by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 9:00 AM ET, Fri April 25, 2025
Port Canaveral, the world’s second busiest cruise port behind PortMiami, set a new record for passenger totals in March with a year-over-year increase of 16 percent.
March was the busiest month in the Port’s history, welcoming 925,994 guests in a single month. Its annual forecast expects to welcome 8.4 million passengers this year, up from last year’s 7.6 million.
Port Canaveral is home to sixteen ships from seven cruise lines, which operate over 1,000 sailings each year. Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Disney, NCL, MSC and Princess Cruises have at least one ship at the Port.
Last year, it welcomed a record number of cruise passengers in 2024, hosting 7.6 million passengers, which was an increase of 12 percent from 2023.
Yet the Port continues to grow: it’s invested millions into expanded terminals, updated parking facilities and new technology that makes embarkation and debarkation faster.
The local cruise industry is a crucial factor in Florida’s Space Coast region, with 91 percent of cruise passengers staying in overnight accommodations before or after their cruise. Twenty-seven percent of passenger parties spend $3,072 on pre- or post-cruise stays.
“It wasn’t long ago when we exceeded 500,000 guests in a single month. Now, with numbers like this approaching nearly a million, it’s not just remarkable, it demonstrates the strong demand for sailings from our Port,” said Capt. John Murray, Port Canaveral CEO. “We’ve been predicting it, and we were ready for it.”
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