World’s Busiest Cruise Port Adds More Parking

August 26, 2023 – It’s a source of local pride to have the busiest cruise port in the world right in our back yard, and it’s great to have all those tourist dollars benefiting the economy, but with every positive you are bound to get unexpected consequences.

With Port Canaveral’s success bringing in almost 6 million passengers between October and July, and many of them driving in for their experience, the question naturally arises. Where are they all going to park?

Some of the overflow has already found parking lots in Merritt Island, but Canaveral Port Authority is looking to alleviate that pressure with the construction of two new parking garages near the cruise terminals that they serve.

The new project will add more than 2,500 parking spaces, with a garage serving cruise terminals 5 & 6 having 1,940 spaces and another serving cruise terminal 10 with an additional 1,081 spaces. The new facilities are scheduled to be completed by 2024.

According to the Orlando Business Journal, “Cruise passengers are a key element in the region’s tourism sector. Every 24 cruisers create one full-time equivalent job; they spend an average of $750 per passenger in port cities, which can include voyages that stop at Port Canaveral; and six out of 10 people who have taken cruises say they have returned to a destination they visited via a cruise, according to the Cruise Lines International Association.”

Source: Orlando Business Journal