Cruising There---From Anywhere
April 27, 2005
It isn't just Florida anymore. More and more people are cruising out of other ports along the eastern seaboard, and finding it more convenient to do so. Cruisers are able to skip the expensive flights and forego the long travel time it takes to get to ports farther away. And while there is no doubt that Florida doesn't have to worry about giving up its position as king of the cruising hill, the Sunshine State may be looking over its shoulder just a bit.
Still, when you stack the numbers side by side, it's almost laughable. The three biggest port cities in Florida—Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, and the reigning queen of port cities, Miami—brought in over 5,000,000 cruise passengers in 2004. Those three ports alone dealt with about 50% of the all the cruise passengers in the country. Several million more sailed from Florida's smaller ports. Even the 6th most visited port city in the U.S., New York, draws in not even a tenth as many people as that.
It's no surprise why Florida is so popular for cruise lines. The fact that it is basically surrounded by ocean and has such a close proximity to the Caribbean has ensured that Florida is still, and will remain for some time, the center of the cruising world. But since 9/11, cruise lines have made a concerted effort to move ports to other cities along the east coast so that more people can avoid having to fly. Port cities such as Norfolk, VA, Charleston, SC, and Philadelphia, PA are now getting a larger piece of the pie.
Take Philadelphia, for example. The city's first cruise departure for the season started on April 24th by Norwegian Crown on a seven-day voyage to Bermuda. Bermuda is the perfect destination from Philadelphia since the islands are not any closer to Florida than to the northeast. Celebrity Horizon and the Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas are two other ships that will grace Philly's port.
More than 92,000 people are expected to board ships at the Philadelphia Cruise Terminal at Pier 1 this year. While that number may not seem like it competes with Florida's statistics, consider that in only one year, that will be an increase of 50%. Also, if the prediction becomes reality, it will be a higher number of passengers than those who cruised out of Jacksonville, FL in 2004.
Still, the burgeoning growth of ports outside of Florida doesn't necessarily mean that Florida will see a decrease in the amount of people who cruise into and out of its ports. Rather, the result will be a continued explosion of the cruise industry; many people who cruised out of Florida before will still do so, and people who never cruised before will now set sail from a port that is more easily accessible to them.
For those people who don't live in the southeast, being able to avoid the expense of flying to the port city is a big plus. And, if it does end up taking a little longer to get to some sun drenched port of call in the Caribbean, with all the innovative onboard features that passengers can find on cruise ships, many people don't mind spending more time on their floating resort before they reach their port of call.
Michael Gloss Jr
