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Carnival Cruise Line has reached out to guests on four ships sailing from Miami this weekend about traffic concerns.
The ships that may be impacted are Magic and Sunrise on Saturday, followed by Celebration and Horizon on Sunday.
Both road construction and terminal construction are impacting traffic in the downtown Miami and port areas.
Any cruise guest who has sailed out of Miami in recent years is aware that traffic can be very congested close to the port and it is always wise to plan for significant extra time to reach the cruise terminal.
Carnival Cruise Line is likewise aware of the traffic difficulties surrounding PortMiami, particularly with ongoing construction projects. The weekend of February 21-22, 2026, is expected to be extra challenging, and the cruise line has sent special notices to booked guests to alert them to potential delays.
“While you prepare for your cruise, we’d like to inform you that PortMiami will be operating with a high number of ships the day of your embarkation, amidst construction in the downtown area and within the port premises. Consequently, there will be detours and heavier-than-normal traffic in and around the area,” the email said.
The impacted Carnival ships this weekend are as follows:
Carnival Magic – Leaving Saturday for an 8-night Eastern Caribbean voyage
Carnival Sunrise – Sailing on Saturday to begin a 5-night Bahamas cruise
Carnival Celebration – Departing Sunday on a 7-night Eastern Caribbean sailing
Carnival Horizon – Leaving Sunday on a 6-night Western Caribbean itinerary
Carnival Cruise Line is urging all booked guests to sign up for text alerts in case any embarkation delays or other changes may be necessary. No such changes are expected at this time, but last-minute adjustments are always a possibility.
Cruise Ships Docked in PortMiami (Photo Credit: Felix Mizioznikov)
Guests who have recently sailed from Miami are sharing their tips on Reddit to help this weekend’s travelers.
“It can take an hour or even more from downtown to port drop off area,” one guest who cruised in January noted. “It is normally less than a 10 minute drive from several downtown hotels but no one was getting in or out easily.”
“We were ’13 minutes’ away and it took 45 minutes of sitting in traffic before we hopped out of the Uber and walked on the sidewalk towards our cruise terminal,” another described.
How Busy Will PortMiami Really Be This Weekend?
Cruise Have has noted multiple traffic difficulties near PortMiami in the past, not only on heavy cruise traffic days but also due to local events, such as music festivals and races, often held in the downtown area near the cruise port.
This weekend’s challenges are a combination of busy ship days along with construction, including local roadwork as well as the construction of the new Cruise Terminal G, which Cruise Hive reported broke ground in early January.
On Saturday, a total of eight different ships will be in PortMiami, including two of the largest cruise ships in the world: Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas and MSC Cruises’ MSC World America.
Sunday is another 8-ship day, with vessels from Royal Caribbean, Virgin Voyages, Norwegian Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, and Celebrity Cruises also in port with the two Carnival cruise ships.
In total, counting both debarking and embarking passengers, PortMiami may see as many as 135,000 passenger movements (or more!) for Saturday and Sunday combined.
This does not count crew members transferring on and off the various ships, supplies that must be delivered to each vessel, and normal operations at the very busy port.
This massive amount of traffic is sure to cause unprecedented congestion and potential delays both arriving and departing from the cruise port.
Guests should plan plenty of extra time to reach the cruise port and their exact terminal, and be sure to pack along their patience as they get ready for their cruise.