The cruise industry in the US is now well and truly on the recovery with all the major cruise ports back in operations and even more to welcome back ships in the coming months. Port Everglades in Florida is a perfect sign of that by having its busiest day so far since the start of the pandemic.
A Busy Day of Cruises in Fort Lauderdale
It’s a super cruise Saturday at Port Everglades, located in For Lauderdale, Florida, with a total of six cruise ship departures between five different cruise lines. It comes as the cruise industry in the US is making a comeback with cruise ships gradually restarting with health protocols in place.
“Six of our eight cruise terminals will be in use, so it is not the Port’s record and the ships will not be filled to capacity, but it will be a sight to behold and is a solid sign of recovery,” said Port Everglades Chief Executive and Port Director Jonathan Daniels. “We have gone from three cruise ships starting up in June and July, to more than 20 ships that will be sailing in November.”
Port Everglades is not just having its busiest days since the start of the pandemic but was also the first cruise homeport in the US to resume passenger operations. Celebrity Edge, operated by Celebrity Cruises, became the first vessel to resume sailings on June 26, 2021, the first ship since March 2020 from the US. Since then, operations from the port have increased where there are now multiple ships departing each week.
On Saturday, November 7, there were a total of six ships departing with guests onboard. Celebrity Cruises has two ships departing from the port. Celebrity Edge set sail on a seven-night Eastern Caribbean cruise, and Celebrity Reflection departed on a six-night voyage to the Western Caribbean.
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Two Carnival-owned vessels set sail from Port Everglades on November 6, with Emerald Princess starting a 10-day voyage covering the Caribbean and the Panama Canal. Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam is sailing a six-night cruise with visits to the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
For Royal Caribbean International, the new Odyssey of the Seas is departing Port Everglades on a 5-night Western Caribbean cruise. Viking Cruises operates from the port with the Viking Star luxury cruise ship departing on a 10-day voyage around the Caribbean.
The last few days have been extremely important for the Florida cruise port with the newest Holland America cruise ship Rotterdam kickstarting its inaugural Caribbean season on November 5. The new Celebrity Apex also started operations for the first time from the port on November 2.
The popular cruise port is one of the busiest in the world and, before the pandemic, would typically host nearly 4 million cruise passengers annually.
