Chapter 7.5 – Cruise Terminal Design and Equipment

Author: Dr. Athanasios Pallis

Cruise terminals have a unique set of characteristics and operational considerations, as they must handle a large number of passengers and supplies for cruise ships.

1. Cruise Terminals

Cruise terminals are designed to serve the requirements of cruise vessels and their passengers. At the same time, they must be integrated with the transport, tourism, and urban planning strategies of the port city and its nearby destinations. From a maritime perspective, cruise terminals must meet minimum requirements for draft, berthing lines, and navigation channels to accommodate cruise ships. Inside the cruise terminal, provisions are made for various spaces, including the apron area, terminal building, and ground transportation facilities. Due to the nature of their customers and the nature of cruise operations, connectivity to the city, car parking, and public transport facilities are particularly important.

Operational considerations are a critical factor in implementing the design of a cruise terminal that is carried out at a specific port. The cruise port’s function as a home port, a transit port, or a hybrid port, implies different needs and design considerations:

  • In a homeport, the cruise vessel that begins or concludes its itinerary commonly arrives early in the day so that passengers proceed to customs and immigration, have their luggage (un)loaded, and make their flight connections (more of an issue for arriving passengers). Provisions for the next cruise need to be loaded, baggage from arriving passengers scanned and loaded, and passengers processed through ticketing. Spare parts, deck supplies, and bunkers (including potable water and fuel oil) must also be taken aboard. Minor repairs may also be undertaken. A portion of the crew visits the port city and returns before the ship departs. All these activities must be completed within 24 hours, preferably within 8 hours or less, for a cruise departing on the same day as the arrival cruise. Handling a large number of passengers in a short period requires a terminal building, adequate parking areas, and good access to the local transportation system, particularly at airports. This implies that cruise terminal design has similarities with airport terminal design. The conditions and performance of the cruise port terminal are strongly linked with homeports selection by cruise lines.
  • A port of call (transit) is visited for only a few hours within a day, or overnight, and requires a fast and efficient system for transporting passengers to points of interest or recreational spots.
  • Hybrid cruise ports are used for both home-porting and transit activities. The terminal is designed to handle both home-port and visitor flows simultaneously.

Once designed and constructed, the operating costs of cruise terminals are generally smaller than in other port terminals, as cruise terminals do not require heavy equipment and do not consume much energy. The main operating cost items include staff for managing the terminal, security, and luggage handling. These are frequently outsourced owing to the seasonal nature of the industry. On the other hand, security is a fundamental concern, as cruise ships and their passengers at ports may be vulnerable. A large number of passengers concentrated in a small restricted area might be considered a potential risk. Cruise ships also have high symbolic and economic value. Consequently, cruise port design and operations must comply with several security regulations, while cruise lines and regulatory agencies constantly audit port security.

Cruise Terminal Configuration

2. Maritime Infrastructure

The core consideration for cruise terminal design is related to the expected technical characteristics of the cruise ships. Indicators, such as tonnage, overall length (LOA), beam, and draft of modern cruise ships, along with passenger capacity and the number of crew on board, are the most considered. Due to the range of cruise vessel types and sizes related to ship scale of dimensions and capacities, the maritime infrastructure of a cruise terminal depends on several factors:

  • The number, size, and class of the cruise vessels that could utilize the terminal. Since the 2000s, the average size of cruise ships has increased in all dimensions (i.e. larger, wider, and higher passenger capacity). The average cruise ship capacity has increased from 1,300 to 3,100 passengers, and the average length from 200 to over 300 meters.
  • The characteristics of the vessel types that could call at the port are key aspects. Due to design changes and technology, the mass and dimensions of cruise vessels include a variety of deck designs. These features contribute to the design of shoreside infrastructures, including shore-power locations, gangway placement, and cruise terminal building dimensions and facilities.
  • Operational conditions imposed by weather. Some cruise ports may be exposed to the seasonality of weather risks, such as hurricanes in the Caribbean.
  • The operational needs of stevedoring for activities such as mooring, bunkering, and stores.
  • The desired potential berthing patterns and the average number of cruise ships expected to be docked.
  • For home ports, the number of crew members is also a significant factor. Depending on the size and market segment of the cruise, the ratio varies from one crew member per passenger in a luxury cruise ship to one crew member per three passengers in a standard ship.

Entrance channels to berths and maneuvering areas provide safe clearance during vessel movements and operational loading conditions. Their minimum depth incorporates the maximum draft and allowances for technical and wave conditions anticipated during vessel approaches. Modern cruise vessels are very maneuverable in most sea conditions. The berth area length required for safe mooring and securing the vessel allows for a minimum clearance of 10% of the vessel’s overall length (LOA). Where turning basins are required, a diameter of twice the LOA, plus an allowance for adverse weather conditions, is necessary. For home port operations, the port maintains contingency plans in case of extreme weather, as passengers need to connect to various modes of transportation from the terminal. Ports of call do not require such plans, as ships have the option to skip a port of call in the event of inclement weather.

Mooring of cruise vessels generally uses arrangements where the maximum pier frontage adjacent to the vessel offers loading/unloading efficiencies. In some transit ports, vessels are moored to piers shorter than the vessel, using dolphins to secure the offshore end of the vessel. Cruise vessel facilities are typically provided with fender systems along the full frontage of the berth area to absorb the energy of an impact during vessel berthing and provide a soft buffer between the pier and vessel while moored.

Evolution of Cruise Shipping Representative Vessels
Cruise Ships Scale of Dimensions and Capacity

3. Apron Area of the Cruise Terminal

Aprons are fenced and secured areas immediately adjacent to the cruise building and vessel service doors. While cruise vessel loading can occur with a small width of apron surface, the broader and less obstructed the surface in the area is, the better. The apron area provides space for any of the following operations:

  • Stevedoring services include line-handling, baggage movement, utility connections, and waste processing from the vessel. Luggage is moved by forklift and baggage handling carriages between the ground floor of the cruise building and the luggage doors of the vessel.
  • Supplies to the vessels to serve the needs of passengers, crew, systems, and equipment. The provisions arrive on trucks soon after the ship arrives at the berth. With larger ships served by a total of between 20 and 40 tractor-trailer-sized trucks, managing this flow and providing proper maneuvering, unloading, and turnaround space is critical to the success of this process. In addition to space, two other factors are important, connectivity with the ground transportation area, and storage areas where certain perishable provisions can be placed before being loaded onto the ship in order to avoid any damage.
  • Access for vehicle circulation, parking, unloading, and loading/unloading equipment.
  • Emergency vehicle access.
  • Provisions for site-specific needs of terminal operations, such as vehicle controls.

All these operations take place in the apron area via the various service doors of cruise vessels. Within the apron, the operational pier service loading area for vehicles servicing cruise vessels, such as containers and tanker trucks, is separated from the passenger areas of the cruise terminal. Gangways are the single most important passenger processing element of the entire terminal, as they are crucial for turning vessels around quickly and efficiently.

The gangway (also known as seaport passenger boarding bridge) is the means of getting on and off a ship. In general shipping terms, it refers to a walkway or bridge connecting the vessel to land. Because access varies widely from one port to another, a cruise ship gangway refers to the place on the ship where passengers enter and exit.

Gangways transfer passengers from the vessel’s doors to the terminal building through the boarding corridor (also known as a boardwalk). For example, on embarkation and debarkation days, the gangway will often consist of an enclosed, raised bridge, similar to a jetway at an airport. For larger vessels, the embarking and disembarking processes require two fully automated mobile gangways per berth to accommodate in excess of 1,000 passengers per hour. Cruise terminal operators might select one of the various types of cruise gangways available to meet these needs and provide safe boarding in all conditions.

Types of Cruise Gangways
Luggage Loading through a Cargo Door of a Cruise Ship

For home-ports, the demand for some or all of the following vessel utilities might require further infrastructure that might even extend beyond the facility property in order to provide sufficient capacities to allow vessels to be serviced during their limited time at berth:

  • Bunkering for ship refueling.
  • Waste reception facilities such as oily wastes, garbage from ships, and sewage.
  • Potable water. A 3,500 passenger vessel can use approximately 1.40 million gallons during a seven-day itinerary. Most of this water demand is met through onboard desalination systems, which account for between 75% and 90% of the total, depending on the cruise ship. However, it is not uncommon for cruise vessels to take on water while at the pier.
  • Ballast water.
  • Energy such as shore power (cold ironing and LNG provisioning).

4. Cruise Terminal Building

The presence of a cruise terminal building is a key part of the evolution of the cruise industry. As the market matures, cruise ports have started developing purpose-built terminal buildings to serve cruise passenger movements. Still, for ports where cruising activities are in their initial phase, the terminal is often a temporary structure or a building primarily used for a non-cruise purpose and is convertible on the days a ship calls. A range of structures is used:

  • Temporary cruise terminal buildings are found in cruise ports with limited calls and are only managed when a ship is in port. This includes vessel navigation and berthing, provisioning, passenger debarking, ship hoteling, passenger embarking, and vessel deployment. The methods of handling these needs rely primarily on essential services, and on occasion, there is no dedicated building for a cruise terminal. In these cases, organizing and segregating functions are handled on-site with temporary event-type facilities with movable barriers, traffic control elements such as bollards and cones, and tape lines.
  • Convertible cruise terminal buildings focusing on hospitality, civic, commercial, retail, or warehousing as the primary function. As these facilities are not specialized cruise terminals, passengers, baggage, and supplies are managed on a day-of-cruise basis. Before a ship berths, a specific cruise uses elements such as signage, furniture, equipment, and space-dividing material will be set up for a cruise and then removed after the ship departs. Several processes (including immigration) may be handled on the vessel rather than in the terminal.
  • Purpose-built cruise terminal buildings address the entire needs and functionality of cruises on both disembarkation and embarkation. On occasion, some of the building spaces may be designed for dual use (embarking and debarking). Most often, each space is designed and built for specific functionality. These buildings can also have secondary uses, such as event space for shopping areas, cafeterias, and restaurants. Still, cruising remains the primary design and operational driver. Embarkation and disembarkation spaces, equipment, furniture, signage, and agency requirements are all designed to optimize flow, heighten passenger satisfaction, minimize staffing levels, and maintain security. Often, these buildings are part of a larger port community or combined waterfront context, but they stand alone, not usually offering other uses when no ship is at berth.
  • Mixed-use cruise terminal buildings are the most developed response to cruise tourism, along with the need to serve a waterfront community. Recognizing the multi-functionality that a single building can provide, such mixed-use buildings include all the necessary elements of a purpose-built terminal. They also incorporate other uses into their plan and volume, such as shopping areas, commercial areas, theaters, and conventions. As with other mixed-use buildings, the economics of capital investment, operating costs, and revenue streams are combined to benefit from multiple uses. This creates a beneficial cycle of increased use, greater revenue, heightened visibility, and a stronger tourism market. Simultaneously, regardless of whether cruising is the primary purpose of the mixed-use building, the cruise market must perceive that the building is successfully serving the core cruise terminal mission.

Cruise terminal buildings are either single-story or multi-story. A single-story terminal has the advantage of fitting on an open site, particularly in relation to the length of a cruise vessel and the need for ground transportation, as well as the absence of vertical core elements such as stairs, escalators, and elevators. On the negative side, the operational distances are longer on one level than in multi-story terminals. Multi-story terminals are becoming the more common form of cruise terminal buildings, especially in the bigger home-porting cruise ports. This format takes advantage of the inherent differences between embarkation and disembarkation processes to segregate them by floor level, a design common in airport facilities. The stacking of spaces on different levels has greater advantages when co-locating other activities, such as parking. Most often, a multi-story terminal will have the majority of disembarkation spaces on the ground floor and most of the embarkation space on the upper level. This has the operational advantage that embarking passengers are brought upstairs to check in and wait to board, while disembarking passengers flow through immigration check, baggage pickup, customs, and ground transportation pickup. Due to the complexity, the large number of passengers, and the level of stress associated with a novel experience, the use of clear and abundant signage is crucial, as it prevents confusion and unnecessary work for terminal personnel.

Royal Caribbean Galveston Cruise Terminal
Cruise Ship at the Port of Vancouver
Terminals at Cruise Port Barcelona

5. Embarkation and Disembarkation Processes

The embarkation process of cruise passengers begins upon arrival at the cruise terminal. In home ports, a number of different spaces and services are provided to facilitate the process:

  • Entrance space. Serves as a gathering area for passengers arriving at the terminal, providing shelter from the weather, a place to seek information, and a queueing area for the next step in the process.
  • Bag drop space. Where bags are brought for the security check and organized prior to loading onto the ship.
  • Luggage security controls (X-ray scanners). Allow thorough luggage monitoring and detecting objects that are not allowed to be taken on board.
  • Queuing space. Includes multiple lanes for passengers to process through security controls before boarding the vessel.
  • Passenger security controls (passenger X-ray lanes). Operating schedules are adapted to the size of traffic, peak hours, and other local and cruise-ship requirements.
  • Ticketing. Where passengers pick up their tickets before check-in if not available through prior arrangements.
  • Ticket area queue. Where passengers queue before checking in, allowing them to move quickly from ticketing to boarding.
  • Check-in area. With counters where cruise-line staff process passengers for the designated cruise trip. The use of new technologies, such as mobile applications or bar-coded wristbands, in the check-in process is already bringing changes to the layout of this area.
  • Waiting areas. For checked-in ticketed passengers, waiting until boarding can begin. This space is large enough to accommodate ample seating and circulation areas, as well as space for cruise information and other pre-travel materials provided by the cruise lines.
  • Boarding corridors. Where passengers move toward the vessel.
  • Staff offices. For cruise operator staff, cruise line personnel, and port security personnel.
  • Other spaces. Such as spaces where passengers can have their pictures taken, VIP lounges separated from the general embarkation experience, and even dedicated spaces for weddings and other special groups.

The size and location orientation of each of the above spaces and respective services vary from one cruise terminal to another. Not all of the spaces listed will be found in every terminal or in similar arrangements. Security might take place at the entrance of the terminal building or after check-in. Well-developed VIP spaces do not exist in all terminals, as the configuration is determined to meet the needs of all stakeholders (port, cruise lines, operator, customs, and port security). In any case, the terminal needs to offer a positive experience to passengers, as it might provide the first impression to the embarking passengers, and it is thus valued significantly by cruise lines. Further, if the terminal is too small for the capacity of the cruise ship, discomfort can result from passengers being forced to stand up in crowded spaces for extended periods of time.

The disembarkation process in the home port begins before a passenger leaves the vessel to enter the terminal, aiming to reduce processing time to a minimum and maximize the final experience for the passenger. The different spaces and services that are provided in home-port terminals include:

  • Boarding corridors for disembarking passengers.
  • Customs, immigration, quarantine, and police spaces and processes.
  • Baggage lay-down areas. They are often the single largest space in the building. Luggage is brought directly from the ship according to deck level and grouped via a “lay-down” process that takes place before passengers enter the space. While in most cases separation refers to baggage waiting in different spaces per group of passengers, more sophisticated processes of managing bags also exist, the most obvious being carousels such as those used in airports.
  • Customs areas. For passengers to proceed after luggage collection to processing counters, and to conclude applicable procedures.
  • Meeting spaces. Where passengers gather, meet with others, and transition to ground transportation.

In ports of call, the disembarkation/embarkation processes are less complex, particularly since passengers do not carry luggage. The terminals do not usually require a building to host passengers, as the (dis)embarkation time is usually short, lasting less than an hour. Access to local means of transportation or walkways back to the ship must be as fast and straightforward as possible. In the absence of a terminal building, the port provides an open space along the quay, enabling passengers to gather comfortably. If a terminal building exists, transit terminals do not require dedicated spaces for check-in or luggage operations.

6. Ground Transportation

The ground transportation area of a cruise terminal is where passengers arrive from all transport modes to embark on the cruise. It is also where they disembark to take any transportation mode to travel inland, usually through public roads and transit systems. Since the passengers of a single cruise generate large numbers of inland trips, ground transportation is an important function of the cruise terminal. As traffic needs to move quickly, safely, and efficiently from and to the terminal and from and to the city, this area must be located close to the terminal building. The ground transportation area includes spaces for:

  • Coach parking. Such as shuttle buses provided by the port or the cruise lines, tour buses provided by the ship, and independent excursion buses.
  • Taxi lines. With a comfortable space around the cars to facilitate loading and unloading.
  • Drop-off spaces. Such as a short-stay car park earmarked for people dropping off or picking up passengers.
  • Parking spaces. For passengers who drove to the terminal to take a cruise. This is particularly important for cruise ports in the United States.
  • Regional and local connectivity. Both the local and regional intermodal systems, such as airports, need to be connected to the home port by rail or road.

The modal distribution of cruise passenger mobility differs by port. Passengers can choose to take a coach, a taxi, a private car, or walk, depending on factors such as proximity to major hotels and connectivity to the regional transportation system. Space assigned to ground transportation services at a cruise terminal depends on:

  • Type of cruise vessel. Operations at the port of call, with buses and shuttles being the main transport mode. In a home port, taxis and private transportation are the most commonly used modes of transportation, along with transfers and connections to the airport.
  • Port-city distance. When the cruise terminal is located within a metropolitan district, most passengers may walk into the city, depending on the availability of pedestrian corridors. However, if the city is far off, a shuttle system is provided.
  • Available transportation. Several transportation modes and services near the terminal area, including car parks, train connections, and airport connectivity, are considered.
  • Other factors. Include local, regional, and environmental considerations that may affect the design criteria. A terminal in an area of recurrent high temperatures may need to provide air conditioning in most ground transportation areas. In contrast, a terminal in an area prone to security risks will need to ensure that these areas are secured.
Modal Distribution of Cruise Passengers mobility at Port of Barcelona

In addition to infrastructures such as quays construction, dock expansion, dredging of channels and basins, waiting areas, and gangways that improve traffic flows and accessibility, modern cruise terminals also involve shoreside projects. In many cases, land reclamation, retail, restaurants, and hotels are of equal importance. The multi-purpose use of cruise terminals is of a different type. Due to their service and touristic orientation, the terminals are ‘people-friendly’, rather than ‘cargo-friendly’. Thus, they might be used with open access for the public to attend events or for other purposes. This is especially the case as the seasonality of cruise activities implies that several terminals host cruise ship calls for only a few months each year.

Beyond the change in the usage of existing infrastructure or the development of greenfield projects, recent developments have also revolved around the adaptive reuse of brownfield assets. Such cases can be found in the United States, both on the East Coast (Brooklyn and Galveston) and the West Coast (San Francisco and San Diego). In all cases, cruise port infrastructure development takes far longer than building new cruise ships, meaning that ports may struggle to keep up with vessel capacity developments in the market.

Related Topics

References

  • Cheng, Z. Gong L. and Li C. (2020).  Design and Practice of Cruise Ports. Singapore: Springer .
  • Pallis, A. A. 2015. “Cruise shipping and urban development state of the art of the industry and cruise ports”. OECD-ITF Discussion Paper 2015-14, OECD: Paris.
  • PIANC Working Group 152 (2016). Guidelines for Cruise Terminals. Brussels: PIANC.