Despite the Great Recession, Florida has continued its glowing image as the “Cruise Capital of the World.” In fact, Florida not only has the three largest ports in the world, they have increased passengers: Port of Miami (4.8 million travelers), Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale (3.88 million), and Port Canaveral (3.86 million).

Port Carnival in Brevard County

In recent years the Port of Tampa and JAXPort have been increasing their cruises.  Key West has become a major Port of Call.

Port Canaveral, home of the Disney fleet, had jumped into second place in 2013.  Florida is also home to the largest cruise ship companies.

Carnival, based in Doral, Florida, is the largest cruise ship line in the world with 91,300 employees and 24 vessels using nine ship brands, holding 21% of the global market.  It is even Florida’s sixth largest public corporation.

Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale

Carnival had revenues of 15.9 billion dollars and its founder Ted Arison is believed to be the richest man in the Sunshine State.

Carnival’s Huge Headquarters

Royal Caribbean, based in Miami, is the 12th largest public corporation in Florida, second largest global cruise line, and employer of 69,000 people. RC can proudly note they have the five largest cruise ships in the world.

Royal Caribbean Headquarters

Norwegian Cruise Line headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade is Florida’s 30th largest public company with 24,9000 employees. It had a booming increase in business of 21.6% in 2014.

If you plan to do some cruising in the next few months, the odds are very good that some of your money will be coming to Florida even if you leave from a port somewhere else in the world.