Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal

Today, I made it to the Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal finally to take some pictures. It was something to be able to drive to a cruise ship terminal vice having to go through all the hassle of flying and then catching a shuttle to the terminal. Key roads leading to Baltimore and the terminal had signs reminded folks of the exit 55 (last exit before you go through the Harbor Tunnel on your way to New York). Things were busy at the terminal as Carnival's Pride ship was departing for a 7 night cruise to the Bahamas. The Pride is approximately 57 feet longer than Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas which will start sailing out of Baltimore on May 3rd. Also, it carries slightly more passengers - 175 more. For those who like Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas, this coming Saturday will be its last time to depart from Baltimore as it sets off on a 12 night cruise finishing in Port Canaveral, Florida.

The cruise ship terminal was supposedly a converted warehouse. Also, I suspect they had to install a boarding ramp as pictured below.

The terminal does have parking for those who want to drive to the terminal and leave their car during the cruise. According to the terminal website: http://www.cruise.maryland.gov/content/parking-rates, parking is $15 a day payable upon arrival by cash, credit card or traveler's check. Here's a picture of the parking:

The terminal can get busy on the day a ship is sailing as shown in this picture of cars lined up to get in.

Three cruise lines currently sail out of the Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal - American Cruise Line (smallest of the 3 lines, carries no more than 100 passengers) which sails up and down the East Coast, Carnival which sails to the Bahamas and the Eastern Caribbean and Royal Caribbean which sails to Canada, the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Caribbean. For more information on the terminal please check out the terminal webpage at: http://www.baltimorecruiseguide.com/cruise-terminal.html.

Update posted on 8/5/13. Carnival announced on June 27, 2013 that the Carnival Pride will redeploy to Tampa, Florida December 2014. They haven't said anything about a ship replacing the Pride. Royal Caribbean stated on July 17, 2013 that it would continue to run cruises out of Baltimore on it's Grandeur of the Seas.

Update posted on 7/27/2014: In a press release from the Maryland Governor's office dated January 20, 2014 which you can find on www.cruise.maryland.gov, Governor O'Malley announced that Carnival would continue to offer cruises out of Baltimore. The plan according to the press release is for the Carnival Pride to redeploy to Tampa, Florida in October 2014 at which time it'll receive upgrades including scrubbers to reduce emissions. The ship will return to Baltimore on March 29, 2015 and resume cruises out of Baltimore.

Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas did begin offering cruises out of Baltimore on May 3, 2013 and continues to offer them at the time of this post. I did the May 3rd cruise on Grandeur and had a great time. I hope to sail on the Grandeur again in 2016.