Dave Berman

FLORIDA TODAY

Port Canaveral new Cruise Terminal 1 and adjacent parking garage opens Saturday east of the Cove

The terminal related projects amounted to $100 million worth of work for the construction industry

Royal Caribbean will be the primary user of the new 188,514-square-foot, two-story terminal

Port Canaveral may need three more cruise terminals by 2022 to handle expected cruise volume growth

Rocky Johnson says he feels like a proud father sending his child off to college.

Johnson, vice president of Ivey's Construction Co., spearheaded construction of Port Canaveral's new Cruise Terminal 1 and parking garage, scheduled to open Saturday.

Merritt Island-based Ivey's has been in business for more than 40 years, and has done a number of projects for Port Canaveral. But this is Ivey's largest-ever project as lead contractor.

And the port's tight deadline required crews to be working around-the-clock, seven days a week, for the last 51/ 2 months of the yearlong project.

"It was an almost-impossible schedule" to build the two-story, 188,514-square-foot terminal building and four-story, 1,000-vehicle parking garage, Johnson said. "A project like this is not for the faint of heart."

But it was a schedule that Ivey's met.

On Saturday, Cruise Terminal 1, east of the port's Cove restaurant and retail district, will host its first ship, Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas.

"This is state-of-the-art," Johnson said as he did a walk-through of the terminal earlier this week. "There is no cruise terminal like this in the world."

Johnson said the key was to devise a flow pattern to get cruise passengers into and out of the terminal smoothly.

"We eliminated the pinch points and choke points" that could result in long waits to get on and off a ship, Johnson said.

The goal is to get passengers onto the ship within six to eight minutes from the time they park their cars.

Working with other contractors, Port Canaveral staff and officials of the terminal's main tenant, Royal Caribbean, Johnson said he believes the terminal is designed so that this goal will be a reality.

"Flow and function. That's what we went for," Johnson said.

The terminal will be used both for ships that are based at Port Canaveral as well as others making port-of-call stops here.

Johnson says Cruise Terminal 1 is "two terminals in one" because of the differing passenger traffic pattern for those two types of cruise operations. For example, passengers ending their cruise at Port Canaveral will go through exits toward the parking garage, while passengers making a port-of-call stop will leave via exits directing them toward the Cove and the seven-story Exploration Tower.

Also, the terminal is designed for maximum flexibility to accommodate the world's largest cruise ships, as well as to allow passengers to board at various locations.

Rich Hensel, co-owner of Fishlips Waterfront Bar & Grill in the port's Cove area, said he is looking forward to Cruise Terminal 1 opening, largely because of its proximity to the Cove.

Hensel said he is adding staff in anticipation of the increased business from port-of-call passengers arriving at that terminal.

The port's other major cruise terminals are not close enough to the Cove restaurants for easy walk-up access.

"We are very excited," said Hensel, who also is chairman of the Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce's Convention & Visitors Bureau. "We're looking forward to a very strong first quarter next year."

Johnson said the port "didn't want the Taj Mahal of cruise terminals," because the idea is to get in and out of the terminal quickly — and onto the ship. If the terminal is too "memorable" to cruise passenger, something went wrong, he said.

But Cruise Terminal 1 does have some design touches, such as:

•A 1,600-seat passenger pre-boarding area that can be converted into a 1,000-seat venue for community events.

•A sail-shaped entrance feature and porthole-style windows in the terminal.

•60 passenger check-in stations.

•Kiosks outside the front entrance that include an information area and retail space. Ron Jon Surf Shop will have a small shop there.

Cruise Terminal 1 and related projects amounted to about $100 million worth of work for the construction industry. Johnson said his company and its subcontractors employed more 1,200 people for various parts of the terminal and parking garage project, with more than 80 percent of them Brevard residents. As many as 320 workers were on site during some phases of those projects.

"It was about local pride," Johnson said. "We saw the local participation as an opportunity to be successful. They stepped up, and hit one out of the park."

Cruise Terminal 1 is the first of four cruise terminals that Port Canaveral will need by 2022 to handle anticipated growth that is expected to elevate it to become the world's busiest cruise terminal in terms of passenger volume.

Johnson said he feels "mostly relief," now that the terminal is done.

He will be there Saturday to see how the passenger traffic flow works, joined by electricians, plumbers, informational-technology specialists and others, in case there are unexpected glitches.

"The proof is in the pudding," Johnson said. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

CRUISE TERMINAL 1 PROJECTS

These are the four major components related to Port Canaveral's new Cruise Terminal 1, their contract amounts and their lead contractor:

•188,514-square-foot terminal building and site work ($50.49 million), Ivey's Construction

•Waterside berth ($31.45 million), Orion Marine Construction

•1,000-vehicle parking garage ($13.88 million), Ivey's Construction

•Two mobile passenger boarding bridges/gangways ($4.14 million), FMT

FIVE-SHIP DAY

Five cruise ships are scheduled to be at Port Canaveral on Saturday, a rarity for the port. They include:

•Aida's ADIAvita at Cruise Terminal 3

•Carnival's Liberty at Cruise Terminal 10

•Carnival's Sunshine at Cruise Terminal 6

•Disney's Fantasy at Cruise Terminal 8

•Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas at Cruise Terminal 1

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com Follow him on Twitter at @ByDaveBerman and on Facebook at facebook.com/dave.berman.54.

