Cruising is continuing to grow in popularity and the Port of Baltimore has been part of that growth, with 2009 setting a new record with the operation of 81 home port cruises handling 167,000 passengers.  British holidaymakers have been part of that growth and their number is predicted to continue rising with Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity all now operating out of the port.  Baltimore is a great embarkation city for cruises with plenty to see and do either before or after the cruise – its nickname “Charm City” is well deserved.

The Carnival Pride returns for its second full year of cruising to the Bahamas and Eastern Caribbean.  Royal Caribbean brings a newer and larger vessel, the Enchantment of the Seas for cruises to New England, Canada, Bermuda, the Eastern Caribbean and the Bahamas.  The Celebrity Mercury will return for a second winter season in October, travelling to the Eastern and Western Caribbean and the Bahamas.

A number of UK tour operators offer cruise and stay holidays in Baltimore, including North America Travel Services, Key to America and Boy Voyage which offers a lead-in price of £1,195 per person for June departures which includes flights to Baltimore, 3 nights at the 4-star Sheraton Inner Habour Hotel and an inside cabin for 5 nights on the RCL Enchantment of the Seas sailing to Bermuda. (www.bon-voyage.co.uk)

So what is there to see and do in “Charm City” pre or post cruise? 

Baltimore has a sailing heritage, having been one of the first major immigration points on the Eastern Seaboard, second only to Ellis Island, so the Inner Harbour is one of the first stops many people make.  The Harbour is home to the National Aquarium and it’s vast four-storey tall tank filled with marine life, an outdoor sea lion pool and marine mammal pavilion, home of a pod of bottlenose dolphins. www.aqua.org 

Just a few blocks from the Harbour is historic Fell’s Point, a cobblestone waterfront area of patisseries, bars and galleries, whose brick row houses have become a Baltimore icon and have given the city a café culture.  

In recent years, the neighbourhood of Hampden has become very avant garde and is now full of art galleries, used-clothing stores and the iconic Café Hon. You’ll see stylish 20-somethings in vintage jeans sharing cigarettes with “Hons,” the nickname for women who wear classic beehive hairdos. These Hons inspired the annual Honfest – a celebration of all things 1950, especially big hair, wide skirts and horn-rimmed spectacles, which takes place in June each year. www.honfest.net

If contemporary art is more your scene, then a visit to the Baltimore Museum of Art is a must as the collection includes works by Picasso, Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin and van Gogh, as well as the world’s largest collection of work by Henri Matisse.  www.artbma.org

When children are part of the holiday, it’s always vital to keep them amused too and Port Discovery is the perfect place for them to let off steam after museums.  Disney “Imagineers” have helped create a delightful tomb-raider pyramid setting where children can play among settings from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. www.portdiscovery.org

Food is always an important part of any cruise holiday and Baltimore can certainly hold it’s own on that score.  The best chef in town, as voted by readers of Baltimore Magazine in 2007 and 2008, is Cindy Wolf of Charleston restaurant in the Harbor East neighbourhood.  Cindy’s cuisine is rooted in French fundamentals and the Low Country cooking of South Carolina, engaging both regional and international influences. The restaurant offers an extensive prix fixe menu from which guests choose between three and up to six courses. Desserts are always offered on the house. Chef Wolf’s constantly changing menu focuses on natural preparation of the very best products, purity of flavour and visual presentations that are elegant and uncluttered. www.charlestonrestaurant.com