What Is the Best Time to Go on a Cruise Central America?

By Cruise Booking Team

Updated on: January 06, 2025

Tourists can embark on a journey to Central America any time of the year. The coast routinely witnesses high temperatures, with the weather mostly swinging between rainy and dry throughout the year. The dry season, which runs from December to April, is typically considered the best time to visit Central America. The Caribbean side experiences dry weather in September and October as well. In this blog, we will cover the best time to cruise Central America.

During the dry season, there are usually one or two days of rain every month. The dry season, particularly holidays like Christmas and spring break, is the busiest time for a Central American cruises. Summers mean fewer tourists and more sea turtles, which visitors can see from mid-March to mid-August. Beginning in June, the young hatchlings appear.

What is the Best Time to Visit Central America?

Let’s have a look at the best month to cruise Central America:

Because Mexico is so large, the weather may be as confusing as a Mexican cocktail menu. The coast is arid and scorching, and bugs are buzzing from November to April. Snow will fall in the northern mountainous regions throughout December, January, and February.
January, February, and March are the dry months (or November-April in Nicaragua, Panama, and Honduras).
With greener landscapes, reduced pricing, and fewer people, the wet season can turn out to be splendid and give way to some really scenic views. In some places across Costa Rica, however, severe rains fall in September and October, causing roads and rivers to merge.
Some areas of Costa Rica and Belize, in particular, fill up during US/European public and school holidays. The big days are the 4th of July, Memorial Day at the end of May, and Labor Day at the beginning of September. Do not let that discourage you, though. This is the perfect time for tailor-made holidays to take you off the beaten track.
The busiest season for cruise ships is February to mid-April, when they visit the major ports of Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, and the Panama Canal. The oceans abound with whale watching opportunities in Baja, Mexico, from early February until late April.
If you're on a budget, May to early November is the ideal time to visit.
Hiking in the highlands of Central America, temperatures are determined by altitude rather than a season. The average yearly temperature of Honduras is 32°C. However, it can drop to 20°C in mountainous areas. This is the best time to cruise Central America.