Royal Caribbean Debuts ‘Milestone’ Terminal A in Miami, Expects Up to One Million Passengers in 2019
by Doug Gollan
Royal Caribbean opened its flagship Terminal A at the Port of Miami. Photo: Felix Mizioznikov/Shutterstock
Royal Caribbean officially opened its flagship Terminal A at the Port of Miami on Friday in an event that drew key local leaders, including the mayor of Miami-Dade County Carlos A. Gimenez, and Commissioner Rebecca Sosa, chairwoman for the Economic & Tourism Committee; lots of local media; as well as top company officials, including Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Richard Fain, plus Royal Caribbean International’s President and CEO Michael Bayley and Senior Vice President Vicki Freed.
The line’s executives said the $250 million, LEED-certified terminal will enhance the vacation experiences of customers from start to end with “frictionless” flows both getting on and off its ships, as well as through a new automated baggage system that will significantly reduce both loading and unloading time.
The 170,000-square-foot terminal provides departing guests with a grand entrance leading up multi-story escalators to a sunlight-filled departure area highlighted by a pair of life-size cruise ship propellers that rotate from the ceiling like a child’s mobile. Plentiful check-in desks lead to a modern security screening area and to boarding. There is free, high-speed WiFi. And, the architecture and views to the ship and the Miami and South Beach skylines will make for plenty of Instagram moments, even before boarding.
Bayley said the facility was used twice last week by Navigator of the Seas as part of its breaking in, and feedback from guests ranged from, “Wow, amazing (to) stunning. People are really excited,” he told the audience of local media and government officials. He said both the disembarkations and embarkations were handled in record time.
Royal Caribbean expects to have nearly one million passengers depart from Terminal A next year, from the approximately 750,000 guests who will sail on its ships from Port of Miami this year, and there is capacity to grow that number to two million customers annually. According to statistics from the port, the entire complex accounts for 21,800 direct jobs and over 320,000 total jobs in Miami-Dade County.
Bayley noted that the opening comes along with the line’s 50th anniversary, where its first office was located in a trailer across the causeway from its new state-of-the-art passenger terminal. Fain called the opening, “a milestone of growth in the cruise industry in South Florida.”
As of this week, Terminal A will be home to Symphony of the Seas, the line’s first Oasis Class ship to be based there; and later, its sister Allure of the Seas, as well as Navigator of the Seas. By next year, four different Royal Caribbean ships will be using Terminal A.
Fain said the growth will have “a strong impact in our community,” and the facility now takes the mantle as, “largest cruise facility in the United States – fitting for Miami, the cruise capital of the world.”
In a press release accompanying the ceremony, the company said, “The design evokes the points in Royal Caribbean’s crown and anchor logo when viewed from the water; the ‘M’ of Miami when viewed from the east or western approaches; and a sense of waves rising or ships passing when viewed from the terminal side. As a result, the terminal will serve as a dynamic addition to the Miami skyline.
Separately, Freed told Travel Market Report that the line currently has no plans to increase its daily gratuities, in light of recent increases by Carnival and Holland America.
