September 29, 2023
Touting JaxPort

Photo: JaxPort

JaxPort is home to the carnival Elation cruise ship.

Economic Backbone: Transportation/Trade/Logistics

Touting JaxPort

Vanessa Caceres | 5/24/2023

Competition for cruise business south of Jacksonville is fierce, with active ports at Cape Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. However, Jacksonville is a good entry point for local residents or those just north of Jacksonville who otherwise would have to go to Charleston to find a cruise within driving distance, says Alberto Cabrera, director of cargo and cruise development, in talking up JaxPort.

Cabrera says the city offers ample parking, less traffic than South Florida’s ports, and an easy in-and-out service for its cruises.

JaxPort currently is home to just one large cruise ship — the Carnival Elation, which accommodates 2,200 guests and has four- and five-day cruises to the Bahamas. The cruises out of Jacksonville are at 117% occupancy, indicating more than two people per room for some passengers. Jacksonville had more than 90,000 passengers over the six months when cruising returned last March after the pandemic; in the first four months of the port’s new fiscal year, there were more than 55,000 passengers, Cabrera says.

While sailings for the Carnival Elation out of Jacksonville are open through the spring of 2025, Cabrera says, “there are conversations all the time” about trying to lure new cruise business. 

Tags: Transportation, Feature

Florida Business News

  • Florida’s population boom drives bigger hurricane losses, despite tougher building codes

    Florida leads the nation in strict building codes, and the decades of hard work have paid off in the increasing number of homes and buildings that survive each time a hurricane slashes the state. But all those hard-won gains have been undermined by the explosion of growth along the coast.

  • Business BeatBusiness Beat - Week of September 29th

    Get top news-to-know with Florida Trend's headline-focused video news brief, hosted by digital content specialist Aimée Alexander.

  • Enterprise Florida exiting

    The doors are ready to close on Enterprise Florida, the business-recruitment agency long targeted by state House leaders.

  • Seeking protection

    Three activist groups served notice to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that they intend to sue to force the agency to invoke Endangered Species Act protection for the ghost orchid.

  • State jobless claims decrease

    An estimated 5,155 first-time jobless claims were filed in Florida last week, a decrease from the previous week and below the average for the year.

Florida News Releases

Florida Trend Video Pick

Radioactive roads? Florida has yet to submit application to EPA to start testing
Radioactive roads? Florida has yet to submit application to EPA to start testing

It appears no steps have been taken to begin testing whether slightly radioactive waste from fertilizer production can be repurposed for Florida road construction projects.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

Ballot Box

Do you believe that home values in Florida have finally peaked?

  • Absolutely!
  • No way!
  • The jury's still out...
  • Other (Let us know in the comment section below)

See Results

Florida Trend Media Company
490 1st Ave S
St Petersburg, FL 33701
727.821.5800

© Copyright 2023 Trend Magazines Inc. All rights reserved.