After months of speculation...Royal Caribbean announced it has reached an agreement with Broward County to call Port Everglades home for 2 of it's new 'super-sized' ships.  The new ships are HUGE and will carry about 6,500 passengers each and could bring in 17 million passengers over the next 10 years.  These ships would dock year-round.  Although, I did read that passenger numbers were down recently...these new ships could be the 'shot-in-th-arm' for Port Everglades.

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades) actually beat out the Port of Miami for the new ships.  Royal Caribbean has used Miami as it's 'base' for years, but this new deal might shift things in our favor.  All that is left is a vote by the Royal Caribbean Board of Directors...which shouldn't be an issue.  The meeting is to be held on December 18th.

This deal makes way for Ft. Lauderdale to become the largest cruise port in the world.  It will also have a positive economic impact in the area crating 7,600 new jobs.  Of course this will bring more tourists and their dollars which will help the local economy. 

It should be interesting to see what construction will go on to accommodate these new huge ships...because there is always environmentalists waiting to stir trouble is any natural habitat is disrupted or destroyed.

This is actually great news for us here and just think of all the new options we will have to offer the vacationer in the near future.  New hotels on the beach...new casinos...new cruise liners.  In an area where tourism is the base of the local economy...this should be a win for everyone.