JaxPort widens cruise terminal site search to both west and east of Dames Point

[reednavy]

180,000 poeple a year I guess, but that is still kinda crazy. Only like Port Everglades or Port of Miami gets that much a year. And they have massive ships.

And Captain massive cruise ships stop at islands in the Caribbean that are no larger then Downtown Jacksonville and they do fine. A cruise terminal dosent need to be that large or extravagant. I am sure the Shipyards could work. However I am not for a cruise terminal west of the Dames.

Miami saw over 3.7 million people on cruises last year, and Port Everglades was just behind them with 3.1 million. They both have tens of thousands going on cruises a day, Port Everglades owns the record for a single day at over 50,000.

[Mattius92]

With that in mind I guess 180,000 a year in passengers would be considerable for Jacksonville. However we wouldn't need parking space for 180,000 poeple, probably parking space for 4-5K. Depends on how many ships there are an how big.

And I guess Shipyards isn't the best of places, that leaves the old Ford Assembly plant for a DT based cruise terminal, but that place would need some sprucing up. However it has the room.

[ProjectMaximus]

Better yet, let's put an Aquarium and Movie Theater and Publix and Ikea and Office Depot and a Panera at the shipyards!  They'll all fit!! There's tons of room there! It's definitely wide enough!!

The shipyards site isn't suitable for a convention center or a port, definitely not both.  Even if it could be wedged in there, there would be no more space for complimenting development.  CS, where did you get the 180,000 person number you have quoted so often?  Is that assuming a 3,461 person cruise each week, 52 weeks a year??  Those are the numbers that would be required to reach 180,000.

The current cruises are 4 and 5 days, right? so two trips every 9 days? thats just over 2000 per cruise.

Anyway, he took the 180,000 number from the owner of Safe Harbor Seafood quoted in the article.

[tufsu1]

Golly..............it's OK to inject 180 Thousand people and vehicles  into a small place like Mayport......sure the roads can handle it!

so 180,000 people over 365 days...about 500 people per day...assuming most won't be in single occupant vehicles, that's maybe 200 cars a day....even a 2-lane minor collector can handle 10,000 cars per day...so yes, the roads can easily handle it!

In reality, the ships they hope to bring in could handle 2000-2500 passengers....let's assume ther were 3 embarkings per week (2 ships)....so 7500 people...assuming overlap on cruises, we would need parking for about 2000 cars...and that's without considering that some folks will get dropped off or take shuttles.

[reednavy]

Breaking news, the Oasis of the Seas will move it's homeport once the Mayport terminal is completed!

[CS Foltz]

Where will they move its homeport too? I thought it was being sold for scrap?

[tufsu1]

Where will they move its homeport too? I thought it was being sold for scrap?

yeah...why keep a ship for more than 6 months...after all, it only launched in Dec. 2009 

[Mattius92]

Where will they move its homeport too? I thought it was being sold for scrap?

yeah...why keep a ship for more than 6 months...after all, it only launched in Dec. 2009 

Not only that is cost Royal Caribbean billions to build the thing. However I believe he was joking, because there is no way Mayport would get the Oasis, I would be happy with any Royal Caribbean ship, particularly the Freedom of the Seas.

[reednavy]

Of course I was joking, Royal Carribean wouldn't dare give up their giant terminal at Port Everglades.

[Captain Zissou]

Freedom of the Seas could hold almost twice the number of downtown residents....

[Mattius92]

Freedom of the Seas could hold almost twice the number of downtown residents....

There has to be more poeple downtown then 4500. However for entire Jacksonville and surrounding areas I think It wouldn't have any problems.

[tufsu1]

not residents mattius....the number is around 2500 including the northbank and southbank...although maybe it would be closer if the homeless and prisoners were also counted.

[thelakelander]

How many DT residents live at the Duval County Jail complex?

[Joe]

2008 census estimates for Downtown's Zip Code report about 5,500 residents. This does NOT include the Soutbank, but it does include the Stadium District and a small part of East Jax/Oakland. It also includes prisoners and the homeless (probably a statistical estimate). So there are probably around 2,000+ prisoners/homeless in downtown as far as the census is concerned.

Back on the cruise terminal topic, I doubt that this site selection process is very serious. They are probably just trying to give the appearance of good faith, and so they can have a better argument in favor of Mayport.

Few of the other sites would work anyway. Most of them are west of the power lines, which defeats the entire purpose. The only alternative site I like is that "sand mine" off Fort Caroline Road. And that's without even knowing how much it would cost to acquire the property - nevermind if the site is stable enough for a parking garage, or if the residents would put up even more of a fight than Mayport's.

[Mattius92]

CS Foltz started talking about another site that might be ok, which is the North East part of Blount Island. However it seems kinda far-fetched, but it does make some since.