We are a 43 and 53 year-old couple on our 7th and longest cruise. We have sailed a number of cruise lines and wanted to repeat RCL. We chose this cruise for the length, the ability to drive to the embarkation city, and the price. We snagged a D1 balcony one month before the sail date for cheaper than most any other 7 day cruise leaving from FL. We drove from central NH down to Baltimore which is normally an 8 hour road trip. If we sail from FL, the door-to-hotel door time is about 8 hours. This saved on expense and packing considerations since there would be no luggage fees to an airline. We left on the 26th of December...which is the day the big storm hit. Normally, the drive would have taken us right into the center of the storm: CT, NYC, NJ. We took a slightly more circuitous route through upstate NY, down thru PA and straight into Baltimore. We skirted the storm and saw maybe 30 minutes of snow. The shipboard rumor was that 200 people ended up missing the cruise. According the Hotel Manager, it was more like 84. Still disappointing for those 84.

We stayed at the Brookshire suites, downtown. We had investigated some of the hotels near the airport that had shuttles to the port but many got mixed/iffy reviews regarding safety and ease of shuttle. Brookshire does a park-stay-cruise deal which was cheaper than parking at the port, only slightly more expensive than the airport hotels with a shuttle, and had the advantage of being downtown. Oh, and free breakfast. Brookshire provides transportation to and from the port which was right on time in both directions. On our return, the driver called ahead and our car was ready and waiting when we arrived back at the hotel.

We arrived at the terminal at about 11:15am, dropped the bags, went thru security, filled out the requisite illness form, and checked-in in less than 10 minutes. Upon entering the waiting area, the agents seat you by rows and use up all the seats. When boarding started (about 11:40) rows were called up one by one so there was no crowding to go thru security. We were eating in the Windjammer by 12:15. Read more