Things To Do In SW Florida

By CORA LEWIS and ADRIANA MORGA

NEW YORK (AP) — With the end of 2024 around the corner, you might be reflecting on financial goals for 2025.

The next vessel to take the title of world’s largest cruise ship is headed to Port Canaveral. Disney is sending a new ship to Port Everglades for the first time. And new ships will debut from Norwegian, MSC Cruises, Princess, Celebrity and more.

These are some of the cruise highlights for Florida coming in 2025.

The marquee event has to be the arrival of Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas, a sister ship to current titleholder Icon of the Seas. Landing the newest and largest ship is a first for Central Florida with the past titleholders all making their debuts out of South Florida.

Those ports, though, will get plenty of new ship action as well while cruise lines feed demand with new hardware. Port Canaveral, Port Everglades and PortMiami saw record passenger counts of nearly 20 million in 2024, with each forecast to grow further in the coming year.

Here’s a rundown of what’s new in Florida cruising in 2025:

Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas: Coming in at more than 250,000 gross tons, it will be incrementally bigger than Icon of the Seas, which debuted out of PortMiami in 2024 and can sail with 10,000 people on board including crew and passengers. read more

Orlando’s red-hot real estate market cruised into overdrive for much of 2024 as developers turned out thousands of new homes, apartments, and hotel rooms — and big land deals promised much more construction to come. Some powerful trends stood out.

Tourism continued to dominate much of the development landscape across Central Florida. Universal raced to complete its Epic Universe theme park, scheduled to open in the spring, while Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis ended their feud, clearing the way for the theme park giant to invest $17 billion in Central Florida over the next decade.

On the commercial side, 2024 sales prices shattered previous records for the most expensive hotel sale and shopping center transactions. Lake County saw its land sale record broken twice, and the office market showed signs of improvement. Orange County politicians battled with Orlando over annexations for much of the year only to reach a truce in the 11th hour.

Here is GrowthSpotter’s look at the year’s biggest stories. read more

Financially troubled Silver Airways, the 13-year-old regional carrier serving Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a pledge to continue flying and reorganize its finances at some point during the first quarter of the New Year.

The airline, which in 2023 was nearly evicted from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport for falling behind on its rent, said in a note to customers that “all tickets remain valid” and that they may book flights through the airline’s website “or any other channel.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Peter Russin of Fort Lauderdale entered an order allowing the company to continue operations, according to court files.

“This decision will allow us to secure additional capital and undertake a financial restructuring that will strengthen our position as a competitive airline, ultimately benefiting you — our valued customers,” the airline’s note said.

According to the company’s website, Silver serves eight Florida destinations including Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, Tallahassee and Key West, seven in the Bahamas including Nassau and Freeport, and seven Caribbean destinations with a major hub operation in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The airline’s fleet consists of French-made, propeller-driven ATR aircraft. read more

Orange County Elections Supervisor Glen Gilzean’s $20,000-a-month consulting deal with the state’s Walt Disney World tourism oversight district concluded Tuesday, ending a pay agreement that allowed him to draw extra money from the Gov. Ron DeSantis-backed district while working full-time as the county’s elections chief.

The agreement was part of Gilzean’s exit plan when he resigned as the district’s administrator to become Orange County’s elections chief at a salary of about $205,000 a year.

The consulting contract ran from April 1 until the end of the year, paying him a total of $180,000 for advising the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. The agreement didn’t include a specific set of tasks, other than assisting the district and its new administrator on a “part-time basis” that would not interfere with Gilzean’s other full-time employment obligations.

“The consulting agreement ends December 31 as outlined in the contract,” district spokesman Matthew Oberly said when asked if the agreement would be renewed. read more