"Line up the 24 major cruise ships making stops at Port Everglades since Friday and the vessels could create a 4-mile bridge to downtown Las Olas Boulevard
It was a record-breaking weekend for the port, with eight cruise ships scheduled to dock there each day, Friday through Sunday, port officials said.
"An eight-ship day on the weekday is pretty much unheard of at Port Everglades," said spokeswoman Ellen Kennedy, referring to Friday's numbers. "We were pretty shocked when we looked at the itinerary this weekend."
If lined up bow to stern, the ships sailing through Port Everglades this weekend would be as tall as 22 Eiffel Towers, or as long as 72 football fields, officials said.
The three-day "full house" is mostly the result of New Year's holiday cruises returning to the terminals.
The cruise liners will be loaded with an estimated 106,000 passengers — enough to fill 255 jumbo jets. That's not including passengers from the daily Bahamas Express ferry to Freeport, also running from the port this weekend.
So far, since the season began in October, there have been nine days that have been just as busy, but not consecutively, Kennedy said.
On Saturday, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas;
Princess Cruises' Crown, Emerald and Grand Princesses; Holland America Line's Eurodam and Silversea Cruises' Silver Cloud and Silver Whisper came to port."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-port-everglades-full-house-20120107,0,2389276.story
