Just off the Northern Europe

[janiebubble]

sitting in Copenhagen airport waiting for our flight. Am planning to try and do a port based trip report when I get back but happy to answer specific questions if I can ..

 

[Geomom]

Did you enjoy your cruise? Where did you stay in Copenhagen? We're doing this cruise next August! I look forward to reading your trip report when you're back.

 

[janiebubble]

Did you enjoy your cruise? Where did you stay in Copenhagen? We're doing this cruise next August! I look forward to reading your trip report when you're back.

We stayed one night in the Scandic Copenhagen. Super convenient for the station (train for airport is so quick and straightforward) & Tivoli and a taxi rank outside making getting to the port easy. Cruise was fantastic

 

[FamilyHolidayPlanner]

Did you do embarkation lunch in Cariocas? I heard it's a la carte now? What was the menu like?

My son would like to know what marvel characters were onboard?

We are really looking forward to boarding the Magic again in August. In the meantime I look forward to your TR

 

[janiebubble]

We ate at Cabanas not Carioca's sorry, I will check the navigator when I unpack!

Thor and Spider-Man were definitely onboard, again I'll check there wasn't anyone else!

 

[minervarocks]

Would love to hear all about it! We are on the June 11 sailing -- any advice? Favorite port? Weather?

 

[scgustafson]

How cute are Sarah and Omar of the Cruise Staff Team as a couple?

 

[Missmilphie]

I'm just back too - there was captain America as well. Also jack sparrow if he's looking for "boy" characters.

We stayed in the hotel Tivoli which was nice (close to tivoli but a bit out of centre though) and I think where Disney send people.

Stockholm was soooo beautiful - make sure you watch the cruise in from deck / balcony

 

[Dopey416]

we're leaving for Copenhagen on 6/8, staying at Tivoli hotel and boarding the Magic on 6/11. How was the weather? What was your favorite port, any excursions that are a must do? We only have the walking tour in St.Petersburgh and then the Ballet. Any suggestions/advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[PHamrick]

Did you enjoy your cruise? Where did you stay in Copenhagen? We're doing this cruise next August! I look forward to reading your trip report when you're back.

We will see you on that trip! We are going August of 2018 too. OP: I hope you do write a trip report. Basically, I want to know everything!

Did you take any Disney excursions? How was Tallinn? Did they do Frozen at Sea or whatever it was called? How was the weather? I would love to know anything!!

 

[janiebubble]

We will see you on that trip! We are going August of 2018 too. OP: I hope you do write a trip report. Basically, I want to know everything!

Did you take any Disney excursions? How was Tallinn? Did they do Frozen at Sea or whatever it was called? How was the weather? I would love to know anything!!

The only Disney excursion we did was in St Petersburg. We did the adult only City Highlights and Hermitage. That was a long day!! Weather was varied! Copenhagen so sunny and t shirt weather. Tallin was generally bright and sunny. Russia grey and light rain. Helsinki did everything from sun to sleet/hail. Sweden was lovely and sunny.

No pirate night but Frozen day with children's deck party between dining services

 

[minervarocks]

Do you happen to know who is playing the piano in Keys? A gentleman in our Facebook group wants to know -- I'm a seasoned cruiser in general, this is our third DCL. Did you purchase wine on board? or the package? if so what were your impressions?

 

[janiebubble]

The two pianists were Bongo Maestro and Ed Kelly

Sorry all the wine we purchased was one glass of Prosecco in Palo. No one on our table at dinner was drinking wine either!

 

[minervarocks]

The two pianists were Bongo Maestro and Ed Kelly

Sorry all the wine we purchased was one glass of Prosecco in Palo. No one on our table at dinner was drinking wine either!

Thanks! I'll pass the info along --

 

[ellab]

We're going on 6/18. Can't wait!

 

[bobbyz70]

Sailing on 6/18 as well. Cannot wait for you report!

 

[Ware Bears]

We were on this cruise also! Had a brilliant time despite the cold! We have been to Alaska with DCL twice but this cruise seemed much colder due to high winds which we didn't have on either of our Alaskan trips.

We stayed at the Scandic Webers hotel which was also very easy for the main train station and Tivoli Gardens. We also caught the train from CPH to the main station (very easy to do and plenty of space for luggage), took a taxi to the port on the day of the cruise and used DCL transport to CPH on disembarkation day.

We only had an afternoon and evening in Copenhagen pre-cruise (and lost 3 hours due to the BA fiasco) but spent our time there following the Rick Steves walking tour ending up at the Little Mermaid where we could also see the Magic docked.

We ate at Cariocas on embarkation day - this is the menu here, DH had the beef empanadas, we both had the gumbo then DH had the beef sirloin and I had the chicken caesar salad and we both had the welcome aboard sundae - all was good. It was very calm and unhurried in there - I've always preferred to go and eat up on deck on embarkation day previously as opposed to the buffet inside whereas DH prefers inside so we usually take it in turns but this made such a lovely start to the cruise that we'll probably choose this every time now if they continue to offer it.

We didn't do any excursion bar St Petersburg where we did a private excursion with Anastasia which I can thoroughly recommend - city highlights, Peterhof, Catherine Palace, Hermitage, Peter and Paul Fortress and canal boat trip. St Petersburg etc was stunning despite the grey skies and constant rain so it must be even more beautiful in sunshine.

In both Tallinn and Stockholm we followed the Rick Steves walking tour and in Helsinki we purchased tram tickets at the tourist info office and visited the Rock Church and the Sibelius monument via tram.

A couple of tips re souvenir shopping:- when you get back to the port at Tallinn there's a very good set-up of souvenir kiosks (good stuff not just tacky) and some of the items were quite a bit cheaper than we'd seen it for sale in the town. This is the port to buy anything made out of juniper, you'll pay double and nearly triple the price if you wait to buy in Helsinki and Stockholm. Sea Treasures was taken over as a Russian shop for the whole cruise - selling Faberge, amber, matryoshka dolls, lacquer boxes etc so no need to stress if you don't get chance to shop much on your tour. I had really wanted to buy a lacquer box but didn't see anything I liked in the museum shops which were very hot and crowded and although there are several shops at the port they were extremely pushy and so I walked away without purchasing because they really got my back up! There were two experts onboard with the Russian goods and they were entirely the opposite and very patient - I visited about four times before I made my final decision and if I irritated them they didn't let it show! I thought I'd end up paying more on the ship but IMO the prices were better than in the port shops plus I was able to use my gold discount. Not everything in there is expensive either, there were inexpensive hair slides, fridge magnets, Christmas decorations too.

I can't help with the wine package either as we're not huge drinkers - we had a bottle of prosecco in our stateroom as part of the Romance package (which lasted us the whole week ) and then I buy it by the glass if I fancy it, usually the Beringer zinfandel.

Hope you all have a lovely time on your cruises - I loved this itinerary, the only thing that could have beaten it would have been an overnight in St Petersburg. I definitely hope to do this cruise again one day!

 

[Coss]

We did all four days without a single Disney excurison (we did hire an outside tour guide at Russia to avoid the visa). Outside of St Petersburg, you can certainly go around and tour most of the other three places yourself. I wouldn't waste money on them. Helsinki was pretty disappointing, but I am sure the cold weather didn't help. As far as souvenir goes, most of the stops had the usual tourist traps. I think Estonia is the place to get them as they are usually much cheaper there. My wife bought a wool scarf/hat combo from a street vendor under the city gate for like 20 euros, the same thing went for 90 euros in the recommended tourist shop in Helsinki.

In Copenhagen, it's the usual church, palace and basically stroll around town. It's another beautiful city to look around. Of course, there is the famous Tivoli Garden.

 

[janiebubble]

I've started a trip report https://www.disboards.com/threads/i...reason-a-northern-europe-trip-report.3609365/

 

[Ladybugx87]

Did you enjoy your cruise? Where did you stay in Copenhagen? We're doing this cruise next August! I look forward to reading your trip report when you're back.

We were also on this cruise and stayed at the Marriott. It's just a few blocks from Tivoli.