PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – Port Canaveral says 52,000 people got on or off a cruise ship on Christmas Eve and that single-day record won’t last long, because on New Year’s Eve, the port says 57,000 people will pass through its terminals.
Even in the middle of a record-breaking holiday season, cruise passengers talking to News 6 Monday said they didn’t experience any trouble getting to their departures on time.
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Before this holiday, the port’s largest single-day count was about 40,000 passengers back in 2019.
“After the kids get their presents, we come to the cruise port,” Jay McElreath said as he talked about his holiday tradition he started with his wife, Janet.
The couple said traveling to Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas from Marietta, Georgia went smoothly.
“The parking is easy. The walk across is easy. Everything about this port is easy,” McElreath said.
Port Canaveral said extra Brevard County deputies are helping handle traffic.
When parking lots fill up, overflow parking is set up for passengers at the port’s Maritime Center just across the street from Terminal 1.
Captain John Murray at the port’s commission meeting this month addressed the economic impact of the record amount of passengers.
“We’re bringing a lot of people here and a lot of economic value to this community,” the port’s CEO said.
Those passengers talking to News 6 said they’re not bothered by sharing their vacations with so many others, and the cold weather isn’t ruining their holidays either.
“We’re from the Midwest so we just had a storm, so it’s cold,” Rodrigo De Los Reyes said.
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