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After weeks of suspended vessel traffic within the Port of Baltimore, cruise lines are announcing their return and planning new trips out of the area. It’s another sign of progress after the Key Bridge was destroyed by a cargo ship that lost power and crashed into it in March.
In a blog post, Royal Caribbean International said that its “Vision of the Seas” ship will sail out of the Port of Baltimore on Saturday, May 25. That’s nearly two months from when the Key Bridge was hit, sparking a closure at one of the country’s biggest ports.
Vision of the Seas is embarking on a 5-night trip to Bermuda and back. But while it’ll be the first cruise ship to leave out of Baltimore, it might not be the first cruise ship to bring passengers back from the paradise.
This weekend, the Carnival Cruise Line ship “Pride” is due to leave Norfolk for a 7-night trip to the Bahamas. But at the moment, the Pride is scheduled to return to the Chesapeake Bay and keep going past Norfolk, docking back in Baltimore.
While sailing out of Norfolk, passengers could be transported by bus from Baltimore to Norfolk, which is about a 4-hour trip.
Carnival has maintained a presence in Baltimore for years, but at the time the bridge was damaged it was only sailing one ship out of Maryland, minimizing the impact the bridge collapse had on cruises.
CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg told WTOP that cruise lines normally operating out of the busy Baltimore port could see hundreds of thousands of passengers annually. The collapse pushed cruise passengers into ports in Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Bayonne, New Jersey.
Plans to allow recreational vehicles to enter and travel through the Port of Baltimore’s safety zone were confirmed by Maryland officials last week.
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