Port Everglades sets third straight cruise record with 5.38 million guests
Broward County’s port reported more than 5.38 million cruise guests in fiscal 2026, while Terminal 18 upgrades and added parking accompany the new season.
Key Takeaways
- •Port Everglades reported more than 5.38 million cruise guests in FY2026, its third straight record.
- •The port says 40 ships and nine cruise lines are scheduled for the 2026 season.
- •Terminal 18 received more than 850 adjacent parking spaces, bringing total port parking to 6,386.
Broward County’s Port Everglades welcomed more than 5.38 million cruise guests in fiscal 2026, its third consecutive annual record, according to an Oct. 22 county release. The figure describes port traffic, not necessarily 5.38 million different people. Seatrade Cruise News independently reported the count as passenger movements and compared it with 4.77 million in fiscal 2025. Read the county release and independent trade report.
The comparison points to a rise of roughly 13% from the prior year, using the reported totals. Cruise-industry coverage describes these counts as passenger movements. A passenger may make more than one trip, so the totals should not be read as a count of unique travelers or as a direct measure of Broward’s economic impact.
The port also announced a leadership change as the 2026 cruise season got underway. Martin Jackson, previously assistant director of the Cruise Services Section, was appointed to lead the newly created Cruise Services Division. Port CEO and Director Joseph Morris said the restructuring is intended to give the cruise business line more operational focus.
Terminal and parking work
The port said this season includes nine cruise lines and 40 ships. Those are scheduled operations, not a claim that every ship has already called. The new release also describes refreshed interiors and a blue exterior at Cruise Terminal 18, including more open space in the embarkation hall.
More than 850 parking spaces were added adjacent to Terminal 18, the port said, bringing capacity across its two multistory garages and several lots to 6,386 spaces. Seatrade separately reported the same expansion. The update gives travelers and operators a concrete view of the port’s current capacity work, while leaving actual traffic and economic effects to be measured separately.
Port Everglades is entering the season with a larger cruise operation on paper and changes to one of its busiest passenger facilities. The port’s figures capture activity across a fiscal year; they do not by themselves establish how many unique visitors came to Broward, the value those trips generated, or whether the new parking will meet future demand.
Photo: Cruise Ships in Port Everglades Hollywood Florida by EgorovaSvetlana / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and lightly color-adjusted; derivative shared under the same license.
