Port Canaveral Serves Record Number of Cruisers

On Wednesday, Port Canaveral, Florida announced that it set a port record in 2017 for total number of passeger movements. 4.5 million cruise passengers boarded and disembarked this year, outpacing last year's total.

“Port Canaveral is proving to be the Port of choice for more cruise travelers year after year," said port CEO Captain John Murray. “Our focus on providing quality service and commitments we have made to improve and expand our infrastructure ensures our cruise partners can deliver an exceptional customer experience."

Port Canaveral is the second busiest cruise port in the world, and it hosts homeported vessels operated by Carnival Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean International, as well as numerous port-of-call vessels from the world’s cruise lines. 

The cruise port is making plans to become much bigger, too. Its new master plan calls for three new terminals costing up to $150 million each, with the first coming online in 2020, the second in 2022-2023, and the third between 2027-2030.

The first two terminals would be located on the port's eastern side, with the third built near the existing Cruise Terminal 5 on the west side. The plan would also upgrade two existing cruise terminals. The plan also features upgrades to the port's shopping/commercial district, The Cove, including a new 500-person conference area, five new restaraunt spaces and a new centralized transportation hub for ground transport. 

The master plan would also create a designated "spaceport" area for aerospace operators like SpaceX, which uses the port for the recovery of rocket boosters launched from nearby Cape Canaveral. SpaceX and competitor Blue Origin would benefit from two new docking areas and access to additional land.