Baltimore to the Bahamas My husband and I are Platinum cruisers with Carnival. We traveled with my daughter and her two sons 8 and 4, and my sister and her daughter (both adults). We all live in Philadelphia and made the trip down I 95 in a van. We dropped our luggage at the pier, parked, headed inside and had to wait about an hour, and boarded about 1:45pm. We headed for lunch and explored the shop. All of us didn't care for the decor; we thought it too dark and dungeon like. We did your time dining and loved it. We met each night when it suited us and sat together. We never had to wait for a table and the dining staff was very attentive to the kids and made a pleasant dining experience for us. We ate breakfast and lunch on the lido deck and enjoyed all the variety. Burgers, fries, chicken fingers, salads, sandwiches, asian food, and of course desert and ice cream and pizza whenever you want. After dinner on the first night my daughter signed up the kids for camp. She had a beeper for the 4yr old, but didn't need it. They loved it. They went a few hours a day. We had outside cabins on the riviera deck which was convenient and quiet. Our steward kept our cabins clean though we rarely saw him. Our first port was Grand Turk and we headed to Margaritaville where we hung out at the pool. It was really nice and the kids loved the water. Another ship was in port for the morning hours as it was diverted there because of Hurricane Ana. The couple sitting next to us who were from that ship got engaged right on the lounge chairs and everyone clapped for them. It was really neat and I wish them many years of happiness. Next was Half Moon Cay the private island. After a morning or pouring rain and a promise of sunshine by noon, we tendered over to the island and had a wonderful afternoon. We swam and ate at the bbq and headed back to the ship, as it was quite hot on the island. Freeport was the next stop. We just spent some time shopping at the port where there are a few stores and a straw market. My niece got a coach bag, which she was thrilled with there. We got back on the ship and it poured, lightening and thundered and cleared for a nice day by the pool. We saw three shows and they were all good. My husband and I got to the finals of the slot tournament on Thursday but lost. Had fun though. My sister and niece die the On deck for the cure walk for breast cancer on Thursday. On the last morning we ate breakfast and had a long wait to leave the ship. Many people carried off their luggage first. Then they called numbers for those who put their luggage out the night before. Number 1-26. You guessed it, we were 26. We got on the road at 1:30pm, ran into a lot of traffic up I 95. We loved our family cruise, loved the port of Baltimore and the ease of getting there and can't wait to do it again.