Port Everglades reopened four fully reconstructed cruise terminals, in time for the first eight-ship cruise day of the season on Nov. 17, 2012. Cruise Terminals 2, 19, 21 and 26 are part of a $54-million renovation project that transformed existing facilities into modern cruise terminals, capable of processing both debarking and embarking cruise passengers simultaneously.
The renovated cruise terminals, which were completed ahead of schedule and under budget, can accommodate ships of various sizes and capacities. All terminals allow embarking and departing guests to be processed simultaneously, and have separate and larger baggage halls, improved ground transportation areas and covered waiting areas outdoors.
Cruiseport Boston finished the 2012 season with a record 380,054 cruise vacationers, a 23 percent increase over 2011, the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) announced. Fueling the surge was Carnival Cruise Lines’ Carnival Glory which began cruising from Boston to Canada in June. the ship contributed some 85,000 passengers to the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal’s yearly count. This year, 117 cruise ships docked at Boston, a nine percent increase over 2011. Of that number, 63 started and/or ended their cruise there. For the cruises leaving from Boston, many of the 274,000 passengers came from across the United States, New England, Canada, Europe and Australia, and contributed to the local economy by shopping, dining, lodging and sightseeing. In addition to the cruise passengers, more than 100,000 crew members visited Boston.
Additionally, Princess Cruises will be making passenger cruise calls out of Port of Houston during the 2013-2014 cruise season, while Norwegian Cruise Lines committed to begin service at the terminal in 2014. Activity from a single cruise line is expected to generate annual economic impact of $50 million, according to the firm Martin Associates, including local purchases of $3.6 million. A total of 222 jobs will be touched, including the creation of almost 100 new jobs. An estimated $941,000 annually in state and local taxes is anticipated. The combined impact of the agreements with the two cruise lines over the next four years will be approximately $200 million.