Nassau Cruise Port Breaks All-Time Passenger Record

The port of Nassau in the Bahamas has continued its rapid growth setting a new all-time record for the number of passengers handled through the cruise port. It comes just 20 months after the port introduced its new cruise terminal positioning the long-time port of call to benefit from the new surge in the short-duration cruise market.

Nassau with its proximity to the South Florida homeports of the cruise industry has been a port for the industry dating back to the historic days and the start of the modern cruise era in the 1960s. However, it has grown in popularity with new developments and as larger ships are being deployed on the short cruise market from Florida.

The new Nassau Cruise Port was developed in partnership with Global Port Holdings to meet the demands of the cruise industry. It has six berths capable of handling the largest cruise ships in the world, including both the Icon of the Seas and Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class ships. The ability to dock the mega cruise ships has helped to drive the growth in the port’s visitors. 

The port has set new records for the number of daily visitors. On December 27, 2023, the port handled 29,316 passengers beating its prior single-day record of 28,554 passengers set in March 2023. In March 2024, the port also had a seven cruise ship day.

In 2024, Nassau reports it received 1,445 cruise ship calls. That brought in over 5.6 million cruise passengers plus the additional crewmembers from each of the vessels. By comparison, PortMiami, the largest homeport, handled 8.2 million cruise passengers (counting both arriving and departing passengers meaning most people are counted twice). Similarly, Port Canaveral handled 7.6 million passenger movements in 2024.

Nassau has been experiencing steady growth since the re-start of the cruise industry after the pandemic in 2020. Previously, the port had set a record of just under 3.86 million passengers in 2019. In 2022, the port had rebuilt the business to 3.22 million passengers, and then in 2023 surpassed 3.9 million passengers by the end of November with a target of 4.2 million passengers for the year.

The new cruise terminal has helped the port to handle the increasing numbers. Opened in May 2023, it has space for 70 vendors, including tour operators, food, and local crafts. It has better flow and was designed to accommodate the large number of buses for tours. Port officials are promising further upgrades to the operations in 2025.