Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Cruising altitude
Cruise lines report record traffic for PortMiami; Port Everglades traffic is robust.
More travelers sailed through South Florida’s two main cruise ports in fiscal 2017 than last year, with PortMiami posting record numbers fueled by visitors from around the world, newly released data show.
New ships arriving with fancier bells and whistles to entice travelers, expanded Cuba cruise options, a strong national economy and consumers’ growing appetites for cruises all helped contribute to overall demand.
PortMiami welcomed a record 5.34 million cruise passengers from Oct. 1, 2016 through Sept. 30, 2017, port officials announced Sunday. That number included nearly 70,000 day trippers sailing on FRS’ San Gwann ferry between Miami and Bimini in the Bahamas.
The new milestone at PortMiami — already dubbed the world’s busiest cruise port — marks a level no other cruise port has ever reached, officials said. In fiscal 2016, PortMiami registered another record of 4.98 million cruise passengers.
“Miami remains the center of cruising in the world,” said MiamiDade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez, in a news release. “Cruise passengers come from virtually all over the world contributing economic growth for our cruise line partners, our hospitality and entertainment industry, as well as generate hundreds of thousands of jobs.”
New ships arriving in Miami during the fiscal period for yearround or seasonal sailings to the Caribbean included Carnival Cruise Line’s 3,954-passenger vessel Carnival Vista, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ 750-guest, all-suite Seven Seas Explorer ship.
By contrast, 3.86 million cruise and ferry passengers traveled through Port Everglades in Broward County during the same period, an increase of 1 percent from the previous budget year, according to new data released this month. Of that amount, 3.74 million were multi-day cruise passengers, reflecting a 2 percent uptick from fiscal 2016.
Port Everglades officials said two new ships — Royal Caribbean International’s Harmony of the Seas and Holland America Line’s ms Koningsdam contributed to the passenger traffic boost in the 2017 budget year.
The Fort Lauderdale seaport ranks among the three busiest in the world, behind PortMiami and Port Canaveral, near Orlando. Port Canaveral hosts more than 4 million cruise passengers annually.
Port of Palm Beach saw its cruise traffic head in the opposite direction, falling 14 percent to 432,585 passengers from the prior fiscal period, due largely to 20 missed sailings by its sole cruise operator Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, port officials said.
Those missed sailings were due primarily to a change in itinerary from Grand Bahama Island to Bimini, after Freeport sustained damage during Hurricane Matthew in October 2016; a scheduled ship dry dock in January 2017; a May charter and disruptions related to Hurricane Irma in September.
The line’s Grand Celebration cruise ship is now operating a three-month humanitarian charter for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The ship is expected resume its two-night sailings from Port of Palm Beach to Freeport on Dec. 23.
“Miami remains the center of cruising in the world.” Carlos A. Gimenez, Miami-Dade County Mayor