BALTIMORE – “Cruising is back in Baltimore,” declared Jonathan Daniels, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, as passengers arrived at the Cruise Maryland Terminal on Saturday.
The celebratory occasion marked the first cruise ship to arrive and depart the Port of Baltimore since the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26.
Less than a week earlier, the terminal was the headquarters of the Key Bridge Response Unified Command to coordinate recovery operations, Daniels said. They started packing up their workspace last weekend, started packing on Monday evening after the Dali was refloated that morning and left on Tuesday afternoon.
“While there is still work to be done to complete the salvage operation, this is a great sign that the next milestone indicates that things are truly returning to port,” Daniels said.
Just after 10 a.m., the sound of steel drums echoed in the terminal as it began to fill with passengers eager to board Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas cruise ship for a five-night voyage to Bermuda.
Tom Sitzler said he and his group had been planning the trip since August to celebrate his partner’s 60th birthday. They live in Washington, DC, but had a very specific reason for sailing out of the Port of Baltimore.
“The whole point of the cruise, though, was to actually sail past Annapolis from Baltimore because that’s where Allen grew up, the birthday boy, and he wants to see Annapolis from the bay,” Sitzler said.
“I’ve always wanted to cruise the Bay and see all the places I grew up,” said the birthday boy, Allen Steven.
Cruises already underway or scheduled within the past two months have been diverted to the Norfolk Cruise Terminal. Steven said if their trip had been rescheduled to depart from Norfolk they would have rebooked.
A group of five friends from Harford County were also headed to a cruise to celebrate, wearing matching pink hats that read “Friends on the Loose 2024 Friends Trip.”
“We are celebrating a milestone birthday,” Kathy Schlehr said. “We have all reached the age of 70 or older.”
“Not yet!” someone agreed.
The group said they were excited when they learned about a week and a half ago that they would be leaving the Port of Baltimore. The departure location was one of the reasons they went on the cruise.
The return of cruises will benefit the tourism industry in Baltimore and throughout the state, Daniels said.
More than 440,000 passengers passed through the Cruise Maryland Terminal in 2023, he said, and they can also stay in hotels, eat at restaurants and even come back to enjoy the city.
“Many of them are experiencing what Baltimore has to offer for the very first time,” Daniels said.
The 1,000-foot-long vessel with a 25-foot draft launched after 4 p.m., using the 400-foot-wide, 50-foot-deep canal that opened Tuesday in the Patapsco River. In addition to a pilot, it was accompanied by two tugboats.
Although the Unified Command has left the cruise terminal, operations are still continuing, just back in their own space, said David O’Connell, captain of the Coast Guard port. They coordinate ongoing operations on a daily basis, including salvage operations in the main and outer channels, and coordinate with the Army Corps of Engineers on vessel traffic in the temporary channels.
On Saturday, the Army Corps announced a postponed June 8-10 goal to restore full access to the federal canal. Officials had previously said this would be achieved by the end of May.
“It was great to all be together and coordinate the activities, but it’s great to be here and see this place in a different light,” O’Connell said. “You see it vividly with people going on holiday, going through security, the ship is in the back. It’s a good day.”
