Port Tampa Bay's renovated cruise terminal 6 opened following months of renovation.
The newly improved terminal is being used by Royal Caribbean as a homeport for its Empress of the Seas and Rhapsody of the Seas ships. Improvements included a 7,277 ft2 expansion of ticketing area, 28 new baggage tables, 32 new ticket counters, and an increase of the parking situated west of the facility.
Three terminals in Tampa are now capable of handling bigger vessels according to Wade Elliott, Port Tampa Bay’s Vice President Marketing & Business Development.
A couple of years ago, terminal 6 was slated to be demolished. However, with new cruises to Cuba this changed. Miami-based Royal Caribbean and Doral-based Carnival Corp. began cruises to Havana earlier in 2017.
Earlier this year, the cruise port entered into a US$1.8 million contract with Tampa-based construction company Reno Building LLC. The project came in on time under budget at US$1.7 million.
Previously, Terminal 6 could handle only cruise ships with up to 1,800 passengers. Now, it handles vessels with 2,500 passengers.
The port of Tampa prepares for the busy season which runs from November into spring when Norwegian Cruise Line and Holland America start sailing from Tampa.