Celebrity in Baltimore

[Patty00]

Would love to see any Celebrity ship come to the Port of Baltimore. RC's Enchantment always sails to capacity....so why not bring another ship to accommodate your loyal RC/Celebrity cruisers? Are you listening RC? What do other CC Celebrity fans think?

[dkjretired]

Would love to see any Celebrity ship come to the Port of Baltimore. RC's Enchantment always sails to capacity....so why not bring another ship to accommodate your loyal RC/Celebrity cruisers? Are you listening RC? What do other CC Celebrity fans think?

 

The problem is that Celebrity only has 9 ships and has to spread them around to where they will be most profitable. Royal Caribbean has close to 20 ships which gives them more flexibility. I sailed out of Baltimore on the Galaxy several years ago and it was very convienent to those on the East Coast.

[rafinmd]

Would love to see any Celebrity ship come to the Port of Baltimore. RC's Enchantment always sails to capacity....so why not bring another ship to accommodate your loyal RC/Celebrity cruisers? Are you listening RC? What do other CC Celebrity fans think?

 

I think I saw somewhere that none of the Celebrity ships can get under the Francis Scott Key Bridge. I guess perhaps the Century can but that probably has a limited future and is pretty well occupied. Anyone other than RCI and Carnival would be nice.

 

Roy

[AcadiaL]

I also would love to have a better ship choice out of Baltimore. We sailed on the Enchantment of the Seas last April, and it was just ok. The only other choice is an older Carnival ship, so I am sure any Celebrity ship would fill up fast. Baltimore is probably the most centrally located and convenient port on the east coast.

[lightning bolt]

We just got back from sailing on the Celebrity Century to Hawaii. Last winter we sailed out of Baltimore on the Celebrity Mercury. Would love for them to send the Century to Baltimore or Charleston SC. We would sail out of either one of those ports.

[scapino]

I also would love to have a better ship choice out of Baltimore. We sailed on the Enchantment of the Seas last April, and it was just ok. The only other choice is an older Carnival ship, so I am sure any Celebrity ship would fill up fast. Baltimore is probably the most centrally located and convenient port on the east coast.

 

Couldn't be any more convenient (population wise) than Bayone

[scapino]

We just got back from sailing on the Celebrity Century to Hawaii. Last winter we sailed out of Baltimore on the Celebrity Mercury. Would love for them to send the Century to Baltimore or Charleston SC. We would sail out of either one of those ports.

 

When you start that far north it totally restricts where you can cruise on a 7-day.

[Bridge Maven]

I would, also, love to see a nice ship in Baltimore. My husband and I live in Connecticut and our daughter's family lives in Virginia, so it would be a very convenient port for our three generation cruises.

[AcadiaL]

One nice thing about Baltimore is that it is a destination city with great attractions and lots of wonderful affordable hotels, all in a less intimidating traffic setting than NYC. It also makes it possible to cruise north to New England and Canada, east to Bermuda, or south to the Caribbean.

 

I do understand about the height of the bridge though, making it impossible for the newer higher ships to pass under it. The Enchantment just barely clears it(or so it seemed).

 

Its too bad the newer ships are all so tall and huge. The Century is the perfect size, IMHO.

[Hlitner]

None of the larger Celebrity ships (or large ships from other lines) can fit under the bridge. The City of Baltimore (and the State) made a huge mistake building their cruise facility at the inner harbor because of the bridge situation. Its a darn shame because we also like the convenience of Baltimore where now there are only two ships (a Carnival ship and the Enchantment of the Seas).

 

Hank

[bob brown]

How about Norfolk? Didn't they build a new cruise terminal a few years ago that is very underutilized? And location wise, Norfolk is similar to Baltimore as for cruise destination possibilities.

[Bridge Maven]

How about Norfolk? Didn't they build a new cruise terminal a few years ago that is very underutilized? And location wise, Norfolk is similar to Baltimore as for cruise destination possibilities.

 

Bob Brown, this the current cruise schedule from Norfolk

 

http://www.cruisenorfolk.org/schedule.php

[bob brown]

Bob Brown, this the current cruise schedule from Norfolk

 

http://www.cruisenorfolk.org/schedule.php

 

Thanks for that link. I would certainly call that an underutilized port. Seems a shame.

[dmwnc1959]

Apparently it's a corporate decision at RCCL/Celebrity not to allow a Millennium-class to sail out of Baltimore, even though it's been proven that one could.

 

It was also brought up by another Cruise Critic member who had heard that corporate decided that there were too many unpredictable variables (e.g., times of tide variations, prevailing wind direction & speed, permissible speed within the harbor/channel, etc.) to safely allow transit under the bridge.

 

As far as the technical side of the question:

 

The Francis Scott Key Bridge has a navigational clearance under the main span of 185 feet. The air draft being the distance from the waterline to the highest part of the ship above water. Air Draft comparisons:

 

QE2 171'

Celebrity Mercury - 177'

Voyager of the Seas - 208'

Oasis of the Seas - 236'

Celebrity Solstice - 200'

Grand Princess - 188'

Queen Mary 2 - 203'

 

Just as an example, here is an original Cruise Critic thread showing that a Grand-Class did at one time visit Baltimore:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=653296

 

The MILLENNIUM-class would be a very tight fit but doable. Remembering that the Francis Scott Key Bridge has a navigational clearance of 185', here are some more air draft comparisons courtesy of some ship expert friends in the UK, Finland, and Norway:

 

Millennium-class 180'

Carnival Dream 203'

Carnival Destiny 195'

Caribbean Princess-class 213'

 

It seems to me that a Millennium-class sailing off-season out of Baltimore would be more profitable than one sailing out of Miami? The Celebrity Mercury had some very attractive 12-night cruises last year, an even the 9-night cruise was a lot of fun.

 

.

[Welovetokruze]

A Cunard "Queen" ship visited Baltimore a little over 10 years ago and it fit under the two bridges. At least one of the bridges was closed to vehicular traffic when the ship went under it. I can't remember if the other bridge(s) was closed also. One drawback to another ship is that the dock is too small to handle two ships at once. As Carnival has all Sundays and RCI has every other Saturday it doesn't leave many desirable days left, although a schedule could be done. We have sailed ships out of Baltimore approximately 10-15 times and love driving 30 minutes to the ship. We also hope that another ship could be placed here year round. We also miss the western carib. cruises.

Glenn :cool:

[madelinerose]

Bring Celebrity back to Baltimore! ;)

[buffi001]

Celebrity just stopped sailing out of Baltimore about five minutes ago.

You just missed it! And no one is more unhappy about it that I am We went on one of the Mercury's last cruises and loved it. However,

unless they can raise the bridges, or lower the river, Celebrity's large

ships just won't fit.......and they seem to be gradually replacing all of the smaller ships. Not to add to your misery, but the embarkation and debarkation were the best, and quickest, I've ever had

[jakeil7]

Having never sailed out of either port, I am curious: is the NYC->Caribbean time the same as the Baltimore->Caribbean time given the latter has to make it out of Chesapeake Bay and the slow speeds related to that?

[BonnieVA]

Not to add to your misery, but the embarkation and debarkation were the best, and quickest, I've ever had

 

I second this.

[Ocean Dancer]

We just got off the Silhouette, and our cruise director told us to add Bayonne and Baltimore to our comment card for ports we wanted to sail from. Everyone on a cruise, just add this to your comment card, the numbers of us should send a message!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cool:

[dkjretired]

Having never sailed out of either port, I am curious: is the NYC->Caribbean time the same as the Baltimore->Caribbean time given the latter has to make it out of Chesapeake Bay and the slow speeds related to that?

 

Probably not a heck of a difference, if I remember it took us 8 hours to reach the Ocean...

[madelinerose]

However, unless they can raise the bridges, or lower the river, Celebrity's large ships just won't fit.......

 

And herein lies the issue that's been discussed repeatedly on the East Coast Departures board.

 

Perhaps a cruise terminal on the Eastern Shore? Who knows? Don't see it happening any time in the near future. The Locust Point cruise terminal will cease to be a cruise port once the older, smaller ships are retired.

 

The current ships from Baltimore hold absolutely no interest for us and we live very close to the port. Too bad.

[dmwnc1959]

Having never sailed out of either port, I am curious: is the NYC->Caribbean time the same as the Baltimore->Caribbean time given the latter has to make it out of Chesapeake Bay and the slow speeds related to that?

 

I remember last year inbound we came within range of Virginia Beach around 6pm and could use our cell phones. We passed over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in Hampton Roads right at 8pm and docked in Baltimore the next morning around 6am. So roughly 10-11 hours to get out of Chesapeake Bay to open ocean?

[Welovetokruze]

In our previous sailings from and to Baltimore the time to and from Norfolk is 8 hours on the bay. :eek:

[adbnva]

since the port of norfolk is under used, i really wish other ships would come there. rccl could put a ship there. there were ships out of baltimore that went to the caribbean (9 and more days cruises. the new port in norfolk could certainly use lots more ships. we would love to see it. we would cruise more often if it was easier. ad