FULL TO THE GUNWALES
Nine cruise ships and a fast-ferry make it a busy day at the seaport.
Port Everglades had more than a full house on Sunday with nine cruise ships and a fast-ferry to the Bahamas calling at the seaport, an official said Monday.
If all the ships were lined up end to end, they would be equal to five times the height of One World Trade Center, port spokeswoman Ellen Kennedy said.
It’s too early to say whether the nine visiting ships contributed to another single-day cruise passenger record for the port, Kennedy said. “It takes us a few days to calculate the [ship] manifests.”
Even though a final tally is pending, the seaport estimates more than 50,000 cruise passengers traveled in and out of the port Sunday.
Port Everglades’ existing singleday passenger recordwas set on March13, 2016 with 55,885 cruise guests traveling through the port. The previous single-day passenger recordwas reached on Dec. 20, 2015 with 53,485 passengers, port data show.
In recent years, a typical full house at the Broward County seaport usually meant eight cruise ships docked at the same time.
But this time around, Port Everglades was able to squeeze another cruise ship in— the smaller, 210-passenger Pearl Mist— now sailing to Cuba.
Pearl Mist was accommodated at Terminal 1 after Balearia Caribbean’s fast-catamaran Jaume I departed that morning for Freeport, Bahamas, spokeswoman Kennedy said in an email.
The eight other cruise ships docked Sundaywere Costa Deliziosa, Freedom of the Seas, Carnival Conquest, Regal Princess, Allure of the Seas, Coral Princess, Nieuw Amsterdam and Celebrity Silhouette.
The seaport estimates more than 50,000 cruise passengers traveled in and out of the port Sunday.