Grandeur San Juan to Baltimore-5/6-12

[MJonTravel]

Just returned and had a simply wonderful cruise. St. Thomas and St. Maarten were new ports for us. Freeport was a little brief due to a late arrival.

 

Our stateroom attendant, dining staff and everyone were fantastic.

 

The only problem was that Baltimore just didn't seem ready to acommodate us. Would be curious to know how any others on the cruise felt about the situation in Baltimore. I've never cruised in/out of Baltimore, so I'm unsure if a 1.5 hour wait for a taxi is their norm or not?!

[Tony O]

Just returned and had a simply wonderful cruise. St. Thomas and St. Maarten were new ports for us. Freeport was a little brief due to a late arrival.

 

Our stateroom attendant, dining staff and everyone were fantastic.

 

The only problem was that Baltimore just didn't seem ready to accommodate us. Would be curious to know how any others on the cruise felt about the situation in Baltimore. I've never cruised in/out of Baltimore, so I'm unsure if a 1.5 hour wait for a taxi is their norm or not?!

 

First of all the taxi situation is not the norm at all. Somebody in the port Administration dropped the ball on notifying the taxi company.

as far as debarking it may have taken a little longer due ti the fact it was the first time in the new terminal. We had to remove signage and other materials that was on board the ship that had to be set up prior to passengers leaving and those arriving .

I would like to hear your opinion on how things went in the terminal after you left the ship not including the taxi incident.

[MJonTravel]

I felt the first cruise in might have been a factor in things.

 

Bags were waiting when we arrived in the terminal. Baggage area seemed a little tight, but I'd probably say that about any terminal. Customs and immigration were fast and friendly.

 

Security appeared to be stopping every vehicle that entered, including the taxis. Granted this was my view from the top deck of the ship, so what was actually happening may have been different.

 

We'll cruise from Baltimore again, but I've gotta tell ya', that taxi line had me and a lot of others in a tizzy.

 

I wonder if Grandeur was able to depart close to on time this evening?

[cruisingnewyorkers]

We were on that cruise and debarkation was a nightmare. We had an early flight and we were unable to make it.

 

First it took forever to get off the ship and we are diamonds, so we are supposed to have preference on getting off the ship. The stairwells were jammed with people who were carrying their luggage off. Many of these people could not handle their luggage.

 

When we finally got out, we probably had a 10-15 minute wait for a cab. There was only 1 girl and everything was out of control. People were getting out of cabs and then people from the back of the line were getting in those cabs and the people who were waiting didn't get a cab.

 

We had to fly standby and 4 hours later we were able to make it home. I know that there was a group of 70 from Seattle that wasn't going to make their flight either and I'm sure that there were many more. It wasn't very organized both getting off the ship and the transportation to the airport.

Also, you can only make a right hand turn coming out of the pier, and then we had to go north on 95 and then after going through the tunnel we made a hairpin turn and then returned to the tunnel and then passed by the ship. That added about 5-10 minutes on our trip to the airport.

 

Not sure if I would ever go out of Baltimore again.

 

How was everyone else's experience?

[ebonybee]

Debarking was definitely a problem! Hi Donna--looked at the number of taxis available and wondered how you would "fare" to the airport.

 

The issue with the self-assist passengers with so many bags was the problem most visible to me. I couldn't understand why people with 5 bags would try to negotiate stairs. We became trapped in the stairwell when RCI would allow one stairway to proceed while holding the other. If I had any idea that self-assist was still onboard, I never would have tried to exit when white tags were called.

 

Once we got to the gangplank everything was O.K. Highjacked a porter to help take bags to the very end of the parking lot where son was waiting impatiently. He had to be to work at 1pm but was obviously late due our wait. But forcasted the the availability of taxis would be a problem at the new port.

 

Would use Baltimore port again. The problem with self-assist paxs could happen anywhere.

[signman]

Yes there were problems with the Taxi line, but it is more a function of the fact that this was a repo, so way more than normal demand for cabs, since no one had their car parked at the Terminal. And most people were from out of town, so no local pick-ups either. I witnessed the same long taxi line in Philadelphia a few weeks ago when ships arrived there for first time for the season.

 

Over zealous security getting into the Port sure didn't help the situation either, but no one will ever be able to control that.

[navigator0722]

We cruised out of Baltimore in November of 2003...Celebrity Galaxy...we were four hours late getting on the ship....and when we came back into port we were over ten hours delayed in getting off the ship! It was so windy the day we came back into port, the wind had literally blown the water in the harbor down way below normal, so as the captain docked, he beached us on a sand bar that was typically not a problem. It was quite an experience....not made any easier by the total lack of communication on Celebrity's part. No one really had a clue as to what was going on...until the media showed up!

[dianfarmer]

Why didn't you get the transfers from the cruise line to get to the airport? I think the cruiseline would have charged about the same as you paid for the cab and they would have gotten you off in time

[jhduncan]

We had transfers from the cruise line. Our color (green) was not called until 12:15 PM. By the time we made it outside of the terminal the bus that was heading to BWI was full and leaving the terminal. While standing in line I was watching for the transfer buses to return. I only saw one additional bus to BWI that arrived at 2:15 PM, which was just as we were getting in the cab for which we had waited almost 2 hours. The cab driver told us that it took him 45 minutes to get into the terminal. I think the buses suffered from the same traffic issues as the cabs.

[Tony O]

I felt the first cruise in might have been a factor in things.

 

Bags were waiting when we arrived in the terminal. Baggage area seemed a little tight, but I'd probably say that about any terminal. Customs and immigration were fast and friendly.

 

Security appeared to be stopping every vehicle that entered, including the taxis. Granted this was my view from the top deck of the ship, so what was actually happening may have been different.

 

We'll cruise from Baltimore again, but I've gotta tell ya', that taxi line had me and a lot of others in a tizzy.

 

I wonder if Grandeur was able to depart close to on time this evening?

 

the baggage area was a little tight due to the fact an area was needed to be setup ASAP as the back part of the building was not ready due to some equipment was on the ship when it arrived and did not have sufficient time to set up.

The security issue is not new. last year in Dundalk everyone was also stopped. but I think the difference is that in Dundalk there was one entrance place for passengers and taxis and also there was another place just for taxis ,limos etc.

This year it all filters into one entrance.

[muscleman]

Debarking was definitely a problem! Hi Donna--looked at the number of taxis available and wondered how you would "fare" to the airport.

 

The issue with the self-assist passengers with so many bags was the problem most visible to me. I couldn't understand why people with 5 bags would try to negotiate stairs. We became trapped in the stairwell when RCI would allow one stairway to proceed while holding the other. If I had any idea that self-assist was still onboard, I never would have tried to exit when white tags were called.

 

Once we got to the gangplank everything was O.K. Highjacked a porter to help take bags to the very end of the parking lot where son was waiting impatiently. He had to be to work at 1pm but was obviously late due our wait. But forcasted the the availability of taxis would be a problem at the new port.

 

Would use Baltimore port again. The problem with self-assist paxs could happen anywhere.

 

Hey Ebony, glad to here you guys got off the ship okay. I agreed I couldn't understand why people with all those bags tried to self assist. That was a nightmare getting off the ship. If you are diamond members they say you have priority but really the self assist has priority. When they did call the white tags the stairways were still full of self assist. Once you got off the ship you had a hard time getting a porter to take your bags so I highjacked one also but I tipped him well.

 

We had a nice time dining with you guys and we hope to see you soon. Tell Ron hello.

[ebonybee]

Muscleman,

 

Glad you guys made it back safely! When we got home, yes the cars were driven by our son--no psychic was needed to predict that! Movie chairs have arrived so the lawn chairs will be getting a break.

 

Just tried going to the Windjammer for breakfast but it appears to have relocated!

 

Thanks for EVERYTHING and you will be hearing from us. Ron is trying to get his 24 fix.

[Jason's Storm]

I did, self assist with our six bags, but we did the elevators instead.:D Didn't mind Baltimore at all, since I had a ride anyways.

 

~JS

[Annieeee]

"Also, you can only make a right hand turn coming out of the pier, and then we had to go north on 95 and then after going through the tunnel we made a hairpin turn and then returned to the tunnel and then passed by the ship. That added about 5-10 minutes on our trip to the airport."

The above is a partial quote from post # 4 on this thread.

Yes you can only make a right turn as you leave the terminal, however you must have stayed to the left once you turned onto the road as that takes you to the ramp and onto 95 North. Had you stayed to the right, you would have seen that the road curves around and brings you back so that you then are able to get on 95 South. It can easily happen to anyone as it did to us, we went for a test run and did the same thing. Came back and tried again and got it right the second time. Granted the signage might leave a bit to be desired, but that is no fault of the cruise line, those signs are probably put up by the state highway administration.

Annieeee

[Mac303]

Debarking was definitely a problem! Hi Donna--looked at the number of taxis available and wondered how you would "fare" to the airport.

 

The issue with the self-assist passengers with so many bags was the problem most visible to me. I couldn't understand why people with 5 bags would try to negotiate stairs. We became trapped in the stairwell when RCI would allow one stairway to proceed while holding the other. If I had any idea that self-assist was still onboard, I never would have tried to exit when white tags were called.

 

Once we got to the gangplank everything was O.K. Highjacked a porter to help take bags to the very end of the parking lot where son was waiting impatiently. He had to be to work at 1pm but was obviously late due our wait. But forcasted the the availability of taxis would be a problem at the new port.

 

Would use Baltimore port again. The problem with self-assist paxs could happen anywhere.

 

I was one of the self assist trapped on the stairs, the issue was not with us! 1. the Customs officers for some strange reason set up at the exit point from the ship, this caused the process to grind to a halt. Finnaly someone with half a brain got them to relocate into the terminal building. 2. The people on the elevators were able to flow into the line to exit easier then those on the stairwell. However, there were people who were not self assist coming off the elevators long before any color was called. My girlfriend was able to take one of the elevators down and said the two crew members at the exit were trying their best to do a good job by pulling a group from first the stairs then a group from the elevator when there was a third group trying to force their way off (another set of stairs?) One crew member had radioed upstairs to NOT send the white tickets down as there were still too many of the self assist exiting, within one minute the call came for the white tickets to proceed to the exit. Understandably this was frustrating to all but the situation was made worse with passengers with white tickets who had been waiting in the elevator hallway since the first call for self assist passengers to disembark constantly telling the crew how incompetant they were; this of course was based on the passengers' vast experience with cruises and crowd control. 3. The taxi situation was partialy caused by the security people at the port entrance who were stopping all cars entering trapping many taxi's in the line; and partially by frustrated passengers refusing to wait in yet another line. Passengers not in line were jumping into taxis which had not yet cleared the security point. When we were able to get a taxi the driver indicated that he wasn't going back to the port due to more hassle then it was worth. Once the baltimore situation is cleared up I'm sure things will go much better. Other than those last few hours we had a great time and are trying to plan the next cruise on RCI.

[MJonTravel]

I was one of the self assist trapped on the stairs, the issue was not with us! 1. the Customs officers for some strange reason set up at the exit point from the ship, this caused the process to grind to a halt. Finnaly someone with half a brain got them to relocate into the terminal building. 2. The people on the elevators were able to flow into the line to exit easier then those on the stairwell. However, there were people who were not self assist coming off the elevators long before any color was called. My girlfriend was able to take one of the elevators down and said the two crew members at the exit were trying their best to do a good job by pulling a group from first the stairs then a group from the elevator when there was a third group trying to force their way off (another set of stairs?) One crew member had radioed upstairs to NOT send the white tickets down as there were still too many of the self assist exiting, within one minute the call came for the white tickets to proceed to the exit. Understandably this was frustrating to all but the situation was made worse with passengers with white tickets who had been waiting in the elevator hallway since the first call for self assist passengers to disembark constantly telling the crew how incompetant they were; this of course was based on the passengers' vast experience with cruises and crowd control. 3. The taxi situation was partialy caused by the security people at the port entrance who were stopping all cars entering trapping many taxi's in the line; and partially by frustrated passengers refusing to wait in yet another line. Passengers not in line were jumping into taxis which had not yet cleared the security point. When we were able to get a taxi the driver indicated that he wasn't going back to the port due to more hassle then it was worth. Once the baltimore situation is cleared up I'm sure things will go much better. Other than those last few hours we had a great time and are trying to plan the next cruise on RCI.

 

Good info to know! I get a kick out of the screamers constantly yelling at crew or whomever else has to listen. Geez. Frankly, I'm shocked that there wasn't a fight in the taxi line given how some people were behaving.

[cyndepet]

Wow, I missed all this stuff! We had brown luggage tags and waited in the Palladium watching "The Brothers Grimm" (not the best movie choice for those with small children). I do feel bad for those who had earlier flights, knowing they wouldn't make it. By the time our color was called, we had an easy pass through customs, found our bags quickly, and made it on a transfer bus that was getting ready to depart. It was only about a 20 minute ride to the airport. From there, we used a courtesy phone to get a shuttle to the Courtyard to pick up our car. It was a long wait on the ship, but at least the movie made it go quickly.

 

The only bad thing I saw was when we were walking into the terminal building, a woman fell to the ground. There were many attendants who came quickly to her aid, and we saw an ambulance a short while later. What a sad way to end your cruise.

[biomedbob]

We were waiting patiently in the Vicking Crown Lounge with other CC'ers

and when our color was called we were amazed that the self-assist were still waiting to get off the ship.

 

We saw our ride waiting for us at 9:00, but were unable to get to them until about 11:40!

 

We'll be in Annapolis until Wednesday.

[carriesprings]

The taxi line was a nightmare. Oh, well, not everything can go smoothly.

 

We rented a car and drove back to NJ not getting home till 7:00 pm.

 

I had done a round trip from Baltimore a few years back and I remember getting home at 1:00pm. Big difference this time- I was shocked. The ship being late put us in the heart of rush hour on 95.

 

Otherwise I thought cruise was awesome.

[Murphy]

Welcome home everyone! We must have been in a "lucky window" of disembarkation, as we had no difficulty at all. We are Diamond and were waiting in the Viking Crown with BioMedBob. From past repo cruise experience, I always expect there to be at least a one hour delay from the time we get to port to the time the first people are let off the ship. I think this took more like 90 mins or more, but we were told when we booked that RCCL wouldn't offer any transfers for any flight before 2:00pm, so we decided to stay in Baltimore overnight to avoid the option of sitting in an airport for 6 hours or stressing out trying to get to an earlier flight.

 

Once they did call Diamond, we waited a few minutes and then walked down the back stairs to deck 9 and took an elevator down. Our elevator emptied without any problem, but the 2 other elevators in front of us were being held open so they wouldn't go back up in order to try to clear the stairwells. We held back and left a bunch of the stairwell waiters get thru and eventually streamed into line. The luggage area was a little narrow and they wouldn't let any porters help with your luggage until AFTER you had all your luggage together, but once we did that, he loaded everything up and we walked to the taxi line. We were taxi #17. I'm not certain what time we actually got in the taxi, but I do know we were in the Marriott Waterfront before noon. We had a truly horrific disembarkation experience last Spring after a repo that ended in Norfolk, and the Baltimore experience was 100% better than Norfolk.

 

Sorry you all had less than stellar experiences. Glad we met those of you that we did and wish we'd met all the posters to our roll call thread! Welcome home all!

[PSCruiser]

Tonyo,

 

As a cruiser on the Grandeur for the last several years - just wanted to say thanks for all your "inside information", especially with the changeover to the new port. When I see your name on a thread, I always know I can get the real story on whats happening at the Baltimore pier. Please keep it up!

[muscleman]

We were waiting patiently in the Vicking Crown Lounge with other CC'ers

and when our color was called we were amazed that the self-assist were still waiting to get off the ship.

 

We saw our ride waiting for us at 9:00, but were unable to get to them until about 11:40!

 

We'll be in Annapolis until Wednesday.

 

Hey Bob, You mean to tell me you move from your favorite table? It was nice meeting someone with a good since of humor. Thanks again for sharing the book with us because we couldn't stop laughing. Maybe one day we will sail again together.

[cyndepet]

Bob - it was a pleasure meeting you and your wife. Really sorry to have missed everyone else. We didn't make it to the "meet" after the muster drill. We were at the pool bar, but when I tried to buy a drink, I found out that my card wasn't "activated" yet. So, a trip down to the purser's deck, and we missed everyone. I ran into Bob and Nancy before dinner that evening. And thanks for sharing the hillbilly cruiser book with us too...you guys have a great sense of humor!

[Tony O]

Tonyo,

 

As a cruiser on the Grandeur for the last several years - just wanted to say thanks for all your "inside information", especially with the changeover to the new port. When I see your name on a thread, I always know I can get the real story on whats happening at the Baltimore pier. Please keep it up!

 

Thank you very much you are most kind.

[Tony O]

I was able to find out due to the new Homeland security measures at the port they decided to ratchet it up a few knots at the inconvenience of the passangers and the taxis had to go through extra screening before entering the terminal. Hopefully they will straighten out the mess.