Port Canaveral, the world’s busiest cruise port, is expanding to accommodate an estimated 9 million passenger movements in 2026 with 18 homeported ships and more than 1,000 sailings.
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Cruise Terminal 5, which primarily hosts ships from Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, is doubling in size from 90,000 to 170,000 square feet to accommodate some of the industry’s newest ships carrying up to 5,600 passengers. The cruise terminal is still active during construction, which is expected to be completed in December.
Meanwhile, the new Cruise Terminal 6 parking garage is under construction with 3,700 new parking spaces, bringing the total number of spaces at the port to nearly 17,500 across eight garages and surface lots. The 13-story garage is expected to be completed in October.
These projects represent a nearly $175 million investment in the future of Port Canaveral — $93 million for the parking garage and $78 million for the terminal revamp.
“It’s a significant expansion of one of our oldest cruise facilities. It’s not large enough to handle the larger vessels,” said Port Canaveral CEO Capt. John Murray. “Given the volume of ships passing through the port now, there was no option for us to just take it offline. We had to do some very extensive and crazy things to make it happen.”
Merritt Island-based Ivey’s Construction serves as the contractor for both projects, which account for more than 2,000 jobs in Central Florida totaling more than 85,000 work hours as of mid-July.
Cruise Terminal 5 expansion
First built in 1991, Cruise Terminal 5 could handle the largest ships in the industry at the time. Meanwhile, ships have grown to be 2.5-3 times the size they were in the ’90s, Murray said.
The expansion will include a modern entrance, refreshed interiors, expanded luggage and passenger seating areas, additional security screening areas and a glass facade.
“We are laser focused on maximizing the passenger guest experience through the terminal. We want to minimize the time from vehicle to vessel,” said Bill Crowe, Port Canaveral’s vice president of engineering and construction. “You might even say we don’t want them to remember the terminal, other than it being clean, efficient, modern and bright.”
Crowe said this is the first project in Port Canaveral’s history to involve expanding an active terminal.
“This terminal is intermittently active. We have vessel calls on a regular basis. Prior to those vessels showing up, the contractor has to clean up, demobilize and put up temporary conditions in order to facilitate the next day’s passenger volume movements,” he said. “That is an incredible challenge.”
Cruise Terminal 6 garage
Around 80% of Port Canaveral’s cruise passengers drive to the port from all over the U.S., primarily the Southeast. As ships get bigger, each terminal needs to have around 3,500 parking spaces to be “satisfactory for the volume needed.”
The new 3,700-car parking structure replaces the smaller 800-car garage that previously stood on the same footprint. Ivey’s Construction was able to use some of the same foundations as the previous garage, some of which go 100 feet down into the ground.
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The 13-story structure will feature eight extra-large elevators, twin two-lane vehicle ramps to promote efficient traffic flow and a connecting bridge to allow vehicle access to the adjacent Cruise Terminal 6 west garage. In addition, a pedestrian bridge will give passengers easy access to the entrance of Cruise Terminal 5.
The Port Canaveral Advantage
These construction projects fit into the “Port Canaveral Advantage,” a $1 billion capital improvement program aimed at “enhancing operational efficiency and supporting growth across all areas of the port over the next five years.”
A year ago, Port Canaveral cut the ribbon on a new $2.7 million camp store at the Jetty Park campground, creating a place to welcome more than 400,000 visitors annually, including fishermen, boaters, beach visitors and space launch enthusiasts. Future improvements include enhanced guest cabins, a new dog park, pickleball courts, updated bathhouses, improved roadways and lighting, an expanded playground and a food truck pavilion.
Earlier this month, the Canaveral Port Authority approved plans for a new commercial fishing facility and waterfront development project with a total investment of $5.2 million by the port. Expected to be completed early next year, the project will include a 16-slip dock, a large open-air pavilion with fish-cleaning stations, office and restroom buildings, truck and trailer parking and storage facilities.
Port Canaveral is also in the design phase of a future “consolidated marina district” geared toward recreational boaters and accommodating larger boats at revamped launch facilities.
The enhancements to commercial fishing and recreational boating facilities will pave the way for the construction of Cruise Terminal 4, which the port expects to break ground on in August 2027 and open before spring break of 2029. The new terminal will take shape on the 11-acre space where Bluepoints Marina currently resides.
Cruise Terminal 10 is also slated to receive upgrades to accommodate the industry’s largest ships carrying up to 6,700 passengers. The $85 million project will feature larger security screening and luggage laydown areas with a scheduled completion in November 2027.
Other port news
Earlier this week, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Compass Hotel Cape Canaveral, a 150-room, six-story “boutique retreat.” The Margaritaville-branded stay is located on one of the closest properties to Port Canaveral and is expected to open in late 2027.
At the Canaveral Port Authority’s July meeting, commissioners discussed the future of Exploration Tower, which cost $23 million when it opened in 2013 but has sat vacant for the last four years. Port Canaveral spends around $250,000 annually on maintenance, even in its empty state.
The current lease rate of $803,000 is an impediment to finding new tenants, the commissioners said. Options discussed include turning the seven-story building into an office, event and learning space for Port Canaveral, demolishing it or setting a lower lease rate. Nothing firm was decided in the July meeting.
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