Baltic Ballyhoo Trip report 7/18/10, pre trip

[alanapapa]

Hello all,
As I told Justmestsace when she and her family were in Seattle visiting, I am going to try and do a live TR. I will also be blogging at: Another Disney Cruise

We are now 52 hours prior to leaving and a little packing has been done. While we are not officially participating in the FE, we will be bringing ours and we have gifts to distribute. We have postcards purchased, but they are not labeled yet. The most distressing thing is that the door signs I have been creating over the last two years have vanished from my computer. I have jpg versions of most of them and I will recreate some and not bother with others. I have the time as my six week sabbatical started today. My DW Caropooh has to work today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. She works until 2:00 PM and the shuttle to the airport picks us up around 4:00 PM.

I will update later, either this evening or tomorrow morning.

 

[MrsG]

I'll be following along Andrew - see you on the 18th!

 

[Missy1961]

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[JetsMets]

I am going to try to be away from the computer as much as possible this trip, but I'll post when it is over.

Have you checked out the weather predictions at all?

From what I see sounds like mostly in the low 70's for high temps and maybe some fairly bad weather in Oslo (the next 2 stops look a little better).

Have an awesome time, I can't wait to fly over to London - leaving on Friday.

 

[Caropooh]

I am going to try to be away from the computer as much as possible this trip, but I'll post when it is over.

Have you checked out the weather predictions at all?

From what I see sounds like mostly in the low 70's for high temps and maybe some fairly bad weather in Oslo (the next 2 stops look a little better).

Have an awesome time, I can't wait to fly over to London - leaving on Friday.

our plane leaves in 10 hours and 43 minutes and I have 5 hours and 43 minutes left here at work, but who's counting!

 

[Madisonznana]

Yeah Andrew Looking forward to reading!

 

[alanapapa]

Hi all,
The day is here, the shuttle comes in 4 hours and DD16 still is not packed, big surprise. Right now she is "folding clothes" prior to putting them in the suitcase. She has been doing that for almost an hour. We are waiting on Caro to get home from work and then we will do the last last minute search for overlooked items. We might have to buy a few things in London.

 

[JetsMets]

at 5:00am tomorrow and for the 4 of us we are probably 70-80% packed at this point, not too bad.

 

[alanapapa]

We arrived at the Comfort Inn Victoria without too many problems. Caro's glasses broke during the flight (she was trying to sleep and took them off), flight was delayed leaving, so delayed arriving meant we missed bus to Victoria Station, and we could not figure out how to get to the bus stop we needed at Heathrow. After asking 4 different people and getting different answers we figured it out. Due to problems on the streets, the bus we caught was running late and we were able to board a few minutes after finding the stop.

London is great, what we have seen of it. We had to walk a bit and talk to three different opticians before we found a solution to Caro's glasses.

Will post later. Time to find dinner (or supper, or whatever it is called here).

 

[Cmdbuddy]

Hey guys, you are in for the best vacation of your life! We had an absolute blast.

I know I've asked around on several threads, but just to make sure- can somebody please videotape the "If I Were Not Upon the Sea" by the Cruise Staff on the last night? I know the actual skit is on youtube, but it's other crew members from years ago and I'd love to have a copy of it with the current cruise staff.

Thank you so much! If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer any!

 

[alanapapa]

For some reason, neither converter wants to work so both laptops have dead batteries. We won't be able to recharge them until we board the MAGIC tomorrow.

Last night we did the London Eye and River Cruise. Gary and Sandy were right ahead of us in line for the cruise so we introduced ourselves. As we were getting off, we saw Laurie and family. Kelly and Kathryn spent the rest of the evening talking. The whole group did the EYE, and then went to find PORTERS. It was definately a group effort. The resturant seated all 10 of us as a group. We met SAMANATHASMOM, who were almost finished eating, and MrsG. As we were leaving, Nicole (POOHMOMOF5) stopped me and we talked a bit.

Caro was able to get new glasses, since Vision Express could not get bi-focals done before Monday she has two pairs, one for distance and one for reading. This meant we did not get much done yesterday as by the time lunch was over it was 13:30 and River Cruise was 15:45. We walked to the EYE, about half hour walk, passing Westminster Abbey and the House of Parliment.

 

[JetsMets]

My 2 daughters and I just finished the London Eye (loved it) and got some Ice Cream too (Allison wanted me to mention that).

We also did the double decker bus tour today, my wife and her mom are currently on the river cruise.

So looking forward to the cruise tomorrow, but this has been a great day as well.



4MPC52

 

[buck4568]

My 2 daughters and I just finished the London Eye (loved it) and got some Ice Cream too (Allison wanted me to mention that).

We also did the double decker bus tour today, my wife and her mom are currently on the river cruise.

So looking forward to the cruise tomorrow, but this has been a great day as well.



4MPC52

I bought that ice cream on June 22th, just to the left as you walk off the eye! It was so good!

Have a wonderfull adventure. It was the best vacation/cruise of our lives, so far anyway! And keep posting! By the way, we found that the morning was giving the best internet speed on the ship.

And, pre-typed some stuff on the computer note pad or word document before logging onto the internet so it was not wasting time and money when online! Just copied and paste!

 

[alanapapa]

Well today we crammed as much sightseeing in as possible, starting off with the HoHo bus. After doing a complete circuit on one line, we switched over to another and rode down to Westminster Abbey and decided to tour it. It was fantastic seeing the inside and all the tombstones and crypts as well as all the other monuments there. After that we jumped on another bus to the Tower of London, but arrived there too late to enter. We walked around a bit after that and then flagged a taxi to Planet Hollywood and then another tube ride to Victoria Station and walk back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we board the Ballyhoo Party Bus #2 and get to see the Mouse.

 

[alanapapa]

We are onboard the MAGIC. Paul, Celestine's DH did a FANTASTIC job arranging the Ballyhoo Busses. We got here by 11:45 and we were given group # 8. By 12:30 we were onboard changing Palo reservations and then going to eat at Parrot Cay. We talked to one of the Dining Managers about Gluten Free options. He had one of the chefs come talk to us after we had been seated and he asked Kathryn's choices and went to prepare them fresh.

Time for the lifeboat drill.

 

[Caropooh]

Hey guys, you are in for the best vacation of your life! We had an absolute blast.

I know I've asked around on several threads, but just to make sure- can somebody please videotape the "If I Were Not Upon the Sea" by the Cruise Staff on the last night? I know the actual skit is on youtube, but it's other crew members from years ago and I'd love to have a copy of it with the current cruise staff.

Thank you so much! If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer any!

We saw Ponz today on Deck 9 and he told us there won't be a Crew Talent show on this cruise, so we may not be able to do that for you.

 

[smeecanada]

We saw Ponz today on Deck 9 and he told us there won't be a Crew Talent show on this cruise, so we may not be able to do that for you.

Carolyn - Can you find out if Ponz will still be on the ship for the Oct 23 sailing? Is David on your sailing? Too bad Pikey has left.

 

[Caropooh]

Carolyn - Can you find out if Ponz will still be on the ship for the Oct 23 sailing? Is David on your sailing? Too bad Pikey has left.

I'll be on the look out for Ponz! I'm not sure who David is! Peter is the CD. We walked by bingo today a d were very sad that CAPTAIN BINGO wasn't calling, it's sure not the same without Pikey.

 

[sailingby]

We're just off the 7/6 Baltic. Bon Voyage to all those taking our places. We had a fabulous time and are still upset that they kicked us off! It went by terribly quickly, so enjoy every minute!

I'm also wondering if someone can record the Pub Night skit from the final night this time around (it's not the same as the talent show). It was far too funny and this cruise staff was the BEST we've had in a while and they did a great job with it. Trevor and Joe made the show. Speaking of Trevor, he was our Bingo King. And if you get the chance to do Bingo... DO IT. Ponz was also on our trip and marvelous. David (Canada) was not on board. I think the whole cruise staff was Trevor, Joe, Ponz, Neville, Katrina, Melanie, Hilda, Di, Tisa as club hostess, and DJ Rev. Forgive me if I forgot anyone.

Interesting that Peter is still the CD. Brent boarded the ship in Stockholm on our cruise and was sailing as a guest for the last few days. He told us he would resume work on the 7/18 voyage. Wonder if he's doing backstage stuff for now...

 

[smeecanada]

I'll be on the look out for Ponz! I'm not sure who David is! Peter is the CD. We walked by bingo today a d were very sad that CAPTAIN BINGO wasn't calling, it's sure not the same without Pikey.

That would be great thanks. David was in charge of all the entertainment in Rockin D on the Panama trip - he wore the tutu in the crew skit on the last night. Just reading the above post that David wasn't on board - hopefully he's just on a break and we'll see him in October.