Port Canaveral commissioners approved a plan Wednesday for $90 million dollars in financing to upgrade Cruise Terminals 5 and 10. Planned improvements are:
- A renovation to passenger areas in both terminals
- A new parking garage at Cruise Terminal 5
- New passenger boarding bridges
The port authority will also begin taking bids for extending Pier 5.
The announcement follows up on the completion of Cruise Terminal 1 in 2014. The new terminal is 188,514 square-feet and is served by a four-story parking garage. It is purpose built to serve the world’s biggest cruise ships which will start calling Port Canaveral home in 2016.
Royal Caribbean, the new terminal’s major tenant, operates the Oasis of the Seas which along with her sister ship Allure of the Seas represent the largest passenger ships in the world. The Oasis will begin calling Port Canaveral her home next year, as will Norwegian Cruise Line’s Epic. With a maximum occupancy of 4,000 passengers the Epic isn’t much smaller than the Oasis and while Oasis set a record for carrying 6,000 passengers in 2010 she normally carries slightly over 5,000. The presence of both these ships in 2016 represents a major coup for Port Canaveral.
Port Canaveral has become the world’s second largest cruise port by number of passengers with 3.9 million passengers in 2015, beating third largest Port Everglades 3.4 million. Only Miami totals more with 4.8 million passengers. With Canaveral’s number of passengers expected to increase 50 percent over the next five years and double by 2022 Port Canaveral might be able to top Miami. An incredible feat for a port that still has to be listed with Orlando in parenthesis next to it on most cruise booking sites.
In fact as soon as the new Cruise Terminal 1 was completed speculation began that three additional terminals would be needed as soon as 2016, 2018, and 2020. In order to move forward with constructions Port Canaveral official’s stated that they would need a commitment from the cruise lines of two ships of approximately 3,800 to 4,600 passengers for at least six months of the year. With Oasis and Epic arriving, and Sensation being shifted to Miami to be replaced by the significantly larger Victory the port seems to have gotten the needed backing. Specifics for the planned construction have yet to be set though.
Other improvements proposed are for the Cove. Port Canaveral’s retail and dining area. There are plans to expand this part of the port with a major new complex along the lines of Pointe Orlando or Citywalk combining hotels, dining, retail, and entertainment. In fact Collett a company that partnered with Sooner Investments in order to make the proposal explicitly compares their proposed plans to the Orlando venues on their website. The Brevard Zoo has gone as far as proposing an aquarium featuring native Florida animals and fish for the development which is slated to go between Cruise Terminal 1 and the new Exploration Tower. A performing arts center, conference centers, and an office park have also been proposed. Authorities at the port seem determined to make Port Canaveral more than just a place people pass through and a destination in its own right.
Approval of the Sooner Collette proposal has been delayed, however. The port’s commissioners cited “unanswered questions” as their reason. The issue is scheduled for further discussion on September 18. Cruisers as well as local residents and businesses are sure to be anticipating the commission’s final decision.
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