Cruise Ship Boom Fuels New Records for Port Canaveral

The continuing strong growth in the cruise ship industry has helped Florida’s Port Canaveral to set new records in its current fiscal year. The port had its busiest month ever in March with a 16 percent year-over-year increase in passenger volumes coming after a record winter season and new, larger ships scheduled to homeport at the Central Florida port.

“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,” stated Capt. John Murray, Port Canaveral CEO.

In March 2025, the port handled 925,994 passengers coming and going from the cruise ships. That was up 16 percent compared to a year earlier and was the second record month in the port’s nearly completed winter season. The Orlando Sentinel highlights another record in December 2024 when Port Canaveral handled 837,900 passengers.

Port officials reported to its board of directors that for the six-month period in FY 2025 they have already handled 4.42 million passengers and they are projecting the port will reach 8.4 million passengers for the full year. That is up from 7.6 million last year and in FY 2019, Port Canaveral hosted nearly 4.6 million revenue cruise passengers.

The strong passenger counts were driven by a record 16 cruise ships sailing from the port during the peak winter months. The port says that cruise ships are now operating more than 1,000 trips annually from Port Canaveral, with many being the shorter 3- and 4-day trips to the Bahamas. The port however slipped back into second place in the passenger counts after briefly topping PortMiami as the cruise industry restarted after the pandemic.

The port also reported that it was ahead of forecast for each of the first six months in the current fiscal year. That has also helped it to generate a record of just over $23 million in operating revenue in March. For the first six months of the year, the port achieved over $111 million in operating revenue.

Port Canaveral reports it has grown in popularity as a homeport, particularly for cruise guests who prefer to drive to their port. Also with its proximity to the Central Florida theme parks and attractions, the port highlights that just over a quarter of the passengers stay in the local area for pre- or post-cruise stays fueling the hotels, restaurants, and tourism industry.

Murray highlights that the port is investing millions of dollars to make sailing from the Central Florida region even more accessible and convenient. Its projects include expanded terminals, updated parking facilities, and updated technology that allows guests to get to and from their cruise faster than ever. Previously he also highlighted their early planning which made Port Canaveral the first in North America to homeport an LNG-fueled cruise ship.

While several of the ships move to other markets during the summer months, the port is preparing this weekend to welcome the new Norwegian Aqua, and this summer it will become homeport to Star of the Seas, which will be the largest cruise ship in the world. Carnivale Cruise Line recently announced it would position its newest ship, Carnival Festivale in the port in 2027 and MSC also announced that its new giant, MSC World Atlantic will be positioned in the port. MSC, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line will all deploy newer ships to Port Canaveral this winter.  

Near term, the port is looking to expand one of its existing cruise terminals. It is also working on plans to build one or more new terminals to accommodate additional growth in the cruise business while also balancing with the needs of the cargo business and its operations to support the space industry.