New Orleans saw a record number of cruise passengers in 2018

Nearly 1.2 million passengers boarded cruises in New Orleans in 2018, a new high for the city.

Total traffic was up 2.3 percent compared with a year ago, boosted by a surge in interest in Mississippi River cruises, according to a Port NOLA news release. Port officials noted the city’s cruise traffic is poised for continued growth in 2019 and 2020 as the city welcomes several new ships, including Norwegian Breakaway, the city’s largest to date.

The port tracked 235 calls to New Orleans in 2018, up from 229 in 2017, the release said. New Orleans remains the 6th busiest cruise port in the country, behind the Port of New York and New Jersey, and the Port of Galveston in Texas. Miami holds the title for busiest cruise port in the world.

The 2018 passenger count included nearly 30,300 riverboat cruisers, up 23 percent from 2017, the release said. New Orleans is home port to five riverboats, including two operated by American Queen Steamboat Co. and American Cruise Lines.

The city’s cruise business will see a number of changes over the next two years that are expected to boost overall traffic. Those include:

• Norwegian Breakaway moves in. Breakaway, the largest cruise ship to home port in New Orleans, arrived in November, will sail five, seven, 10 and 11-day cruises from New Orleans to the western Caribbean. Take a look inside the 3,963-passenger ship. 
• More Norwegian moves. Breakaway will be replaced by its newer sister ship, Norwegian Getaway, in November 2019.
• New Carnival cruise ships. Carnival Cruise Line’s 2,980-passenger Carnival Glory will arrive March 1, replacing Carnival Triumph. In May, Carnival Valor will arrive to sail year-round four- and five-day Caribbean cruises. Glory will sail four- and five-day Caribbean cruises until May, when it will switch to seven-day itineraries. 
• Royal Caribbean returns to New Orleans. The cruise line returned to New Orleans in December after a four-year hiatus. The 2,435-passenger Vision of the Seas is set to sail seven-day itineraries from New Orleans to the Caribbean through March 2019.
• New modern riverboat arrives. American Queen Steamboat Co. debuted American Song, the first modern riverboat in the country, last year. The 184-passenger Song will be replaced later this year by her newly-built sister ship American Harmony to sail Mississippi River cruises.
• Disney Cruise Line comes to New Orleans. The 2,700-passenger Disney Wonder will sail to the Caribbean and The Bahamas starting in early 2020, marking Disney Cruise Line’s first homeport in Louisiana. Read more.

Roughly 90 percent of New Orleans cruise passengers travel from out of state, according to the port’s news release. Of those, more than two-thirds stay in New Orleans and spend money here on and around their cruise dates.

A study completed for Port NOLA by LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business estimates cruise passengers and crews spend about $129 million each year in New Orleans.