Port Canaveral leapfrogs Miami as world’s top cruise port
Port Canaveral has once again taken over the title of world’s busiest cruise port.
For the second time ever, it pipped Port Maimai as the world’s cruise capital – just.
It comes as PortMiami posted its cruise passenger traffic data for the fiscal year 2025, coming in just under Port Canaveral’s numbers.
PortMiami welcomed 8,564,225 cruise passengers for the year through September 30, 2025.
This was just short of Port Canaveral’s totals of 8,602,047 passengers.
Port Canaveral previously held the top spot in 2022.
“We’ve got two great seaports in Florida, and we’re competitive with the number of passengers that are moving through our ports, and we’re very excited to be on par with Miami and Port Everglades isn’t far behind,” Port Canaveral CEO Capt. John Murray said
“It’s a great testament to cruising and what we do in Florida.”
Port Canaveral has fewer cruise terminals but has been attracting larger ships homeporting this past year.
That includes the largest ship of all, Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas, which arrived in the Space Coast this summer.
Canaveral also welcomed two new lines – Princess Cruises and Celebrity Cruises – for the first time last winter.
Up to 16 ships homeport in Canaveral.
According to the Space Coast Office of Tourism, 27% of cruise passengers spend at least one night in a local hotel, adding up to 2.3 million hotel stays.
“All of these things are indirectly fueling our local economy. It’s a great thing to have the passengers coming through and spending their money,” Murray added.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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