You Are Not The First To Pass This Way: 2nd Magic Baltic Cruise, 6/24/2010

[TDC Nala]

Once again I seem to be signing up for the specialty cruise that doesn't have a thread yet. :confused3 The cruises I am on get no respect. But they're fun.

At least I don't think it has a thread yet. I looked. Was anyone else looking?

cruise list (assuming I didn't miss anything on the thread)

Cindy18, husband (Matt), daughters (14 and 12)
Lzj21428 (Nina), husband (Sam), daughters (22 and 14), son (17)
TDC Nala (Catherine) & Improvgal
Mehaul (Lisa), husband (Michael) & daughters (6 and 8)
Ga9497
Ldconley, husband & daughter (14)
Grizbuzz (Jen), husband (John), sons (5 and 7),mother in law, sister in law, 2 nephews (5 and 7) plus baby
KarenGillFl, husband, daughter (11), sons (16 and 8)
Lynncullen, husband, son (8)
Macassi, husband, daughter (6), sons (9 and 12), parents-in-law
NewgeneB & wife (Cheryl)
Bridgemanva & son (20)
DCLaddict-ohio, husband & daughter (17)
Ktkspider (Kellie), husband (Tom), daughter (12), parents, aunt & uncle
Jetsmets, wife, daughters (10 and 8), parents in law
Mardonna & family, 4 kids (9,5,5, 2.5)
parkaroo
dwrobel (Danielle) & parents (Pam and Henry)
Jeff318, girlfriend & family
jarudinsky (Julie), husband (Chris), father (Jim), daughters (11 and 6)
Buck4568 & family (teenage son and daughter)
Ch10dad (Ray), wife, daughters (14 and 10)
nfowife (Margaret), husband (Dan) daughter (5) and son (3)
sarahgirl's parents
MadHatterMom2(Julie), husband (James), daughter (11) and son (7)
3bebe (Emily), husband (Dan), daughters (14 and 11) and son (13)
babym66 (Charlene), husband (Jeff), daughter (9)



ONBOARD MEET: 3 pm June 24 at the Promenade Lounge. If you are signed up for fish extender but don't have a stateroom number before departure you can update here.

[TDC Nala]

What, nobody likes this date? No love for Estonia? what?

Here's some photos of Tallinn...maybe that'll help.

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2007/08/24/tallinn-ap-1.jpg

http://www.geographicguide.net/europe/pictures/estonia-tallinn.jpg

It's been checked...Estonia does produce cheese. (Must go where there's cheese.)

My friend thought the 6/12 would be less crowded...hm, maybe not the case...:cool1:

[Scott H]

Come on Book the first one, Well we can see ya when we get off the ship in Dover.

[TDC Nala]

Come on Book the first one, Well we can see ya when we get off the ship in Dover.

Can't, doesn't work with my leave schedule. You know about my leave schedule. They have to start on a Saturday and end on a Thursday. That is two extra Fridays I'd need leave for.

[lzj21428]

TDC, this is the cruise we will be booking. I will be waiting patiently tomorrow to hear from my TA @ DU. Hope I get what I'm looking for stateroom wise. As for price wise, well, it's gonna cost what it's gonna cost!!! :scared1:

I'm sure there will be others here on this thread tomorrow.

Nina

[Michelle2]

I am thinking of this one, but i am booked on the first baltic on June 12. I maybe switching to this one as the time gets closer though, we will see! :)

[Scott H]

Can't, doesn't work with my leave schedule. You know about my leave schedule. They have to start on a Saturday and end on a Thursday. That is two extra Fridays I'd need leave for.

Bummer, see ya at the Port in Dover. Lynn got us in on the repo and 1st Baltic.

[adrianna_sarah]

Allright, we're in. At least until Uncle Sam decides otherwise. Booked online first thing this morning: Cat 6, Starboard, Main dining, exactly the mid-aftish stateroom we were after. I'm calling it a good day.

[TDC Nala]

that's it huh? we may be No.2 (second cruise, not the first) but we try harder.

maybe it will be quiet in my secret porthole room.

[lzj21428]

Still waiting to hear from my TA. I must have cked my email 100 times today. Maybe I'll get my Cat. 2 that I requested!! :rotfl2:

How did you others book today? TA, online, phone.

[bevgray]

I'm still waiting on my TA too. This was my first choice of cruises. Soon as I know for sure, I'll join you'all "officially".

Thanks for the pictures of Tallinn too. The city appealed to me from the start over Helsinki so I'm delighted to see your pictures as a bit of a preview.

[lzj21428]

Just received my email from DU and have sent off my deposit, so we are good to go. The price wasn't as horrific as I thought it would be. We have two connecting Cat. 5 staterooms on deck 7. I think they are midship. They are the same cabins we have had for all our Wonder cruises, so it's like being home. Now to tell DH what I've done!!! :rolleyes1

[cindy18]

Hi, we're on this, after thinking we'd be on the first one until we got the email from DU. It'll be me, DH and 2 DDs, who then will be 14 and 12. We got 2 connecting category 6s at midship. Trying not to think about the price, because this will truly be a once in a lifetime few weeks! Nice to meet you guys.

[lzj21428]

Cindy, glad you found the thread. You're so right, this will be a trip of a lifetime.

On this cruise will be, me, dh, dd(22), ds(17), and dd(14, 2 months shy of 15)
and I will get to celebrate my birthday on the cruise, just like I did on our med cruise.

Look out Baltics, here we come!! :cheer2:

[4greatboys]

I'm booked :thumbsup2

Now I'm trying to make sure my friend doesn't back out.

[TDC Nala]

I'm booked :thumbsup2

Now I'm trying to make sure my friend doesn't back out.

Tie her up and put her in a steamer trunk.

[TDC Nala]

Bummer, see ya at the Port in Dover. Lynn got us in on the repo and 1st Baltic.

We're getting the stateroom you're vacating, Scott. Don't do a Johnny Depp and trash it OK? or leave an unbrulee under the bed or anything like that.

sounds like i will have to go to Peru when you go. (really I am thinking about it)

[bevgray]

Mickey Dream Magic and Pixie Dust! Just received my TA's confirmation that I am booked on this cruise. Hi everyone.

[lzj21428]

Mickey Dream Magic and Pixie Dust! Just received my TA's confirmation that I am booked on this cruise. Hi everyone.

Congrats. The planning fun is beginning.

[DisneySpirit]

We got 2 cat 6's yesterday morning. Deck 6 starboard side midship. DW & I were at DL playing so I was lucky my sister & BIL are going on this cruise as well and booked for us too.:thumbsup2

[lzj21428]

Welcome Aboard DisneySpirit. Seems this cruise is kind of quiet so far. I was on DisneyCruise.com this morning and they had every Cat. from 5 through 11 available and price were the same as yesterday. It will be interesting to see how this cruise fills up.

Told dh I got the quote and booked the cruise and he was happy about that. Then I asked him if he wanted to know how much it cost, and he said, "No!!" I'm sure he'll ask sooner or later.

[TDC Nala]

good, the quiet cruise is good. Maybe we will get a big discount like the June Med cruise last year (had to downgrade but it was worth it)

For planning purposes, I wrote this bit out at work

Thurs 6/24 Dover, England
Fri 6/25 At sea
Sat 6/26 Oslo, Norway
Sun 6/27 Copenhagen, Denmark
Mon 6/28 Warnemunde, Germany
Tue 6/29 At sea
Wed 6/30 St. Petersburg, Russia
Thu 7/1 St. Petersburg, Russia
Fri 7/2 Tallinn, Estonia
Sat 7/3 Stockholm, Sweden
Sun 7/4 At sea
Mon 7/5 At sea
Tue 7/6 Dover, England

thinking of looking into Disneyland Paris and London pre-cruise. Was at Disneyland Paris last year. Haven't been to London in 20 years.

[4greatboys]

I'm trying to talk my friend into DLP.

[TDC Nala]

I have a lot of pictures of DLP if that'll help

[lzj21428]

I would love to do a few days in London before and/or after the cruise. I was in London back in March w/ the older dd and we had such a great time. Would love the rest of the family to experience it.

I read somewhere the hotels Disney was planning on using, but can't remember where I saw it. Does anyone know what hotels they would be?

[TDC Nala]

I lived in London for awhile, I went to school there in 1988. Plus a summer abroad in 1985.

I don't know about Disney hotels - in London? Are they handling transfers? If I remember correctly it isn't too difficult to take a train from London to Dover.

I think taking as little luggage as possible sounds adviseable to me right now.

[lzj21428]

I lived in London for awhile, I went to school there in 1988. Plus a summer abroad in 1985.

I don't know about Disney hotels - in London? Are they handling transfers? If I remember correctly it isn't too difficult to take a train from London to Dover.

I think taking as little luggage as possible sounds adviseable to me right now.

From what I remember reading, there were 3 hotels listed in London and transfers from the hotels to Dover. I just wish I could remember where I saw this yesterday.

I agree about as little luggage as possible, but with the 5 of us, that never works out so well. For our med cruise we ended up with 8 suitcases. The girls are the ones who give me the hardest time. All those shoes!!!!

[adrianna_sarah]

Hoping that the prices stay low through the Holidays. We are cruising the Wonder 12/24 and want to rebook and get the 10% discount. Our kids will be 7 and 3 for the Baltic cruise, so too young to be put in their own stateroom just yet. Husband is US Army and we haven't yet received our next assignment, so this cruise is a go for 2010 provided we don't draw Alaska, Hawaii or Korea.

I was on the HAL website today looking at their shore excursions listed for these ports. I was worried about the little-kid factor, but I think we'll be in business with castles, viking boats, Hans Christian Anderson tours and the like.

Cheers,
Adrianna

[lzj21428]

Found the hotel info I referenced earlier. It is on the Disney Cruise site. Click on My Disney Cruise, than click on My Travel Resources, than Dover/London Hotel Information.

The three hotels Disney is using are:
Park Plaza
Grosvernor House
Renaissance Chancery Court

Just in case anyone is interested in cking them out. You can look on trip advisor to see what people think of them.

[ImprovGal]

Hello there!
I was so glad to finally get through the online reservations yesterday for this cruise.
I'm looking forward to visiting all the ports after spending some time at DLP (I'm really craving a chocolate-filled Mickey brioche right now) and London.

As for those sea days... well... Scrabble anyone?

[bevgray]

I hope to fly into London (I've never been there) for a few nights, take Eurostar to DLP (I've never visited there either) for two nights and then Eurostar back to Dover pre-cruise. I haven't done long cruises so I'm looking on this as a very special trip. Can't wait for them to list shore excursions to add to the planning fun!

Scrabble is fun but are any of you pin collectors? Perhaps we can organize a mini-pin meet for one of the sea days.

[lzj21428]

I was looking at the excursions that NCL offered for these ports. Their prices seemed reasonable. Tallin seems like a port that you can just go out on your own easily. I think St. Petersburg will be the most intense stop of all the ports and the one I'm most looking forward to. My aunt did a cruise this past Aug. with all these ports of call (plus Helsinki), so I will have to pick her brain and see what she has to say.

I know this cruise is quite a ways off, but I am so excited. :woohoo: I'm like the little kid waiting for Christmas.

[4greatboys]

I hope to fly into London (I've never been there) for a few nights, take Eurostar to DLP (I've never visited there either) for two nights and then Eurostar back to Dover pre-cruise. I haven't done long cruises so I'm looking on this as a very special trip. Can't wait for them to list shore excursions to add to the planning fun!

Scrabble is fun but are any of you pin collectors? Perhaps we can organize a mini-pin meet for one of the sea days.

I was thinking of either just flying in or out of Paris and doing some sightseeing before or after the cruise.

[adrianna_sarah]

Hoping for an assignment to Germany next year so we can just drive the seven hours with an overnight in Brussels and save the trans-Atlantic airfare alltogether. :thumbsup2

[TDC Nala]

I always lose at Scrabble. People cheat.

[mehaul]

Looking at these Disboards this Baltic trip compared to the other 3 has the least amount of posts by far. I was on the June 27th 2007 Med trip which was also the Dangerfield cruise of the Med trips.

My two daughters at the the time of cruise will be 6 and 9 (both went to DLP and the Med in 2007)

This will be an optimal trip for the White Nights. - excerpt from Russian link

Although the phenomenon known as the "White Nights" is not unique to St Petersburg, in no other northern city have they received such poetic and literary acclaim. What could be more romantic than a walk along the banks of the city's rivers and canals in almost broad daylight, no matter what the time of day? No other major European city can rival this experience nor the atmosphere on the streets of St. Petersburg during the summer months - lively, friendly, romantic and bustling with people throughout the night as well as the day!

From late May to early July the nights are bright in St Petersburg, with the brightest period, the White Nights, normally lasting from June 11th to July 2nd. The White Nights (Beliye Nochi) are a curious phenomenon caused by St. Petersburg's very northerly geographical location - at 59 degrees 57' North (roughly on the same latitude as Oslo, Norway, the southern tip of Greenland and Seward, Alaska). St. Petersburg is the world's most northern city with a population over 1 million, and its stands at such a high latitude that the sun does not descend below the horizon enough for the sky to grow dark. In fact night becomes curiously indistinguishable from day, so much so that the authorities never need to turn the city's streetlights on!

[adrianna_sarah]

Wow mehaul, great info! I just realized that we'll be on board for Independence Day as well. I know in the past they have done some neat stuff to celebrate July 4 on Carribean cruises. I saw a photo on a different thread of Mickey and Minney dressed up in Colonial red, white and blue outfits. I wonder if they will in Europe as well.

I don't understand about the Dangerfield thing...

[cindy18]

Rodney Dangerfield's tag line was always "I don't get no respect." As the least lively disboard meets thread (so far), I think she meant that our Baltic isn't getting the respect it deserved...

[mehaul]

We were on the Med cruise for the 4th of July in 2007 - Mickey and the gang were in their patriotic outfits - and were available for pictures.

[adrianna_sarah]

Ahhhhh...

[lzj21428]

mehaul, thanks for that interesting info. We were also on the 6/27/07 med cruise and loved it. I remember on July 4th 2007 getting champagne at dinner. That was a nice touch.

[bevgray]

Remember, quality is more important than quantity. A smaller group of DIS cruisers will just add to the coziness of the whole thing.

[mehaul]

One more tidbit - I found this on the city of Copenhagen's website
I think disney should petition the mayor to leave the staure where it is.

The symbol of Copenhagen The Little Mermaid is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Copenhagen, and for many visitors the symbol of Copenhagen and Denmark. 70 billion people are expected to visit the EXPO Shanghai from 1 May - 31 October 2010, and whether The Little Mermaid will be there for everyone to see is up to the City of Copenhagen. The city's lord mayor is positive about the idea of sending the famous lady on a seven-month holiday to China. While she is away, visitors to Copenhagen will be able to experience a Chinese reinterpretation of her at Langelinie.

[ga9497]

We are currently booked on the July 18th sailing but there is a possibility that we may change to this date instead. We were on the August Panama Canal and had a great time. We will be 2 adults, DD15 at that time and DS 13 at that time

Jo

[TDC Nala]

One more tidbit - I found this on the city of Copenhagen's website
I think disney should petition the mayor to leave the staure where it is.

The symbol of Copenhagen The Little Mermaid is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Copenhagen, and for many visitors the symbol of Copenhagen and Denmark. 70 billion people are expected to visit the EXPO Shanghai from 1 May - 31 October 2010, and whether The Little Mermaid will be there for everyone to see is up to the City of Copenhagen. The city's lord mayor is positive about the idea of sending the famous lady on a seven-month holiday to China. While she is away, visitors to Copenhagen will be able to experience a Chinese reinterpretation of her at Langelinie.

Well maybe they could get them to put Mulan there for awhile.

I was on the Dangerfield cruise too...in fact I made the Rodney tee shirt. I don't remember seeing any characters at all on July 4th. I was down in Diversions watching the hot dog contest I think. :confused:

[ImprovGal]

I was on the Dangerfield cruise too...in fact I made the Rodney tee shirt. I don't remember seeing any characters at all on July 4th. I was down in Diversions watching the hot dog contest I think. :confused:

I don't remember seeing any characters on July 4th either. But I was in Diversions watching the pubmaster taking video of the hot dog contest.

He was quite a character, though.

[mehaul]

I just reviewed my pics from the cruise. On July 4th they had the Pirate Party, the next day -July 5th - is when the characters wore Independence Day outfits.

[cindy18]

Isn't July 4t an at sea day on our cruise? I gotta believe they will do something for the holiday!

[lzj21428]

Yup, the 4th is a sea day. I'm sure they will have something planned, but I guess there won't be any fireworks.

And I get to celebrate my birthday in Estonia. During the med cruise I got to celebrate in Rome. How exciting is that?

[adrianna_sarah]

I posted a question about a week ago regarding Fireworks, as it sealed the deal on me asking for a starboard stateroom, even though as I look at the cruise map, it's looks as if port side will have slightly better views of the landscape. According to Andrew DEREK there are fireworks on European cruises and sometimes multiple nights as it is customary to shoot them off the first night a port is docked in. Since this is the first Estonia cruise, maybe we will see them twice or even three times (Pirate night, Estonia and Independence Day). It will be interesting to find out.

[mehaul]

The Med cruise had fireworks the night of July 4th, but it also was the night of the Pirate Party. That was the day the boat was at Marseille. Which interesting enough they have elimated this port from the 2010 Med cruises.

As far as fireworks for new ports, I recall there were spectactular fireworks when the Magic arrived at Barcelona from its TA voyage, but I don't recall other special fireworks at other ports. I'm not sure, but I thought the city of Barcelona sponsored those fireworks and not Disney.

[adrianna_sarah]

It actually makes sense that Barcelona sponsored them because as I look a the photo, it looks as if those fireworks are on the port side of the ship and I believe that DCL fires from starboard.

[ga9497]

What, nobody likes this date? No love for Estonia? what?

Here's some photos of Tallinn...maybe that'll help.

http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/5088/95834/f/626851-Tallinn-Estonia-0.jpg

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2007/08/24/tallinn-ap-1.jpg

http://www.geographicguide.net/europe/pictures/estonia-tallinn.jpg

It's been checked...Estonia does produce cheese. (Must go where there's cheese.)

My friend thought the 6/12 would be less crowded...hm, maybe not the case...:cool1:

Very nice photos, thanks for sharing

Anyone that is traveling with children, how old will they be during this time?

[lzj21428]

At the time of the cruise my kids will be 22, 17, 14.

TDC, I love those pics you posted of Tallin. What a quaint city.

[mehaul]

I will have two daughters travelling with us age 6 (almost 7) and age 9.

[adrianna_sarah]

Son 7, daughter 3 at time of sailing.

[cindy18]

2 daughters who will be 14 and 12 when we cruise the Baltics.

[PrincessJasmine08]

We are potentially in for this cruise. It's still a big maybe for us though, because of the money. When the cruises were first announced, I was like NO WAY!!!! But it's Disney, and we LOVE Disney, so eventually we decided to try for it. We did the June 16th 11 night Med Cruise in 2007 and it was truly amazing. When we heard Disney was going back to Europe, we knew we had to at least try! We're working on how we're going to save the money. :scratchin

It would be myself, my mother, and my sisters. I will be 24 at the time of the cruise, and my sisters will be 19 and 26. My real name is Lauren, but everyone on these boards calls me PJ, so I answer to either! I am a second and third grade teacher (combined classroom) in Louisville, Kentucky. It's a thankless job with long hours, but I love every minute of it!

Little sister is a senior in high school and lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with my mom and dad. No one really knows what's up ahead for her! Older sister lives in Orlando and works for Disney in entertainment. Mom is a nurse.

That's us a in nutshell! I have been reading a lot about the ports. I think that will be so great to get to stay overnight in St. Petersburg! :banana:

[ga9497]

Welcome Lauren
We are still up in the air too both about actually going and which date to choose. It is a toss up between this one and the one on July 18th

Me, DH, DD15, DS13 (ages at the time of the cruise)

[TDC Nala]

No children.

[ga9497]

Has anyone been on a Baltic cruise before or to any of the locations the cruise is visiting? We haven't but this is a cruise I have always wanted to do.

I have been looking around for information and came across this that I though has some good information.
http://ourpassportstamps.com/Home_Page.html

[bevgray]

I'll be traveling solo and look forward to meeting everyone.

[ga9497]

I'll be traveling solo and look forward to meeting everyone.

Welcome

[adrianna_sarah]

We're in a Cat. 6. Couldn't imagine not having a balcony with such a long cruise. Hubby and I were running the numbers and could book a Cat. 4 for less than we have our current Cat. 6 for if the prices stay the same and we rebook on board in December. I am thinking it might be worth it to be on a quieter floor and have a little extra space. We do spend a good amount of time in our stateroom because of afternoon naps and early bedtimes. Unfortunately, Cat. 4's are down to GTY only, and I was very picky about where I wanted our Cat. 6 to be. I'm not sure if I am willing to give up location for space. We have previously cruised the 7 Night DCL Western in a Cat. 5 and will be in a Cat. 9 this Christmas for the Wonder 4 Night.

What about you all? I know I've seen Cats. 5 and 6 and a SPH. What category did you pick and why? Any second thoughts or waitlists for other Cats?

[lzj21428]

We have always done two connecting Cat 5 staterooms for the 5 of us. I can't imagine putting 5 of us in one room, even a Cat 4. We like our space. My TA has us waitlisted for a Cat 2, but I know that will not happen. We have the same two rooms that we have always had when cruising DCL. I like the location on deck 7, mid ship, starboard side. And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my balcony. Would never sail without one.

[mehaul]

I've been reading a little about our ports of destination. FYI - There are 3 Baltic States -Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (at one time Finland was considered a Blatic State). Currently all 3 states are members of the EU.
The bad news is none of the countries we will be visiting on our cruise except Germany uses the Euro as currency.

[ga9497]

We're in a Cat. 6. Couldn't imagine not having a balcony with such a long cruise. Hubby and I were running the numbers and could book a Cat. 4 for less than we have our current Cat. 6 for if the prices stay the same and we rebook on board in December. I am thinking it might be worth it to be on a quieter floor and have a little extra space. We do spend a good amount of time in our stateroom because of afternoon naps and early bedtimes. Unfortunately, Cat. 4's are down to GTY only, and I was very picky about where I wanted our Cat. 6 to be. I'm not sure if I am willing to give up location for space. We have previously cruised the 7 Night DCL Western in a Cat. 5 and will be in a Cat. 9 this Christmas for the Wonder 4 Night.

What about you all? I know I've seen Cats. 5 and 6 and a SPH. What category did you pick and why? Any second thoughts or waitlists for other Cats?

Normally we cruise in a balcony all the time too but with this particular sailing the price range was more then I was comfortable spending for the balcony. We are currently booked in a category 8 ocean view, which DH isn't too happy about. He loves his balcony. We may end up changing to a category 6 or 5 somewhere along the line depending on what our budget dictates. We also are going to add on a couple of nights in London to visit one of my cousins and we still need airfare for 4.

We were on the 15nt sailing in August that went through the Panama Canal and we were in a category 6. We really used the balcony alot during that time because of so many sea days

[ga9497]

I've been reading a little about our ports of destination. FYI - There are 3 Baltic States -Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (at one time Finland was considered a Blatic State). Currently all 3 states are members of the EU.
The bad news is none of the countries we will be visiting on our cruise except Germany uses the Euro as currency.

That is correct every location will have different currency
ATM's would be the best option on getting local currency. ATM's usually offer the best exchange rate

[cindy18]

I hear you on caring about the location of your cabin. We really like to be midship and have always been there. The difference in space between the 4 and the 6 is not significant, but I agree that Deck 8 is quieter. On balance, if you can really book the 4 for less than the 6, I would do it, even though you'd be rolling the dice on where you wind up. There are likely to be cancellations between now and June 2010, meaning that 4s will open up, and you may have a better location than you think.

[mehaul]

We will be in a cat 6 room. I've been checking ou the temps in the Baltic and the highs are barely 70 with lows in the 50's. The pools are heated - right?

[ga9497]

There are some scripts from the PBS shows from Rick Steves with information on some of the places we will be visiting. I have been trying to find travel shows that will cover these locations but none that are airing on the travel channel in the next 3 weeks

Rick Steve shows are on PBS but haven't checked their schedule on if they are airing soon
http://www.ricksteves.com/tvr/tv_menu.htm

There is one show on the Travel Channel with Samantha Brown
Oct 26 - 12pm (eastern time) - Weekend in London

[mehaul]

The three best travel shows I've seen are the two you listed plus Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa
www.smarttravels.tv

About 3 weeks ago he had a show on TV about Stockholm.
I watched the weekend special of Samantha Brown's a few weeks ago - it was fun, but less informative that her Pasport to Europe series.

[cindy18]

Samantha Brown did a show on Copenhagen that was on the Travel Channel last week, I think. We taped it but haven't had time to watch it yet.

[mehaul]

I started this website to help capture facts and information about the different ports/countries we will be visiting. Check it out at www.magicalbalticcruise.com and let me know what you think (you can sign in the Guestbook)! It's a work in progress...I'll be making frequent updates, so check back often. I'm open to suggestions on the type of information you'd like to see and can add it. Thought it would be a nice place to capture a lot of information about these amazing countries.

Lisa

[TDC Nala]

I did look at some excursions offered by other lines - seems the excursions to Berlin cost several hundred bucks a person. Takes 3 hours to get to Berlin by train from the port, so that's 6 hours travel just to reach there and return. Most of the other lines also offered excursions to areas closer to the port.

There was also some info about taking a day trip to Moscow from St. Petersburg which would cost in the hundreds as well and would necessitate taking a plane to Moscow. Don't know if there'd also be visa issues. Most of what I read says that if you take an excursion with your cruise line, they take care of the visa issues, but if you want to go off on your own you must have your visa in order.

[adrianna_sarah]

I just checked out your website, Lisa. Teriffic work. I don't think we'll be visiting Berlin on this one. 6 hours of round-trip train travel, plus sightseeing in Berlin would be too hard on my little ones. We'll probably stick to wandering the streets of Rostock. I read somewhere else that there may be a shore excursion to Meyer-Wefft to visit the new DCL ships as they are being built, which might be intresting.

[TDC Nala]

oh, I changed the thread title - the inspiration finally kicked in - Hope it's not confusing!

[4greatboys]

Did you see this about the Visa's?

http://petersburgcity.com/news/city/2008/09/24/visa/

[lzj21428]

TDC, I like the new thread title, very catchy.

Lisa, great website you've made. I've added it to my favorites.

That would be great if Russia did away with the visa requirement for all cruise ships. Seems like it would make things easier. I did read that if you were taking a ship excursion or hiring a private tour company the visa was taken care of for you, so that was helpful.

I don't think I would do an excursion to Berlin or Moscow, too much travel time required. I hear that the port city for Germany is quite nice. My aunt, who took a Baltic cruise in August said it was one of her favorite stops.

[mehaul]

Thanks for the website comments. I'm adding to it everyday. I agree with skipping the Moscow excursion. There is so much to do in and around St Petersburg, that 2 days is still not enough time. I think we will do the Berlin excursion. Our TA had mentioned maybe be trying other cites in Northern Germany.
That's interesting about the Russian Visa requirements; however I don't think it will change for U.S. citizens.

[adrianna_sarah]

oh, I changed the thread title - the inspiration finally kicked in - Hope it's not confusing!

That's okay, I'm still using the original in my signature, though.

[mehaul]

There are 3 shows coming up in the nest 2 weeks pertaining to our cruise.
All 3 are on HDNET - Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa. He's pretty good. Not as perky as Samantha Brown (but who is), but has more energy than Rick Steves

Oct 31 HDNET 6:30 AM EST Smart Travels Europe
Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 1 HDNET 6:30 AM EST Smart Travels Europe
Oslo, Norway
Nov 5 HDNET 6:30 EST Smart Travels Europe
London (the episode contains 4 cities
Lisa
PS I posted a new section on my web page that will list upcoming travel shows
P.S.2 If you don't have HDNET this series is played intermittently on PBS, so I would "check your local listings" :)

[TDC Nala]

If you want to check out some other lines' shore excursions:

http://www.princess.com/learn/shorex/index.jsp

Enter the port of call to see what their excursions are like.

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/shorexLanding.html

Select a destination to check out specific ports.

I have been looking at Stockholm - I HAVE to try that ice bar. I hate cold but I like vodka. I also love the rooftop walk. How could I do both? Can't wait to see what Disney comes up with.

[lzj21428]

TDC, the idea of that ice bar is quite intriging. I would love to ck that out, but w/ 2 kids under 18, don't think I'd be able to. Maybe I can do it w/ just me and dh and the kids could sit outside and wait for us. :idea: I can't wait to see what excursions Disney comes up with.

Do you remember when they came out with the Med excursions?

[mehaul]

Children under 18 are allowed to enter the ice bars - they are charged a reduced admission and get a glass of juice.

[mehaul]

There are 3 potential ice bars our trip goes to - London, Copenhagen, Stockholm

I have links to all 3 on the Resource page of my website.

[lzj21428]

mehaul, thanks for that great info. Sounds like it might be doable after all, which would be so "cool" ;)

Here's a link I found with info on Tallinn's port.

www.ts.ee

[mehaul]

Another option is Vinopolis. It is wine museum in London, that's heavy on the wine tasting and light on the museum. In addition to wine they have an absinthe room and a Bombay martini room.
We went there last summer after the Med cruise (and brought the 3 and 6 year olds). They were very friendly and in each tasting room they made a special effort to find juice or soda for the kids.

www.vinopolis.co.uk

[TDC Nala]

Another option is Vinopolis. It is wine museum in London, that's heavy on the wine tasting and light on the museum. In addition to wine they have an absinthe room and a Bombay martini room.
We went there last summer after the Med cruise (and brought the 3 and 6 year olds). They were very friendly and in each tasting room they made a special effort to find juice or soda for the kids.

www.vinopolis.co.uk

Noting on the site that this place is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. And guess when I think I'll be visiting London? Tuesday and Wednesday. Figures :sad2:

[lzj21428]

TDC, maybe they will consider making an exception for you and open just for your drinking pleasure. :)


I was just fiddling around on DCL site and our cruise still has lots of availability. All categories, 4 thru 11 still show available and it looks like the prices have remained the same from when I booked. What do you think the outlook is for these cruises? Will they sail full? Will DCL drop prices to make it more attractive? If they do drop prices, what happens to people who booked already and paid a higher price? Will our prices drop also? Just looking for opinions.

[TDC Nala]

TDC, maybe they will consider making an exception for you and open just for your drinking pleasure. :)


I was just fiddling around on DCL site and our cruise still has lots of availability. All categories, 4 thru 11 still show available and it looks like the prices have remained the same from when I booked. What do you think the outlook is for these cruises? Will they sail full? Will DCL drop prices to make it more attractive? If they do drop prices, what happens to people who booked already and paid a higher price? Will our prices drop also? Just looking for opinions.

Last year we rebooked the Med cruise for about half price (had to downgrade to a Cat 11 from a 7 though). It was not a problem. I think the rules have since changed. I can't find them but it is something like you can't do that sort of rebooking once you've paid in full. (Don't know if you can't do it at all, or if there is a penalty for doing so because it's now considered a cancellation and rebooking). So all DCL would have to do is wait until the paid in full deadline passed and then put up a sale fare.

I don't actually have time to search for the new rules or I would.

[lzj21428]

Maybe that's what people are waiting for, a sale fare. This cruise may fill up after the payment due date. It will interesting to watch and see what happens.

[mehaul]

It would be nice if they drop the prices, but I can't see that happening for well over a year. I think Disney put the cruises on sale so early to prevent having to drop the prices like they did in 2007.

[mehaul]

There are 2 episodes coming up that focus on Russia and Scandanavia
The host is very entertaining.
He focuses on the countries alcoholic beverage of choice and usually concludes with a food recipe that incorporates that beverage.

Oct 29 Fine Living Channel 4:30 AM EST Thirsty Traveller
From Russia with Vodka
Oct 30 Fine Living Channel 4:30 AM EST Thirsty Traveller
Absolutely Aquavit

[mehaul]

Upcoming Travel TV Programming
Nov 14 Travel Channel 12:30 ET Passport to Europe w/Samantha Brown
Copenhagen

[lzj21428]

mehaul, thanks for posting that info. I'm going to put it on my calendar so I don't forget to watch or DVR it.

[mehaul]

No problem. Samantha Brown has done shows on Stockholm and Berlin as well. They should replay those episodes some time in the next 20 months :)

Nov 19th Travel Channel
12:00 EST London - Passport to Europe
12:30 EST London - Samantha Brown Passport to Great Weekends

[where2next]

let me try this again

[where2next]

Has anyone been on a Baltic cruise before or to any of the locations the cruise is visiting? We haven't but this is a cruise I have always wanted to do.

I have been looking around for information and came across this that I though has some good information.
ourpassportstamps.com

Hi!

It was just brought to my attention that our website was mentioned over here on the Disney boards!

I'm flattered!

It's our personal travel journal and blog...there's never any advertising or negativity...it's designed as a journal, photo album and blog as if I hand wrote it and shared it with you over coffee...

Enjoy wandering around....

I have cruised the Baltic for 3 cruises for a total of 30 days...

To assist you to find Scandinavia/Russia specific information...
Go into the Photo section, the Russia area also lists the Private tour option
we took with Red October.


Go into Where we've been section, a trip report with Sights to See lists for each port and our tips and suggestions for this itinerary.

We absolutely loved our time in this region of the world, John and I did
a post cruise land trip with 4 nights in Riga,Latvia and 4 nights in Vilnius, Lithuania.

If you have any questions please email us through our website.
We would be more than happy to answer them!

We don't sail on Disney Cruises because we are unable to have kids
so this isn't a message board I will be checking regulary!

Bon Voyage!

[pops711]

My DW and I will be there (unless we buy a house). Did the WB Panama last may and we are looking forward to this one.

[lzj21428]

Welcome Aboard. Sail the Baltic, forget the house. :thumbsup2

Seriously, glad you'll be joining us or buying that house. Which ever way it goes, good luck.

[pops711]

I know it is a tough call on which one is more important. My DW and I are really looking forward to another long cruise.

[pops711]

I was talking with DCL yesterday and found out that one of the Shore excursions is going to be visiting the ship yard where the new ships are being built and touring the ship itself aswell.

[lzj21428]

I would be curious to see how many people would sign up for that shore excursion. For me, it's not something that I would want to do when there are so many other sites and landmarks to see.

I can't wait to see what all the excursions are that Disney has planned.

[ldconley]

Hi everyone. I just booked this cruise last week. I missed this thread when scanning the board and did not see a link to it on the cruise meets page. So, I started a new thread last week. I guess I should delete that one, or link to this one, so people do not get confused.

There will be three of us:

Me - Lorie
DH - Mike
DD - Breanna, 14 at time of sailing

This is our third cruise, second one with Disney. We did the Mexican Rivera in June 2008.

I am looking forward to getting to know everyone and meeting you all on the cruise.

[bevgray]

Aloha. Welcome to the invisible thread.

How come we aren't in the sticky for the 2010 Magic Meets?

[ldconley]

Aloha. Welcome to the invisible thread.

How come we aren't in the sticky for the 2010 Magic Meets?

Thank you, glad to be here. Hopefully we will not stay invisible. I posted in 2010 Magic Meets thread and asked them to add us. Hopefully they will and we will pick up a few more people.

[ldconley]

We have been added to the sticky. That should help people find us.

[bevgray]

Thanks for getting us "stickied".

Now, back to my planning.

[gydell]

There's a SPH room available this morning if anyone wants one!

[lzj21428]

Hi all!! Was wondering if anyone has an planning info to share. London hotels, transportation info, tour guide info. Anything.

I really haven't done much. Have looked into airfare using June 09 dates. I've been thinking of trying to stay at the Sheraton Park Tower in Knightsbridge after the cruise. DD and I stayed there last yr and really liked the area and the hotel.

I know that the cruise is still far off, but if anyone wants to share info, that would be great.

Nina

[4greatboys]

We have switched from this cruise to the RCCL one. All same ports except no Germany on their's, a stop in Sweden instead. Hated to switch but we got a nice big balcony room for quite a bit cheaper than our porthole room. It leaves on the same date too.

[bevgray]

I was just able to switch from a Category 5 to a "secret" verandah room (6134). Secret Verandahs 7120 and 7620 were also available for anyone who wants to get the Cat 5/6 at the Cat 7 price.

[mehaul]

FYI. There are 3 travel shows applicable to our cruise that are showing in the next couple of weeks including a NEW Rick Steves episode on Copenhagen.

Lisa
www.magicalbalticcruise.com

PS Just back from Tokyo DisneySea - what a unique Disney Park

[grizbuzz]

Hi!

We booked this cruise onboard back in February. I've been reluctant to post here as I'm not altogether sure that we'll be going. We just went ahead and booked to lock in the discount while we were on the Magic. But I sure do want to go and hopefully this will work out! So I'm beginning to get more committed starting NOW.

We're a group of four from California. My sons will be 5 and 7 in 2010 and this will be our 4th cruise. Our first cruise was the June 6 Mediterranean which we LOVED. We've done a 4-nt Wonder and a 7-nt Eastern since.

I lived in Moscow after I graduated from college in the early 90s some 15+ years ago, so I have been to St Petersburg and Tallinn. I speak some Russian, though it's gotten pretty rusty over the years. I'm very interested to see what kind of kid friendly Russian excursions Disney organizes. Also spent a summer outside of Copenhagen as a child. Haven't yet been to Stockholm or Oslo.

I'm secretly hoping that Disney discounts category 12 for this cruise as they did for the Med cruises. We got that one for under $4k for the four of us! Will go on this cruise for sure if Disney works on the pricing.

This seems like a pretty quiet thread. I guess it's still a little early to begin planning, but summer 2010 will be here before you know it!

[bevgray]

Hi, welcome to our group. Yes, we do seem pretty low key right now. I suspect part of it is that we're on one of the middle cruises. The more popular ones right now seem to be those where the guests can back to back on the Dover-Barecelona repositioning cruises. I know a number of veteran DIS cruisers were trying to synchronize cruises so they could all go together and needed to accomodate those going on the multiple cruises.

I imagine we'll get a bit livelier as we get closer to the discussions of port excursions. I hope Disney cooperates too so that you and your family can come along.

[grizbuzz]

Thanks for the welcome.

Anyone keeping track of how many we have on this cruise so far? And who's in charge of graphics, tshirts, newsletters, fish extenders, blogging and twittering for the cruise? Uh, no...I didn't volunteer...just wondering...;)..and yes, I am just kidding. Though I do always enjoy the fish extender gift exchange, but it's a little early to start planning for that.

A question for discussion: how long are most of you planning your trips for? Just the duration of the cruise? Or adding in time in Europe? Where else are people planning to visit before/after the cruise?

I think we'll definitely do a couple days in London. It would also be great to go somewhere else...Ireland, Paris...ah...only so many days we would be able to get off, but it would be glorious to spend a month in Europe.:cloud9:

[TDC Nala]

was just seeking out the thread now that my last cruise is over and this is my next cruise.

I did a graphic but it's kind of soon to have it up and I like my signature dog right now.

[grizbuzz]

was just seeking out the thread now that my last cruise is over and this is my next cruise.

I did a graphic but it's kind of soon to have it up and I like my signature dog right now.

Welcome! :cool1:

Oooooh....what's your graphic?? Maybe a group graphic??

[TDC Nala]

I do love our quiet thread. But I don't want it to drop off the face of the earth either.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a88/cathlam/balticmagic.jpg

[lzj21428]

TDC, love the graphic. Great job.

When do you think Disney will put out excursions? I know we are still a year out, but I'm dieing to know what's out there. Can't remember when they put up the excursions for the 07 Med cruises.

[TDC Nala]

I think that's one of the (sort of) benefits we get by not being the first Baltic cruise...the first cruise is first on the excursions. any bugs? They might fix them before we get there.

[grizbuzz]

I do love our quiet thread. But I don't want it to drop off the face of the earth either.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a88/cathlam/balticmagic.jpg

Yeah!! We have a graphic! :yay:

I think that's one of the (sort of) benefits we get by not being the first Baltic cruise...the first cruise is first on the excursions. any bugs? They might fix them before we get there.

My thoughts exactly! :thumbsup2

[bevgray]

We are a quiet bunch. Of course, as we get closer, we may get more rowdy. I'm not very active because it's still so far away that it doesn't seem very real.

I've never visited Great Britain so I've added three nights pre-Cruise for London. Not the extensive tour I'd like to do but with the long cruise, I'm a bit limited on time. I'm staying at the Park Plaza County Hall (one of the Disney Host Hotels). The Disney option is the pricier way to do it but I really wanted the peace of mind by having Disney handle transportation from airports, hotels, and Dover rather than get stressed trying to manage alone in a strange city.

As to Fish Extenders and things of that sort, I suspect we're all waiting to make sure we can actually go. Once we pass the final payment date, I think we'll see more effort to coordinate DIS activities.

Love the graphic!

[TDC Nala]

How 'bout thinking that a year from today we'll be in St. Petersburg? Does that perk things up a bit?

[KarenGillFL]

We're booked on this cruise too!!!!! Just got back from doing an Alaska cruisetour and can't wait to get back on Disney! We were also on the Disney Med June 27th cruise...it was magical. We're looking at doing a pre-cruise tour too. Need to see what is available through Disney. I'm ready to start planning for next year...it's going to be great. It will be dh, 16yo son, 11yo daughter, 8yo son and myself.

[KarenGillFL]

Is anyone else using their DVC points for any of this cruise? We are trying to use ours for maybe a pre-cruise trip...were thinking about Paris, but it looks like you have to buy Disneyland Paris tickets to stay at the resorts...not sure we want to do that...any advice?

[pillow]

We're not booked on this cruise, but I'm snooping! I'm hoping for one of those fabulous category 12 discount prices that we got on our 2007 Med trip - am crossing my fingers!!!

Please be warned when using points for cruises . . . I had a friend who used many many many points for her cat 11 on the 11 night Med trip. When the enormous cash sale fares were offered, she tried to cancel her points reservation so that she could take advantage of the sale, but she was not allowed to do so. She was not a happy camper!! You might want to consider renting your points for $10 per point and then using the cash to book the trip. You usually save quite a few points/cash that way - much more economical. Good luck!

Jodie

[lynncullen]

hi Everyone,
Booked this cruise almost a year ago. But finally starting to even think about it. Almost a year away.
We went on the Med Cruise in 2007, and absolutely loved it.
My DH and I will be traveling with our (then) 8 year old son.
Any other boys that age so far?

[KarenGillFL]

Our kids will be 16yo boy, 11yo girl and 8yo boy at the time of the cruise...We are so excited......:cool1:

[lisalisalisa]

Sadly we will not be cruising with you but we were down in Dover yesterday and took some pictures. The first one is the cruise terminal area and the second is the beach just behind it.

My boys are so excited that Magic is coming to the UK. We will be waving you off with our white Mickey hands :) next June. I hope you don't mind me posting.:blush:

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p199/lisahksmith/DSC_7598-1.jpg
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p199/lisahksmith/DSC_7614.jpg

[TDC Nala]

I love the Dover pictures!

[PrincessJasmine08]

Sadly we will not be cruising with you but we were down in Dover yesterday and took some pictures. The first one is the cruise terminal area and the second is the beach just behind it.

My boys are so excited that Magic is coming to the UK. We will be waving you off with our white Mickey hands :) next June. I hope you don't mind me posting.:blush:

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p199/lisahksmith/DSC_7598-1.jpg
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p199/lisahksmith/DSC_7614.jpg

Ohmygosh thanks for sharing!!!!! :love::love::love: I know I haven't posted much, but I'm still following along. The cruise is still very iffy for us financially, so I don't want to get my hopes up.

Hi, Jodie! If you end up booking, you should pick this date so I can hang spoons on my nose again with your kids! :lmao:

Does anyone have ideas on how the DCL version of this cruise compares price-wise to other lines?

[pillow]

Ohmygosh thanks for sharing!!!!! :love::love::love: I know I haven't posted much, but I'm still following along. The cruise is still very iffy for us financially, so I don't want to get my hopes up.

Hi, Jodie! If you end up booking, you should pick this date so I can hang spoons on my nose again with your kids! :lmao:

Does anyone have ideas on how the DCL version of this cruise compares price-wise to other lines?

Hey Lauren! We've just made plans for WDW next June, so this cruise isn't gonna work. We spent so much $ on the Med trip (even with the cat 12 discount), I was having a hard time justifying this one anyway. My mother is treating the ENTIRE family to a WDW trip next June - should be interesting! Will you be working there next summer? You can entertain all the kids with your magic spoons!! With the kids going to camp for a week, it will be a busy summer.

I'm patiently waiting for the summer 2011 itineraries to be released - crossing my fingers for Alaska. Or I wish they would do a panama canal crossing during the summer for us folks who can't pull the kids out of school for a repositioning trip.

Hope all is well with your family. Take care!

Jodie

[macassi]

Hi all!

There are 7 of us joining you on this cruise, myself, DH, DS (12), DS (9), and DD (6) as well as MIL and FIL. Not exactly sure where to say we are from. Up until two weeks ago, we lived in the California Bay Area, but we just relocated to Zurich, Switzerland for a 3 year assignment. We were originally booked on the Thanksgiving 2010 cruise, but figured it made a lot more sense for us to swtich out to a European cruise. We're excited to get to see Europe on the Disney Magic. We went on the Thanksgiving 2008 cruise and the entire family had a blast. The kids regularly ask when we can return. In fact, we just took a small ferry boat around Lake Zurich last weekend, and my daughter announced, "This is NOT like Mickey's boat." Yeah, sorry, we can't be cruising every day dear!

I haven't started any research into excursions since I was focused on pulling off an international move, but I'm hoping to start doing some planning as I get settled here.

Marci

[grizbuzz]

Hi all!

There are 7 of us joining you on this cruise, myself, DH, DS (12), DS (9), and DD (6) as well as MIL and FIL. Not exactly sure where to say we are from. Up until two weeks ago, we lived in the California Bay Area, but we just relocated to Zurich, Switzerland for a 3 year assignment. We were originally booked on the Thanksgiving 2010 cruise, but figured it made a lot more sense for us to swtich out to a European cruise. We're excited to get to see Europe on the Disney Magic. We went on the Thanksgiving 2008 cruise and the entire family had a blast. The kids regularly ask when we can return. In fact, we just took a small ferry boat around Lake Zurich last weekend, and my daughter announced, "This is NOT like Mickey's boat." Yeah, sorry, we can't be cruising every day dear!

I haven't started any research into excursions since I was focused on pulling off an international move, but I'm hoping to start doing some planning as I get settled here.

Marci

OMG!!! This is too weird! :eek:

We are currently in the SF Bay Area and are moving to Baden, Switzerland at ABB for 2 years this September. I have a million questions for you re. Switzerland.

Small world.

[macassi]

OMG!!! This is too weird! :eek:

We are currently in the SF Bay Area and are moving to Baden, Switzerland at ABB for 2 years this September. I have a million questions for you re. Switzerland.

Small world.

Want to make it even stranger? We're here so that my husband can support ABB as a client.

Ask any questions you have! I can't say I have a lot of knowledge about Switzerland having just arrived, but at least all the relocation details are fresh!

[grizbuzz]

Want to make it even stranger? We're here so that my husband can support ABB as a client.

Ask any questions you have! I can't say I have a lot of knowledge about Switzerland having just arrived, but at least all the relocation details are fresh!

What a coincidence! I do have a million questions for you. I am still US-side and have yet to find a moving company, a Swiss apartment or even get our tickets to Zurich. We just got our visa approval for the family yesterday, so we are officially ready to go! Unfortunately, we're not going to make it in time for the start of school, but our tentative departure date is Sept 12.

Watch out for a PM from me. :goodvibes

Now I know someone in Switzerland! :woohoo:

[grizbuzz]

Oh wait! I think you may need to boost your post count to 10 before you can use Private Message function.:confused3

[mehaul]

Hi all!

There are 7 of us joining you on this cruise, myself, DH, DS (12), DS (9), and DD (6) as well as MIL and FIL. Not exactly sure where to say we are from. Up until two weeks ago, we lived in the California Bay Area, but we just relocated to Zurich, Switzerland for a 3 year assignment. We were originally booked on the Thanksgiving 2010 cruise, but figured it made a lot more sense for us to swtich out to a European cruise. We're excited to get to see Europe on the Disney Magic. We went on the Thanksgiving 2008 cruise and the entire family had a blast. The kids regularly ask when we can return. In fact, we just took a small ferry boat around Lake Zurich last weekend, and my daughter announced, "This is NOT like Mickey's boat." Yeah, sorry, we can't be cruising every day dear!

I haven't started any research into excursions since I was focused on pulling off an international move, but I'm hoping to start doing some planning as I get settled here.

Marci

Will your DD be 6 at the time of the cruise. I have 2 DD's - one will be 6 3/4 and the other will have turned 9 right before the cruise.

Lisa

P.S. my cruise planning website is www.magicalbalticcruise.com

[TDC Nala]

almost lost the thread - I really didn't want to have to start it again...

[bevgray]

Just checking in as our bunch is so quiet. I'm still plodding along paying for the cruise. I wish they'd get some word out on the shore excursions since that would make the whole thing a bit more "real" and add some zest to the "dream planning". I did hear a whisper about a prince and princess ball at Catherine the Great's palace in St. Petersburg.

Hi to everyone and I hope the autumn is lovely wherever you are. Our Indiana trees are starting to get that golden patina. It's been an odd summer so no idea if we'll have much "color" in the fall foliage this year.

[bevgray]

Gracious. I just plugged in our cruise for fun and most cabins have jumped about $1000 since yesterday. Does that mean our quiet little ship is getting more popular?

[TDC Nala]

I found the thread!

[bevgray]

Hey Nala.

Funny, the prices dropped back to what they were on Monday. Must have been an odd glitch on the DCL web site.

[newgeneb]

My DW and i just booked this cruise :banana:My name is Gene and hers is Cheryl - We just left WDW after a wonderful cruise to Tortola :banana:Hope to check in and get to know everyone:surfweb: its a long time until June 24th but it will be here before we know it :cool1:

[bridgemanva]

We were scheduled to do WB & EB Transatlantic but discofer our son (20 years old) could join us on this trip as his summer jobs don't require him in June. Are there any other young adults aboard?

Also I'm exploring a private tours for excursions has anyone looked at any smaller group tours to share with another family?

I haven't read through the whole thread will do so to catch up.

[bevgray]

Hi, welcome aboard! Our group is very quiet and we've not done a lot of planning discussions yet. I expect things will get livelier as we get closer to the final payment date and Disney releases shore excursions. They just put a sticky for London on the main cruise page so, hopefully, the Baltic will follow soon to help with strategies and planning.

I know some of the other sailings have looked into private tours. The consensus on those voyages seems to be that private tours are great for St. Petersburg.

[cindy18]

Hi to the newcomers to this thread! You know, June of 2010 is going to be here before we know it!

Anyone have a feeling about people moving off the Baltic cruises in light of the 2011 cruise destinations? I would have thought not but my TA suggested that she had seen a lot of people doing just that. We figure, why not live it up, and so we're doing both!:cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:

[dcladdict-ohio]

Hi Everyone ... I have taken lots of cruises but have never subscribed to a meet thread before so here goes!

Our family of three me, DH and DD(17) will be joiningg you on the 6-24-10 12-night northern europe cruise. We are planning to 'wrap around' several days in England. I was born and raised in Sheffield, England and all my family still lives there so we we will be visiting them and touring London. We are currently saving furiously :lmao:

I am just getting started on my planning ... how is everyone else coming along?

[TDC Nala]

I thought I saw this thread pop up. This is the most laid back cruise thread on the DISboards. Just waiting for the shore excursions. Don't know if anyone will forsake the Baltic for the 2011 cruises but I'm doing both.

Still can't find a decent priced flight to London.

[mehaul]

Hi to the newcomers to this thread! You know, June of 2010 is going to be here before we know it!

Anyone have a feeling about people moving off the Baltic cruises in light of the 2011 cruise destinations? I would have thought not but my TA suggested that she had seen a lot of people doing just that. We figure, why not live it up, and so we're doing both!:cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:

Our flights and hotel are all booked. The 2011 itineraries are so different from the Baltic cruise. I can't imagine passing up on Europe to go to Alaska.

[ktkspider]

I have been reading all of the Baltic threads for months now. We are so excited about this trip. We will be flying into Paris on the 18th. After spending a couple of days in Paris, we will take the EuroStar/train to Canterbury for a couple of nights... after the Cruise we are spending 4 nights in London. Traveling... my husband (46), Me (44), our daughter (12), My Mom and Dad and her sister and husband. Anyone else traveling with a 12 year old girl? This sure is a quiet thread compared to the others.. but the others have done some major research already, which has made it super easy for me...

[cindy18]

Hi! One of our DDs will be 12 on this cruise (the other will be 14). And my DH will also be 46 (I'll be a little older than you at 44). Welcome! I envy you the trip to Paris on the front end. That sounds like a great idea. We can only do the 12 nights plus travel so we're not adding on anything else, but I wish we could!

[pops711]

I am sorry to tell you all that my DW and I had to back out of this cruise because of under-employment. Hope you all have a GREAT time;)

[bevgray]

So sorry to hear that you've had to cancel. Hope things get better very soon for you.

[JetsMets]

Haven't read the entire 11 pages yet, but wanted to get my basic information on here.

Now booked for this cruise which sounds like the trip of a lifetime. My family has done 2 Disney Cruises in the past; they were both 7 day cruises in the Mediterranean (one Eastern in 2001, one Western in 2006).

Currently booked with 2 rooms next to each other on Deck 6, looking to make them adjoining if possible, but if that upgrade doesn't happen it will be just fine.

Travelling with my wife, in-laws and my two daughters who will be 10 and 8 at the time of the cruise. We are from New Jersey (central).

I'm sure these things have been covered if I read enough but when do they announce excursions and when can you book things like the kids club and Palo.

Look forward to talking to you all again as this gets closer.

[bevgray]

Hi there and a big welcome to our cruise.

Scuttlebutt indicates that excursions may be announced in the near future (Oct/Nov). It may be a bit later but, since Gold and Platinum Castaway Club members and Concierge can book earlier, Disney shouldn't delay too much longer in announcing.

Booking times for excusions, Palo, Kid's Clubs etc. will be sometime after the final payment date (23 February) - as a Silver Castaway Club member, you will be able to book at 90 days prior to sailing (around 26 March although I figured I'd start trying around 23 or 24 March). There was an article that hinted at a "Princess Ball" at Catherine the Great's Palace in St. Petersburg but no details yet.

We are a very quiet group so far although I suspect we'll get a bit livelier as the cruise draws closer. We haven't really discussed FEs or other DIS activities yet so nothing has been finalized. Hopefully, once final payment is made, we can get a proper roll call and decide what fun extras we want to do.

We do have a lovely logo that TDCNala created (see post #120, page 8).

[JetsMets]

Bevgray, thank you for that information - excellent stuff.

I don't recall being a Gold, Silver or Platinum member (or anything of the sort), but I have done a couple other cruises. I suppose the easiest way to find out would be calling Disney?

Once again thanks so much, appreciate the help.

[bevgray]

You can check your Castaway Club status when you log in to view your reservation on the Disney Cruise Line website. Since you indicated that you had sailed twice before, I figured you were Silver.

The Castaway Club tier system is brand new (prior, we were all lumped together). There is a sticky at the top of the main forum page with all the information of how the new Club is set up.

There is also an excellent sticky on London that may help you with your pre/post cruise planning. It is also located at the top of the main cruise forum.

Don't hesitate to ask questions. As we get closer, I know we'll all have many concerns about this tremendous adventure! We're all here to help one another have the most magical cruise ever!

Oh, and good luck with your Jets in tonight's game.

[JetsMets]

13-10 at the half.

From the little I've seen them the Colts look great.

[JetsMets]

Our travel agent ended up finding us adjoining rooms on Deck 6, but for the July 18th 2010 cruise. That date was actually our first choice, the June 24th was cutting it really close to the end of the school year.

Who knows what might happen in the end, but for now I'll move over to the July 18th thread.

Thank you again, and I hope everyone enjoys the cruise.

[adrianna_sarah]

Still can't find a decent priced flight to London.

Hi all. Long time no see. Can't remember the last time I checked in. May have been about a year ago. Don't remember if I said it here, but we changed our Cat 6 to a Cat 4 while we were on board this past XMas. We are middish aft, starboard. Husband and I (both 36) will be cruising with Son, 7 and Daughter, 3. This will be our third cruise, preceded by a 7 Night Western in Cat 5 and a 4 Night Bahamas Cruise over XMas in a Cat. 9. After a few nights of having to listen to industrial noises underneath us and not having a balcony to escape to, we decided that the balcony is 100% worth the money... especially on a long cruise.

Haven't bought our plane tickets, either, though I check prices periodically. The cheapest that I have found was Air Canada, departing Houston with a connection Toronto. They were offering discounted tickets for kids. Still came out to an avg of $700 apiece. Shoot, remember when you could get to Europe for $300-$400? That's a deal I'd like to find.

Still waiting on those shore excursions...

[bevgray]

Just made an interim payment and the cost of my cruise went down a little over $100. Puzzled me so I emailed Dreams Unlimited about the change. Apparently, the rate for my London hotel (Park Plaza County Hall) went down a bit. While it is not a huge savings, every little bit helps so those of you with hotel booked through DCL, may want to check your own status.

[DisneySpirit]

Hi everyone! Happy Holidays!:santa: We were booked on the June 24th Baltic cruise, but both couples we were sailing with changed their minds and bailed on us. So...since we also knew two couples (who are very good friends) already sailing on the June 12th cruise, we changed our plans and are now booked for the 12th as well! So goodbye Estonia and hello Helsinki! So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye. Have a wonderful cruise!:wave:

[IrishCowboy]

Have a great cruise!

[lzj21428]

Hello fellow cruisers!! :wave2: Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday.

I was wondering if anyone has a link or can explain Disney's insurance. I need to know what the standards are if we would need to cancel after final payment.

At this time, I am the sole caregiver for my elderly mother. At present, she has been in the hospital going on three weeks (just got out of ICU). The Dr says she is improving, although very slowly and then there are setbacks. I, of course, believe that she will be home with us again soon, but I worry that in the coming months what would happen if she became ill again or worse.....
Would these circumstances be covered by Disney's insurance and is it to late to purchase insurance that would cover these events?

I certainly don't mean to sound selfish, but I can't afford to lose the amount of money that this cruise is costing us. If such events aren't covered, I may have to consider cancelling. We do have care covered for her while we would be away for the cruise.

Thanks for any help and insight.

Nina

[bevgray]

After much thought, I am in the process of buying my first home. Unfortuantely, I can't swing a house and the Baltic in the same year so, I've had to cancel. Hope everyone has a terrific time. Hopefully, the Magic will return to the Baltic in 2012 or 2013 and I can try again.

FYI - I had a secret verandah room so anyone who wants the Cat 5/6 experience at the Cat 7 price, there is one available as soon as Disney releases it.

[ktkspider]

I am beginning to think we are the only ones left on this cruise...:rolleyes1:rolleyes1 ANY ONE ELSE OUT THERE???! :surfweb: looking forward to the planning!!

[mehaul]

We are going. Locked and loaded with airfaire and hotel reservatrions. We have 2 DDs that will be 6 and 9 at the time of the cruise. We do have a very quiet group :)

[ktkspider]

YEAH!!! I was wondering!
yes we do have a very quiet group
... did you get notice of not Disembarking until 10:30am on the 6th back in Dover?.. it seems like we may be the only ones affected. We are traveling with my dd who will be 12 and my mom/dad and aunt/uncle.
We have everything practically booked arriving in Paris and leaving out of London..

[TDC Nala]

The thread! The thread! I do sort of like that we have a quiet thread, and now a much smaller thread. This is not the most popular of the baltic cruises, I guess because of the timing - it's not the first, and it's still too early for a lot of school schedules.

I'm more concerned about what time I'd have to land in London to take DCL transfers to the ship on June 24. Looking at a flight landing at 10:05 am.

[adrianna_sarah]

Bevgray-

We are sitting the fence on whether to cancel. We too found this to be an excellent time to buy a house and I also started grad school this year. Neither of these were planned when I booked the cruise back in October '08. Even though we have a pretty sizeable tax credit coming this year as a result, we are feeling the need build our savings back up again as we no longer have much of a rainy day buffer. We are waiting until Feb so as not to make any hasty decisions and hoping they will announce military rates for the cruise. We'd probably have to give up our Cat. 4, but it might be worth it. I'll periodically check back with you all.

Take care,
Adrianna

[KarenGillFL]

We're still going!!!!! Still need to get our flights etc. but we are going!!!!:cool1:

[bevgray]

Well, it was a very tough decision. I almost had the cruise paid off too. However, I just couldn't pass up the first time homeowner credit and with interest rates so low, the "cruise now/buy a home in a couple of years" just wasn't holding up. I just picked out the house and put a deposit on the lot so, it is definitely a "go".

My big hope is that the Magic will head back to the Baltic in a couple of years. The rest of you, have a wonderful time and be sure to give we "bailers" lots of details so we can at least share your fun that way. Happy cruise to all of you!

[adrianna_sarah]

As I told my husband this week, "one family can only stimulate the economy so many ways, ya'know". And the pleasure of being in a beautiful new house... PRICELESS!

[lzj21428]

Congrats to all the new homeowners. Enjoy your new abodes. I'm sure this type of cruise will come around again in the future.

We are still going on the cruise. Sad to say, but my mom passed away on 12/27, so I don't have that worry any longer. She was so excited for us to go, so our planning continues. See whoever is left in June.

[cindy18]

My sincere condolences on your mother's passing.

We are definitely still going and have started to make payments on that balance due, in anticipation of the February due date. I'm trying not to think about the cost and just focus on how amazing the cruise will be!

[TDC Nala]

For anyone who's still on this cruise - DCL is stating that the earliest your flight can be if you are going to the airport from the ship on 7/6 is 4 PM. It's 1 PM for all the other Baltic cruises. Don't know what this means for those who have already booked airlines.
I've booked my flight for 4:05.

[cindy18]

We got a letter from DCL saying that the ship wouldn't get into port until 10:30 on the 6th, due to something in the trade winds, I think. So that's several hours later than normal, which is why I think Disney pushed back the safe flight time. Our flight out is at 4:45, so we're ok, but we had hoped to do a little sight-seeing first, and now we may not be able to do that.

[mehaul]

The excursion are now posted for our cruise (no prices posted yet)

[macassi]

We're still planning on going! My inlaws are up in the air due to some health issues with FIL. If they are definitely going, I will need to figure out how to get insurance. Is it too late?

[lzj21428]

The excursion are now posted for our cruise (no prices posted yet)

Thanks for the info. Gonna go ck them out. :woohoo:

[ldconley]

The excursion are now posted for our cruise (no prices posted yet)

Thanks for the info. I checked this past weekend, but they were not up yet. I will have to look again when I get home tonight.

Looking forward to seeing more traffic on this board as we get closer to departure date. Can't wait to meet everyone.

[TDC Nala]

The excursions are up now. Still no prices, but you can check another line like Celebrity or Princess to see some prices on similar tours. Some of them look like the exact same tours.

[mardonna]

We just made final payment on our June 24th Cruise.....we are a cat 2 waitlisted for cat 1.....since deadline has passed I guess I won't be able to get cat 1.....but probably to much anyway.

Family of 6, 4 children ages, 9, 5,5, and 2 1/2 at time of sailing......airfare is booked and we have rented a home in Belgravia for a week prior to cruise.

Trying to budget for Excursions has been tricky not knowing prices and times...I am supposed to be allowed to book Feb 23rd or something so I guess I just research and wait.......am investigating private tours for Russia and germany but just started the process.

Would love any information.....I have read this entire thread and have gotten lots of information.....

[mardonna]

I was told by DCL Conciergae that prices go up Monday.....we will see.

[lzj21428]

I was told by DCL Conciergae that prices go up Monday.....we will see.

I was just cking on the DCL site and my cost today would be over $500 more than what I'm paying. I booked thru DU and got the awesome OBC, plus the OBC that DCL just sent a letter about. We should be able to pay for an excursion or two with all the OBC. And our cruise still has quite a few stateroom cat. available.

Waiting patiently for June to get here. :thumbsup2

[mardonna]

I wish Disney had a printable list of excursions.....I hate going back and forth on website.....makes me nuts.

[ktkspider]

I wish Disney had a printable list of excursions.....I hate going back and forth on website.....makes me nuts.

I so agree... do you think, once the prices and times are announced, we will get anything from Disney (snail mail) about the cruise?

can't wait.. I have been doing lots of planning and I feel like I have been doing a major research paper! oh the planning involved.. But i love that part so it has been fun!

Can't wait. and it is nice to see a little action on our cruise thread.

[mehaul]

Prices are posted!

[mehaul]

Do you think there is a way you can find out the times the excursions leave as well as which day the St. Petersburg excursion take place?

[lzj21428]

Have any of you taken a look at the excursions? Any ideas of what you want to do?

Following are my first choices, subject to change of course.

Copenhagen
City Highlights & Open Air History of Denmark

Oslo
Hadeland Glassworks & Viking ships

Stockholm
Ice Bar & Old Town OR Royal Palace & Waterways

Tallinn
Old Town Walking Tour OR Town & Country Life OR Tallinn Highlights

Warnemunde
Warnemunde & the Little Train OR Rostock's Regional Highlights

St. Petersburg
Catherine's Palace & Hermitage Museum (Probably Day 2)

Peterhoff Parks, Fountains & Train Ride (Probably Day 1) OR Walking Tour of St. Petersburg (again Day 1)

My other option for SP is to arrange a private tour and customize it to our liking. There is so much more to see in SP and Disney tours don't seem to cover what a private tour company could. I have sent an info request to SPB Tours and will wait and see what I find out.

Would love to hear what others are considering and what info you all have found.

Nina

[cindy18]

We're seriously considering doing the ports more or less on our own, with the obvious exception of St. Petersburg. Everything I read suggests that it's easy to get around in all of the cities, and I think we've decided not to go to Berlin. That way, we can save a fair bit of money and be ready to splurge in St. Petersburg.

We are also definitely leaning towards hiring a private tour guide for our family in St. Petersburg. It's probably more money than doing a combination of Disney tours, but I don't think it's a lot more money, and this way we can see exactly what we want to see, for as long as we want to (for example, I know my DDs are going to be good at The Hermitage for two hours max). We're considering a white nights tour which goes out at about 11 pm (the downside to that is how tired we will be the next day). We've emailed three private tour companies this weekend and have heard back from two already. They are all so highly recommended that I think it's just a question of which personality suits us best, as much as that can be guessed from email exchanges.

[ktkspider]

We are doing our own thing in Copenhagen and Oslo as they seem to be very easy ports to manuver.:thumbsup2
Germany- we are not going to Berlin.. we are either going to do the Molli train with Disney or on our own.. not totally decided yet. But seems like it shouldn't be too difficult on our own as I have found very detailed directions to do this.
St petersburg- private tour with Anastasia:cheer2:
Tallin- again on our own.. I have found a fabulous walking tour of the city all done for us. :cool1:
Stockholm- haven't really gotten to that one yet. Maybe one of the Disney tours because I think we dock pretty far from city center. either Panaramic Stockholm or Skansen and Vasa..
We are lucky enough to have a good chunk of OBC and Disney Dollars so we have to do a couple of Disney excursions to use that money.

We are so excited for this trip but the planning is exhausting! not to mention a bit overwhelming!

[cindy18]

I forgot about the Molli train. You're right, we may do that.

We're docking far away in Stockholm? That's a bummer. I read that there were two ports, and I guess I just assumed we were docking at the one that was really close to the city center. If we're docking at the one that's far away, we may wind up doing a Disney tour there too.

Can you share the walking tour you found for Tallin? That sounds great.

[ktkspider]

here is the Tallinn walking tour I found..
http://www.brentjes.com/tallinnwalk.html

I can't find the other one at the moment but will post it when I do..
The only reason I say that about Stockholm is taking clues from the descriptions of the Disney Excursions.. I could be wrong.

[cindy18]

Thanks for the walking tour link. It looks great! Also, that's a terrific website. It looks really helpful for almost all our ports. How did you find it?

[ktkspider]

Cruise critic is where I found that link. LOTS of great info on there. But lots of reading.

Here is the other one... http://www.euroaudioguide.com/eng/?q=node/15 thought I had lost it! It looks like this is where that gentleman put his tour together from.

[cindy18]

Thanks again. Very cool. I continue to be astonished at what you can find on the internet if you know how to look and you are patient!

[mehaul]

We were planning to do most of the ports on our own as well. I just started looking into private tours for St. Petersburg. Can you share what sort of tour do they do for the White Nights?
Also do you know where does the boat dock in Stockholm?

FYI there are Ice bars in Oslo and London as well.
www.icebaroslo.no/kontakt/

[cindy18]

Still learning about what the White Nights tour is. All I can tell so far is that it goes out really late, 11 pm or so, and returns at 2 am. The tour guides agree that it is amazing, but they are worried that my DDs will be too tired for the full day of touring right afterwards. I think the light in the city makes things look very different, and they show you some key sights in that light, plus stuff happens with the canal bridges and things like that. We're probably going to do it, even if we're all that much more tired on the 2nd day in St. Petersburg, because really this is a once in a lifetime thing.

[cindy18]

The guide I think we're going to use just sent this link on the White Nights tour. She stressed that it is expensive, but she said it's pretty incredible:

http://www.bestguides-spb.com/tour-white.html

[ktkspider]

As far as I can tell we will be docking at FRIHAMNEN in Stockholm. Not sure where I found that... it is in my notes, so in all of my research I found it somewhere.. again not possitive.

here is the site I found where we are docking in Stockholm... http://www.stockholmshamn.se/evant.htm

[ktkspider]

found this sight today thought I would share...

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/places-of-a-lifetime/stockholm-walking-tour-1.html

[mehaul]

Nice piece of detective work.
Looking at the map on the Disney site that does appear to be the location of
Frihamnen
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/europe/ports/stockholm-sweden/

That's unfortunate since it's 2-3 miles away from the "action"

Interesting on the link you posted it has our time shifted by 30 min ahead.
Arriving at 8:00 and leaving at 17:00

Here's some info I was tracking on Stockholm on my planning blog
www.magicalbalticcruise.com/stockholm.html

[ktkspider]

So you are the one who put together that awesome piece of work... Saved me TONS of time... :worship: Thank you so much!!!

Nice to see a little action on here! Thanks for posting it is nice to have sounding board for our plans! It will be here before we know it.

[mehaul]

Thanks, I'm glad it has been helpful. I added your NG self-guided walking tour to the Stockholm page.
Probably will be making more additons soon since it looks like I'm going to do most of the ports on my own (excluding Germany and St Petersburg)

[missy4414]

I'm just curious. Is anyone planning to go on the shore excursion--the Royal Ball at St. Catherine's Palace? It seems very expensive but I wonder if it's worth it. We don't have children but it sounds so wonderful. But I'm curious if many people will decide it's worth the expense.

[mardonna]

I have completed my research and have compiled a list for Disney excursions as well as private tours.....I am desperately waiting for dates and departure times for DCL excursions......how in the world are we supposed to know which onnes we can do on the same day......also debating on whether bring 2 5 year olds and baby off ship....thought they could handle a city tour or something and then could go back and catch excursion for museums.....thought they also might like the fountains and train......

[ktkspider]

we are skipping on the Ball.We were thinking about it figuring it would be $250-300. our DD is/will be 12 and she thought it would be neat... about fell on the floor at $400! Talked to our daughter (12) and she decided it wasn't worth that much. .. that we could do so much more for that kind of $$. I am sure there are many others who will pay the $$.

[mehaul]

I agree about the ball cost. I was guestimating a family of 4 would be about $1000, not $1500. The only other excursion that seemed pricey was the Leeds castle excursion. I thought the Berlin and other St. Petersburg trips were "fairly" priced.

[cindy18]

We're skipping the ball too, although when I first heard about it, it sounded amazing. We'll get to Catherine's Summer Palace otherwise and are probably going to either the ballet or a folk show plus a night-time tour. The price just blew me away. I'm guessing it costs an awful lot to rent the palace for the evening, but still...

[mehaul]

Nice article in New York Times - 31 places to go in 2010
#5 Copenhagen
#28 Norway

www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/travel/10places.html?nl=travel&emc=tda1

Here is a fun article about a bakery in Berlin
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/travel/06bites.html?nl=travel&emc=tda3

[lzj21428]

Just thought I would post and let everyone know that I have booked a private tour with SPB Tours in St. Petersburg. The service, so far, has been excellant. Emails and questions answered in a really timely manner. It's more expensive than doing a Disney excursion, but I will get to see everything I want to see and I won't have to wait on 40/50 other people.

Now that I have St. Petersburg all taken care of, now I concentrate on the rest of the ports. Thanks for all the links and infor others are posting. It's really helping. The Tallinn walking tour link was great and I am giving that some serious thought.

Looking forward to more info and ideas from everyone.

Nina

[cindy18]

We are strongly considering SPB Tours also for our tour, and we just started talking to them about a private tour in Berlin also. I realized this morning that it would cost less to have them take us from the port to Berlin, give us a private tour for the full day and then take us back to the port than it would to do even the least expensive Disney tour to Berlin. So now we're reconsidering that day.

I'm still trying to figure out the cost of a private tour in St. Petersburg vs. Disney. I feel like it's almost the same, if you assume 2 significant tours with Disney as compared to a 2-day private tour. Is that wrong?

[lzj21428]

Cindy, I think the private tour in SP would be a better deal than a Disney excursion. With Disney the tours offered don't include everything there is to see. They offer one or two sights each tour from what I've seen. With the private tour, I'm seeing everything in 2 days that I want to see. Even if I chose two seperate tours with Disney the cost is over $1,000 for our party of 5. The tour with SPB is still more $, but I'm getting more, so for me it seems more cost effective. At the end of the cruise, I don't want to be kicking myself, wishing I had seen this instead of that.

On the Med cruise in 07, I did a private tour in Rome and it beat Disney by a mile. We saw everything we wanted to see and we still talk about our time in Rome and our guide, Marcello. The whole trip was fantastic, but Rome was the highlight for our family and I think it was because of the private tour.

Will be interested in what you decide.

Nina

[cindy18]

I agree with you Nina, and we are pretty much decided to do the private tour in St. Petes. My new thinking is whether to do that in Berlin also. The issue there is that if you do a tour with Disney, and if there's a problem with the train back from Berlin to Warnemunde, I assume they hold the ship. But if we do a private tour and there's a problem, we could wind up missing the trip. Disney's tours are A LOT more expensive than doing a private tour. So I'm torn.

[mehaul]

The pricing of the private StP vs dcl is negligible. I think the difference is the value you place on doing your own itinerary privately vs. The comfort of doing a tour with Disney.

[Yensidfan]

A private tour can be much cheaper than Disney's if you have two families do it together. The price per person goes down as more people are added to your tour. We have a total of 10 on our tour with SPB and it is around 280 per person and the kids are cheaper. You also have the flexibility to stay as long or as short as you want at each of the stops.

[cindy18]

I asked my terrific DU travel agent if she knew anything about where the Magic would dock in St. Pete and in Oslo. She wrote back that she didn't find out too much from Disney, but what they told her was that the Magic will dock in the main industrial harbor in St. Pete, which is apparently the largest harbor in the country. The Oslo cruise terminal is supposedly within easy walking distance of the city, so that's good. Hope that helps.

[adrianna_sarah]

...but there is a good postscript. After purchasing a home, we thought we'd have to forgo the European vacation alltogether this year until DCL released their military rates. We've now jumped over to the 7 day Barcelona-Dover Repo, which is costing less than our plane tickets to get there. Only had to drop down to a Cat 5, so all is well. It's win-win afterall. It's been nice dreaming with you all. Who knows, maybe if they release military rates on this cruise we'll be back. (Doubtful, though. This one seems to be selling quite well.) Best wishes as you embark on this dream vacation. :goodvibes

Adrianna

[mehaul]

For those of you who have set up private tours in St. Petersburg, what have they mentioned about the order of touring the sites? Many sites are closed on Wednesdays including the Peter & Paul Fortress, St Isaacs Cathedral, Saviour on the Split Blood and some pavilions at Peterhof

[cindy18]

Yes they have, and they've manipulated the schedule well to account for what's closed on which day.

Also, I think the Peter and Paul Fortress is closed on Tuesdays, not Wednesdays. At least that's what Saint-Petersburg.com says.

[TDC Nala]

Decided not to do the private tours in St. Petersburg (or Berlin). Not worth it for just me. My friend and I may actually want to do different tours so it's better for us to work with the ship's tours. I may do the Disney Hermitage tour the first day, maybe the evening boat tour if there's nothing else offered in the evening that'll get me out in the city (I'd really like the Walking Tour but don't know if that'll be offered later in the day), and Pushkin & Peterhof the second day. That ought to do it.

The one I'm really looking forward to is the one in Tallinn where you have lunch in the castle, with booze, and tour the torture chamber.

oh and the Ball...no way. I wouldn't mind seeing Catherine the Great but Disney princesses?

[mardonna]

I was given a list of times for Disney excursion times(I'm in a suite so concierge passed them along to me) and they are not good at all.........so we have completely given up doing any tours with them and have decided to go private....I have emailed all the tour operators I'm aware of Red October, SPB, Alla, Anastasia, and Denrus......they all look great but have no idea who to chose.....I have serached for reviews and they all seem to be excellent....I am traveling with 3 young kids so would want someone tolerant of that for sure....if anyone can offer suggestions I would appreciate it.

[lzj21428]

The Ball was not even on my list of considered tours. Just not something the kids, who are older, would be interested in.

As for all the different tour companies, I think you just have to email them all and see what kind of price you get for what they offer. Also, what kind of feeling you get from the person you deal with. The reason I went with SPB, was not so much price, but the feeling I got from Viktoria.

What plans have you all made getting to Dover? We will be coming into London the day before the cruise and staying in a hotel, most likely the Sheraton Park Towers on Knightsbridge. I have absolutely no interest in trying to lug 5 people and a bunch of luggage on a train, so am looking for private car transportation from airport to hotel, hotel to port and port to airport. Anyone have any links to car services in London?

[lzj21428]

Just cking out all the other Baltic cruiser threads and thought we should start some kind of cruiser list. It can include who's cruising, what cabin/ship location, any celebrations while cruising. I'll start.

Cruising with, Me (Nina), DH (Sam), DD (Laura, 22), DS (Zach, 17), DD (Julie, 14) We have two connecting Cat. 5 rooms, Deck 7. We will be celebrating my ?? birthday on 7/2. This is our 5th Disney Cruise.

Ok, who's next?

[cindy18]

The Ball was not even on my list of considered tours. Just not something the kids, who are older, would be interested in.

As for all the different tour companies, I think you just have to email them all and see what kind of price you get for what they offer. Also, what kind of feeling you get from the person you deal with. The reason I went with SPB, was not so much price, but the feeling I got from Viktoria.

What plans have you all made getting to Dover? We will be coming into London the day before the cruise and staying in a hotel, most likely the Sheraton Park Towers on Knightsbridge. I have absolutely no interest in trying to lug 5 people and a bunch of luggage on a train, so am looking for private car transportation from airport to hotel, hotel to port and port to airport. Anyone have any links to car services in London?

I agree with that. At the end of the day, all the "known" tour companies, large and small, are good and the experience will be great. The only way to choose is to go with your gut feeling.

We are doing something a little risky and flying into Heathrow the morning of the cruise, then having someone drive us to Dover. We've been to London several times before, and I can't really add any vacation days to the trip, so that's what we're doing. We live in NY, and there are so many flights out that we feel pretty comfortable with this approach, and have a very big cushion (we land at Heathrow at 6:30 am), but obviously, it is a little on the edge. We might change our minds and come in a day earlier, in which case we'd stay overnight in Dover and just try to deal with the jet lag.

[ktkspider]

OK my turn,
Traveling Me (Kellie), DH (Tom), DD12, My mom and Dad, Mom's sister and her husband
We are celebrating our anniversary (21yrs) on the 24th:lovestruc
Dad's Birthday on the 21st (a couple of days late)
Mom and Aunt's birthday (twins) on the 28th

Lots of celebrating!
We are in cabins 6634, 6632, 6630

this is my 5th Disney cruise but everyone else ranges from 1st cruise to 4th cruise...
We are flying into Paris spending a couple of days.. then the Eurostar to Canterbury for a couple of days.. then to Dover. After we are spending several days in London!

[TDC Nala]

I was given a list of times for Disney excursion times(I'm in a suite so concierge passed them along to me) and they are not good at all.........so we have completely given up doing any tours with them and have decided to go private....I have emailed all the tour operators I'm aware of Red October, SPB, Alla, Anastasia, and Denrus......they all look great but have no idea who to chose.....I have serached for reviews and they all seem to be excellent....I am traveling with 3 young kids so would want someone tolerant of that for sure....if anyone can offer suggestions I would appreciate it.

I don't know what "not good" means. There isn't any way I'm going to do a private tour. I'd be interested in knowing how the excursion times are "not good at all."

Flying into Heathrow overnight on 6/23 and taking Disney's transfers to Dover.

[cindy18]

Kellie and Nina, we should our DDs connected. I have a DD (Samantha) who will be 14 when we cruise and a DD (Charlotte) who will be 12. Other than that, it's me and DH (Matt). We're in 2 connected 6s (no way we're sharing even a split bath with two girls!!) on Deck 6, I think 6072 and 6074, but I may be remembering wrong.

[mehaul]

We are going to be staying in London at the Renaissance Chancery for a few nigths before the cruise. We are going to use Disney transportation to get us to Dover. It's DW(Lisa), DH(Michael), DD (Emma-9), and DD (Mia-6). We wil be having our 11th wedding anniversary on the cruise. We had our 8th on Disney Med cruise in 2007.

[mardonna]

The Ball was not even on my list of considered tours. Just not something the kids, who are older, would be interested in.

As for all the different tour companies, I think you just have to email them all and see what kind of price you get for what they offer. Also, what kind of feeling you get from the person you deal with. The reason I went with SPB, was not so much price, but the feeling I got from Viktoria.

What plans have you all made getting to Dover? We will be coming into London the day before the cruise and staying in a hotel, most likely the Sheraton Park Towers on Knightsbridge. I have absolutely no interest in trying to lug 5 people and a bunch of luggage on a train, so am looking for private car transportation from airport to hotel, hotel to port and port to airport. Anyone have any links to car services in London?

I am trying the folllowing:

www.britishairportcars.co.uk

Rates were good, online site very good. I am using them for 3 of my transportation needs....the person I dealt with was Chris Mills....I have nnever used them before though.

[mardonna]

I don't know what "not good" means. There isn't any way I'm going to do a private tour. I'd be interested in knowing how the excursion times are "not good at all."

Flying into Heathrow overnight on 6/23 and taking Disney's transfers to Dover.

It means the way the tours are set up...it will be very hard to do the same things you could do with tour compnay.....you have to come back to ship between excursions which seems to waste a lot of time....I thought it was strange the way it was set up.....maybe they will chnage it before sailing....who knows.

[TDC Nala]

ah I see, I was anticipating returning to the ship between tours anyway, I've already done that in France and Monaco. I would just like to be able to get an afternoon and evening tour in on the first day, the evening boat tour at the very least. Maybe just the private White Nights tour thing, wonder if they'll put one person on that.

[lzj21428]

I am trying the folllowing:

www.britishairportcars.co.uk

Rates were good, online site very good. I am using them for 3 of my transportation needs....the person I dealt with was Chris Mills....I have nnever used them before though.

Thanks for the link. I will ck them out.

[mardonna]

I am very confused now.....just talked to Red October and many of the things I asked to see and do he now mentions is just not possible in the time frame we have.....but the other guides seem to see we can do it......who do I believe.....this is all so confusing.

[lzj21428]

I am very confused now.....just talked to Red October and many of the things I asked to see and do he now mentions is just not possible in the time frame we have.....but the other guides seem to see we can do it......who do I believe.....this is all so confusing.

Get in touch with all the other tour companies and see what they have to say.

What type of schedule and what particular sights do you want to see?

[mardonna]

Get in touch with all the other tour companies and see what they have to say.

What type of schedule and what particular sights do you want to see?

We planned on the following:

City highlights
Catherines Palace
Hermitage
Peterhov

Spilled blood
St Issacs
Peter fortress

just 30 min stops at church nothing crazy.....eatig on the go...sandwiches or something.....some of the tour guides even offer metro ride and some shopping....so a little confused.

[cindy18]

We planned on the following:

City highlights
Catherines Palace
Hermitage
Peterhov

Spilled blood
St Issacs
Peter fortress

just 30 min stops at church nothing crazy.....eatig on the go...sandwiches or something.....some of the tour guides even offer metro ride and some shopping....so a little confused.

That's what you want to do over the full two days? You can definitely do that. Red October doesn't sound like it's flexible enough. For example, you could do a city tour, Peterhof and Peter and Paul Fortress on the first day (take the hydrofoil to Peterhof to save time) and then start the 2nd day with Spilled Blood and St. Isaacs, do Hermitage around lunch and then go to Catherine's. That's more or less what we're doing. Don't worry, just use a different tour company!

[lzj21428]

I agree with Cindy, just contact the other tour companies. When you do, lay out your desires/timeline. I'm sure you will find a tour company that will work with you. SPB seemed very flexible and willing to work out the perfect itinerary for me. I can even make changes to my plan up to a month before the cruise.

I don't think that you can go wrong with whomever you chose. All the tour companies get really good reviews.

Good luck and let us know what you find out.

Nina

[lzj21428]

http://denrus-us.com/ccs4/calendar.php?off_ships_pc_detail_portcDate=2010-06

Here's a link that was posted on the Baltic thread that shows what other ships are in port the same time as the Magic.

[mardonna]

I also noticed this morning that with Disney excursions they all leave before nursery opens so that will put a kink in peoples schedules as well.....

[mardonna]

We will be traveling with 4 kids under 9 and 3 adults......the Disney Shorex they are offering always seem to leave something out.....what are the must sees? They have a great excursions to Peinsula....with all that stuff.....and then I could also fir one in of the city highlights but then would miss Nobel.....so perpelxed...thought about doing on our own with buses or hoho but feel like we should really be "guided " per se with kids and such......

HELP!!!!

You will be hearing from me on other ports as they days progress....

[TDC Nala]

With the time you have on a cruise, it's not possible to see everything in port. You need to choose what's most important to you.

[cindy18]

We will be traveling with 4 kids under 9 and 3 adults......the Disney Shorex they are offering always seem to leave something out.....what are the must sees? They have a great excursions to Peinsula....with all that stuff.....and then I could also fir one in of the city highlights but then would miss Nobel.....so perpelxed...thought about doing on our own with buses or hoho but feel like we should really be "guided " per se with kids and such......

HELP!!!!

You will be hearing from me on other ports as they days progress....

Not sure what to recommend, as our kids are older and we only have 2 of them. We did take them to Europe when they were young, and generally we just did the cities on our own with them. Sometimes we got a guide for a specific location where we felt it was important to have someone explain things the right way (for example, at the Coliseum in Rome), but otherwise we used public transportation or taxis, figured out from guidebooks and internet stuff (like Frommers) where we wanted to go and just went. It worked very well. Apart from St. Pete and Berlin, the cities all seem incredibly user friendly (for example we recently watched a Samantha Brown episode on Copenhagen, and she emphasized over and over how close to the city center everything was and how easy it was to get around), and we're going to try to figure out what sites are most important to us and which ones we think the kids will like the most and then just go do them. So long as taxis are easy enough to find to take us back to the boat if we really mess up, I think we'll be ok. Hope that helps.

[parkaroo]

We are going on this cruise also just starting to research ports and excursions. We are going to do an European vacation before and after the cruise. Planning to arrive to Dover by ferry boat from Calais. Does anyone have any experience with the ferry?

[grizbuzz]

Just cking out all the other Baltic cruiser threads and thought we should start some kind of cruiser list. It can include who's cruising, what cabin/ship location, any celebrations while cruising. I'll start.

Cruising with, Me (Nina), DH (Sam), DD (Laura, 22), DS (Zach, 17), DD (Julie, 14) We have two connecting Cat. 5 rooms, Deck 7. We will be celebrating my ?? birthday on 7/2. This is our 5th Disney Cruise.

Ok, who's next?


Looks like thread is starting to get a little more active!

TDC Nala: is there anyway to get a roster going on one of the first pages for who is going on the cruise?

Here's our group: Me (Jen), DH (John), DS (Max, 7), DS (Nico, 5), MIL, SIL and her 2 DSs (5,7) and baby.

This is my immediate family's 4th Disney cruise. It will be first Disney cruise for MIL and SIL and family.

I'll be coming in from Switzerland where we are living for a couple of years. We may be doing the Calais ferry. I'm not sure how we are going to travel over to Dover.

Right now only planning on doing excursions in St Pete with private tour group. I am interested in the Catherine's Ball through Disney, but my DH and DSs are not yet into it. I'm not sure if it's worth doing if I'm the only one interested, but the family pictures could be priceless.

Happy planning everyone!

[mardonna]

Looks like thread is starting to get a little more active!

TDC Nala: is there anyway to get a roster going on one of the first pages for who is going on the cruise?

Here's our group: Me (Jen), DH (John), DS (Max, 7), DS (Nico, 5), MIL, SIL and her 2 DSs (5,7) and baby.

This is my immediate family's 4th Disney cruise. It will be first Disney cruise for MIL and SIL and family.

I'll be coming in from Switzerland where we are living for a couple of years. We may be doing the Calais ferry. I'm not sure how we are going to travel over to Dover.

Right now only planning on doing excursions in St Pete with private tour group. I am interested in the Catherine's Ball through Disney, but my DH and DSs are not yet into it. I'm not sure if it's worth doing if I'm the only one interested, but the family pictures could be priceless.

Happy planning everyone!

I just don't think Disney has given enough information about the Disney Princess at catherine's palace to want me shell out $400 a person....we are a family of 6....