Cruise days shape everything in Cozumel. The taxi line on the waterfront, beach club chairs, the lunch rush downtown, the ferry back to Playa del Carmen. Locals plan around them, and the visitors who know better do too.
So we counted. Every ship that called at Cozumel from October 2024 to September 2026, straight from the arrival records published by the Quintana Roo port authority. Here is what a full year looks like, day by day.
cruise passengers came ashore from October 2025 to September 2026, up 11.9% on the year before.
cruise visitors on Friday, December 26, 2025, from seven ships. The busiest day of the year.
Wednesdays average 20,271 cruise visitors. Sundays average 1,691.
days with 20,000 or more cruise visitors, up from 67 the year before.
of 365 days had at least one cruise ship in port.
days with no ships at all, and every one of them was a Sunday.
Explore the season, day by day
Pick a month, then tap any day to see which ships were in port. Actual passenger counts, October 2025 to September 2026.
Light under 10,000, busy 10,000 to 17,000, very busy 17,000 to 25,000, packed 25,000+ cruise passengers.
Every figure here is an actual passenger count from the arrival records published by APIQROO, the Quintana Roo port authority, for every call between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2026. Cancelled calls are left out. Years run October to September to line up with the cruise season.
Data pulled October 12, 2026. Free to cite with a link back to this page. The full call-by-call dataset is available to download below.
A bigger year, and a busier summer
Cozumel is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world, and it got busier. From October 2025 to September 2026 the island logged 1,388 ship calls and 5,106,978 passengers, up from 1,275 calls and 4,562,938 passengers the year before. That is an 11.9% jump in people stepping off ships.
The growth was not just a bigger winter. June passengers rose 26%, September 19% and July 14%. Summer in Cozumel is turning into a real season of its own.
Cozumel cruise passengers by month
Actual passengers ashore. October to September seasons.
See the numbers
| 2024-25 | 2025-26 | |
|---|---|---|
| October | 327,113 | 369,159 |
| November | 407,147 | 447,602 |
| December | 484,980 | 574,496 |
| January | 546,596 | 542,961 |
| February | 458,870 | 453,841 |
| March | 497,261 | 541,796 |
| April | 359,009 | 444,844 |
| May | 302,913 | 346,290 |
| June | 280,659 | 354,200 |
| July | 347,316 | 395,789 |
| August | 292,675 | 328,963 |
| September | 258,399 | 307,037 |
December was the peak at 574,496 passengers, and September the lightest month at 307,037. Days with 20,000 or more cruise visitors went from 67 to 101, a 51% rise. Spread across the whole year, that works out to about 14,000 cruise visitors a day.
The weekly rhythm
Midweek is when Cozumel fills up. Wednesday averaged 20,271 cruise visitors, Thursday 18,080 and Friday 18,007. Sunday is the island’s breather at 1,691 on average. All 26 ship-free days of the year fell on a Sunday, and 21 of the 22 Sundays from May through September had no ships at all.
Average cruise visitors by day of week
October 2025 to September 2026. Average across every day of that weekday, ship or no ship.
See the numbers
| 2025-26 | |
|---|---|
| Monday | 14,967 |
| Tuesday | 14,918 |
| Wednesday | 20,271 |
| Thursday | 18,080 |
| Friday | 18,007 |
| Saturday | 9,887 |
| Sunday | 1,691 |
The five busiest days
| Date | Ships | Passengers |
|---|---|---|
| Fri, Dec 26, 2025 | 7 | 32,223 |
| Wed, Dec 24, 2025 | 7 | 30,572 |
| Fri, Jan 9, 2026 | 7 | 30,496 |
| Wed, Dec 10, 2025 | 8 | 28,677 |
| Wed, Mar 18, 2026 | 7 | 28,372 |
Three of the five landed in the two weeks around Christmas and New Year.
Where the ships dock
Puerta Maya handled the most calls (537), followed by Punta Langosta (438) and the International Pier (411). 93 different ships called during the year. Carnival Breeze was the most frequent big visitor, with 77 calls and 332,390 passengers, followed by Carnival Jubilee (52 calls, 314,014 passengers) and Carnival Valor (79 calls, 266,169 passengers).
What this means on the ground
For island businesses
- Plan by the ship calendar, not the month. A Wednesday in Cozumel can look like a holiday weekend.
- Lunch is the window. On big days most passengers are ashore from late morning to mid afternoon, so that is when staffing and stock matter most.
- Sundays belong to locals and stay-over guests. They are the best days for specials, events and resident deals, especially from May to September.
- Summer is growing. Off-season promos and staffing plans can lean into June and July.
For visitors
- Want it quieter? Come on a Sunday, or any day the calendar above shows as light.
- On a packed day, head to the beach clubs early and save downtown for late afternoon, after the ships sail.
Quick facts
- Cozumel welcomed 5,106,978 cruise passengers from October 2025 to September 2026, up 11.9% year over year (APIQROO data, Houseful analysis).
- Cozumel logged 1,388 cruise ship calls in 2025-26, up from 1,275.
- Cozumel had 101 days with 20,000 or more cruise visitors in 2025-26, up from 67 the year before.
- The busiest day of 2025-26 was December 26, 2025, with 32,223 passengers from seven ships.
- Wednesday is Cozumel’s busiest cruise day, averaging 20,271 visitors. Sunday averages 1,691.
- All 26 ship-free days in Cozumel in 2025-26 were Sundays.
Houseful Co. (2026). Cozumel Cruise Report 2025-26. The Latitude Report. https://housefulhospitality.com/latitude/cozumel-cruise-report-2026/
Journalists and researchers are welcome to use any figure here. Please link to this page as the source.
St. Thomas Cruise Season 2026-27
All 560 cruise calls scheduled for St. Thomas from October 2026 to September 2027, with the busiest and quietest days mapped month by month.
Check any Cozumel date before you plan it
Our free Cozumel cruise calendar shows which ships are in port over the next 30 days, when they arrive and leave, and how busy each day looks. Businesses can embed it on their own site at no cost.