An increasing number of passengers visited Port Nassau Cruise in The Bahamas in the first half of 2023, surpassing the record of 2019 and showing the strong growth of cruises and the influence of the newly developed ports.
With good cruise forecasts for the rest of the year, Nassau could be one of the most popular ports in the world by the end of the year.
Nassau Receives 2.2 Million Visitors – So Far!
Nassau, the capital of the Bahamasis the most popular cruise port in the Caribbean, and continues to break records in 2023, with 2,256,925 visitors already arriving at the port as of June 30.
This breaks the previous tourism record, which was set before the pandemic, with 2,011,754 visitors in the first six months of 2019. This comes as the summer heats up for cruises, and more ships call at the port almost every day for the next one. a few months.
“Occupancy remains strong at 109 percent and bookings remaining for 2023 forecast strong annual results,” said Mike Maura, Jr., port chief.
Meanwhile, Nassau could break four million visitors by the end of the year, higher than the 3.2 million passengers that arrived in 2022, and more than the 3.9 million of 2019.
Multi-day records are broken
The Port of Nassau is already there broke several records for one-day visitors in 2023. On January 5, the port received 25,393 visitors at one time, then broke the record just three days later on January 8 with an incredible 26,396 visitors.
On February 27, 2023, the single-day record was broken again when six ships from four different cruises arrived in Nassau, bringing 28,554 visitors to the tropical island.
Two of the ships in port that day were the Oasis from Royal Caribbean International: Wonders of the Sea and The Unity of the Seaswhich is ranked as the first and third largest ship in the world, respectively.
With the largest ships from several cruises to Nassau throughout the year, it is possible that one day’s record will continue to be broken in the next few months, depending on the port’s schedule and the exact location of each ship, in particular. whether the fleet is running at 100% power and the third, fourth, and fifth places are full of teams and families.
For example, Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras is bringing its 5,282 guests to Nassau on a regular basis, while Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Wish is bringing its more than 5,500 guests to Nassau twice weekly on 3- and 4-night cruises to the Bahamas from Port Canaveral.
New Ports Increase Capacity
Phase 1 of the new port opened in Nassau at the end of May after three years of development and an investment of 300 million dollars (USD). This has opened up a sixth berth on the 11-acre port, which has allowed more ships to dock at the same time, and has been redesigned to welcome and entertain visitors.
The harbor features a Junkanoo museum, local Bahamian vendors and artisans, a cultural theater, and more to provide a unique Bahamian feel.
The new accommodation is also equipped Oasis-class shipsallowing the port to receive three large ships at the same time, increasing the port’s capacity to more than 30,000 visitors per day.
“We expect our traffic in 2023 to exceed the pre-pandemic level of about 4.2 million visitors,” Maura said. “In 2019, which was the busiest year to date, we had 3.85 million visitors. In 2024, we have 4.5 million confirmations.”
Of course, itineraries and port restrictions are always possible, and although more than 4 million visitors are expected, the length of the Atlantic hurricane season from mid-August to the end of September can affect the expected numbers if the hurricane affects cruises in the Bahamas or port itself.
If the Nassau Cruise Port reaches the expected 4.2 million visitors in 2023, it is likely that the port will take over. Port Canaveral is the busiest port in the worldeven the famous Florida port is receiving more visitors than ever and shows an increase in the coming years.
