Cruises From Baltimore

Both lines on Cruise Maryland’s list sail from one building: the Cruise Maryland Terminal, 2001 East McComas Street in South Locust Point, run by the Maryland Port Administration. Royal Caribbean’s pages still call it the South Locust Point Cruise Terminal — same building, different name.

MPA puts the terminal next to I-95 and 2.5 miles from the Inner Harbor. Cruise Maryland says it welcomes an average of half a million guests a year; in 2023 it was more than 444,000, the third-highest total in the port’s history, per the Governor’s office.

There’s a ceiling on what sails here, and it’s a bridge. Per The Banner, “most newer cruise ships, however, cannot fit under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.” Baltimore works with the ships that can.

The Key Bridge collapsed on March 26, 2024. Carnival moved its Baltimore operations to Norfolk for the time being, with “complimentary bus service back to Baltimore,” per Carnival. Wikipedia says vessel traffic to and from the port was suspended for about 11 weeks.

The cruise ships came back sooner than that. Vision of the Seas sailed on May 25, 2024 and Carnival Legend on May 26, per CBS Baltimore and Chesapeake Bay Magazine — The Points Guy dates the restart to June 12, 2024. Carnival Legend was the Baltimore ship then; Pride had gone to Tampa in November 2021 and is Baltimore-based again, per Wikipedia.

Every card below opens our page for that port, with a link to its shore-excursion guide underneath. The week-long sailings stay with the Bahamas and Bermuda. The Caribbean islands come mostly from Carnival’s 10- to 14-day sailings, and Atlantic Canada from Royal Caribbean’s 9-night run.

Common, not guaranteed — the actual stops on any sailing depend on the line, the ship and the season, so check your own itinerary rather than the pattern below.

Not carded above: Cruise Maryland’s homepage also lists the Panama Canal and Greenland, and MPA says Pride sails to Greenland/Canada — no itinerary page we checked names a port for either, so neither gets a card. Carnival’s February 2026 release adds Antigua, Tortola, Dominica and Guadeloupe for the 2027–28 Journeys sailings; they’re in a press release, not on an itinerary page yet.

Cruise Maryland Terminal — 2001 East McComas Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. One building, run by the Maryland Port Administration. MPA’s South Locust Point page gives 18.7 acres, a 1,139-foot berth, a 60,000-square-foot shed for cruise operations and “more than 1,538 parking spaces,” and dates the terminal to 2006.

Carnival and Royal Caribbean both sail from it. There’s no second building to find — what goes wrong here is timing, not wayfinding.

Cruise Maryland says “the cruise terminal entrance opens at 8:00 a.m. or two hours after the ship arrives” — and asks you not to arrive before the embarkation time on your ticket. The other end is firm: “ALL passengers must arrive at the pier for check-in, at least 90 minutes to 2 hours, prior to the ship’s scheduled departure time.” Late arrivals “can be denied boarding.”

Royal Caribbean adds its own rule: arrive in your app check-in slot, and be “fully checked in and onboard the ship no later than 90 minutes prior to port operations closing.”

Turnaround delays happen. Weather rerouted the September 24, 2026 Vision of the Seas sailing from Canada & New England to Port Canaveral, Nassau and Grand Bahama. Cruise Maryland’s notice opened the terminal at 4:30 PM and warned that “the parking lot will be closed and incoming guests will not be able to park until our current guests have departed.” Check Cruise Maryland’s homepage the morning you drive in.

Bags first, then the car. Cruise Maryland directs you to “drop off their luggage in the appropriate luggage boxes” before you park in the long-term lot. No line tags on the bags yet — look for the tent marked “Cruise Luggage Tags.” Lost luggage goes to Intercruises Shoreside and Port Services at 443-421-5651, per Cruise Maryland. Its pages say nothing about porters or tips.

At the door, “no one will be allowed in the passenger building without a valid cruise ticket and government photo ID or valid passport (preferred),” and minors must be with a parent or guardian. Cruise Maryland’s FAQ adds that everyone over 18 shows a government-issued photo ID.

On passports, the same Cruise Maryland page says two things. It says “a valid passport is required for travel to/from Canada, the Caribbean and Bermuda” — and it also says U.S. citizens on closed-loop cruises can use “proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate and laminated government-issued picture ID.” Check which applies to your sailing with your line. A passport settles it either way.

Cruise Maryland’s FAQ lists firearms, ammunition, weapons, explosives, fireworks, knives, tasers and pepper spray among the items you can’t bring — and says, “Please see your cruise ticket and embarkation information for a complete list.”

Ships come in early. Royal Caribbean’s 5-night Bermuda arrives at 7:00 AM, and Carnival’s 12-day Southern Caribbean is back at 8:00 AM, per each line’s itinerary page. Cruise Maryland opens the gates for pick-up at 8:30 a.m. Friends and family go to the “Pick Up” Lot; taxis, limos and sedans go to the passenger building.

Cruise Maryland runs the lots, next to the terminal: $25 a day per vehicle since April 1, 2026 — up $5 from $20, per Cruise Maryland’s rate notice, which cites “rising operational costs.” Its passenger page prints the same $25 as “$25.00 Per Night.” RVs pay $40 a night under 30 feet and $50 over. You pay by credit card when you arrive, and “no advanced reservations are required.” Review periodically

Older pages haven’t caught up — Cruise Maryland’s own FAQ still says $20, and Royal Caribbean’s says about $15. The parking page sorts out which cards work and what the stale numbers mean.

Cruise Maryland’s directions: “Take Exit 55, Key Highway. Turn left at the traffic light…onto East McComas Street. Cruise Maryland Terminal’s entrance is approximately 350 feet on the right.” From the north on I-95 you come through the Fort McHenry Tunnel — Cruise Maryland says bore 1, right lane.

From the south, it’s I-95 North to Exit 55, then straight for about .08 miles on East McComas Street. From I-70, Cruise Maryland routes you onto I-695 South at Exit 91A for 5.2 miles, then I-95 North at Exit 11A for about 4.9 miles to Exit 55.

BWI Thurgood Marshall is the airport — 10.5 miles from the terminal by Cruise Maryland’s count, 10 by MPA’s. Cruzely says 4 miles; both official figures say about ten, and ten is the number to plan on. The Points Guy calls it a 15-minute drive. Neither Cruise Maryland nor MPA gives a drive time. Cruise Maryland’s FAQ counts “more than 700 flights daily on 30 different airlines” at BWI.

The taxi fare is where people get caught out. The Maryland PSC’s Baltimore City rate sheet sets a “$30 FLAT RATE PER TAXICAB” from the cruise terminal to BWI, with no other stops, and Cruise Maryland’s FAQ agrees: “$30 flat rate only from the Cruise Maryland Terminal to the BWI Airport,” four passengers per cab. The Points Guy says a taxi from BWI costs a flat $30 too. BWI says otherwise — its taxicabs “are prohibited from charging flat rates,” and BWI Airport Taxi, the airport’s exclusive cab company, says “Flat rates are not permitted.” The $30 is for the ride back to the airport, not the ride in.

Coming in, the cab runs the meter: $2.90 for the first tenth of a mile, then $2.50 a mile, per BWI Airport Taxi — which calls its own rates “APPROXIMATE.” You pay the tolls. The stands are on the Arrivals/Lower Level outside baggage claim, at Doors 5 and 13 per BWI, and BWI Airport Taxi’s number is 410-859-1100. One small wrinkle: Cruise Maryland dates the PSC flat rates to April 1, 2008, while the PSC sheet itself is filed as effective 7-18-14 — the $30 is the same on both.

Uber and Lyft use the outer curb of the Departures/Upper Level, between Doors 5 and 12, per BWI. The Points Guy put an Uber at around $30 and an Uber XL at around $40 in September 2024 — two years old, so check the app.

Light RailLink leaves from a station right outside BWI’s lower level, next to Concourse E, for $2.00 each way — to downtown stops such as Camden Station/Camden Yards and the Convention Center, not to the ship. No official page names a stop near the terminal, and Cruise Maryland lists no light rail, bus or water taxi to it, so you finish by cab. Watch Sundays: BWI lists Light Rail service from 10:35 a.m. on Sundays and holidays, against 4:45 a.m. on weekdays.

MARC’s Penn Line runs from BWI Rail Station to Baltimore Penn Station for $6.00 one way, per MTA’s fare chart. A free shuttle links the airport terminal and the rail station 24 hours a day, every 10 to 15 minutes, per BWI and Amtrak. Penn Station is 5.5 miles from the terminal, per Cruise Maryland. The PSC sheet lists a $12.50 flat cab fare from the terminal to Penn Station; for the ride the other way, ask the fare before you load the bags.

Cruise Maryland lists five shuttle companies — The Airport Shuttle, Cruise Shuttle Express, KD Elite Transportation, Lenzner Transportation (Western PA) and Super Shuttle — with no prices. The Airport Shuttle’s own cruise page describes door-to-door reservations, up to 8 to a van, and a fare that “includes vehicle, driver, luggage, tolls and parking fees” — quoted by phone at 410-381-2772, not posted.

Cruise-line transfers are murky. Carnival’s airport-transfer page lists 14 ports, and Baltimore isn’t one of them. Cruzely says Carnival runs a BWI shuttle at $25.99 per person, each way; The Points Guy says Carnival doesn’t provide airport-to-port transfers. Royal Caribbean sells transfers “from the arrival airport to the pier on day of sailing,” per its FAQ, with no Baltimore price — The Points Guy says to book at least two weeks ahead.

Washington’s airports work too, at a distance: the terminal is 48 miles from Reagan National and 60 from Dulles, per Cruise Maryland.

Cruise Maryland’s own list: the National Aquarium, Fell’s Point, Fort McHenry — “the birthplace of the Star-Spangled Banner” — and Lexington Market for its “famous crab cakes and Berger cookies.” The Visitor Center is at 401 Light Street.

Carnival’s list overlaps and runs longer: the Inner Harbor, Harbor East, Antique Row, Fort McHenry, Federal Hill Park for its “rolling green hillside, panoramic Inner Harbor Views,” the Baltimore Museum of Art (free), Mount Vernon, the ballpark, Little Italy and Fells Point.

Fort McHenry is the easy one. It’s in Locust Point, the terminal’s own neighborhood, and it’s where Baltimore turned back British warships in September 1814, per Wikipedia. The PSC sheet sets a $5.50 flat cab fare from the terminal to Ft. McHenry.