New Cruise Terminal for Miami

This week it was announced that Royal Caribbean are planning to build their own terminal in Miami at a cost of $100 million.  This is to enable the port to be able to handle it’s largest ships.  According to Miami-Dade County, the completion target date is around mid 2018.

Royal Caribbean will be leasing the land, initially for a period of 20 years at a base cost of $9.5 million a year.  They’ll also be responsible for the financing, construction, design and parking facilities for 1000 cars.

The terminal is expected to cover an area of 170,000 square feet.

Royal Caribbean have also spent a lot of money on maintaining the services at the port of Labadee (in Haiti).  In 2009 they spent $55 million dollars on making improvements to the facilities and upgrading port facilities in order to enable the port to service their largest ships, Oasis and Allure of the Seas.

Passengers disembark the Royal Caribbean Cruise ship the Oasis of the Seas for a day of beach activities. With a passenger capacity of over six thousand, the Oasis of the Seas is the largest cruise ship in the world to date.

Royal Caribbean have also contributed the largest amount of revenue to Haiti since 1986 after they employed 300 locals and allowed another 200 to sell items on the premises (for a fee).

RCI’s generosity has done so much for the tourism industry in Haiti.

It looks like Royal Caribbean may be planning on leaving the port of Fort Lauderdale and home porting their biggest ships in Miami in the near future which will make it a lot easier for getting there with direct flights to Miami from London daily and no long transfers to Fort Lauderdale from Miami.  This will work well with cruise and stay options too – a few nights in beautiful Miami followed by a lovely Caribbean cruise – sounds perfect!

What are your thoughts?  Do you think the costs involved in building this new port will increase the prices? They have to pay for it somehow I guess!

I’d love to hear your  feedback.