Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas and Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Pride are returning to the Port of Baltimore later this month. Multiple cruise lines had to temporarily move their operations to Norfolk, Virginia after a large container ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse on March 26, 2024.
Vision of the Seas will be the first major cruise ship to embark on May 25, 2024 for a five-night sailing to Bermuda with Carnival Pride embarking the next day on a 14-night sailing to Greenland and Canada. Carnival has advised guests sailing Carnival Pride from Norfolk on May 19, 2024 to take a free, Carnival-provided bus from Baltimore to Norfolk ahead of the cruise since it will be disembarking in Baltimore. The ship will then resume its seven-day Bahamas or Caribbean cruises.
President of Carnival Cruise Line, Christine Duffy, said, ““We are extremely grateful to the officials and incredible first responders in Baltimore, who’ve shown great leadership and resolve in this difficult time, as well as our supportive partners in Norfolk, whose rapid response allowed us to continue to deliver our scheduled sailings for our guests. It’s been our goal to resume operations in Baltimore as soon as possible, and after working closely with local, state and federal agencies, we look forward to a successful return.”
The Port of Baltimore posted this update on X on May 15, 2024, “Get ready…Port of Baltimore is ready to cruise once again! RoyalCaribbean’s Vision of the Seas will depart on May 25 for a 5-night trip from Baltimore to Bermuda! This marks the 1st cruise leaving Baltimore since the bridge incident. Baltimore is back!”
This update was posted two days later, “We are so excited to be welcoming CarnivalCruise back to Baltimore! Carnival Pride will embark its first cruise from Baltimore on May 26 for an epic 14-day cruise to Greenland & Canada. A beautiful time of the year to cruise north.
“Baltimore is back!”