Question for 2015 European cruisers....

[imbelle]

Thanks for the info. Guess I'll be going through Active Geiranger for the kayaking. Still crossing my fingers that the Pulpit Rock tour is available when I can book.

 

[krisinparis]

Thanks for the updates everyone!

 

[snchpnz]

On the May 30th Northern Europe here. So far in Tallinn the Private Van and the Marzipan workshop have sold out. In St. Petersburg the private Minibus and Van have sold out and so has the "City Highlights and Hermitage" tour. In Helsinki the "Finnish Countryside and Helsinki Highlights" and the "Helsinki from Land and Sea" tours have sold out. In Stockholm everything is still available.

 

[Crisi83]

on the May 30th you only have one day in St Petersburg, right? We will have two days and I was just wondering if most tours are offered both days.... also, shorter tours, like St. Petersburg introduction, do those only have one time they are offered, or do they do like an afternoon and morning option?

 

[snchpnz]

Yes, only one day for us in St. Petersburg. From what I remember the short tours all leave in the early morning and are back sometime around 1 and 2 pm. I think the canal tour and the shopping tour are the only ones that have a later starting time. I can't check on my phone right now. In general the start times Disney chose for their excursions are really bad. If you want to do something during the day and then something at night it's impossible to book without there being too little time in between excursions or having a big gap of nothing to do in the middle of the day. The night tours start at around 6:45 pm. There's technically enough time to do some full day tours and the night tours but Disney doesn't let you book them on their website. I read that there has to be something like 90 minutes in between excursions and it seems like they've purposely timed the full day tours so that they overlap in that 90 minute window with the night tours. I ended up having to book the 8 hour private car and the Hermitage at night in order to fill in my day. I couldn't even do the ballet at night because there was not enough time in between the excursions. I played with most combinations and the private car was the only tour that took up a full day and brought us back in time to do something at night.

 

[Four Swampers]

Thanks for the info. Guess I'll be going through Active Geiranger for the kayaking. Still crossing my fingers that the Pulpit Rock tour is available when I can book.

If you are exceptionally daring, you could do the hike to Pulpit Rock on your own (or with my dad and I: we are doing it on our own) through this company:

http://www.tidereiser.com/hikingtour-pulpitrock

So, Tide Reiser sells you tickets for the ferry from Stavanger to Tau, then for the bus from the ferry to pulpit rock parking. Then you hike on your own, then take bus and ferry back.

A little daring of my dad and I to do this without the DCL person to make sure we are back at such-and-such time, but I think we can pull it off. Doing it ourselves cost $32.50 per person. With DCL: $195 a person. Since DCL can't make me hike any faster and uses the same ferry we'll be using, I don't mind saving $160 each!

 

[Crisi83]

Yes, only one day for us in St. Petersburg. From what I remember the short tours all leave in the early morning and are back sometime around 1 and 2 pm. I think the canal tour and the shopping tour are the only ones that have a later starting time. I can't check on my phone right now. In general the start times Disney chose for their excursions are really bad. If you want to do something during the day and then something at night it's impossible to book without there being too little time in between excursions or having a big gap of nothing to do in the middle of the day. The night tours start at around 6:45 pm. There's technically enough time to do some full day tours and the night tours but Disney doesn't let you book them on their website. I read that there has to be something like 90 minutes in between excursions and it seems like they've purposely timed the full day tours so that they overlap in that 90 minute window with the night tours. I ended up having to book the 8 hour private car and the Hermitage at night in order to fill in my day. I couldn't even do the ballet at night because there was not enough time in between the excursions. I played with most combinations and the private car was the only tour that took up a full day and brought us back in time to do something at night.

Glad to know what time the evening tours are, we are hoping to do the Hermitage at night, as long as it doesn't fill up! Our day time plan had been to then do the shorter boat tour or bus tour, then on our second day do Peterhof and Catherines. Hopefully all of our options time out right and don't fill up! Since I'm brining my daughter on the city tour, I don't mind a gap before evening so I have time to take her back and get her settled to do the nursery while we do the evening at the Hermitage.

Talking about excursions makes me so excited!

 

[michellekcm]

Keeping an eye on this thread! We're on July 22, and while it's looking like we'll be mostly DIY or non-DCL tours, there are a few DCL possibilities we're keeping open about.

Do any of the currently open cruises have a Ballet Master Class in St. Petersburg? If so, what time is it listed for?

On the May 30 Baltics it's at 1:45. I don't know if there were more and that's all that's left (I'm silver), but that's all I can book.

 

[lizajane]

I find that unless the trip is particularly long or far away in distance or specially unique to disney, it's so much cheaper through outside companies and you have pretty much the same experience.

 

[Crisi83]

Well for us, Denmark we are going to do our own thing, Germany we want to go to Berlin and I don't trust getting back to the ship and all on our own... Sweden we are looking at the children's museum, which it seems like we could maybe do on our own... St Petersburg seems pretty intimidating on our own, and we are leaving the baby, sooooo.... Tallinn and Finland are a little more up in the air, probably a bus tour. It just feels like getting our own excursions is a lot more work and scheduling!

Normally we travel totally on our own, we don't usually do a trip that "caters" to us like a cruise will. And missing the ship is a major fear, so it just seems easier to go with Disney's excursions. I think i would be more comfortable if I better understood the aspects of cruising, like how long it takes to get off and on the boat and just all those details that are unfamiliar.

 

[imbelle]

Thanks Four Swampers. I'd prefer to go through Disney for the pulpit rock tour since everything I'm finding seems to time it as an 8 hour excursion. But I had come across Tide Reiser and Rodne as possible alternatives if the Disney excursion to Pulpit Rock is full so we might be out there winging it with you. There is a post on Trip Advisor from someone who used Tide Riser for at least part of the way and they said they were able to do it within their port time so apparently it is doable.

 

[awaghorn]

Glad to know what time the evening tours are, we are hoping to do the Hermitage at night, as long as it doesn't fill up! Our day time plan had been to then do the shorter boat tour or bus tour, then on our second day do Peterhof and Catherines. Hopefully all of our options time out right and don't fill up! Since I'm brining my daughter on the city tour, I don't mind a gap before evening so I have time to take her back and get her settled to do the nursery while we do the evening at the Hermitage.

Talking about excursions makes me so excited!

Ironically that is exactly what we were hoping to do.

My main concerns are whether the evening Hermitage sells out before we can book (only silver) and the timing of the Peterhof / St Catherine tour as it lists it as 9 hours so it would be tight for day 1 before an evening trip but good for day 2 if it fits. I am hoping they offer on both days.

 

[krisinparis]

Do the night tours give a return time? We are booked on a private tour during the day so we could get back in time for an evening excursion. However, I don't want to be out super late since we have a second day of touring.

 

[NancyIL]

Hi, I'm on the June 6th Norway cruise but I'm only a lowly silver Castaway Club member so I can't book excursions until March 8th. I'd like to book the Pulpit Rock excursion in Stavanger, the kayaking in Geiranger, and the adult Path of Trolls excursion in Alesund. Can anyone please tell me if these are sold out already? No point in being on the computer at midnight if they are already gone and I have to start looking outside of Disney for my excursions. Also, has anyone seen Palo Tea being offered on the days at sea? I haven't cruised Disney since 2010 and I heard they don't do it anymore but hope springs eternal.

In general - I agree with Disney Fantasy about private tour operators. However, I booked several (Royal Caribbean) ship tours on a Norway cruise in 2012 because there were far fewer private tour options there than in the Mediterranean or Baltic ports. My favorite ship tour was the Path of the Trolls from Alesund, so I hope you can book it.

 

[snchpnz]

Do the night tours give a return time? We are booked on a private tour during the day so we could get back in time for an evening excursion. However, I don't want to be out super late since we have a second day of touring.

Yes they do. For example the "Evening at the Hermitage" excursion is between 3.5 and 4 hours long. The excursion starts at 6:45 so the reservation shows the return time as 10:45.

 

[kandt]

My favorite ship tour was the Path of the Trolls from Alesund, so I hope you can book it.

Could you tell me more about the Path of Trolls ship tour you took? It looks very scenic, but it's seems to be a long time on a bus. We are trying to decide if we should do it. Thanks for your help!

 

[NancyIL]

Could you tell me more about the Path of Trolls ship tour you took? It looks very scenic, but it's seems to be a long time on a bus. We are trying to decide if we should do it. Thanks for your help!

My tour was similar to DCL's that includes lunch, except in reverse order:http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/c...alesund-norway/path-of-the-trolls-with-lunch/. You will spend about as much time on the bus as off it, but I didn't find the bus time to be excessive.

 

[snchpnz]

Here's screenshots of all the excursions available for St. Petersburg on the May 30th cruise. It includes the start time, length, and price of the excursion. We are only there one day from 8:30 AM to 11:45 PM so our tour options may be different from those staying two days. I arranged the excursions by length from shortest to longest. Sold out excursions are at the end. Start times for those are the same as the other similar excursions. It seems like the length between excursions needs to be 2 hours and not 90 minutes. I attempted to book the 8 hour private car that starts at 8:30 AM and ends at 4:30 PM along with the Night at the Ballet that starts at 6:00 PM and I was not allowed to do that even though there was 90 minutes between excursions.

 

[Crisi83]

Ironically that is exactly what we were hoping to do.

My main concerns are whether the evening Hermitage sells out before we can book (only silver) and the timing of the Peterhof / St Catherine tour as it lists it as 9 hours so it would be tight for day 1 before an evening trip but good for day 2 if it fits. I am hoping they offer on both days.

Well if you don't get it, I have no chance as a first time cruiser! We'll be happy to see the Hermitage at all, but my mom loves museums as much as I love Disney, so I'm really hoping we can get that tour! Hoping the higher price scares at least a few people off....

Which cruise are you on? July 10?

 

[awaghorn]

Well if you don't get it, I have no chance as a first time cruiser! We'll be happy to see the Hermitage at all, but my mom loves museums as much as I love Disney, so I'm really hoping we can get that tour! Hoping the higher price scares at least a few people off....

Which cruise are you on? July 10?

We are on the 22nd - being from the UK it is the only one in the school holidays (which incidentally shows what market Disney is mainly aiming at with these cruises I think!).