A record number of 20,210 passengers visited the Nassau Cruise Port on Sunday, June 12, in celebration of the one-year anniversary since cruising to Nassau resumed. This marked the port’s biggest one-day passenger count since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 restart, according to a press release.

This year, the port welcomed the Norwegian Sky, Carnival Conquest, Carnival Magic, Carnival Freedom and two Royal Caribbean vessels, the Freedom of the Seas and Independence of the Seas.

On the same date last year, Royal Caribbean International’s Voyager-class Adventure of the Seas made its long-awaited return to Nassau Cruise Port, and it was just the second cruise ship call made in North America and the Caribbean since the industry shut down operations due to the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

After a long hiatus, calls to Nassau Cruise Port have increased in 2022, CEO Mike Maura, Jr. confirmed.

“We have welcomed 553 calls so far this year, which is 145 calls more than we received from June to December 2021,” he said. “This puts us on a healthy track to finish the year with over 1,100 calls. As of last Sunday, more than 1.8 million passengers have visited Nassau since June 2021 and the numbers continue to climb.”

Nassau Cruise Port sets its sights to welcome over four million passengers in 2023, which is 200,000 more than the 3.8 million visitors it had in 2019.

 “We have come a long way since March 2020, and we have much to celebrate as we complete the reimagining of the waterfront and bring even more passengers to little Nassau,” Maura commented.

“As those who live and work in the area can see, we are making excellent progress on the construction with the Arrivals Terminal and Junkanoo Museum steadily rising above the port,” he continued. “Our general contractor has already laid the foundations for the new Authentically Bahamian Market boutiques for fifty local small retailers and other parts of the Port Plaza that will feature uniquely Bahamian businesses.”

“Downtown Nassau is still recovering from the COVID shut down, but most of the stores have reopened,” he added. “Hundreds of people are back at work, and on a six-ship day like last Sunday, the downtown core is as busy and vibrant as ever.”