We are a married couple, early 50’s / 60’s, currently living in Maryland. We have cruised a fair bit, but this was the first time we had cruised the Baltic. Constellation is one of our favourite ships and we last sailed her in the Black Sea September 2013, so were hoping to see some familiar faces among the crew. We were in an A2 cabin, had the drinks package and a generous OBC to blow, thanks to the 123GO promotion, and were cruising as Elite Plus for the first time. I also have a feather and flower allergy, which can be challenging when travelling. I am an introvert and we are quiet people who aren’t much into on board activities, we prefer to read, write and do photos to keep ourselves busy, when we aren’t chilling and just staring at the sea. I will try and offer some tips for future cruisers, but probably by the time I get this finished the Baltic season will be over! Did I mention we had a great trip? Here is my (tongue in cheek) account of it, and let me once again say we really enjoyed ourselves in our understated way.

Flight

We flew United non-stop from IAD to Amsterdam. For some reason DH has been elevated to one level above pleb on the United frequent flier programme so our bags were not only tagged “heavy” they got a priority sticker too. Unfortunately his status isn’t lofty enough for 2 free bags, so bag number 3 cost us $100 each way. We paid extra for the Economy Plus extra legroom, and Economy Minus food. If you tell yourself that a good flight gets you and your bags from A to B pretty much on time and in one piece, then this was a good flight. Read more