By Erica L. Green, The Baltimore Sun –
BALTIMORE — Families looking for a cheap getaway, friends looking to do a little duty-free shopping, couples celebrating an anniversary, and spontaneous planners able to spare sick days returned Sunday morning from a two-night stay on the Chesapeake Bay, after taking part in Carnival Cruise Line’s spur of the moment deal spurred by Hurricane Sandy last week.
The sold-out cruise, called the “cruise to nowhere,” held many residents from the areas— Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania— along the Eastern Seaboard that were spared much of the hurricane’s damage.
Carnival offered the cruise from the Port of Baltimore, with prices starting at $99, after canceling the ship’s planned Oct. 28 departure for a 7-day-cruise to the Caribbean .
Passengers aboard the Carnival Pride said the trip was like any other trip out to sea.
“We still got the stuff that people pay thousands for, the lobsters, the steak,” said Merlene Blaylock, of Woodbridge, Va, who joined four of her family members on the boat. “We piled everything into two days, except swimming.”
“And we’ll home in time for the Redskins game,” she said. “Can’t beat that.”
