PortMiami Hosts Yet Another Ship

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Competition is heating up for a place to park new cruise ships at South Florida ports, with the latest offering from Oceania Cruises arriving Thursday morning at Port Miami.

The Oceania Riviera docked early Thursday morning to begin a series of Caribbean sailings from the port. The ship has already been sailing in Europe, but was moved to Miami to take advantage of warmer winter cruising weather.

The 15 deck ship with up to 1,250 passengers debuted in May 2012 and will be sailing 10-, 11-, and 14-day cruises to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe.

The port has been experiencing a winter mini-boom in new arrivals.The Riviera is the third in a number of ships set to arrive by the end of the year. Carnival's largest new ship, the Breeze, arrived last week.

Disney is set to sail Caribbean cruises from PortMiami on a regular basis starting at Christmas.

The Riviera was welcomed in a ceremony Thursday, and praised as part of the port's expansion.

"We welcome the growth of PortMiami's cruise business for the continual growth of our region's economy," said Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Giminez.