Smart Travel: Cruise lines vital to port cities' economics

Every city has its own sources of income that depend on the weather, location and resources. Cities along our coastlines have harbor resources for commercial shipping, fishing or, more recently, they may be the home of cruise ship terminals.

The major cruise ports in the United States are Miami, Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Cape Canaveral, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego. New York, Houston and New Orleans have a smaller share of the cruise industry when judged by yearly ship departures. Philadelphia made a try for summer Bermuda cruises with Commodore Cruises, but this was short-lived as Commodore filed for bankruptcy before the 2001 season.

Houston attracted two ships weekly to its port last year after a 1998 start, Premier Cruise Line's Big Red Boat and Norwegian Cruise Lines' Norwegian Sea. Houston developed a $3 million terminal, but last year NCL withdrew the Norwegian Sea for other itineraries and Premier ceased operations, leaving Houston with no departures.

Cape Canaveral does a steady business in short Bahamian cruise departures. Seattle specializes in Summer Alaska departures. Los Angeles and San Diego are home ports to Panama Canal and Mexican Riviera cruises. Miami and Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades are home to the heavy Caribbean cruise traffic.

Miami has extensive port facilities and Port Everglades, recognizing the eventual value to the community, is gearing up for larger summer business with the help of several cruise lines offering seven- and 10-day summer cruises and replacing smaller ships with larger capacity ones.

In 1999, Port Everglades handled 2.4 million passengers, 2.7 million in 2000 and a projected 3.1 million for 2001. This increase has stimulated expansions and additions to the port, such as doubling the size of parking facilities.

Terminals 2 and 25 now offer berths to the largest cruise ships and weather-protected bus access. The port expects to home port 48 ships this year with two ships sailing daily itineraries, one ship providing two-night sailings and several cruise lines offering seven-night cruises through the Summer. All this volume plus larger ships and more 10-day and longer cruises, will markedly increase the number of passengers staying in the city's hotels, patronizing the restaurants and visiting other attractions.

This boom in cruise-related dollars has set off an epidemic of renovations and new hotels and bed and breakfast inns. Beach facilities also are being improved.

Port Everglades and Fort Lauderdale have the weather, the location and the resource and have recognized the impact of cruise tourism. The city and port are making a concerted effort to attract more dollars, especially year-around dollars. And they appear to be determined to create the reputation of being the number one cruise port in this country.

(Linda and Dr. Don Overend are principals in The Travel Group, a full-service travel agency formed by the merger of Ozark World Travel, Consulting Travel and Thomas Travel.)