The holiday season is when everyone wants to hop on a cruise. That means that most of the ports throughout the U.S. are very busy. COVID, however, has reduced the activity levels at almost all homeports in the United States. Things are starting to change, though. More and more ships are coming back into service, and that means that many of the ports in the country are starting to resemble the pre-COVID era. To give you a sense of which homeports are busiest for the holidays, here are the top three as per reporting from Cruise Industry News.
Number 3: Port Canaveral, Florida
Coming in at the third most popular is Port Canaveral in Florida. This should come as no surprise to those familiar with the port, as it is regularly ranked among the most active in the country, servicing more than 4 million travelers in 2016. According to Cruise Industry News, Port Canaveral will be working with 10 different ships in total this December. The list includes ships from Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Disney, MSC, and Norwegian. The largest ship that will be using Port Canaveral this holiday season is Harmony of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean vessel with a maximum capacity of 6687.
Number 2: Port Everglades, Florida
Once again showcasing the strong command over the cruise market that Florida has, the second busiest port on the list is Port Everglades. More than twice as many ships will be homeporting at Everglades compared to Canaveral, however, with a total of 21 vessels. In addition to the brands that are using Canaveral, Everglades will homeport ships from luxury brands like Viking and Silver. A large number of the ships using the port are from Celebrity, with six from their fleet being homeported at Everglades. Other favorites like Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas and Princess’ Emerald Princess are using the port throughout the holidays as well.
Number 1: PortMiami, Florida
The number one spot is again taken by Florida! PortMiami will be the busiest port in the U.S. this holiday season. This is certainly true in terms of ships homeporting there, but that also means that it will likely service the most travelers of the season as well. 21 ships are currently using the port, and three more are set to start using as December progresses. Carnival Conquest will homeport from Miami starting on December 16th, and Norwegian Getaway and Norwegian Pearl will do the same beginning on December 22nd and December 23rd respectively.
There aren’t a lot of surprises on this list. Florida will be the home for a lot of ships this holiday season, and we don’t expect that to stop once the season is over!
