Port Canaveral voted best U.S. cruise homeport of 2021
The 2021 Cruise Ship Awards results have started to be released, and Port Canaveral has won the Best Cruise Homeport in the United States for the second time. The port had previously won the 2019 awards. In 2020, the awards were very limited due to the industry-wide shutdown.
Port Canaveral received more votes than any other port, including the cruise capital of the world, PortMiami, also in Florida. The Cruise Ship Awards opened up for voting in mid-September 2021, and ever since, Cruise Hive readers have been able to cast a single vote in each of the seven categories. Any repeat votes and suspicious activity have not been included in the final results.
The Florida cruise port is the second busiest in the world, with multi-day embarkations and catering to some of the largest cruise ships from the largest cruise lines in the world. The port has already welcomed the new Terminal 3 to cater to Carnival’s new LNG-powered mega-ships, resulting in increased capacity.
Before the pandemic, Port Canaveral was hosting nearly 5 million revenue cruise passengers annually, which is set to keep growing in the future. The port has a total of seven terminals, with several recently undergoing renovations.
Within the Best Cruise Homeport in the United States category, there were a total of 17 ports, including five in Florida. The state is the home of cruising, so it comes as no surprise that in second place came PortMiami, the cruise capital of the world.
Like Port Canaveral, the port’s skyline is changing with new shiny cruise terminals, including the modern terminals from Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line. Carnival Cruise Line is also doing some upgrades, and Virgin Voyage’s new complex is well underway.
In third place came Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, another major cruise hub for the industry and caters for major, including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Princess Cruises, and Holland America Line. The port is the third busiest in the world and typically hosts nearly 4 million passengers annually.
The 2021 Cruise Ship Awards has a total of seven categories, and the Best New Cruise Ship of 2021 has already been announced. There are still five further results to go, including Best Cruise Line and Best Cruise Line Private Island and Destination. Keep checking Cruise Hive for all the results.
