Just as airports have to cope with larger planes by building new gates, the Port of Miami has just opened a new terminal for super-sized cruise ships.
PortMiami’s Terminal A will be home to Royal Caribbean’s behemoth Oasis-class ships, which have room for 5,500+ passengers and their baggage. The new terminal is designed to speed up the Herculean task of clearing passengers and bags on and off the ships, which represent a growing category in the cruise industry.
Symphony of the Seas, arriving next week, will put the new ‘frictionless boarding process’ to the test. It’s designed to use facial recognition for passengers, and a new, faster, automated luggage transportation system. It’s expected to eventually handle two million passengers a year.
