Puerto Limon (Costa Rica)

Cruise Port schedule, live map, terminals, news

Rating:
Puerto Limon cruise port

Region
Bahamas - Caribbean - Bermuda

Local Time
2023-03-29 19:39

min: 54 °F (12 °C) / max: 81 °F (28 °C) 75°F
24°C
Wind: 240°/ 1.8 m/s  Gust: 1.9 m/sWind: 240°/ 1.8 m/s  Gust: 1.9 m/sLight breeze
1.8 m/s
Min / Max Temperature81 °F / 28 °C
54 °F / 12 °C
  Port Map

Puerto Limon is the primary/main seaport of Costa Rica's Limon Province. By population (around 60,000) the city is ranked the country's 7th-largest. The town was founded in 1870, and part of its population traces its roots to Jamaican, Chinese, and Italian laborers who worked on a late 19th-century railroad (connecting Puerto Limon with San Jose). Until 1948, Costa Rica didn't recognize Afro-Caribbeans as citizens, so their movement outside the province was restricted.

Just offshore are located two small-sized islands - Isla de Pajaros, and Isla Uvita.

According to the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ITC-Instituto Costarricense de Turismo), during the season 2018-2019, Puerto Limon's terminal (Hernan Garron Salazar) handled a total of 193,733 cruise ship tourists (passengers and crew).

Until 2018, as a cruise shore excursion option from Puerto Limon were offered guided bus tours to the capital city of San Jose (road distance is ~160 km / 100 mi). However, due to the bad roads, traffic and mountains, it takes minimum 4 hours to drive (each way) between Puerto Limon and San Jose. This requires the ships to stay in Puerto Limon much longer than usual (~12 hours), so San Jose is usually visited from Puntarenas.

Puerto Limon port

Puerto Limon-Moin port (locode CRLIO) has two cargo terminals (named "Moín" and "Limon"), which handle Costa Rica's shipping exports and imports (bulk and containership cargoes), as well as docking of cruise vessels.

Puerto Limon (Costa Rica) cruise port

In October 2015, the Holland-based container terminal operator company "APM Terminals" announced its plans to turn its Port Limon-Moin facility into a regional hub for cargo shipped in reefers (refrigerated containers).

  • Through this project, APM Terminals Moin allocated around 70% of the container terminal for refrigerated cargo storage (mainly for fresh fruits/pineapples and bananas) exported from Costa Rica to Europe and North America.
  • Also in 2015, APM Terminals Moin signed a contract for 6x STS cranes (electric) plus 29x Rubber Tire Gantry Cranes (electric), all delivered in 2018.
  • Costa Rica is the largest exporter of pineapples in the world, as well as the world's 3rd-largest exporter of bananas. Pineapples and bananas are approx 13% of Costa Rica's all exports. Other major exports include sugar, coffee, and beef. Much of the agricultural and meat products are exported in reefers (temperature-controlled containers).
  • Port Limon-Moin is ranked Latin America's 13th and Central America's 4th largest container port, with an annual shipping volume of around 1,3 million TEUs (containers, statistics 2015). The port's annual reefer container volumes are expected to double by 2030 - up to 600,000 TEUs.

A dredging project (for the port's access channel and turning basin) resulted in deepening the harbor, now allowing the access of larger vessels with drafts up to 16 m (53 ft). The port's development also included construction of a new breakwater (length 1,5 km / 0,9 mi), a new container yard (sized 40 hectares) and a new cargo quay (length 600 m / 1970 ft) with 2 berths (equipped with 6x large-capacity gantry cranes / serving post‐Panamax vessels).

After these development projects were completed, the upgraded container terminal now covers an area of 80 hectares (0,8 km2), 1,5 km (0,9 mi) quay length (5 berths total), 2,2 km (1,4 mi) long breakwater and access channel draft 18 m (59 ft).

Puerto Limon cruise terminal

Cruise ships to Puerto Limon dock at Hernan Garron Salazar passenger (cruise and ferry) terminal.

The facility was redesigned and fully refurbished in 2019 (August through November). The USD 200,000+ renovation project resulted in improvements to the lookout point, courtyard, boarding halls.

Port Puerto Limon cruise ship schedule shows timetable calendars of all arrival and departure dates by month. The port's schedule lists all ships (in links) with cruises going to or leaving from Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. To see the full itineraries (ports of call dates and arrival / departure times) and their lowest rates – just follow the corresponding ship-link.

DayShipArrivalDeparture
2 March, 2023
Thursday
MSC Cruises Cruises cruise lineMSC Divina07:0016:00
2 March, 2023
Thursday
Royal Caribbean Cruises cruise lineVision Of The Seas09:0018:00
3 March, 2023
Friday
Small Cruise Lines Cruises cruise lineMS Hamburg07:0019:00
4 March, 2023
Saturday
Marella Cruises Cruises cruise lineMarella Discovery 208:0018:00
7 March, 2023
Tuesday
AIDA Cruises Cruises cruise lineAIDAluna08:0017:00
7 March, 2023
Tuesday
Carnival Cruise Line Cruises cruise lineCarnival Pride11:0019:00
8 March, 2023
Wednesday
Princess Cruises Cruises cruise lineCaribbean Princess07:0018:00
10 March, 2023
Friday
Norwegian Cruise Line Cruises cruise lineNorwegian Jewel09:0017:00
11 March, 2023
Saturday
Holland America Cruises cruise linems Eurodam06:0016:00
12 March, 2023
Sunday
Norwegian Cruise Line Cruises cruise lineNorwegian Sky08:0016:00
13 March, 2023
Monday
TUI Cruises Cruises cruise lineMein Schiff 107:0017:00
13 March, 2023
Monday
Celebrity Cruises Cruises cruise lineCelebrity Constellation07:0015:00
14 March, 2023
Tuesday
Viking Cruises Cruises cruise lineViking Star
14 March, 2023
Tuesday
Norwegian Cruise Line Cruises cruise lineNorwegian Jewel07:0016:00
18 March, 2023
Saturday
Princess Cruises Cruises cruise lineCaribbean Princess07:0018:00
21 March, 2023
Tuesday
Windstar Cruises Cruises cruise lineStar Legend07:0017:00
21 March, 2023
Tuesday
Phoenix Reisen Cruises cruise lineAmera07:0019:00
22 March, 2023
Wednesday
Holland America Cruises cruise linems Eurodam06:0016:00
23 March, 2023
Thursday
Royal Caribbean Cruises cruise lineVision Of The Seas09:0018:00
24 March, 2023
Friday
Star Clippers Cruises cruise lineStar Clipper
24 March, 2023
Friday
Mystic Cruises Cruises cruise lineWorld Voyager07:0017:00
27 March, 2023
Monday
TUI Cruises Cruises cruise lineMein Schiff 107:0017:00
28 March, 2023
Tuesday
Princess Cruises Cruises cruise lineCaribbean Princess07:0018:00
28 March, 2023
Tuesday
Oceania Cruises Cruises cruise lineOceania Marina08:0018:00
30 March, 2023
Thursday
MSC Cruises Cruises cruise lineMSC Divina07:0016:00
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