Cruise Ports: Five of The Busiest In The World

Port Everglades (Courtesy of Broward County's Port Everglades)Going on a cruise is one of the most exciting and magical experiences that you can enjoy and with plenty of opportunities to enjoy this experience with your family, friends and loved ones, millions of people enjoy going on cruises every year.

While people think of ports as being commercial areas where parcels and freight cruises stop off, leading them to begin to compare parcel delivery prices, there are a huge number of ports around the world that focus solely on holiday cruises for tourists. Here, we’re taking a look at the top five busiest cruise ports in the world.

Port Miami
Miami has already dubbed itself as the cruise capital of the world, and Port Miami saw a total of 4,850,000 passengers in 2014 (4,980,490 in 2016). Not only is it the home of some of the world’s leading cruise liners 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 even Mexico!

Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale)
Port Everglades sees more than 3,8 milion passengers last year, and in 2009 it opened up the world’s largest cruise terminal, which saw an increase in tourists almost instantly. Offering cruises to a huge variety of different countries and holiday destinations, and also being the base 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.
It’s most famous cruise line is, of course, the Disney Cruise Line, which is one of the most family friendly cruises to be found around the world. Port Canaveral sees over 4,000000 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.

Nassau
Nassau is on the rise as a leading holiday destination, with a number of casinos and beautiful beaches to enjoy, and now, Nassau has been proclaimed to be the capital of Caribbean cruises. Just 180 miles off the coast of Florida, it is an exceptionally beautiful destination that offers a range of cruise ships. In fact, some of these cruises lines have bought some of the islands off of Nassau and the Bahamas, meaning some passengers have use of their own private islands to enjoy.

Cozumel
Cozumel sees more than 2,700,000 passengers every year and is set on the largest Caribbean island owned by Mexico. 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 only visit the island for one day, but their arrivals still dwarf the number arriving by air, with a total of almost 3.4 million arriving on cruise ships in 2015, compared with 553,776 by plane. (Source by ASUR, the airport operator, and API, the port authority).
With eight cruise ships visiting the island every day, it really is a beautiful location for any holiday. It has plenty of unspoilt beaches and forests, and is home to a huge number of endangered and exotic animal and plant species to discover.

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. With the Caribbean and other such destinations within such a close distance, these ports are only going to continue expanding as the years go on.

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