Bigger ships into Port of Baltimore?

[leaveitallbehind]

6 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

I've sailed on both Summit (from Cape Liberty) and Grandeur (7 times all from Baltimore).  Summit was based at Cape Liberty, Bayonne.  I don't think anyone would confuse the two.

.....which is what I said as well in response to another poster who indicated they thought they had sailed out of Baltimore on Summit.

Edited May 25 by leaveitallbehind

[Charles4515]

21 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Or maybe RCCL Grandeur, which was based out of Baltimore for a number of years and was a ship on which we sailed from there twice.  Summit for many years until this year was based out of Port Elizabeth, Bayonne.

RCI also sailed Enchantment of the Seas. Carnival also sails out of Baltimore. NCL has sailed it of Baltimore. 

[Another_Critic]

13 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

We sailed on the Mercury twice from Baltimore. If fact, we were on the second to the last voyage before they sold the ship. It was a smaller ship.  To my knowledge there have been no larger X ships sail from Baltimore. I check ship availability from Baltimore often.

I also sailed Mercury twice from Baltimore. 

 

12 days - Baltimore to St Thomas, St Croix, St Kitts, Antigua, St Maarten to Baltimore - November 29 - December 11, 2010

 

And the 2nd to last voyage: 9 days - Baltimore to Miami, Key West (Florida), Nassau (Bahamas), Coco Cay (Bahamas) to Baltimore - February 5-14, 2011.

 

Just saw her on May 3 in Alicante, Spain (as Marella Voyager).

 

[mugtech]

      Last September sailed NCL Sky from Baltimore to Quebec, was only 75% full.  The return from Quebec to Baltimore had even less passengers, it  is a 2,000 double occupancy ship.  Seems to verify lack of demand from and to Baltimore.

[Another_Critic]

2 minutes ago, mugtech said:

      Last September sailed NCL Sky from Baltimore to Quebec, was only 75% full.  The return from Quebec to Baltimore had even less passengers, it  is a 2,000 double occupancy ship.  Seems to verify lack of demand from and to Baltimore.

Longer, one way cruises are less in demand than round trip cruises.

 

There seems to be plenty of demand for Vision from Baltimore.

[Charles4515]

22 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

Longer, one way cruises are less in demand than round trip cruises.

 

There seems to be plenty of demand for Vision from Baltimore.

I cruised once on Carnival Miracle out of Baltimore. It was a 7 day round trip to the Bahamas. It was definitely sold out. My travel agent took me on a ship inspection of Carnival Pride on turn around day which did 7 day cruises. Seemed to be a lot of passengers boarding. 
 

Radiance Class might theoretically be able to cruise out of Baltimore but it might be too close for comfort. If Radiance can then so can Millennium class as they are built on the same hull yet they have not sailed those either out of Baltimore. I guess it could simply be they make more revenue out of other ports. 
 

 

Edited May 25 by Charles4515

[leaveitallbehind]

59 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

There seems to be plenty of demand for Vision from Baltimore.

Agree. But double occupancy capacity is 2,050 passengers. Maximum capacity is 2,500. This seems pretty typical of those RCCL ships, in particular, that have sailed from there over the years. Probably a good indicator of the true demand. If so, that would raise into question the feasibility of filling larger ships that could access the port.

 

We always enjoyed sailing out of Baltimore for its convenience and going down the Chesapeake, but the itineraries from there are somewhat limited. In particular with 5 - 7 night cruises, where there is always a fair amount of sea days getting to the few ports of call accessible from there. That may limit interest to some degree?

Edited May 25 by leaveitallbehind

[TPKeller]

16 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

but the itineraries from there are somewhat limited. In particular with 5 - 7 night cruises, where there is always a fair amount of sea days getting to the few ports of call accessible from there.

 

That's one way to look at it, but here is another:

 

A 9-night cruise out of Baltimore can cover the same itinerary as a 7-night cruise out of Florida.  If you live anywhere in the mid-Atlantic region, that leaves you with "how do you get to Florida?"  You can drive or fly, each taking at least the better part of a day of "fun."

 

OR... you can take the ship from Baltimore, with that extra day on the front and back cruising down and back up the coast.

 

It's not a difficult choice!  😄

 

Theron

[Charles4515]

7 minutes ago, TPKeller said:

 

That's one way to look at it, but here is another:

 

A 9-night cruise out of Baltimore can cover the same itinerary as a 7-night cruise out of Florida.  If you live anywhere in the mid-Atlantic region, that leaves you with "how do you get to Florida?"  You can drive or fly, each taking at least the better part of a day of "fun."

 

 

 

The long Celebrity cruises 10 and 11 days out of Baltimore were great for me. I would drive to the port about a 40 minute drive. The fares were pretty reasonablen too. As a bonus I liked Mercury and Galaxy. I hated the Carnival ship. The vibe and decor were not to my taste.

[TPKeller]

2 hours ago, robtulipe said:

We once sailed out of Baltimore on X Summit which is slightly larger at 91K gross tons than Radiance class ships that are 90 gross tons so I suspect the latter could sail out of that port.

 

Not to nit-pick, but since others have also questioned your report... if you check your signature, it shows your only time on Summit was a Southern Caribbean B2B in November 2010.

 

"X Summit, Nov.10 B2B S. Carib"

 

Summit was doing that itinerary out of San Juan at that time.

 

So it must have been a different ship from Baltimore!  🙂

 

Theron

[TPKeller]

2 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

I hated the Carnival ship. The vibe and decor were not to my taste.

 

I toured one once.  IMHO, the word you are looking for is "gaudy!"  😉

 

Theron

[robtulipe]

2 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

Are you sure it was Summit and not Galaxy or Mercury?

Yes I should have checked my cruising history.

It was X Mercury that we were on when sailing out of Baltimore the only time we did that.

 

 

 

Edited May 25 by robtulipe

[leaveitallbehind]

21 minutes ago, TPKeller said:

 

That's one way to look at it, but here is another:

 

A 9-night cruise out of Baltimore can cover the same itinerary as a 7-night cruise out of Florida.  If you live anywhere in the mid-Atlantic region, that leaves you with "how do you get to Florida?"  You can drive or fly, each taking at least the better part of a day of "fun."

 

OR... you can take the ship from Baltimore, with that extra day on the front and back cruising down and back up the coast.

 

It's not a difficult choice!  😄

 

Theron

I understand and agree with you and @Charles4515.  But I was being specific to the 5-7 nights cruises, more specifically the 7 night, which IMO is what most people tend to typically book.  My point being that they are more limited in ports of call from there with those itineraries.

Edited May 25 by leaveitallbehind

[Charles4515]

2 minutes ago, TPKeller said:

 

I toured one once.  IMHO, the word you are looking for is "gaudy!"  😉

 

Theron

The decor gave me a headache and there were no quiet spaces. In the MDR they divided passengers into teams and awarded points to the loudest team. That was quite a while ago so probably Miracle and Pride have had redos. 

[TPKeller]

5 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

I understand and agree with you and @Charles4515.  But I was being specific to the 5-7 nights cruises, more specifically the 7 night, which IMO is what most people tend to typically book.  My point being that they are more limited in ports of call from there with those itineraries.

 

Yep... unfortunately, a 7-night cruise (heading south) out of Baltimore is about the same as a 5-night cruise out of Florida.

 

Except for Bermuda. I'd love for Royal Caribbean to do a 7-night Bermuda cruise from Baltimore!

 

Theron

[Tatka]

We do 1 12 dayer from Baltimore per year to Southern Caribbean, because there are only limited SC itineraries out of  Bayonne. (We do them too)

 

I don’t see any reason for RCI to invest huge money into Baltimore port which will only be competition to Bayonne. People who want to cruise Bermuda, Caribbeans, Canada can get to New Jersey. Even though Baltimore is more to the south ships have a long way to make to get to the ocean … so 5 dayers to Bermuda from there are not as attractive. It’s an additional port which we like… but nothing major. 

[leaveitallbehind]

23 minutes ago, TPKeller said:

 

Yep... unfortunately, a 7-night cruise (heading south) out of Baltimore is about the same as a 5-night cruise out of Florida.

 

Except for Bermuda. I'd love for Royal Caribbean to do a 7-night Bermuda cruise from Baltimore!

 

Theron

They did a number of years ago on Grandeur - we did it twice.  In fact it was when they discontinued that itinerary that we shifted to Celebrity Summit from Port Elizabeth Bayonne for the same itinerary and have been doing so ever since, with our next on Eclipse this June, which replaced Summit this year.

Edited May 25 by leaveitallbehind

[TPKeller]

6 minutes ago, Tatka said:

so 5 dayers to Bermuda from there are not as attractive.

 

They used to be, when the ships went faster and you actually got to spend almost two days in Bermuda, rather than less than one, like they do now.  😞  Huge difference!

 

Theron

[leaveitallbehind]

7 minutes ago, TPKeller said:

 

They used to be, when the ships went faster and you actually got to spend almost two days in Bermuda, rather than less than one, like they do now.  😞  Huge difference!

 

Theron

At least its still overnight.

[Another_Critic]

43 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Celebrity Summit from Port Elizabeth Bayonne

Why do you continuously call it Port Elizabeth?  The cruise port is called Cape Liberty.

[leaveitallbehind]

7 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

Why do you continuously call it Port Elizabeth?  The cruise port is called Cape Liberty.

Because I am brain dead today!!  Good catch.  Having sailed from there numerous times you would think I would have caught that myself.  Good thing as we will be cruising out of there again in June - hate to not know where I am going!  LOL.

 

Thank you.

Edited May 25 by leaveitallbehind

[Tatka]

50 minutes ago, TPKeller said:

 

They used to be, when the ships went faster and you actually got to spend almost two days in Bermuda, rather than less than one, like they do now.  😞  Huge difference!

 

Theron

 

What do you mean? New regulations ?

[TPKeller]

7 minutes ago, Tatka said:

What do you mean? New regulations ?

 

Ha, if only.  No... it's all about dollars.  Slower speed = less gas, who cares if the customers have less time in port...  😞

 

Theron

[Tatka]

32 minutes ago, TPKeller said:

 

Ha, if only.  No... it's all about dollars.  Slower speed = less gas, who cares if the customers have less time in port...  😞

 

Theron

So this is easy. If customers are not happy they shouldn’t book it. There are ships sailing from Bayonne, Boston sailing to Bermuda. Do they care? Or Royal can charge more to cover fuel increases.

Edited May 25 by Tatka

[TPKeller]

2 hours ago, Tatka said:

So this is easy. If customers are not happy they shouldn’t book it. There are ships sailing from Bayonne, Boston sailing to Bermuda. Do they care? Or Royal can charge more to cover fuel increases.

 

I haven't.

 

But how is Royal Caribbean supposed to know that (some) customers are not happy with their new itinerary unless we (they) talk about it?

 

Theron