A high-volume baggage-handling system, an attached garage and facial recognition technology for security are some of the features of Terminal A, which Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL) recently opened at PortMiami.
But what passengers and cruise industry observers will be talking about well into the future is the look of the 170,000-square-foot terminal, known as the Crown of Miami — and, possibly, how expensive it was.
The glass-walled terminal is a far cry from the dark, cavernous cargo sheds adorned with a few potted palms and a red carpet and called a terminal in the early days of cruising.
Passengers entering the building will look up a staircase toward a giant sculpture of a pair of gold-colored propellers. The stair risers are embedded with the names of Royal ships in brass letters.
An expansive check-in area shares the same sophisticated design as Royal's ships. Walls of windows 30 feet high offer views of Miami's tropical setting, beachfront condos and the downtown skyline.
The Crown of Miami — so called because its peaks are meant to suggest the points in Royal Caribbean's crown and anchor logo — was designed by the global architecture firm Broadway Malyan, a rarity, since most terminals are designed by engineering firms.
While a terminal that made "good economic sense" was a goal, RCCL did spend $247 million on the building, about 3.5 times what it spent on its stand-alone terminal in Cape Liberty, N.J.
RCCL chairman Richard Fain pretended to choke on the amount in a speech dedicating the structure, but he went on to say that the investment "represents a key milestone in the development of our business."
Fain said it will be "the largest and most modern cruise facility in the United States."
With more than 1,200 linear feet of dock space, the terminal will enable PortMiami for the first time to accommodate Royal's Oasis-class ships such as the Allure of the Seas and the Symphony of the Seas, which will be offering seven-night itineraries departing Saturdays and Sundays, respectively, starting this month.
That will enable Royal to more than double the 750,000 passenger movements it recorded in Miami in fiscal 2018.
Without mentioning Port Everglades by name, Miami-Dade County mayor Carlos Gimenez said, "In the past, PortMiami lost a large chunk of Royal Caribbean's business to neighboring ports." He added, "Fortunately, that is no longer the case."
One reason the terminal is so richly appointed is that Royal itself paid the bill, unlike other terminals at PortMiami, which are owned by Dade County and leased to cruise lines. Royal is only leasing the land beneath the terminal.
The Crown of Miami also reflects RCCL's latest technology for embarkation, known as frictionless arrival. Some 45 port agents will use mobile check-in devices to process passengers who have preregistered on the internet. It is expected to take about 30 seconds, enabling Royal to process up to 2,000 passengers an hour. Upon disembarkation, a Customs and Border Protection station will use facial recognition technology to speed up the process by about an hour.
Facial recognition will eventually be used at the entrance to enhance security, said Mike Jones, RCCL's senior vice president for supply chain, port operations, travel services and workplace solutions.
Waiting areas include a 900-passenger lounge and a 200-passenger lounge for Star Class guests.
Although it isn't clear if cruise terminals generally will be built to higher standards now, several showcase terminals at PortMiami are in the works, including one for Norwegian Cruise Line. And in Fort Lauderdale, Broward County mayor Beam Furr has said the new $120 million T25 terminal being readied for Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Edge represents the "largest financial investment that Port Everglades has made in a cruise terminal."