JaxPort is close to bringing a second cruise line to town, joining mainstay Carnival

David Bauerlein, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union
·2 min read
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A driver leaves the JaxPort cruise terminal off Heckscher Drive in this file photo with a Carnival cruise ship in the background. JaxPort is working with another cruise line to bring a second service for cruises out of Jacksonville.
A driver leaves the JaxPort cruise terminal off Heckscher Drive in this file photo with a Carnival cruise ship in the background. JaxPort is working with another cruise line to bring a second service for cruises out of Jacksonville.

The arrival of a second cruise ship service for Jacksonville is on the horizon.

JaxPort CEO Eric Green said the agreement could come soon to the port authority's board.

"Our team has been busy in this area and we hope to have an announcement to share in the coming weeks," Green told the board at its meeting Monday.

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Green did not identify the cruise ship company but said after the meeting it is not Carnival Cruise Line, which has had a ship sailing out of Jacksonville since 2004. The current Carnival ship is the 2,190 guest Elation that goes to the Bahamas.

"This is an added service coming from another cruise line," Green said.

He said the cruise line company would have capacity for a few hundred more people than the Carnival ship and offer longer cruise voyages on a seasonal basis.

Jacksonville is not as big a cruise homeport as Port Canaveral, Miami or Fort Lauderdale, which are among the busiest in the world. But Jacksonville has carved out a niche in the cruise industry for travelers who don't want to drive farther south for their trips.

Jacksonville surpassed the 3 million mark for cruise passengers in November for trips from the JaxPort cruise terminal located off Heckscher Drive west of Interstate 295.

Green said the cruise line coming to Jacksonville was interested in getting board approval for the additional service at the Monday meeting but bringing it to the board will require more time to get all the documents squared away.

"We weren't able to get it done for this meeting, but we'll have a special board meeting in the next week or two so we can get that piece of business done as well," board Chairman Daniel Bean said.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: JaxPort works on landing second cruise line service