Cruises From Palm Beach

The Port of Palm Beach is in Riviera Beach, not Palm Beach. It’s a working port first. The Florida Ports Council calls it a “full-service, diversified landlord port” and says it “consistently ranks as the fourth busiest container port among Florida’s 16 seaports”. It has three slips, 17 berths and seven Ro/Ro ramps — room for ships up to 700 feet long.

The Port of Palm Beach District runs it — an independent taxing district with a five-member elected board, per Wikipedia. The same page puts the port 72 miles north of Miami.

Cruising here is one ship and short trips. Wikipedia counts almost 450,000 cruise passengers in fiscal 2019. The port’s executive director, Michael Meekins, sells it on “minimal traffic, convenient parking, and fast embarkation and debarkation” — a small terminal, not a mega-port.

Every card below opens our page for that port, with its shore-excursion guide underneath. The 2- and 3-night trips stay with Grand Bahama, Nassau and Bimini. Key West takes four nights — the Caribbean and Mexico calls need five.

Common, not guaranteed. The stops on any sailing depend on the date and the season. Check your own itinerary before you plan a port day around this list.

Not carded above: Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, which the line calls a first-time call in 2027 and the port lists on a 5-night Nassau & Puerto Plata. The ship page’s 5-Night Dominican Republic & Bahamas doesn’t name its Dominican stop on the page we read. We don’t have a Puerto Plata port page yet.

Port of Palm Beach cruise terminal, 1 East 11th Street, Riviera Beach, Florida 33404. Margaritaville at Sea asks you to use that address for GPS and rideshare.

The official pages just call it the Cruise Terminal — there’s one building and one ship. The port’s offices are at the same address, Suite 600, on (561) 383-4100.

Margaritaville at Sea’s arrival page puts it in two sentences — “The Port of Palm Beach opens at 9:30am on embarkation days. Terminal doors close promptly at 3:00pm.” Arrive after that and you’re a no-show. The port adds that boarding starts once the previous passengers are off and the ship clears U.S. Customs.

From I-95 southbound, take Exit 76, Blue Heron Boulevard, east to US-1 (Broadway), turn right and go about a mile south to East 11th Street, per the line’s directions. From the south, Exit 74 at 45th Street takes you east to US-1, then about a mile north over the Skypass Bridge.

Documents: Margaritaville at Sea wants a U.S. passport valid at least six months after the cruise ends, or a certified birth certificate plus government photo ID for travelers 16 and over — no photocopies, photos or digital copies. The port lists beverages, alcohol, weapons and illegal narcotics as not permitted on board.

Bags: two pieces of standard luggage up to 50 lb each are included, per the line’s FAQ, with $55 for each extra piece and $80 for one over 100 lb. Luggage tags arrive by email before you sail. Cruise Critic lists porters, restrooms, Wi-Fi and limited seating at the terminal.

Neither the port nor the line publishes a debarkation time or a rule for the earliest flight home. Leave a wide gap. For anything left on board, the port says the line’s lost and found is at the ticket counter in the terminal — 1-800-814-7100.

The port runs its own lot by the terminal at $19 a day to self-park, per the Port of Palm Beach — $57 for a 3-day cruise, $76 for four, $95 for five. Margaritaville at Sea counts the arrival and departure days. You pay by American Express, Visa, Mastercard or Discover; there’s no cash and no prepaid parking.

Valet is suspended for construction. You walk to the terminal on a temporary pedestrian walkway. Margaritaville’s arrival page mentions VIP parking at $25 a day that the port’s page doesn’t — ask the port before you count on it.

Palm Beach International is now President Donald J. Trump International — the name changed on July 9, 2026 and the code went from PBI to DJT on August 18, 2026. The airport says airline schedules and services are unaffected. Search flights under DJT.

The Palm Beaches’ tourism listing puts the port 20 minutes from the airport. Cruise Critic says about 25. Our own routing makes it about 8.9 road miles. Plan on 25.

Cabs wait at the Ground Transportation desk at the west end of Level 1 — no reservation needed, per the airport. Metro Taxi books on 561-777-7777. Nobody prints the fare. Palm Beach County’s Consumer Affairs office regulates cabs, but it publishes no meter rate. Uber and Lyft pick up on the outer curb of Level 3.

Viator’s West Palm Beach port-transfers list starts at US$38, and a private airport-to-port round trip was listed from US$80 on October 3, 2026. Margaritaville at Sea’s pages don’t mention an airport transfer — the ride is yours to book.

Fort Lauderdale and Miami work if the fare is right and you land early. No official page gives the drive — our routing makes it about 56 road miles from FLL and 81 from MIA.

Palm Tran is $2 a ride or $5 for a day pass. Its airport stop is on the outer curb of Level 1. Route 2 links the airport with the West Palm Beach Tri-Rail station at 203 South Tamarind Avenue; Amtrak’s station is at 201. No official page names a bus stop at the cruise terminal — with bags, that settles it.

Brightline lists “Brightline West Palm Beach Station ↔ Port of Palm Beach” as a cruise connection, from 260 Quadrille Plaza Drive — but it doesn’t say how you cover the last stretch. Cruise Critic calls the station a 16-minute drive from the port.

Cruise Critic points cruisers at Peanut Island by ferry, Manatee Lagoon, which it calls “just a five-minute drive from the cruise terminal”, and the shops and restaurants of Singer Island across the bridge.

Two of our splurge picks are on Singer Island too. The nearest hotels in our ranking are about 3 road miles from the ship — a short cab, not a drive across the county.