July 22, 2015 * 12-night Northern European Cruise!

[Celestine]

The ship exchange is a terrible rate. I am UK based as as my cards are pretty much fee free for international transactions I will just be getting out money for the ATM or paying by card. This usually gives the best rate.

The ship handles everything in dollars so if you are not from the U.S. make sure your card won't sting you for fees.

In the UK Russian Roubles are on the tougher end to get at exchanges and most recommend using an ATM. The most useful currencies to have for the trip if you plan only to get some are dollars and Euros.

There are a number of low charge exchanges in the UK (I posted a link previously) which are especially lower if you preorder and collect although some deliver (even to hotels in some cases).

In the UK I have bought roubles at Thomas Exchange global. They have a few branches in London and their rates are very competitive for all currencies

 

[Deb T.]

The ship handles everything in dollars so if you are not from the U.S. make sure your card won't sting you for fees.

Just wanted to let everyone know that in 2010, the ship would only accept cash when exchanging for other currencies.

 

[disneylove619]

Love these boards-always learn so much! We are coming from the states and are wanting to be able to check in on things at home. Are we better off to arrange our plan with Verizon or buy a disposable phone overseas?

Also DH and I are big foodies. Any recommendations at any of the ports? We are on wait list for Noma in Copenhagen.

Thanks in advance! Happy Mothers Day weekend to all the moms out there!

 

[awaghorn]

Re phone service there were some conversations on this earlier in the thread. Key thing to remember is there is no "European" sim so most cheap disposable phones will be for the country you get them in only and will have astronomical roaming costs elsewhere. There are a few UK options that have ok-ish roaming but you will still be calling the U.S. so that would be an international call from the UK at least. You might want to look into the 3 network which I think generally tends to offer the best of this sort of deal for pay as you go.

On the other hand if you can check in by email / iMessage or similar you could look at using the ship wifi or free wifi in most of the ports.

 

[Celestine]

Love these boards-always learn so much! We are coming from the states and are wanting to be able to check in on things at home. Are we better off to arrange our plan with Verizon or buy a disposable phone overseas?

Also DH and I are big foodies. Any recommendations at any of the ports? We are on wait list for Noma in Copenhagen.

Thanks in advance! Happy Mothers Day weekend to all the moms out there!

The three package is great. It also has an option which allows you to use your allowance in other countries rather than pay extortionate fees. If you only want to check e-mail etc. best bet is to do it at port and find a Starbucks, McDonalds etc. or just follow the crew!

 

[Deb T.]

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms and Mums out there!

 

[Celestine]

Well, I 've just completed a dry run of my FE gift and it has worked . Now just to get everything together to make the rest. I'm a sky's the limit person, so based on page 1 I'm planning on making 35 to start with (which hopefully will give me couple spare to hand out as magical moments)

 

[Florian]

The three package is great. It also has an option which allows you to use your allowance in other countries rather than pay extortionate fees. If you only want to check e-mail etc. best bet is to do it at port and find a Starbucks, McDonalds etc. or just follow the crew!

Three are very good. For £15 you can get a SIM with gives you unlimited data in the UK and "unlimited" (capped at 25GB) data in their Feel At Home Countries which for our trip include Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki. We have used them on every trip through Europe and they have been absolutely great.

Tallinn has really good city wide wi-fi.

St Petersburg is not so great but some cafes have wifi (MacDonalds is a good bet). Phone and data charges in Russia are horrifically high.

I don't know if any UK SIMs which give bargain calls to the US, but if you use data instead of phone Three is a good bet (or wifi which is also relatively commonplace in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki).

Some of the US providers may have packages, but I don't know anything about them.

 

[Californiacruisers]

Love these boards-always learn so much! We are coming from the states and are wanting to be able to check in on things at home. Are we better off to arrange our plan with Verizon or buy a disposable phone overseas?

Also DH and I are big foodies. Any recommendations at any of the ports? We are on wait list for Noma in Copenhagen.

Thanks in advance! Happy Mothers Day weekend to all the moms out there!

Verizon will do an international plan. I have them activate it the day i leave and then de-activate it the day I come home, last time it ended up costing me $20 for the trip and gave me the same data, unlimited texting and 99 cents a minute for the calling. I used the email and texting mroe than anything.

 

[krisinparis]

Well, I 've just completed a dry run of my FE gift and it has worked . Now just to get everything together to make the rest. I'm a sky's the limit person, so based on page 1 I'm planning on making 35 to start with (which hopefully will give me couple spare to hand out as magical moments)

Starting to get my FE stuff together also! I can't wait!

 

[Scrapcomber]

Just joining up, booked for my first Disney Cruise a few weeks ago. I am going with my friend Janet. Another friend told me about Fish Extenders, so as a complete Disney cruise newbie I was grateful to houseofduck for pointing me in this direction

Lynne.

 

[Scrapcomber]

Is there still time to sign up to the fish extender swap please. There will be two of us, both adults, with many grandchildren waiting at home to hear about our cruise with Mickey and friends

Forgot to say we are on the Disney Magic sailing July 22nd

 

[Scrapcomber]

I need 10 posts to send my PM, hope this is it

 

[Scrapcomber]

For some reason I still can't send a PM any ideas anyone?

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

For some reason I still can't send a PM any ideas anyone?

Look at your settings " options" " contacts" maybe turn on Private messages.

 

[Celestine]

For some reason I still can't send a PM any ideas anyone?

No, but I'm sure Deb. T will send you one. She is the FE co-ordinator

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Just joining up, booked for my first Disney Cruise a few weeks ago. I am going with my friend Janet. Another friend told me about Fish Extenders, so as a complete Disney cruise newbie I was grateful to houseofduck for pointing me in this direction

Lynne.

Welcome!

 

[krisinparis]

Just joining up, booked for my first Disney Cruise a few weeks ago. I am going with my friend Janet. Another friend told me about Fish Extenders, so as a complete Disney cruise newbie I was grateful to houseofduck for pointing me in this direction

Lynne.

Welcome! Glad you found us. The Fish Extenders are fun and I'm sure you'll come back with lots of stuff to share with the grandkids!

 

[Deb T.]

Is there still time to sign up to the fish extender swap please. There will be two of us, both adults, with many grandchildren waiting at home to hear about our cruise with Mickey and friends

Forgot to say we are on the Disney Magic sailing July 22nd

Scrapcomber! So glad you found us! I've added you and your friend to the Roll Call on page 1. I also sent you a private message so you can just reply to it with your FE info.

 

[pilawpina]

Hello! Posting so that I can get to 10 and send Deb T our names for Fish Extender.