ORLANDO, Fla. — The cruise ship war between Central and South Florida has a new victor with the latest passenger counts totaled for 2022.
Port Canaveral became the world’s busiest cruise port for the first time with 4,072,396 multi-day passengers for the year, besting the usual No. 1 PortMiami, which saw 3,988,094 passengers. Port Everglades came in third with 1,621,216, according to numbers released in the annual Florida Ports Council report release.
“It’s significant because there’s always been a historical rivalry between Port Canaveral and southern ports and it’s always a friendly rivalry,” said Port Canaveral CEO Capt. John Murray on Friday. “All of the ports are doing well right now in cruising. It’s great to have the industry back. It’s an economic driver for the state of Florida. We work collectively to help each other out but there’s sometimes a little fun in the rivalry back and forth.”
