4 6 FEATURE: FLORIDA- CARIBBEAN CRUI S ING “The return of cruising has a farreaching impact on our region, with many local businesses standing to benefit,” said Raul Alfonso, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Port Tampa Bay. “It’s estimated that a ship like Carnival Pride generates an average of $334,000 in passenger and crew onshore spending per call.” Homeporting cruise calls have also been ramping up at PortMiami, which bills itself as the cruise capital of the world. Some of the highlights of the port’s 2021 season have included departures from Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Magic, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Joy, Norwegian Encore, Norwegian Getaway and Norwegian Pearl, and the US debut of Virgin Voyages’ new Scarlet Lady. The latter is now sailing a mixture of four- and fivenight voyages to both the Caribbean and Mexico. Now that the US Government has lifted a ban on international travellers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 from entering the USA, MSC Cruises has also based MSC Seashore and MSC Divina in PortMiami for winter 2021-2022. “We have eagerly awaited the US Administration’s date to re-open the country for fully vaccinated travellers from many parts of the world that love to cruise,” said Gianni Onorato, CEO of MSC Cruises. “The Caribbean is a popular destination for our guests from across Europe and other regions of the world, particularly during the winter, and many more of them will now be able to fly to both Miami and Orlando to board our three ships that offer a range of different itineraries in the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico and our unique private island in The Bahamas, Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve.” The Florida-Caribbean comeback looks set to continue well into the future, with operators scheduling cruises from Florida ports for their upcoming vessels as far in advance as 2023. Carnival Cruise Line, for example, will base the new LNG-powered Carnival Celebration in Miami after her delivery in late 2022, while Norwegian Prima will begin her inaugural season sailing from the Port of Orlando to destinations across the Western Caribbean in December 2022. In the same month, Disney Wish will begin offering three- and four-night departures from Port Canaveral to Representatives from Carnival Cruise Line and Port Tampa Bay celebrate as the operator returns to the port
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