which cruise to do in Baltimore. HELP!

[wrk2cruisesoon]

I live in Baltimore and want to cruise out of Baltimore in 2010. I have cruised out of Baltimore in the past when Celebrity was here in the early 2000's. My question is do I cruise on Celebrity on the Mercury in January or wait until it gets warmer and sail Carnival in the Spring? Right now I have reserved a great cabin on the Mercury but am now worried that the weather will not be warm enough. Dont you think it would be cold the first and second days when we sail down the coast and the next to last and last day when we sail home? To me cruising, is lying on the deck relaxing, will I regret this cruise? Would I be better waiting to sail on Carnival even though I am a little apprehensive about going on Carnival? Keep in mind I am also sailing with my 4 year old.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[yvogarden]

I think a January cruise out of Baltimore will be chilly, especially if you like hanging on the decks... and the pools might be a little chilly for your 4-year old. I've cruised out of Norfolk before in October, and it was a little cold even then, and I think the water is warmer in Oct. than January. I've been on Celebrity and Carnival, and while they are certainly different (mostly the people), they are both great. In fact, if you are a people watcher, you'll have much more fun on Carnival! It's all what you make of it anyway. I'm going on the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore at the end of April 2009, and am hoping for some warm weather and calm seas.

[familycruzer]

I took a cruise from Bayonne last month and going to the Caribbean we did not hit warm weather until we got south of the Bahamas. The first two days were too cold to enjoy the pool and sun decks. I would not book a cruise from the north east in the winter unless it was at least 9 nights long if you are looking for a warm vacation.

[wrk2cruisesoon]

That was what I was thinking as well. Sigh- I love Celebrity but to me a cruise is warm and tropical not hats and gloves! I guess I will have to convince my husband that Carnival in May would be a better choice. Thanks for the reply.

[celbercrz333]

One piece of advice is this, if you want more choices for cruises do what we did, if it's still available. We went out of NYC to Bermuda. This was Oct 2003. We had no idea that you could add a bus trip onto your cruise. My brother & SIL had done the same exact cruise we were going to take. They advise us that for a little bit more money ($69 pp roundtrip) we could add a bus transfer on. Our daughter drove us down to Baltimore travel plaza where everyone on our bus was on our cruise. We picked up more people in Wilmington, Philly and NJ. The bus dropped us off directly at our ship and picked us up from our ship.

We sailed on Celebrity Zenith, which is no longer in existance (or no longer belongs to Celebrity).