Establishing Panama as a Home Port and Port of Call is a priority for the new administration of the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP). “Promoting the arrival of cruises to our jurisdictional waters under the Home Port and Port of Call modalities will be one of our priorities. To achieve this, we are in conversations with well-known international shipping companies,” explained Max Florez, General Director of Ports and Maritime Ancillary Industries (DGPIMA).

The DGPIMA is focused on finding strategies that encourage and boost the country’s image and reinforce Panama’s position in the maritime, port, and logistics sector worldwide, added Florez.

In this regard, the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) celebrates the decision of the shipping company Royal Caribbean International (RCI) to once again choose Panama as its Home Port for its Caribbean operations for the 2025-2026 cruise season.

RCI announced through its Associate Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, Alberto Muñoz, that the cruise ship “Serenade of The Seas,” departing from Colón to Cartagena, Colombia, will mark the beginning of the 2025-2026 cruise season.

According to statistics from the AMP’s Statistics Department, during the 2023-2024 cruise season, 189 cruises were attended nationwide: 128 on the Atlantic coast and 61 on the Pacific. This is the result of close coordination between the public and private sectors. Thanks to this teamwork, more than 571,342 tourists were received, including foreign trade passengers, those in transit, and crew members. These visitors enjoyed multiple activities and destinations.

The cruise season in Panama has proven to be a key driver for the economy, generating fresh income in tourism, gastronomy, and commerce. It also creates new job opportunities in the visited regions. Each transit passenger spends on tours, food, shopping, accommodation, etc.

The Panama Cruise Terminal in Amador, a project of great national and regional importance, will begin its fourth season on October 1, 2025. The strategic goal is for this terminal to become the epicenter of cruise tourism in Central America’s Pacific, offering first-class infrastructure and a wide range of services.

“We aim to attract a larger number of national and international cruisers, which will strengthen the port-city relationship and boost the tourist capitals of the region,” concluded Director Florez.