Port Canaveral Advances Plans for New Cruise Terminals to Meet High Demand

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – Years in the making, the next cruise terminals at Port Canaveral are inching closer to reality.

In 2023, the port wanted a new terminal where the marinas are.

Last year, the port proposed constructing a terminal more quickly at a current cargo berth. However, the state intervened, indicating the berth’s significance for space operations.

In its latest plan last week, port commissioners approved $69 million to expand Cruise Terminal 5.

Currently, the port serves several cruise lines. However, Capt. John Murray expressed the need for additional space to accommodate the largest vessels in the industry, such as the Star of the Seas, which is scheduled to arrive in August.

Vice President of Engineering and Construction William Crowe said the project will be a nearly 80,000-square-foot expansion to the existing terminal.

“It’s a massive upgrade,” Crowe said.

Captain Murray addressed in a 2024 interview how not everyone is excited to hear about new terminals coming.

Murray told Cape Canaveral community correspondent James Sparvero the port is focused on balancing between space, recreation, and marinas.

For fishermen like Jamie Glasner of Fin and Fly Charters, there is concern about what the future holds.

“We just want to ensure that we won’t be entirely displaced and that the port won’t be exclusively for cruise terminals,” Glasner mentioned to Sparvero.

When the port announced it would not be renewing the lease of the Cape Marina when it expires next year, Dylan Houck, whose grandfather opened up back in 1976, said how hurt that made him feel.

“It is incredibly painful, just the memories here, the people here,” the marina’s assistant GM said. “It’s a tremendous loss to the community.”

This will be the first time the port will expand an active terminal.

Murray said it’s expected to be done in about a year.

For the new terminal at the marinas, the port hasn’t picked a construction date yet, but commissioners did pick the architect who will design the new terminal.

They’re expected to talk more about that at their meeting in August.