Serves Over 54,700 Cruise Guests in Single Day
Officials for Broward County’s Port Everglades believe that today, Sunday, March 13, 2016, marks the second time this cruise season that the port broke its own world record with a preliminary count of more than 54,700 cruise guests sailing in and out in a single day. The last world record was set just three months earlier on December 20, 2015, when 53,485 passengers sailed in and out of the South Florida cruise port in a single day. In addition, these record days did not include passengers aboard Balearia’s Bahamas Express ferry, which departed for a day trip to the Bahamas with almost 400 passengers.
The Port hosted eight cruise ships today including Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Conquest, Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Silhouette, Holland America Line’s Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam, Princess Cruises’ Regal Princess and Royal Princess, and Royal Caribbean International’s Allure of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas. These are the same cruise ships that called at Port Everglades for the December 20, 2015 record, but because of varying spring break vacations in March the ships came in and left full of families.
“Breaking another world record is the perfect way to kick-off the first Seatrade Cruise Global convention to be held in Broward County,” said Port Everglades Chief Executive & Port Director Steven Cernak.
After 27 years in Miami, UBM’s Seatrade Cruise Global is moving to the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center this week and for the next two years while the Miami Beach Convention Center is renovated. This tradeshow and conference, which begins Monday, March 14, is expected to host more than 800 exhibitors and 11,000 attendees, and is anticipated to generate more than $10 million in economic impact for the area.
If lined up bow to stern, the eight cruise ships docked at Port Everglades on March 13 would stretch 8,245 feet or the equivalent of nearly 27 football fields and extend the length of the new runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL). That is enough cruise passengers to fill between 108 and 130 747-jumbo jets or all the seats at the BB&T Center about three times for a concert or a Florida Panthers hockey game.
Located in the second largest county in Florida, Broward County’s Port Everglades is consistently ranked as one of the three busiest cruise ports in the world. The Port’s wide-ranging fleet of cruise ships provides guests with an array of cruise vacation choices from the sunny cities of Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Dania Beach. View details on the latest cruise offerings in our online Cruise Guide at porteverglades.net or contact us by emailing PortEverglades@broward.org.
