborating source, and nothing published by the operator, the tourism board or the government names a free Paradise Beach at the pier. Treat the names as reported rather than established, confirm on the day, and expect chair and umbrella rental to cost extra, at a rate no operator posts.
What currency does Bimini use?
The Bahamian dollar, at par with the US dollar. The Central Bank of The Bahamas' own daily rate table shows USD at 1.0000 to buy and 1.0000 to sell.
US dollars are accepted everywhere and change may come back in either currency.
Bring small bills. Some vendors take cash only, and we could not confirm the current VAT rate from the Department of Inland Revenue's own pages, so we are not publishing one.
Is Bimini safe?
The U.S. State Department has The Bahamas at Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution, issued July 28, 2026, for crime.
The advisory localises itself. It says most crime occurs in Nassau and Freeport, on New Providence and Grand Bahama, and the only neighbourhood it names is the Over the Hill area of Nassau south of Shirley Street. Bimini is not mentioned.
Two national rules travel with you anyway: in its own words, "firearms and ammunition are illegal, including small quantities in carry-on bags or luggage," and the same advisory flags inadequately regulated boating and jet-ski operations with reported sexual assaults by operators. Book water activities through the excursion desk or a named operator.
How do I get around without a tour?
Taxis, a golf cart or your feet. whatsinport.com says flatly that there is no public transportation on Bimini, and traffic drives on the left.
Taxis run a flat per-person rate, not a meter — commonly cited around $5 for the roughly 15-minute run to Alice Town or Radio Beach, per our excursion guide.
No official tariff document was available to us. Agree the fare before the car moves.
Golf carts run roughly $60 to $90 a day from operators near the pier. For two or more people wanting both ends of the island, that is the cheaper shape.
Can weather cancel a Bimini call?
Yes, and more easily than at most ports. Virgin's own guidance, carried in our excursion guide, notes that strong winds can prevent docking altogether and turn the day into a sea day with no advance notice.
There is one pier, it takes one ship at a time and there is no tender fallback. That makes the call binary, not merely delayed.
Hurricane season runs June to November per the State Department's advisory, and our hub puts Bimini's best window on the same November-to-April regional dry season as the rest of the Caribbean.
Is the port accessible for a wheelchair user?
We cannot tell you, and nobody publishes it. Resorts World, the Bahamian government and the national tourism board all say nothing about step-free access at the pier, on the tram or at either beach.
The tram is open-air, which makes boarding the obvious question — and it is the question none of them answer.
Ask your line's accessibility desk before you sail. A port this small publishing this little is a gap worth naming, not working around.
Do people come to Bimini without a cruise ship?
Constantly, and that is why the island works. Balearia Caribbean runs a fast ferry from Fort Lauderdale with fares from $180 on its own site, plus a Wednesday day trip from $199 a passenger that now includes a free Resorts World day pass.
No Balearia page we could reach publishes a crossing time, so we are not printing one — its timetable pages are disallowed by robots.txt and we did not go around them. bahamas.com puts Tropic Ocean Airways' Fort Lauderdale seaplane at about 25 minutes, and says most visitors fly into South Bimini Airport and cross to North Bimini by ferry.
The practical effect is that Alice Town's restaurants, taxis and shops exist for residents and independent visitors, not for you. That is the difference. A port, not a property.
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