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Sunday Cruise Passengers Reminded to Allow Extra Time for Reaching Port of Baltimore

Port Administration Personnel to Work Throughout the Weekend to Prepare Cruise Terminal for Arriving and Departing Passengers

(BALTIMORE, MD) --- Cruise passengers leaving from the Port of Baltimore on Sunday for a seven-day excursion onboard the Carnival Pride to the Bahamas are encouraged to allow extra time for travel from their homes due to the upcoming snow event.

“We strongly encourage our cruise passengers to exercise good judgment and use common sense when coming to the Cruise Maryland terminal on Sunday,” said Maryland Port Administration (MPA) Executive Director James J. White. “Comparable to our December snowstorm, MPA personnel will work around the clock this weekend to make sure our parking lots, walkways and pier are cleared of snow and are safe for the public.”

The Port Administration will implement a similar snow operations plan to the one that it used successfully during the recent December 18-19 snowstorm. Port operations personnel will work 12-hour shifts and use heavy-duty equipment that includes plows, dump trucks, salt spreaders and ATV-vehicles equipped with plows to clear snow around the cruise terminal. The Cruise Maryland terminal includes 1,500 onsite parking spaces.

The Port of Baltimore will handle a record 91 homeport cruises in 2010 onboard three cruise lines: Carnival, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean. The Carnival Pride returns for its second year of year-round cruising to the Bahamas and Eastern Caribbean. Royal Caribbean brings a newer and larger vessel, the Enchantment of the Seas to Baltimore beginning in June for cruises to New England/Canada, Bermuda, the Eastern Caribbean, and the Bahamas. Royal Caribbean will also offer all-season cruising from Baltimore for the first time. The Celebrity Mercury will return for a second season of winter cruising beginning in October and will travel to the Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean and the Bahamas.

In 2009, the Port set records of 81 homeport cruises and 167,000 embarked passengers. The estimated economic impact of cruising from the Port of Baltimore in 2009 was about $152 million.