2025 is already set to be a busy cruise year. Even with pesky inflation and geopolitical tensions in some parts of the world, cruise lines are selling cabins on cruise ships for next year and beyond.
We analyzed cruises by departure ports for next year and sorted them to find the ten busiest ports with the most sailings.
Keep in mind, this list does not necessarily include ports of call. If it did, it would include ports like Cozumel and Nassau. The list is in order of number of departures.
Every cruise has a starting point, and these are the most common starting points for cruises from January 1st 2025 through December 31 of the same year.
1. Miami, Florida, United States (1271)
It should be no surprise that PortMiami tops the list with the most departures set for next year. Whether it’s a 2-night cruise on Norwegian Joy to Great Stirrup Cay and back or an epic 200-night sailing on an Oceania Cruises vessel, Miami is the starting point of 1,271 cruises in 2025.
Miami is in a constant battle for the title of “busiest cruise port” with Port Canaveral, which you will see very soon on this list.
Carnival offers the most cruises out of PortMiami with 318, followed by MSC Cruises with 255, Royal Caribbean with 240 and Norwegian Cruise Line with 154.
Virgin Voyages has been making headway with its new terminal in Miami as well and offers 112 cruises out of the port next year.
2. Amsterdam, Netherlands (1056)
Believe it or not, Amsterdam is set to be the second busiest cruise port by departures in 2025. This is largely due to the number of river ships that set sail from this port on a daily basis.
It’s not uncommon for 10 or more ships to depart from Amsterdam in a single day.
Viking is the most prolific cruise line to use the port with well over 400 sailings next year alone. Other cruise lines that commonly sail out of the port include AMA Waterways, Scenic Cruises, Emerald Cruises, Avalon Waterways, Tauck, and Uniworld River Cruises.
3. Port Canaveral, Florida, United States (1013)
Capable of handling the largest cruise ships in the world, Port Canaveral will be home to the next Icon-class cruise ship from Royal Caribbean, Star of the Seas.
With over 1,000 cruises offered out of the Florida port in 2025, the port is still looking to expand with plans for new terminals.
Carnival Cruise Line has 303 cruises scheduled to depart out of Port Canaveral next year, with Royal Caribbean right behind at 246.
Not far from Disney World, the port is also offering 231 Disney Cruise Line sailings next year. Other cruise lines to sail out of the port include Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Princess Cruises.
4. Budapest, Hungary (951)
Located on the Danube River, Budapest offers more river cruise departures than any other port.
Viking River Cruises offers the most sailings out of Budapest in 2025 with 366 sailings. Avalaon Waterways and AMA Waterways also offer a significant number of voyages with 180 and 161 respectively.
Other cruise lines to sail out of this beautiful port city include Emerald Cruises, Scenic, Tauck, and Uniworld.
Cruises from this port range from 4-nights to a 21-night cruise offered by Scenic
5. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States (889)
Port Everglades will see 889 cruises launch from its terminals next year. In addition to homeporting two Oasis-class ships, the port will cater to nine different cruise lines.
Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises will see the most cruises out of the port with 223 and 200 respectively. Holland America will see 135 cruises sail out of the port and Disney Cruise Line will see 101.
Princess Cruises also sails out of Port Everglades quite a bit with 187 next year alone.
You will also see some luxurious cruise lines sailing out of the port with Silversea Cruises and the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection using the port, in addition to Viking.
Viking actually offers a 137-night world cruise out of Port Everglades next year, and Holland America has a couple “Pole to Pole” voyages that are 100-nights + in duration.
6. Bergen, Norway (877)
With 877 cruises sailing out of Bergen next year, the Norwegian port sees most of these departures with Hurtigruten, the exploration cruise line that specializes in sailings along Norway’s coastline.
832 cruises out of Bergen will be through Hurtigruten on one of the eight ships that carry around 500-700 passengers.
Viking cruise ships will be offering 31 sailings out of Bergen in 2025 with 7- to 28-night sailings.
A few other cruise lines offer a handful of cruises out of the port as well. These include Windstar Cruises, Silversea Cruises, Lindblad Expeditions, Scenic Cruises, and Ponant Cruises.
7. Barcelona, Spain (753)
This port city has been in the news lately over some attempts by local residents to curb tourism. But there’s no doubt about it, it’s still one of the busiest cruise ports in the world.
With an impressive list of voyages, 26 different cruise lines will be sailing out of Barcelona in 2025. For good reason, this is one of the best ports to start a Mediterranean cruise.
753 cruises will make their start in Barcelona next year.
MSC Cruises offers 178 cruises out of the Spanish port in 2025, whole Costa Cruises offers 135.
Other cruise lines to offer a significant number of voyages out of the port include Viking (76), Royal Caribbean (36), Celebrity Cruises (34), Princess Cruises (31), and Explora Journeys (36).
8. Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy (722)
So, it’s not exactly Rome, even though most itineraries list it as such. We recently wrote an article about port cities that aren’t really close to where cruise lines say they are if you want to run down that rabbit hole.
Still, “Rome” will be saying bon voyage to 722 cruise ships next year across 25 cruise lines.
Similar to Barcelona, MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises dominate most of the sailings as both companies have a heavy presence in the Mediterranean Sea.
Oceania Cruises has the longest sailings out of the port with a 34-, 46-, and 56-night sailing, offering some of the most port-intensive itineraries you will find.
9. Athens (Port of Piraeus), Greece (666)
Another Mediterranean cruise port on this list shows just how popular this region of the world is. Although it’s a 15-minute drive from the actual cruise port in Piraeus to Athens, most itineraries just list the departure port as the Greek capital.
Over 600 sailings on 25 different cruise lines will depart from this port in 2025. Adding to this is the fact that Athens is both a port of call and homeport to many ships
Just last year the port broke its own record with over 1.5 million travelers passing through. It is able to handle larger vessels as well, as signified by Norwegian Viva and Sun Princess sailing out of the port next year.
10. Basel (Saxon), Switzerland (582)
This Rhine River cruise port hosts a handful of cruise lines, and Viking River Cruise ships supply more than half of the sailings with 315 of them.
Other popular river cruise lines to offer departures out of Basel include AMA Waterways, Avalon Waterways, Emerald Cruises, Scenic, Tauck, and Uniworld. Durations of sailings range from 4-night to 15-nights.
The cruise port’s proximity and location to three country borders (France, Germany, and Switzerland, make it a popular launch point for river cruises along the beautiful and historic Rhine River.
Other Notable Cruise Ports
The list above tops out the top 10 cruise ports with the most sailings offered for departures. Below are the next six in terms of sailings with that number of cruises shown for 2025.
- Paris, France (504)
- Galveston, Texas, United States (413)
- Seattle, Washington, United States (359)
- Tampa, Florida, United States (357)
- Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (363)
- Southampton, United Kingdom (321)
