Special Report

RITA Bureau of Transportation Statistics

January 2010

Ocean Passenger Vessels: migrating south for the winter

by Matthew Chambers

SR-020

In response to consumer demand, the passenger vessels 

that operate from seaports along the Atlantic, Gulf, and 

Pacific coasts alternate between north and south. Passenger vessels that sail out of ports such as New York, 

Baltimore and Seattle in the summer, lift anchor and steam 

for departure ports such as Miami, Tampa and Los Angeles, 

or overseas markets during the cold winter months. This 

phenomenon has grown in recent years as cruise lines 

increased the number of “close-to-home” departure ports1

in the north. 

The winter when capacity operates from 

the southerly ports, 

is the peak quarter 

for total passengers 

boarded. Over the 

last 5 years, except 

in 2006, the fourth 

quarter has been 

the lowest overall 

quarter for U.S. 

cruise passenger 

departures. See 

figure 1. In addition to the seasonal 

shifting of capacity to the south to meet increased demand 

for warm weather destinations, operators also shift some 

capacity to southern Europe. Additionally, operators often 

use the lower volume fourth quarter as a time to put ships 

into dry dock for maintenance. 

North v. South Atlantic, Including Gulf 

Departure Ports

On the East Coast of the United States, passenger vessels migrate from northern ports2

 to southern departure 

1

 Cruise Lines International Association; 2008 Cruise Market Profile Study; 

available at http://www.cruising.org as of Sept. 25, 2009.

2

 North Atlantic includes ports from Eastport, ME, to Baltimore, MD.

ports, primarily in Florida, on both the Atlantic3 and Gulf4

Coasts. At the same time, some passenger vessels move 

from North American to the southern European market 

where higher fares allow cruise ship operators to generate 

more revenue than in the North American market5. Figure 2 

shows how cruise departures from ports in northern Atlantic Coast cities move in opposite cycles from port cities in 

Florida—departures peak in the north when they are low 

in the south. More specifically, peak season for the Atlantic 

Ocean ports in the north is third quarter, and the low is first 

quarter. Atlantic ports in the south and Gulf coast experience the opposite, with their peak in first quarter and a low 

in the third quarter. 

3

 South Atlantic includes ports from Alexandria, VA, to Miami, FL.

4

 Gulf includes ports from Key West, FL, to Brownsville, TX.

5

 U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration; Cruise 

Statistical Snapshot: 2nd Quarter 2009; available at http://www.marad.dot.

gov/ as of Oct. 14, 2009.

Box 1: The Latest Numbers 

for U.S. Departures

In the 2nd quarter of 2009, the 

17 largest passenger vessel 

operators carried 2.4 million 

voyagers on 996 voyages. The 

volume remained essentially unchanged from the same quarter 

in 2008, when 2.38 million passengers sailed on 993 voyages.

Figure 1: U.S. Cruise Passenger Departures: 

 1Q04–2Q09 (in thousands)

2004

Q1

2004

Q3

2005

Q1

2005

Q3

2006

Q1

2006

Q3

2007

Q1

2007

Q3

2008

Q1

2008

Q3

2009

Q1

2,000

2,100

2,200

2,300

2,400

2,500

2,600

2,700

2,800 Passengers

Passengers

Trend

NOTE: Trend calculated through X-12-ARIMA. For more information on 

X-12-ARIMA, go to http://www.census.gov/srd/www/x12a/.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative 

Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, based 

upon U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration; North 

America Cruise Summary Data; available at http://www.marad.dot.gov/ as 

of Oct. 14, 2009.
BTS Special Report

2 

Table 1: Number of Passengers Departing From North American Departure Ports, 

 by Destination, 2008 (in thousands)

2008, total by quarter

Annual 

total 

2008

2008, percent of annual total 

attributed by quarter

Destination 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Western Caribbean 979.9 592.7 509.3 734.7 2,816.6 35% 21% 18% 26%

Bahamas 326.9 335.3 365.9 419.6 1,447.7 23% 23% 25% 29%

Eastern Caribbean 475.9 295.7 251.3 384.3 1,407.3 34% 21% 18% 27%

Mexico (Pacific) 382.3 296.3 272.0 314.5 1,265.1 30% 23% 21% 25%

Alaska 0.0 413.4 602.0 0.0 1,015.4 0% 41% 59% 0%

Southern Caribbean 396.4 134.8 72.5 255.2 858.8 46% 16% 8% 30%

Hawaii 89.2 55.3 37.3 68.7 250.5 36% 22% 15% 27%

Canada/New England 0.0 31.0 145.6 54.2 230.8 0% 13% 63% 23%

Bermuda 0.0 97.3 98.0 28.8 224.2 0% 43% 44% 13%

Trans-Atlantic 14.3 60.6 42.1 50.9 167.9 9% 36% 25% 30%

Trans-Panama Canal 23.6 27.1 7.8 43.8 102.2 23% 27% 8% 43%

Pacific Coast 3.5 24.9 22.2 7.9 58.4 6% 43% 38% 13%

Nowhere 0.0 8.6 8.9 11.3 28.9 0% 30% 31% 39%

South Pacific/Far East 5.3 5.6 12.9 3.7 27.4 19% 20% 47% 13%

South America 2.2 1.6 0.0 9.8 13.6 16% 12% 0% 72%

Total Passengers 2,699.4 2,380.2 2,447.7 2,387.5 9,914.8 27% 24% 25% 24%

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, based upon U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration; North America Cruise Summary Data; available at 

http://www.marad.dot.gov/ as of Oct. 14, 2009.

Figure 2: North v. South Atlantic, including Gulf

 Passengers From U.S. Departure Ports:

 1Q04-2Q09 (in thousands)

2004

Q1

2004

Q3

2005

Q1

2005

Q3

2006

Q1

2006

Q3

2007

Q1

2007

Q3

2008

Q1

2008

Q3

2009

Q1

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

North Atlantic South Atlantic, including Gulf

North Atlantic

South Atlantic, including Gulf

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative 

Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, based 

upon U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration; North 

America Cruise Summary Data; available at http://www.marad.dot.gov/ 

as of Oct. 14, 2009.

Figure 3: Pacific Northwest v. Pacific Southwest 

 Passengers From U.S. Departure Ports:

 1Q04-2Q09 (in thousands)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

2004

Q1

2004

Q3

2005

Q1

2005

Q3

2006

Q1

2006

Q3

2007

Q1

2007

Q3

2008

Q1

2008

Q3

2009

Q1

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Pacific Northwest Pacific Southwest

Pacific Southwest

Pacific Northwest

NOTE: Zeros are not shown.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative 

Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, based 

upon U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration; North 

America Cruise Summary Data; available at http://www.marad.dot.gov/ 

as of Oct. 14, 2009.
BTS Special Report

3

Pacific Northwest v. Pacific Southwest 

Departure Ports 

On the Pacific coast, passenger vessels migrate from the 

Pacific Northwest (PNW)6 to the Pacific Southwest (PSW)7

departure ports as well as to overseas markets. Figure 

3 shows how PNW and PSW cruise departures move in 

opposite cycles—departures peak in the PNW when they 

bottom in the PSW, and vice versa. Peak season for the 

Pacific Northwest is in the third quarter and the low is in 

first quarter. The Pacific Southwest has its high in the first 

quarter and its low in the third quarter.

6

 Pacific Northwest includes U.S. ports from Barrow, AK, to Coos Bay, OR.

7

 Pacific Southwest includes ports from Crockett, CA, to San Diego, CA.

Scheduled Destinations

Table 1 shows the seasonality in scheduled destinations. 

Repositioning cruise ships allows lines to offer different 

destinations seasonally while keeping an average cruise 

length of 7.2 days8.

Pacific Northwest departure ports support Alaskan cruises. 

Pacific Southwest ports feature Mexican cruises. Cruises 

from Northeast ports generally sail to Bermuda and Canada/New England, while Southeast and Gulf departures are 

en route primarily to Caribbean destinations.

8

 Business Research and Economic Advisors Study prepared for 

the Cruise Lines International Association; Executive Summary: The 

Contribution of the North American Cruise Industry to the U.S Economy in 

2007; available at http://www.cruising.org as of Sept. 25, 2009.

About This Report For related BTS data and publications: www.bts.gov

Matthew Chambers, a Senior Transportation Specialist, in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics 

(BTS) prepared this report. BTS is a component of 

the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research 

and Innovative Technology Administration. Special 

thanks to Edwrena Brown, Russ Byington, and Gail 

Perkins of the Maritime Administration for their assistance.

For questions about this or other BTS reports, call 

1-800-853-1351, email answers@bts.gov or visit 

www.bts.gov.

Data –

• For the latest Maritime-related BTS data products, 

please visit the BTS Maritime Program website at 

http://www.bts.gov/programs/maritime_program/.

Publications –

• U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and 

Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of 

Transportation Statistics; U.S. Ocean Passenger 

Terminals: serving larger vessels closer to home 

and central transit connections; available at http://

www.bts.dot.gov/.