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 Travel & Outdoors | January 2007 
Pick Your Port
 Alan Whitt - Gannett News
| The Grand Princess' home port is Galveston, Texas, an up-and-comer in the cruise industry. (Princess Cruises)
A list of the home ports in the United States servicing cruise ships:
Anchorage, Alaska
Baltimore
Boston
Bayonne, N.J.
Charleston, S.C.
Fort Lauderdale
Galveston, Texas
Honolulu
Jacksonville
Los Angeles
Miami
Mobile, Ala.
New Orleans
New York
Norfolk, Va.
Philadelphia
Port Canaveral, Fla.
San Diego
San Francisco
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Seattle
Seward, Alaska
Tampa
Whittier, Alaska |
A family of four can save a bundle by packing up the SUV and motoring down the interstate to cruise ports within a day's drive, especially those along the Gulf and East coasts.
"This trend really started after 9/11 when people didn't want to fly," said Diana Block, vice president for deployment for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruise lines. "But then we saw we were able to really build markets. We're really looking to make it easier for people to try (cruises)."
Growth cruising along
In 2005, more than 8.6 million passengers embarked on a cruise ship from a U.S. port, representing 75 percent of the worldwide numbers. That growth continued in 2006 and the numbers are expected to accelerate with more new ships debuting in 2007.
Of course, while this trend is a convenience and savings for cruise passengers, the cruise lines are simply giving customers what they want.
"The idea is that there are all these large population bases within a day's drive of a port," says Carnival representative Vance Gullikson. "The goal is to place the ships where the people are, and to make cruising as easy and accessible for everyone as possible."
Carnival ships came out of just four home ports in 1993 but have expanded to 16 U.S. cities in 2007, including the first-ever year-round cruises out of San Diego. And then there's Ensenada, Mexico, and Vancouver, British Columbia, both within driving distance to those on the West Coast.
Today's mega-ships sail at greater speeds than older vessels, making distance less of a concern, meaning ships leaving from the East Coast can make their runs to the Eastern Caribbean, the Bahamas or Bermuda. Ships from Gulf coast ports easily reach the Western Caribbean, and those from the Pacific coast can head to the Mexican Riviera, Alaska or Hawaii.
And as Americans with busy schedules make shorter four- or five-day cruises more popular, it also makes sense to make it easier to get to ships.
More ships, more ports
American cruise ports have taken advantage of the number of ships by building new piers and terminals or refurbishing existing facilities. In particular, Galveston, Norfolk, Seattle and two ports in New York/New Jersey have been extremely aggressive.
Galveston's growth and popularity with the major cruise lines have been staggering. The city - with an estimated 13 million people living within a 300-mile drive of the port - has invested $43 million to attract cruises lines to the Texas Gulf Coast city.
Since Carnival Cruise Line began home porting a second ship in Galveston in 2000, the number of passengers has steadily increased from a 32,000 to 616,939 in 2006. Besides Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Princess sail out of Galveston.
The result is a No. 4 ranking by number of passengers among U.S. ports, good for a No. 11 worldwide ranking. Only Florida's popular ports of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Port Canaveral service more passengers.
Norfolk's location on the East Coast, along with a state-of-the-art cruise terminal has established the city as the new kid on the block. The 80,000-square-foot terminal is scheduled to open in March with three cruises lines - Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Holland America - basing ships there. Both Princess and Seabourn ships will make October stops as well. The terminal is within walking distance of downtown, several hotels, restaurants and attractions, including the National Maritime Center and the Battleship Wisconsin.
Big Apple ports planned
New Yorkers always expect the biggest and best, and with terminals in Manhattan and Brooklyn the master plan calls for significant enhancements and additional berths that will result in approximately 1.17 million passengers by 2010. Norwegian is the only cruise line with a year-round presence in the Big Apple, but Royal Caribbean has established its own year-round sailings out of the new Cape Liberty terminal across the bay in Bayonne, N.J.
Seattle has grown from an Alaska cruise afterthought with six ships annually to more than 200 in 2007. The upsurge has resulted in two new terminals built since 2003 and all of the major cruise lines sailing from Washington state except Carnival.
On a smaller scale is Mobile, which is a relatively new terminal. The port is just recovering from the six-month requisition of Carnival's Holiday for the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
Mobile currently has only Holiday to call its own but has hopes of future expansion. The city sells itself as more than just a cruise port - an invitation to experience this vibrant port city and the many attractions available.
"It's not just a cruise," says Harriet Sharer of the Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau. "It's a chance to take in Mobile Bay and its beautiful waterfront."
Bureau representatives are frequently on the road hoping to sell Mobile as the next home port for other ships. Although Carnival has rights of first refusal for any cruise line looking to sail from Mobile, the fact that Holiday has sailed at 100 percent capacity since its debut in October 2004 makes more ships out of Alabama inevitable.
Low-fare airlines
Don't want to drive but still want to try a different port? A short flight on a low-fare airline is the ticket.
"Because of direct flights on Southwest we see a lot of traffic to New Orleans, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa," says Sherrie Funk of Just Cruisin' Plus in Brentwood, Tenn.
Where else can the cruise lines place ships?
"We're always looking at different options to increase the availability of cruising," says Gullikson. "With four new ships coming on line, I would imagine that we're going to have to continue to look for new places to deploy our ships." |
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