Miami does not relinquish title of cruise capital of the world

15-12-23

PortMiami, Florida's largest port, broke a record for passengers served in a year, according to new data released Monday. The port said 7.3 million passengers traveled in and out during the 12-month fiscal year of 2023, which for the cruise industry began Oct. 1, 2022, and ended Sept. 30, 2023. Nearly double the four million passengers in the previous fiscal year.

Port travel surpassed its previous record of 6.8 million passengers set in FY 2019 by 7%, before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted one of the most popular vacation industries.

This year's record activity is reflected in several new ships sailing from PortMiami, including Oceania's Vista, Carnival Cruise Line's Costa Venezia and Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian VIVA. In January, Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, will sail from the port.

The port has also opened new terminals. Since the pandemic, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Corp. and Virgin Voyages have built new terminals at PortMiami. Royal Caribbean Group plans to open a new one by the end of 2027.

The coronavirus pandemic crippled the cruise industry for more than a year beginning in March 2020 due to ship outbreaks. This especially affected the South Florida economy, as PortMiami and Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale are the two largest cruise ports in the United States.

PortMiami activity contributes $43 billion annually to the local economy and supports more than 334,500 jobs.

However, the cruise industry has rebounded strongly. Many of the longer voyages departing through early 2024 are even selling out, perhaps representing the final piece of the cruise resurgence. People pay between $25,000 and $100,000 to sail around the world for several months.

The world is now wide open, with few or no COVID restrictions, and travel, leisure and adventure opportunities abound. And people are looking to make up for lost time.

As a sign of the slowdown, the number of tourists from the U.S. visiting Miami-Dade County between January and June fell 6% to 6.6 million, according to Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau data provided earlier this year.

Miami-Dade's average hotel occupancy rate this year through June declined, according to CoStar, a national provider of commercial real estate financial information and analytics. So did the average daily rate of hotel overnight stays and average revenue per hotel room.

Still, cruise passengers are a unique species and have been a huge boon to South Florida's tourism economy in post-pandemic times. They often enjoy the 24/7 service offered by ships and dislike airports. Many have had recent brushes with their own mortality, feelings that deepened during and since the pandemic, and prefer to make travel plans in a big way.

Some will go big on the Regent Seven Seas Grandeur, owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which will sail from PortMiami on Jan. 6 for a 132-day cruise. Royal Caribbean International launched a 274-day cruise from its homeport of Miami on Dec. 10, the longest in its history and its first foray into worldwide voyages.

PortMiami's growth is consistent with worldwide figures. The Cruise Lines International Association's "State of the Cruise Industry" report, released in September, forecasts that 31.5 million passengers will sail in 2023, up 54% from 2022. This would beat the previous record of 29.7 million passengers in 2019. Growth is expected to continue into next year, with 36 million travelers expected aboard cruise ships.