News & Updates
President’s Message: June 2025
Florida is the cruise capital of the world, and cruising from a Florida seaport is bustling. The three busiest cruise ports in the world, PortMiami, Port Canaveral and Port Everglades, continue to see surges in passenger movements.
According to the 2025 Seaport Mission Plan, Florida seaports reached a record high of 22.4 million cruise passengers during the 2023-2024 fiscal year – an increase of more than three million passengers compared to the prior year, which was also a record-setting year.
AAA projects 19 million Americans will embark on ocean cruises in 2025 – a 4.5 percent increase over 2024. While the summer generally slows down compared with the busy fall and winter cruising season, embarkations and debarkations continue to be very strong, and Florida’s economy is the benefactor.
Last year, Florida handled nearly 60 percent of all U.S. cruise passenger embarkations, a true testament to the industry’s significant economic impact. While cruising is a smaller footprint than Florida’s global cargo trade, it has become a key player in the hospitality sector over the last two decades and a prominent industry in Florida.
Both cargo and cruising continue to play strong economic roles in Florida, and in the coming weeks, I will share key state of the port’s updates during the Floridians for Better Transportation’s Summer Camp. Transportation leaders from across Florida will gather at FBT’s Transportation Summer Camp to gain the latest insight in Florida’s multi-modal transportation industry. It’s all taking place July 9-11, and registration is open.
In the last 24 hours, lawmakers completed a new state budget, and members of the Florida House and Senate voted to approve it. Seaport investments are maintained at previous fiscal year levels, and Florida Ports Council members will soon receive an update providing an in-depth review of the new budget.
In the meantime, invite your friends and family to take a cruise from one of Florida’s eight cruise ports.