Transatlantic Cruise Dover, England to Bayonne, New Jersey Celebrity Constellation September 15-27, 2007

Our Flight

We are great proponents of flying to England during the day and arriving at our destination at least a day or two before our sailing date. American Airlines and British Airways both offer morning flights between Boston and Heathrow that meet our needs. Our experience this year reaffirmed our belief that this is the best way to cope with the rigors of transatlantic travel and jet lag and to reduce or eliminate any chance that we will miss the ship. Our American Airlines flight was on a Boeing 777, that is, to my mind, one of the most comfortable planes in their fleet. The seating is 2 -5-2 and Rita and I were able to reserve our preferred window and aisle seats with no middle seat. The flight, which departed on time at 9:00am on September 13th, was not full, so some passengers were able to stretch out across several seats. Meal service was far better than we expected with breakfast served shortly after take off and a sandwich and dessert as well as a snack served later on. TVs in every seatback provided us with a choice of films or TV programs to fill the estimated six and one half hours of flying time. One channel permitted us to track the progress of our flight as we wended our way across the Atlantic towards our destination. Our flight actually landed an hour early and there was a fifteen minute wait until a gate could be found to accommodate us. Unfortunately, the time saved went for naught, since the line at immigration was interminable and it took us two full hours to get to the inspectors who cleared us as quickly as possible. When we proceeded to the luggage area, our bags had already been removed from the carousel that was now carrying luggage from another, later flight. Once we found our bags and exited the baggage claim area, we were met by our driver and were led outside to where the bus for all four couples was waiting. The bus was roomy and comfortable and it was a pleasant two hour ride to Dover with a brief restroom and refreshment stop enroute. We arrived at the Best Western Churchill shortly after midnight and were quickly checked in. After a drink or two in the lobby bar we retired to our rooms for a well-deserved rest. When we awoke the following morning we were pretty well rested and ready to explore Dover. Read more