Cruise Ship Port Calls and
Passenger Counts
The top 25 ports for receiving cruise ship calls in 2023 had a total of 8,505 vessel calls. Miami, FL had the most, followed by Juneau, AK and Port Canaveral, FL. Considering all ports, there was a total of 9,663 cruise ship calls in 2023. [1]
The top 25 ports for receiving cruise ship passengers in 2023 saw 25 million passengers. Miami, FL had the most, followed by Port Canaveral, FL, and Juneau, AK. Considering all ports, there was a total of 26.9 million passengers in 2023.
Comparing the two top 25 port lists, all the ports are on both lists except for Oakland, which is only on the "Passengers" list, and West Palm Beach, which is only on the "Ship Arrivals" list. For the ports the appear on both lists, their ranking is not the same on both lists due to the different cruise ship sizes calling at the ports. [1]
Both cruise ship arrivals and passenger arrivals at ports have returned to pre-Covid numbers. The graph below shows the counts for 2019 through 2023. [1]
Note, the ports are classified using the Schedule D Customs and Border Protection Districts and Ports Codes for U.S. Foreign Trade Statistics which may differ from the port boundaries applied for other statistics in this USDOT Port Performance and Freight Statistics Program, such as those derived from US Army Corps of Engineers data.
Footnotes
[1] U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Maritime Administration analysis of data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Vessel Entrance and Clearance System.