Table Of Content
- Key West Rum and Cigar Tasting Tour
- Best Deals to Key West, Florida
- Cruise Ships
- Mel Fisher Maritime Museum
- Night Key West & Perfect Day CruiseDetails
- Carnival Paradise cruise ship resumes operations following renovation
- Margaritaville at Sea ship MAS Islander to be homeported in Florida (Tampa) starting June 2024

Key West comes alive along the main drag of Duval Street, akin to New Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street. During the daytime, art galleries and outdoor cafes line the street. When the workday ends (or a little before), stop in for a drink at Rick’s Bar or Sloppy Joe’s and find live music along the way. Pub crawls down Duval are famous here, giving travelers a true sense of how fun the Key West nightlife can be. Just the right amount of kitsch, Key West bursts with sunlight, boasts year-round tropical weather, and some of the clearest snorkeling and most preserved coral reef structures in the world. Cruises to Key West, Florida are one of the most popular ways to see this walkable, immersive city.
Key West Rum and Cigar Tasting Tour
Border Patrol placing a roadblock just north of the top of the Keys.
Best Deals to Key West, Florida
The capital Nassau sits on New Providence Island, which remained under British rule — along with the rest of the Bahamas — until 1973. Though the islands gained their independence decades ago, traces of British culture remain, like driving on the left side of the road. Visit the Southernmost Point – Probably the most iconic landmark in Key West, a visit to the Southernmost Point is a must-do while in port. Located at the corner of South and Whitehead Street, the decorated concrete buoy marks the southernmost point in the continental U.S. and was established as a tourist attraction in 1983 by the town. It is actually one of the most popular and photographed attractions in Key West.
Cruise Ships
You can catch all kinds of exotic fish in Key West’s tropical waters, so it’s no surprise that much of the local cuisine centers on fresh seafood. Be sure to try some conch fritters and the iconic key lime pie, of course. When it comes to bars, you’ll find no shortage along lively Duval Street. One of the first things you’ll notice on your Key West cruise is the colorful gingerbread wooden houses and the amazing sunsets, and the constant crowing of roosters.
Mel Fisher Maritime Museum
All of which is truly enjoyed by vacationers who cruise to Key West, Florida. Cruise Critic is not a booking agent and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. When you book with one of our partners, please be sure to check their site for a full disclosure of all applicable fees as required by the U.S. Key West is only about four miles long and two miles wide, which means tackling the city on foot isn’t such a daunting idea.
Night Key West & Perfect Day CruiseDetails

The two story house is largely preserved with how it appeared when the author lived there, so you can tour and get a sense for what life was like back then. One neat feature is his swimming pool, which was the first on the island. Today you can tour the famous facility and its grounds and see a number of artifacts and exhibits from the Truman era. Anyone that’s a fan of presidential history will love this spot, just a short five-minute walk from the ship. Mel Fisher was a famous treasure hunter, perhaps most famous for discovering the wreck of the Atocha.
Key West Cruise Port
Passengers on cruises that stop in Key West should see why this is one of the most photographed tourist attractions in the world. Hop on the world-famous Conch Train to get a lesson in Key West history and hear local legends while touring Old Town and some of the island’s most iconic landmarks. Eben Diskin is a travel writer, amateur pizza connoisseur, avid Indoorsman, and the Senior Staff Writer at Matador Network. While traveling, he pretends to enjoy activities like hiking, camping, fine dining, and museums, when all he really wants to do is drink Jack and Cokes at the hotel bar. He has a degree in History from Wheaton College and a definitely-not-useless Master's in Fiction Writing from the University of Edinburgh. Picking the right port is important not just for convenience, but because the port is a destination in itself.
Carnival Paradise cruise ship resumes operations following renovation
If you’re wanting something a bit more memorable, there are a couple of options for guided tours that will take you to the sites and give you the background. A cruise to Key West is a voyage to the southernmost point in the US and a tropical island city surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, perfect for everything from luxury voyages to family cruises. The move to secede was short-lived but remains a point of pride for Key Westers, who still fly the blue "Conch Republic" flag in the subtropical heat and ocean breezes. Key West was first settled in 1822 and by 1886 had become America's richest city per capita.
It’s easy to feel at home in Key West among swaying palms and small fishing boats glittering off the harbor. Once mostly cut off from the rest of the world, it has persevered through countless hurricanes. In Mallory Square, you’ll find lots of local vendors selling seashells, souvenirs, cigars, rum, and of course, key lime pie.
Attractions include sharks, sea turtles, jellyfish and a touch tank. Today the spot is home to dozens of cats, of which roughly half are polydactyl (meaning they have six toes). In our visit, tourists seemed much more enamored with seeing the cats than with the author himself. Love of Key West goes back a century and includes some of the most famous people you can imagine.
Striking Photos Show Why Some Cities Are Trying to Ban Cruise Ships - Business Insider
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Posted: Wed, 25 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
From beaches to history to food, there’s something for everyone in Key West when you visit on a cruise. For any cruises listed, Cruise Critic does not guarantee any specific rates or prices. Cruise ships usually dock at either Pier B, near the Truman Annex, or the Navy-owned Outer Mole pier, near Fort Zachary Taylor State Park.
Check out the Infamous “Dive Bars” of Key West – No trip to Key West is complete without a visit to the local watering holes that have made the Island so popular. One suggestion is that the spots near the cruise ship offer the less expensive gifts. If you want things that are nicer quality, explore Whitehead Street where there are some more boutique shops with unique souvenirs. No matter the reason, Key West offers a convenient — and free — bus route that makes a loop around the western half of the island. So you can ride it from the cruise ship and get to all the famous landmarks like the Hemingway House, the Southernmost Point and more. World famous for its laid-back lifestyle, the island is much more than just a place to party (although you can certainly do that).
If you’re looking for art galleries and clothing boutiques, head to Duval Street. You can't visit the Bahamas for vacation without seeing the famous swimming pigs of the Exuma Island chain. Big Major Cay is the island most famous for its pig population, with around 20 pigs and piglets living here completely carefree.
Most ships will dock close to Key West Old Town, convenient for those who want to disembark straight into the heart of the city. Some cruise ships may dock in a cruise terminal on the outskirts of Key West, but in this case a shuttle will make your journey into the city easy. Key West is an island, or Key, that is just two miles long by four miles wide, so all the essentials are near the docks -- bars, restaurants, shopping, scuba diving and beach-going.
But the state park also has one of the largest stretches of beach in Key West. There are also rentals for snorkels, chairs and umbrellas if you need them. What first-time visitors to the island might be surprised by is that despite being surrounded by water, there isn’t a lot of beach. Most of the shoreline in this area is rocky or there is no beach at all. The Southernmost Point is by far the most famous landmark in Key West, and we think it’s a must-see if you visit. Even beyond a president, we’d say that author Ernest Hemingway is the most famous resident to ever call Key West home.
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