Five major cruise lines, three smaller cruise lines to embark from Fort Lauderdale this winter
Nine cruise lines will sail the Caribbean from Port Everglades this winter season. Five major cruise lines will offer full slates of Caribbean cruises embarking from Fort Lauderdale, FL. Three smaller cruise lines also will dock ships at the Port during the season, while one international cruise line will offer daily shuttles to the Bahamas.
Holland America Cruise Lines leads the pack with eight ships working out of Port Everglades this winter. Princess Cruise Lines will operate six cruise ships in Fort Lauderdale this season, while Royal Caribbean International fields five cruise liners at the south Florida port. Celebrity Cruise Lines is scheduled to run four ships this season, and Carnival Cruise lines will operate one ship out of the port this winter.
Balearia Cruise Lines will continue to offer daily round-trip shuttles from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas – but with a new ship and a new Bahamas destination this year. Three luxury cruise lines – Seaborne Cruises, Silver Sea Cruises and Costa Cruises – also will operate ships out of Port Everglades this year.
All totaled, 31 cruise ships are scheduled to depart on Caribbean cruises from Port Everglades this season. The winter sailing season traditionally begins in October and ends in March.
Major Cruise Lines Embarking from Port Everglades This Winter
Holland America Cruise Lines (8)
Holland America will be operating the most cruise ships – eight – out of Port Everglades this winter season. Owned by Carnival Cruise Lines, this cruise line offers premium-priced cruises on mid-sized ships.
Two of the cruise line’s largest ships will alternate weeklong trips to Eastern Caribbean with weeklong trips to Western Caribbean this season. Switching routes each week will allow ms Eurodam (2,104 maximum capacity) and ms Niuew Amsterdam (2,106 max) to offer two-week Ultimate cruises that combine, back to back, a trip to Eastern Caribbean with a voyage to Western Caribbean.
ms Zuiderdam (1,916 max) also will offer alternating Eastern and Western cruise routes, as well as a few longer voyages to the Panama Canal. ms Veendam (1,350 max) will contribute a couple Panama Canal runs from Port Everglades before heading on a 48-day trip to South America and the Amazon in December.
ms Westerdam (1,916 max) will run week-long trips to Eastern Caribbean from Port Everglades this winter season. The slightly smaller ms Maasdam (1,258 max) also will contribute extended sailings – nine days to 17 days – to Eastern Caribbean until heading for South America in January.
Holland America will send two smaller ships on cruises to the far-away Southern Caribbean this season. ms Oosterdam (1,916 max) will alternate between 10-day voyages and 11-day voyages to the Southern Caribbean before heading for Rome in March. The 10-day trip has a different itinerary than the 11-day trip.
ms Prinsendam (835 max), the smallest and oldest ship in the fleet, will sail 10-day and 11-day Southern Caribbean trips from Fort Lauderdale for one more winter season. The ship, nicknamed The Elegant Explorer, is scheduled to re-deploy to Tampa next summer.
Princess Cruise Lines (6)
Three ships from the Princess line will be serving up the Caribbean from Port Everglades this winter, while two other Princess ships ply the Panama Canal. A sixth Princess ship will make one Caribbean run before heading around the world early next year. The cruise line is owned by Carnival.
Emerald Princess (3,060 max) will focus on shorter trips to Western Caribbean and Eastern Caribbean. The ship will expand operations to longer voyages, spanning one week to two weeks, during the peak months around the holidays.
The two largest ships in the line will offer longer voyages – 10 days to two weeks – to the Caribbean. Royal Princess (3,600 max) will alternate between trips to Western Caribbean and Eastern Caribbean. Once it arrives in October, sister ship Regal Princess (3,600 max) also will rotate between runs to Western Caribbean and Eastern Caribbean.
Sister ships Coral Princess (1,970 max) and Island Princess (1,970 max) will specialize in Panama Canal trips this winter. Pacific Princess (826 max) departs from Fort Lauderdale on a 111-day, round-the-world cruise in early January.
Ocean Princess (680 max) also will sail the Caribbean this season, but it will depart from PortMiami.
Royal Caribbean International (5)
With Liberty of the Seas (3,634 max) moving to Galveston, Texas, in November, Royal Caribbean will be operating five cruise ships out of Port Everglades this winter.
The cruise line will devote one ship to each of the major winter cruise routes: Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean and Southern Caribbean. Another Royal Caribbean ship will alternate between Eastern Caribbean trips and Western Caribbean trips, while the line’s fifth cruise ship based in Port Everglades this winter will travel back-and-forth to the Bahamas.
Oasis of the Seas (6,296 max) will cruise the Eastern Caribbean this winter season. Most voyages on the 16-deck ship will last one week. Western Caribbean voyages will be handled by Independence of the Seas (3,634 max), which will run four-day and five-day trips as well as week-long sailings.
Navigator of the Seas (3,807 max) will alternate weekly runs to Eastern Caribbean with weekly runs to Western Caribbean. Those voyages may be combined into one glorious two-week escape, with a brief return to port in Fort Lauderdale between legs of the trip.
Voyages to Southern Caribbean from Port Everglades are longer trips, because the destination is further away. Serenade of the Seas (2,490 max) will focus on lengthy voyages to Southern Caribbean this winter season. The sailings, which include stops in the ABC islands, will range in length from nine days to 12 days.
Also this season, Allure of the Seas (6,296 max) will alternates short cruises to the Nassau, Bahamas, with quick trips to the Western Caribbean. One more Royal Caribbean ship, Majesty of the Seas (2,744 max), will sail the Caribbean from PortMiami this season.
Celebrity Cruise Lines (4)
Celebrity Cruise Lines will operate four ships out of Port Everglades this winter season. Three of the ships will make regular runs to the Caribbean, while the fourth ship will cruise to the Panama Canal. The cruise line is a division of Royal Caribbean International.
Celebrity Constellation (2,038 max) will concentrate on short runs to the Bahamas. The 12-deck ship also will visit Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean this season, as well as take an extended trip to the Virgin Islands. Celebrity Silhouette (2,886 max), one of the newest and largest ships in the line, will concentrate on visits to Western Caribbean this season.
Celebrity Equinox (2,850 max) will focus this winter on extended Caribbean trips. Voyages on the 19-deck ship will last between nine days and 12 days this season. Celebrity Infinity (2,170 max), one of the most seasoned ships in the line, will venture to the Panama Canal, South America and beyond on multiple voyages from Port Everglades this winter.
At PortMiami this season, Celebrity Eclipse (2,850 max) and Celebrity Reflection (3,046 max) also will sail the Caribbean.
Carnival Cruise Lines (1)
Last winter season, Carnival ran two Caribbean cruise ships out of Port Everglades. This year the company is operating only one. Carnival Conquest (3,225 max) remains, while Carnival Freedom (2,455 max) has moved to Corpus Christi, TX.
One of the seven Carnival ships that will visit new port Amber Cove this winter, Carnival Conquest will alternate between six-day trips to the Eastern Caribbean and six-day trips to the Western Caribbean. Eastern Caribbean trips include a visit to Amber Cove, as well as stops in Half Moon Bay and Grand Turk (or Nassau). Western Caribbean cruises feature port visits to Key West, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.
Carnival also operates seven cruises ships that ply the Caribbean from PortMiami.
Smaller Cruise Lines Embarking from Port Everglades This Season
Four smaller cruise lines also will operate cruise ships out of Port Everglades this winter. Bahama Mama (830 max), operated by Balearia Group, has replaced Pinar del Rio as the shuttle to Bahamas from Fort Lauderdale. The shuttle now travels to Grand Bahama on Grand Bahama Island, where it can anchor dockside at port. Bahama Mama departs Fort Lauderdale each day at 8 a.m. and leaves Grand Bahama each night at 6 p.m. The 85-mile voyage takes about four hours each way.
Silversea Cruise Lines, a privately owned company headquartered in Monaco, will see three ships dock at Port Everglades this winter season. The line’s Silver Wind (296 max) returns to Fort Lauderdale for three cruises to the Caribbean and South America during the holiday season. The ship will spend February and most of March operating out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, before returning to Port Everglades for a transoceanic voyage to Barcelona, Spain, that departs in late March.
In between trips to New York and South America, Silver Spirit (382 max) will make a number of voyages to the Caribbean and South America. The trips will be between eight days and 13 days. The ship arrives from Spain in late November and returns in early April. Sister ship Silver Whisper (382 max) is working out of Bridgetown, Barbados, until late December when it returns for one 14-day Caribbean cruise. After that, the ship is off on an around-the-world voyage.
Seabourn Cruises, which is owned by Carnival, will host two cruise liners in Fort Lauderdale this season. The three ships operated by this cruise line are nearly identical, each with a maximum capacity of 450 people occupying 225 ocean-view suites. Like Silversea, Seabourn offers a handful of winter-season cruises to the Caribbean before the line’s cruise ships depart for distant locales.
Two of Seabourn’s three ships will make port in Fort Lauderdale this season. Seabourn Odyssey, built in 2009, will take three 12-day trips to the Caribbean this winter before departing on a 97-day journey to the Far East. Seabourn Quest, built in 2011, will dock in Fort Lauderdale in October to berth passengers for a 56-day voyage to South America and Antarctica.
Finally, for the first time in four years, a cruise liner from Costa Cruises will dock in Port Everglades. It’s the first visit to the United States for Costa Deliziosa (2,828 max), which will makes a series of 10-day voyages that will encircle nearly the entire Caribbean. The ship – which has 11 bars, four restaurants and three pools – makes port in a half-dozen nations, including Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Honduras and Mexico.