Multiple multi-million-dollar cruise port development projects have effectively positioned The Bahamas to achieve record levels of visitors well beyond 2024.While this year marked the celebration of several milestones for the nation’s busiest cruise port, 2025 promises even more, as additional port development projects are completed to further enhance the robust cruise-tourism product that is The Bahamas.
Nassau Cruise Port (NCP), one of the world’s busiest, kicked off 2024 with an announcement that it had broken its passenger arrival record in 2023. The port welcomed 4.4 million passengers. This achievement could not have occurred in a more exciting year for NCP, which had reopened in May after a $300 million renovation. NCP continued its record-breaking trend through to year end, where on December 27, it received its largest-ever number of passengers on a single day – 29,316 visitors.
The four-year port redevelopment, undertaken by NCP and Global Port Holdings (GPH), has produced a significant upgrade of the facility. The addition of a new berth and the refurbishment of existing piers now gives NCP the capacity to accommodate six cruise ships, including three icon-class ships, and up to
30,000 passengers daily.
Cruise ports in Grand Bahama
The nation’s second city is closer to welcoming its first guests at Carnival Corporation and plc’s new Celebration Key Terminal. Described as the largest project of its kind undertaken by the corporation, the $600 million development is situated on the south-eastern end of Freeport, Grand Bahama.
The first phase of the cruise port is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2025.
Meanwhile, Carnival is already planning for future development. As Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line indicated: “As is fitting for our plans for Grand Bahama Island, our vision for Celebration Key is quite grand and we’re already thinking about the next phase of expansion and development.”
By its projected completion date of 2028, Celebration Key will have a total of four berths, each with the capacity to accommodate the Carnival’s Excel class ships. This gives the terminal the capacity to welcome more than 4 million guests annually.
“With the start of this Carnival project, Grand Bahama is now on the better side of reaching its true economic potential,” said Philip Davis, Prime Minister of The Bahamas during the 2022 ground-breaking ceremony for the development, which was attended by government representatives from the Grand Bahama Port Authority and Carnival Corporation. “This investment will provide much-needed jobs, but will also signal new hope for the island’s recovery,” the Prime Minister said, alluding to the devastating effects of a series of storms to hit Grand Bahama in the past 20 years, including 2019’s Hurricane Dorian.
On the opposite end of Grand Bahama Island, plans are underway for redevelopment of the cruise port at Freeport Harbor. The $80 million project is a joint venture between MSC Cruises, ITM, and Royal Caribbean International. This redevelopment will give the facility the capacity to receive 20,000 passengers per day. Completion is set for 2026.