Miami-Dade Approves $23.15M PortMiami Deal for Margaritaville at Sea
The line will receive about 170 preferred calls at Cruise Terminal C as Beachcomber, its third and largest ship, joins a year-round Miami program.
Miami-Dade County has approved a preferential berthing agreement with Margaritaville at Sea at PortMiami. The deal covers approximately one million passenger movements and at least $23.15 million in guaranteed revenue over the initial term. The contract is scheduled to take effect with Margaritaville at Sea’s first PortMiami call on Jan. 9, 2027, and runs through April 30, 2031, with two optional five-year renewals if both sides agree.
The agreement is PortMiami’s first preferential berthing deal with a new cruise line since the county’s 2019 agreement with Virgin Voyages. It gives Margaritaville at Sea preference on terminal dates as the company adds Beachcomber, its third ship and largest vessel, to a year-round Miami program.
What Margaritaville at Sea gets at Terminal C
Margaritaville at Sea will receive preference on certain dates at Cruise Terminal C, totaling about 170 calls during the agreement. The line will pay a per-passenger fee with a 3 percent annual increase.
Norwegian Cruise Line uses Terminal C as a secondary facility, with Terminal B as its primary PortMiami base. The terminal was historically associated with MSC Cruises, which now uses its new Terminal AA/AAA complex.
In a memorandum to commissioners, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the incentive structure is intended to support off-peak use, improve terminal efficiency and reduce peak-day traffic impacts. The county is offering Margaritaville at Sea a parking incentive based on the brand’s share of embarkations, along with a marketing incentive tied to specified conditions.
The agreement also allows an operational incentive for qualifying non-peak-day or evening vessel calls. Those calls may receive a 50 percent reduction in applicable port fees, but only one operational incentive can apply to a single vessel call, and the incentives do not reduce other fees owed to Miami-Dade County.
Beachcomber program
The Miami deployment will be built around Margaritaville at Sea Beachcomber, the former Costa Fortuna acquired by the line in 2025. The roughly 103,000-gt ship carries about 2,700 passengers at double occupancy, with maximum capacity around 3,470.
Beachcomber is scheduled to sail year-round from South Florida on three- to eight-night cruises to the Caribbean and the Bahamas. Planned itineraries include mostly weeklong eastern and western Caribbean sailings, four-night Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic getaways and an eight-night Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao southern Caribbean voyage.
For Margaritaville at Sea, the PortMiami deployment expands a Florida operation that currently includes Paradise from the Port of Palm Beach and Islander from Port Tampa Bay. Beachcomber is currently sailing for Costa Cruises as Costa Fortuna.
PortMiami’s record year and next steps
PortMiami handled 8,564,225 cruise passengers in fiscal 2025, up 4.02 percent from fiscal 2024. It was the port’s highest annual total.
Operational details still depend on construction timing at the port. Margaritaville at Sea is slated to receive Terminal C on Saturdays from May 1 through Sept. 30, 2027, while Sunday preference is tied to Berth 10, whose completion is estimated for October 2028.
The county also retains the right to temporarily move Margaritaville at Sea calls to another terminal for work tied to the North Bulkhead Rehabilitation Project and the Berth 10 project. Before Beachcomber enters the schedule, the ship is due to undergo a 12-week dry dock conversion starting in late September.
