Baltimore: RC luggage tag quirk

[shipgeeks]

A friend just noticed that her luggage tags say BWI (Baltimore Washington airport). She was concerned that her cruise bags might be sent to the airport.

Further investigation led us to believe that BWI is also the code for the Port, and appears on all RC tags for Baltimore departures.  So don't worry if you see that on yours.

 

[GTJ]

2 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

A friend just noticed that her [cruise line] luggage tags say BWI (Baltimore Washington airport). She was concerned that her cruise bags might be sent to the airport. Further investigation led us to believe that BWI is also the code for the Port, and appears on all RC tags for Baltimore departures.

The line's use of "BWI" does seem to be a bit unusual. There's two city codes used for two of the main intercity passenger terminals serving Baltimore: BWI, applicable to Baltimore Washington International Airport, and BAL, applicable to Baltimore Pennsylvania Station. Amtrak and MARC use both stations. Of course, commercial airlines use only the airport as their station for Baltimore. Royal Caribbean does not utilize either Baltimore Washington International Airport or to Pennsylvania Station, but rather uses the Maryland Cruise Terminal. The cruise terminal is on the periphery of downtown Baltimore, and is much closer to Pennsylvania Station (which was also built on the periphery of downtown Baltimore, albeit on the opposite side of the city center). It would seem to be more sensible for Royal Caribbean to label the Maryland Cruise Terminal as BAL, given both the geography as well as to avoid confusion with the airport. My suspicion is that the people in charge at Royal Caribbean are not too knowledgeable about transportation generally, and simply chose the code BWI hastily, probably based on prejudice favoring airports, and thus causing the confusion noted here, at least among some cruise line passengers.