San Juan has become the No. 1 home port for cruise ships in the world, according to Puerto Rico tourism officials. Twenty vessels will be based in San Juan during the 1992-93 winter season, including the megaship Monarch of the Seas, the Windward and the Radisson Diamond. Last season 16 cruise ships were based there.
At this time, 18 ships operate out of the Port of Miami. Miami, however, with 1.5 million cruise passengers arriving during the last fiscal year, ending last June, remains the world's busiest cruise port, according to a port spokesman. Miami has more passengers because it is a year-round cruise port while San Juan is busy mainly in winter. In addition, Miami has more visits from ships that do not use it as their home port.Cruise passengers account for almost a third of all visitors to Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Tourism Bureau says. During the last fiscal year, approximately a million passengers arrived in San Juan, a 19.3 percent increase over the previous year. Cruise visitors have increased by 15 percent annually since 1985. One reason for the rapid growth, says the Tourism Bureau, is that Puerto Rico is closer than Miami to the Caribbean's ports-of- call. Ships out of San Juan can stop at five or six Caribbean ports in seven days, while ships departing from Miami must sail for two days before reaching a Carribean destination.