Who’s number one? It depends who you ask as Florida’s big cruise ports keep going for records.
Greater Miami and Miami Beach have just branded the city the Cruise Capital of the World to celebrate milestones that include the opening of the world’s largest cruise terminal and the arrival of several huge new cruise ships.
In 2024, PortMiami handled a record-breaking 8.2 million cruise passengers. This represents an unprecedented 12.79 per cent increase compared to the previous year’s record of 7,299,294. And it’s aiming for similar growth in 2025. The port also saw a record-breaking 10 cruise ships docked at the seaport on Feb.8, 2025, with nearly 68,000 cruise passengers arriving and departing in a single day–beyond any total at any port globally.
But hold on, Port Canaveral is battling PortMiami for the cruise crown. It set its own dramatic record for most passenger movements when it hosted 925,994 guests in March, eclipsing the previous year’s March passenger counts by 16 per cent. It claims it’s on track to host 8.4 million passenger movements compared to 7.6 million passenger movements last year.
“It wasn’t long ago when we exceeded 500,000 guests in a single month. Now, with numbers like this approaching nearly a million, it’s not just remarkable, it demonstrates the strong demand for sailings from our port. We’ve been predicting it, and we were ready for it,” says Capt. John Murray, Port Canaveral CEO.
Murray says the Port is investing millions of dollars to make sailing from the central Florida region even more accessible and convenient with projects for expanded terminals, updated parking facilities and updated technology that allow guests to get to and from their cruise faster.
Not to be eclipsed, Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale is rapidly expanding as well, boasting it’s on track to a total of 4.4 million arriving cruise passengers in 2025–a more than 3 per cent growth from a record 4 million in 2024.
Much of the growth is based on the sheer size and numbers of new ships that keep calling the ports their homes.
Miami’s capacity exploded with the opening of a new four-level, 490,000-square-foot terminal for MSC Cruises— now officially the largest cruise terminal in the world. It’s the home port for the newly launched MSC World America, which has a capacity of more than 6,000 guests.
Added to that is the recently built Norwegian Cruise Line terminal. It was the launch site for the new Norwegian Aqua, the 3,700-passenger ship that’s the first in Norwegian Cruise Line’s new Prima Plus class. However, Norwegian Aqua will be making Port Canaveral its homeport.
Port Everglades is also seeing the arrival of some of cruising’s newest and largest ships, including Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas in August with Carnival Festivale and MSC’s World Atlantic slated to debut in 2027. In addition, MSC, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and NCL are deploying newer ships to Port Canaveral in the winter of 2025/26.
The expansion of cruising is bringing an expansion of hotel offerings ashore as well.
The Sonesta Miami Airport has introduced Cruise and Snooze package that includes complimentary shuttle service from Miami Airport or free parking for those arriving by car. The hotel offers a shuttle service to Port Miami that can be booked at the front desk for a $15 per person fee. As a bonus, the hotel is removing the Miami destination fee in room rates and welcoming guests with a complimentary cocktail.
And for those who want a trendy Miami experience at an affordable price there’s the new CitizenM Hotel in the bustling restaurant and club area of Brickell that’s only a 10-minute ride to the port. The design hotel catering to a young clientelle features friendly staff and a busy bar and snack counter in its lobby. And it’s located in the middle of the bustling Brickell restaurant and club neighborhood. The CitizenM boutique hotel collection is about to become part of the Marriott International hotel portfolio.
Meanwhile, in Fort Lauderdale, the 29-story 800-room Omni Fort Lauderdale Hotel at the corner of the convention center and the entrance of Port Everglades that’s due to open later in 2025 will be the third-largest hotel in the city.
Port Canaveral has 2,000 new hotel rooms in construction. It estimates that 91 per cent of cruise passengers stay in a hotel at least one night either pre- or post-cruise and 27 per cent include a land package on the Space Coast or Disney World, representing a significant proportion of the local tourism economy.
Everyone is hoping the trends continue.
Story by Wallace Immen, The Cruisington Times
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