How Many People….? – Four of The Busiest Cruise Ports In The World.

We all tend to hear about the worlds busiest airports and the sheer numbers of people passing through them on a daily basis, so I thought for a change I’d take a look at some of the worlds busiest cruise ports and see just how many people they have to organise. We know over recent years cruising has become more and more popular to people of all ages but these passenger numbers still surprised me.

While many ports area strictly commercial areas dealing with freight, there are a huge number of ports around the world that focus solely on holiday cruises for tourists, so let’s take a look.

Port Miami.

Miami has already dubbed itself as the cruise capital of the world, and Port Miami saw almost 5 million passengers in 2016 (4,980,490). Not only is it the home of some of the world’s leading cruise lines like Carnival Cruise, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, it also offers cruise opportunities to some of the most popular destinations in the world, like the Bahamas, the Caribbean and Mexico.

Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale).

Port Everglades saw more than 3.8 million passengers last year, and in 2009 it opened up the world’s largest cruise terminal. Offering cruises to a huge variety of different countries and holiday destinations, and also being the home port of Oasis of the Seas, it offers more cruise lines and holiday options than any other port in the world.

Port Canaveral.

This port has undergone a huge number of developments over the years, with a concert/event amphitheatre even being opened to push even more tourists through its doors and today, Port Canaveral is ranked as the world’s 2nd busiest cruise port in multi-day embarkations. Port Canaveral sees over 4 million people every year. In 2016, the Canaveral Port Authority completed $137 million in capital projects, including $45 million in renovations to 24-year-old Cruise Terminal 5, increasing its capacity from 2,500 to 3,500 passengers.

Cozumel.

Cozumel set a new record for visitor numbers in 2015, with almost 4 million people arriving to the island on cruises and flights. Cruise passengers totalled  3.4 million in 2015, compared with just over half a million (553,776) by plane. (Source by ASUR, the airport operator, and API, the port authority).

There are a huge number of ports in the world, but it is unsurprising that the majority of the busiest ports are located in the Americas, simply due to the access the continents have to some of the best holiday destinations in the world such as the Caribbean Islands, Hawaii and Mexico etc.

I would only imagine that the Far East and Australasia with their ever increasing expansion program will soon be rivalling those sorts of numbers in the years to come.

Bye for now.