🇺🇸 Baltimore, United States — Cruise Port Guide
A drive-to homeport for much of the eastern seaboard, on a harbour that has been working since 1706. Crab houses with paper-covered tables, the frigate that inspired the national anthem, and no airport transfer needed for millions of people.
Updated September 2026
Quick facts
Getting ashore
When to visit Baltimore
Cruise ships sail year-round from here, so there is no closed season — pick your month for the weather at the far end of the itinerary rather than for the homeport.
Good to know
The great advantage here is that you can drive and park. If you are flying, note that BWI is closer and cheaper for this port than Washington's airports, whatever the map suggests.
Things to do in Baltimore
Fort McHenry
The star fort that inspired the anthem, with a film that ends by raising the screen to reveal the actual flagpole. Close to the cruise terminal.
Inner Harbor & the historic ships
The waterfront promenade, the National Aquarium and four historic vessels including the sloop-of-war USS Constellation.
Fell's Point
Cobbled streets and 18th-century houses at the water's edge, now the best pub and restaurant district in the city. Water taxi from the harbour.
American Visionary Art Museum
Outsider art in a building covered in mirror shards, at the foot of Federal Hill. Eccentric, moving, and unlike any other museum.
Eat crabs properly
A dozen steamed blue crabs, a mallet, and an hour of work for not much meat. It is a social event rather than a meal, and doing it is the point.
Walters Art Museum
A free collection running from ancient Egypt to art nouveau, given to the city by a railroad family. Rarely crowded.
What to eat
- Steamed blue crabs
- Crab cake
- Old Bay everything
- Pit beef
- Berger cookie
Weather by month
Best time to visit: Apr–Jun and Sep–Oct
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 43° | 27° | 3.1" |
| Feb | 46° | 29° | 2.9" |
| Mar | 55° | 36° | 3.9" |
| Apr | 66° | 45° | 3.2" |
| May | 75° | 55° | 3.9" |
| Jun | 84° | 64° | 3.6" |
| Jul | 88° | 69° | 4.2" |
| Aug | 86° | 68° | 3.7" |
| Sep | 79° | 60° | 3.9" |
| Oct | 68° | 48° | 3.4" |
| Nov | 57° | 39° | 3.2" |
| Dec | 47° | 31° | 3.4" |
A little history
Fort McHenry held off a British naval bombardment for 25 hours in September 1814. Francis Scott Key watched it from a ship and wrote the poem that became the American national anthem.
The cruise terminal is in South Locust Point, about three miles from the Inner Harbor, and roughly a third of passengers here arrive by car rather than by air — it is within a day's drive of a large share of the US population.
Baltimore clipper ships were fast enough to be the preferred blockade runners and privateers of the early 1800s, which is precisely why the British came to burn the place.
Edgar Allan Poe lived, died and is buried in Baltimore; the football team is named after his poem.
Old Bay seasoning was created here in 1939 by a German immigrant and now goes on crab, chips, corn and — locals insist — everything else.