CC'ers from recent Mercury Departures?

[JEDIKNIGHT]

Is there anyone here who went on Mercury, recently out of Baltimore?

 

I'd like to know how the flow of the line was, how long it took you to get indoors from the cold?

 

What time does the line start to get long?

 

Thanks

[lambcom]

We were on the November 29th sailing. Arrived by limo from our nearby motel at about 11:45. No line up. Walked in filled out paperwork and were on ship by 12:15. Smoothest embarkation we've ever experienced. Disembarkation equally smooth.

 

George +

[dmwnc1959]

I was on the Dec 11-20 sailing. I got anxious waiting at my hotel and showed up at the ship at 10:15 and of course there was no line. Check-in started literally as soon as I dumped off my two suitcases with the porters outside and went through security. The check-in lines are arranged by Deck number and then you queue and sit in a common area awaiting boarding which started promptly at 11am. I got onboard, they had the champagne and OJ greeting, went to the Palm Springs Cafe after dropping off my carry-on at my stateroom, ate lunch then did a complete self-tour of the ship for pictures. Rooms opened right at 1pm. Relaxed after unpacking and hanging up my clothes then made a few phone calls and text messages before the Emergency Lifeboat Drill started at 3pm. It lasted about 20 minutes then everyone headed to their favorite spot for Sailaway!

[patseacruiser]

My parents were on the December 11 cruise also and got there by 10:30 and had no problems - basically same answers as the above cruiser. I do have their Celebrity Today papers here somewhere if anyone needs them scanned but it will take a little while to do.

[dmwnc1959]

My parents were on the December 11 cruise also and got there by 10:30 and had no problems - basically same answers as the above cruiser. I do have their Celebrity Today papers here somewhere if anyone needs them scanned but it will take a little while to do.

 

Here are some pictures from the cruise if you want to share them with your parents. I remember you saying they had taken some with their iphone.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1325943

[patseacruiser]

They stayed at a the Holiday Inn Express Baltimore. There is no airport shuttle but there is complimentary shuttle to and from the port and the shuttle will take you over to the Inner Harbor except the night they stayed there it was the staff's Holiday Party so the shuttle was done at 6 pm. But they called and said they were too cold anyway to go out so they ordered a pizza in to the room. They said the hotel was not in the harbor area but it was a very nice and clean hotel and the shuttle worked great for them and they paid $5 per day over 7 days complimentary parking. They showed me their pics on their phone when they were over for Christmas Day dinner and I probably should have showed her how to upload them to the computer or uploaded them to mine but after a big dinner I just wanted to sit and veg.

[B'moreTraveler]

We were on the December 11th cruise as well. Arrived at the cruise port at about 11 am, dropped off our luggage and went inside. We were in line for 10-15 minutes before going through the security screening. Once past the screening there were refreshments while filling out a short questionnaire, got into our line for Deck 4 and waited another 5 minutes, set up our on-board accounts and got our seapass cards, had two photos taken by the ship's photographers and we were on board by about 11:40.

 

We went up to the buffet for lunch (very crowded) then met on Deck 12 at 1:15 for a tour of the ship. As first time cruisers, this was very helpful. After the tour we went to the room and unpacked (our luggage arrived about 2:00). The lifeboat drill was at 3:15.

 

Our Cruise Critic group met at 4:00 at the Palm Springs Bar for sail-away and we broke up in time for us to go to dinner at 6 (we had early seating). When we returned to our room after dinner there was an invitation at our door for the Cruise Critic gathering the next morning.

 

It sure seemed that the day went by quickly, a great start to a fabulous cruise!

[buffi001]

I have never seen a more efficient embarkation and debarkation port.

We arrived at 11:30 and were on the ship before 12:00. There was no

time spent outside. When we returned to B'more, we had an 8:00 debarkation

time, and we were in the parking lot, with our luggage by 8:20 ......couldn't

be smoother.