Cruise passengers who don’t live near a port often fly into wherever their cruise leaves from the day before. They have more choices than ever as to where to fly to as cruise lines are operating cruises from more ports than ever.
In most cases, cruisers aren’t going to pick a cruise based on which airport offers the best experience, but if all things are equal, the airport that offers the best experience could play a role in decision making. In addition, especially in Florida, it’s possible to fly into multiple aiports and access a variety of cruise ports.
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Orlando, for example, is about an hour from Port Canaveral and not that much farther from Port of Tampa. Miami International is, of course, very close to Port Miami, but it’s also only about an hour from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.
A new study by the online casino website Nieuwe Casino analyzed various reviews, facilities, and Google search volumes of the 31 busiest airports in the US to create an index. The factors considered for each airport were its Google review rating, the percentage of 5-star reviews on Google, its FlightRadar24 review score, the number of places to eat, shop, and pass the time according to Tripadvisor, and the average monthly search volume relating to ‘lost luggage’ queries per 100,000 passengers, identified using Google Keyword Planner.
Each factor was then given an index score, and each airport received an overall index score for all factors. These findings revealed the ranking of the best US airports for flyer experience.
Some airports are much busier than others.
Image source: Getty Images
The Top 10 US airports for traveler experience
Based on flyer experience, Tampa International Airport (TPA) is the best airport in the US. The study scored the Florida airport an overall index score of 71/100 for its enjoyability for travelers.
The airport has the highest Google review ratings—both overall (4.6 out of 5) and for the highest percentage of 5-star reviews of any US airport (74.11% of all reviews). Not only that, but reviews on FlightRadar24 agree, with the airport ranking top on the website, achieving a review score of 88/100.
Multiple cruise lines including Canrival, Royal Caribbean, and Margaritaville at Sea sail out of Tampa.
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) ranks fourth on the list, with a commendable index score of 60.7/100 overall.
Of the factors considered, the California airport achieved highly across the board. However, SFO was found to have achieved an especially impressive FlightRadar24 score of 84/100 on the website.
Carnival’s Princess Cruise Line and its Cunard Brand sail out of Port San Francisco.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) rounds out the top five best airports in the US for flyer experience.
The study found that the Georgia airport achieved an overall index score of 57.6/100 for flyer experience – with more than half (57.24%) of Google reviews for the airport achieving a 5-star rating, among the factors contributing to the airport’s overall score.
Atlanta is not a cruise port city, but it’s not unreasonable to fly into the city in order to sail from one of the Florida ports. That would require renting a car or booking some other sort of transportation, but Atlanta is often a very affordable airport to fly into.
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Orlando International Airport (MCO) follows in sixth. The study identified that the Florida airport achieved an overall index score of 57.3/100. Its stand-out factor is the amenities on offer to travelers, for which it ranks fourth among the airports analyzed.
Port Canaveral is the second biggest cruise port by passenger volume in the world. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, multiple Carnival Corp. cruise brands and other lines call the port home. It’s about an hour from MCO to the port and most cruise lines provide shuttle busses.
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