Central America has some interesting destinations. The most developed for tourism is without doubt Costa Rica. Prices are high and the Capital San Jose is not much to write home about this is not unique in Central America. Guatemala's Capital of the same name is a metropolitan mess. You can see corruption gone mad as Councils seem to have given up on planning and maintaining let alone building nice areas.
Still where were we ? Costa Rica is open to cruise ships at Puerto Limon - but people go just to Costa Rica for its amazing rainforest beaches , surfing eco lodges or to spot turtles laying eggs among many other reasons.
You can do the turtle tours in Nicaragua as well but boy what a contrast in price. This place is backpacker friendly being cheap and having a lot of cool places to go take a look at Nicaragua Backpacking. Be careful in Managua especially in the main bus station it is a no go area just outside take a decent looking cab to your pre arrange hotel !
Honduras offers some great destinations for scubadiving with the Bay Islands - Utila and Roatan, Roatan being another popular cruise destination. The mainland of Honduras offers the scent of pineapples in the air is cheap to travel in and has some great Mayan ruins such as Copan.
Let us not forget Mexico - that massive powerhouse just south of the USA. Great for tourism , yes spring break in cabo or Cancun and another magnate for the cruise ship visitor. There is desert in the north , mountains in the south as it forms into Guatemala. Check out the individual countries to get a better feeling. If you have been we would like to know what you thought of some places and perhaps you would submit a destination(s) for us.