Royal Caribbean looked at a lot of potential homes for its second “Perfect Day” port of call after the success of its private Bahamas version on CocoCay. In the end, it decided to buy an entire port in Mexico.

The cruise line announced Wednesday it is in the midst of acquiring the port of Costa Maya, which will be home to “Perfect Day Mexico,” looking to open in 2027.

“We are building a Perfect Day there. It is a Perfect Day as you know our Perfect Day,” said Royal Caribbean’s chief product innovation officer Jay Schneider. “In addition to the port of Costa Maya, we are buying lots of adjacent land. We’ve been on a journey to buy lots of adjacent land for about a year.”

The port alone will have twice the capacity of Perfect Day at CocoCay, which has just one dock that can bring in two ships aiming for about a 13,000-person capacity. Costa Maya’s port can support four ships at its existing docks.

The port hosts about 2 million passengers a year now from all cruise lines, of which Royal Caribbean brings in more than 1.1 million. The line expects to grow their own passenger count to more than 5 million by the 2030s, Schneider said.

“The port will remain open to other cruise lines during construction, and eventually, when Perfect Day is open,” he said. “So cruise lines that go there today will still be able to call. … As the new port owners, those berthing contracts will be ours.”

Other lines won’t be able to access the Perfect Day resort though. That will be limited to Royal Caribbean and sister lines such as Celebrity Cruises.

Instead, Royal Caribbean will build out a new transportation hub with access to the local village of Mahahual and surrounding areas in the southern portion of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo that makes up the eastern coast of the Yucatan peninsula. Cancun and Cozumel lie on the northern side of the state.

“We are very excited that Royal Caribbean has decided to invest in Mahahual, a land of opportunity and hard-working people,” said Quintana Roo Gov. Mara Lezama. “Under the framework of the Well Being and Development Accord and the new era of tourism, my administration is looking forward to working very closely with the company to ensure a sustainable destination that brings shared prosperity to the region and that our local communities are part of this historic investment.”

She was on site at the state’s capital Chetumal about two hours south of Mahahual for the announcement Wednesday.

“I am sure that guests will be marveled by the beauties that southern Quintana Roo has to offer but most importantly, the kindness of our people,” she said.

Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley said he expects the success of the first Perfect Day to be mirrored in Mexico.

“Destinations are a big part of why families and adventurers vacation with Royal Caribbean, and in collaboration with Mexico’s state of Quintana Roo, we are unlocking new and unparalleled ways to make memories in a destination known and loved for its natural beauty, warm culture and prime location,” he said.

The resort will mark a hub for Royal Caribbean in the Western Caribbean to go along with the recent announcement it would be building out the smaller Royal Beach Club resort in Cozumel, in a similar way to how it has both a Bahamas Perfect Day resort and soon-to-open Royal Beach Club coming to Nassau’s Paradise Island.

“We want as robust of an east as we have in the west, which is a diversity of other destinations that people can go to, a great Perfect Day anchor and a great beach club,” Schneider said.

The new site will be accessible from all of Royal Caribbean’s Florida ports including Port Canaveral, Port Everglades, PortMiami and the Port of Tampa as well as its expanded presence out of Galveston, Texas.

Just like the Bahamas version, the resort will have water park, zipline, helium balloon and spaces for families and adults only, but details won’t be revealed until spring 2025.

The footprint, though, is much larger than the 125-acre resort on what was called Little Stirrup Cay before Royal Caribbean renamed it.

Schneider said the Mexico version will be about 220 acres, with about 100 of it developed with the remaining “reserved for environmental conservation.”

He said there are three environmental areas of concern: coastline protections, mangrove protection and watershed protection.

“There’s no development, no matter what, happening in mangrove space,” he said. “That’s without question. … all of the environmentally sensitive land is we are treating as off limits.”

Schneider did lean into what approach the line was taking with the new resort’s design.

“We’re obsessing right now what our customers are looking for in the fun of Mexico, and there’s a lot of fun interplay between Mexico and the Royal Caribbean brand,” he said.

He said there will be an adult space, a “chill” space, a “thrill” space just like Perfect Day at CocoCay.

“There will be new experiences inside of that, some To be honest, we’re literally just still exploring,” he said. “The size affords us the ability to do bigger things across the board.”

One thing the brand had revealed before is customers’ desire to add a lazy river to the water park at its Bahamas version.

“It’s one of the top things that they want from us. We just don’t have a lot of land to work with,” he said.