Airports, seaports gear up for holidays

Port expects 5-6 ships on peak days

South Florida, it’s shaping up to be another busy year-end holiday travel season in 2016.

Local airports, seaports and roadways will be buzzing with activity over the next few weeks as travelers make their way to and from their holiday destinations.

Some 1.57 million travelers are expected to fly in and out of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from Dec. 18 to Jan. 2, airport officials announced earlier this week.

Airport traffic at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood is poised to increase 10.5 percent for the defined holiday period, compared with the 2015 period when 1.42 million people were expected to pass through during a similar time frame, officials said.

The Fort Lauderdale airport expects its busiest days will be Dec. 22, 23, 26, 28, 29, 30 and Jan. 2, with more than 100,000 travelers expected to pass daily.

Travelers should arrive two hours early for domestic flights and three hours early for international flights, airport spokesman Greg Meyer said. They should also call their airlines or check their websites for up-todate information.

Palm Beach International Airport is expecting 160,000 passengers from Dec. 18-24, an increase of about 24 percent over normal nonholiday travel, spokeswoman Lacy Larson said. Wednesday and Friday were expected to be the airport’s busiest travel days, she said.

Meanwhile Miami International Airport is anticipating 2.3 million passengers between Dec. 21 and Jan. 6, which is on par with last year’s holiday, spokesman Greg Chin said. On Friday and Saturday, MIA should see nearly 140,000 passengers daily, and it’s expected to top that number on New Year’s Day and the Thursday and Friday following, Chin said.

There is plenty of parking onand off-site at all three South Florida airports, but lots will be busy over the holiday period, so officials advise travelers to arrive early to secure a spot and reduce waiting time.

Local cruise ports are also prepping for increased traffic.

Port Everglades is expecting several days of peak activity on select days between Friday and Jan. 2, when five or six ships will be docked at the same time for port calls or cruise departures. Cruise passengers heading to the port are advised to allot additional time to navigate heavier-than-normal traffic.

At PortMiami, the situation will be similar this weekend through Dec. 28, when between six and nine vessels will be docked there on certain peak days, according to seaport data. On Friday alone, the Miami seaport will have eight ships in port around the same time.

Meanwhile at Port of Palm Beach, its sole cruise operator, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line is gearing up for two sold-out holiday cruises to Bimini in coming weeks aboard its 1,900-passenger Grand Celebration ship.

“December 24 is expected to sell-out, but we still have a few cabins,” said Glenn Ryerson, executive vice president of sales and marketing Tuesday, of the twonight Bahamas cruises. “New Year’s Eve was sold out well in advance.”

Several hoteliers however said there was still room in their inns for the holiday season as demand was pacing slower than a year ago.

“We’re not as busy as last year for the Christmas holiday weekend,” said Christopher Bielski, director of sales and marketing of the 650-room Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa.

The 484-room B Ocean Resort Fort Lauderdale also still had rooms for Christmas weekend, but the resort was fully booked the following week with limited space for New Year’s Eve, General Manager Jean Capps said.

Nearly 5.4 million Floridians are expected to travel 50 miles or more away from home between Friday and Jan. 2, according to travel club AAA. That’s an increase of 3.1 percent from 2015.

The majority of Floridians – 4.9 million – will travel by auto, while a record 93.6 million Americans overall will opt to drive.