The 2010 Baltic Thread--Cruise Tips and Planning

[RJAYL]

How did you find this out - I was on the big bus site & didn't see anything

I asked my hotel concierge first then I e-mailed Big-Bus & they responded!

In a message dated 5/15/2010 5:16:54 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, Info@bigbustours.com writes:


GROSVENOR GARDENS HOUSE, 35/37 GROSVENOR GARDENS, LONDON SW1W OBS
TELEPHONE: 020 7233 8722 FACSIMILE: 020 7233 8766
www.bigbustours.com

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Dear Robert.

The procedure is as you have been told by you concierge, you can also pre purchase your ticket on line through our website and on arrival at our bus stop, upgrade the ticket to 48 hours from a member of our staff at the bus stop before you travel.

With Regards

Customer services


Sent: 15 May 2010 12:52
To: Info
Subject: Re: Multi Day tickets


Can I do this at the stop in front of the Royal Gardens Hotel or do I need to go to a certain bus stop?
Also do I have to purchase the tickets through your site or can I use one of the discounted sites?
We are a family of with 4 children so I am trying to get all my ducks in order before we arrive in London.

Thank you for your help.
Robert

Dear Robert .

You can upgrade your ticket at our Kensington stop, which is across the road from your hotel outside the Goat Tavern, you will find a member of our staff there. The first bus of the day 9.01am and then every 20 minutes.

I hope this helps you plan.

With Regards

Customer services.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[grizbuzz]

Anyone know where I can I find info on what themes on which nights? (eg, formal, pirates).

Also, times of arrival and departure for each port?

On the June 24 cruise.

Thanks!

 

[Doingitagain]

I asked my hotel concierge first then I e-mailed Big-Bus & they responded!

In a message dated 5/15/2010 5:16:54 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, Info@bigbustours.com writes:


GROSVENOR GARDENS HOUSE, 35/37 GROSVENOR GARDENS, LONDON SW1W OBS
TELEPHONE: 020 7233 8722 FACSIMILE: 020 7233 8766
www.bigbustours.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Robert.

The procedure is as you have been told by you concierge, you can also pre purchase your ticket on line through our website and on arrival at our bus stop, upgrade the ticket to 48 hours from a member of our staff at the bus stop before you travel.

With Regards

Customer services


Sent: 15 May 2010 12:52
To: Info
Subject: Re: Multi Day tickets


Can I do this at the stop in front of the Royal Gardens Hotel or do I need to go to a certain bus stop?
Also do I have to purchase the tickets through your site or can I use one of the discounted sites?
We are a family of with 4 children so I am trying to get all my ducks in order before we arrive in London.

Thank you for your help.
Robert

Dear Robert .

You can upgrade your ticket at our Kensington stop, which is across the road from your hotel outside the Goat Tavern, you will find a member of our staff there. The first bus of the day 9.01am and then every 20 minutes.

I hope this helps you plan.

With Regards

Customer services.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We aren't really sure what we want to do yet. Do you know if we can purchase tickets from the Royal Garden concierge? Not excited about buying from the street representative, we had a credit card number stolen last time by doing that.

How did you contact the Royal Garden concierge?

 

[RJAYL]

We aren't really sure what we want to do yet. Do you know if we can purchase tickets from the Royal Garden concierge? Not excited about buying from the street representative, we had a credit card number stolen last time by doing that.

How did you contact the Royal Garden concierge?

Yes you can, but there are better deals to be had online!

http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/london/book_tickets.aspx

http://www.lastminute.com/site/ente...580&linkdesk=deeplinkgen&source=AffCJ-1124902

Concierge e-mail Concierge@royalgardenhotel.co.uk

 

[Doingitagain]

Yes you can, but there are better deals to be had online!

http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/london/book_tickets.aspx

http://www.lastminute.com/site/ente...580&linkdesk=deeplinkgen&source=AffCJ-1124902

Concierge e-mail Concierge@royalgardenhotel.co.uk

Thank you so much, RJAYL!

 

[RJAYL]

Thank you so much, RJAYL!

I did not know you were staying at the RG as well, when are you arriving we get in Wednesday night!

Are you on the Ballyhoo Bus as well?

 

[Doingitagain]

I did not know you were staying at the RG as well, when are you arriving we get in Wednesday night!

Are you on the Ballyhoo Bus as well?

We arrive Thursday about noon. We are staying two nights at the Royal Garden (DVC points), then one night at the Renaissance Chancery Court.

We are using DCL transportation. We don't need to get to the port early and we want them to handle all our luggage so we can sleep in and relax! We booked the Renaissance Chancery on our own, much cheaper. But we can still use their transportation since it is a prestay hotel.

I know we will waste part of Saturday transferring hotels, but we can just go when we want in the morning and leave our luggage with bell services at the Renaissance Chancery if we can't check in right away.

We are planning almost nothing for London, are just going to "go with the flow" this time. We did a prestay before our Med cruise in 2007 and packed too much in. We will probably do the Big Bus tour on Friday, and general walking around on Thursday and Saturday. Thanks to your tip on adding a second day, we may do that for Saturday if the line stops close to the Renaissance Chancery.

 

[cindy18]

Anyone know where I can I find info on what themes on which nights? (eg, formal, pirates).

Also, times of arrival and departure for each port?

On the June 24 cruise.

Thanks!

This may not be as helpful as you like, but if memory serves, the answer to those question are buried in this thread, someone in these 154 (and counting) pages of backs and forths. I'm pretty sure the whole dinner rotation was posted and maybe port arrival and departure times. As a general rule, with the exception of St. Pete, we're in pretty early and we're out late afternoon. And for the June 24th cruise, we don't get back to Dover until 10-10:30.

 

[RJAYL]

We arrive Thursday about noon. We are staying two nights at the Royal Garden (DVC points), then one night at the Renaissance Chancery Court.

We are using DCL transportation. We don't need to get to the port early and we want them to handle all our luggage so we can sleep in and relax! We booked the Renaissance Chancery on our own, much cheaper. But we can still use their transportation since it is a prestay hotel.

I know we will waste part of Saturday transferring hotels, but we can just go when we want in the morning and leave our luggage with bell services at the Renaissance Chancery if we can't check in right away.

We are planning almost nothing for London, are just going to "go with the flow" this time. We did a prestay before our Med cruise in 2007 and packed too much in. We will probably do the Big Bus tour on Friday, and general walking around on Thursday and Saturday. Thanks to your tip on adding a second day, we may do that for Saturday if the line stops close to the Renaissance Chancery.

Whatever makes you happy!

We are staying at the Royal Garden's on points as well!

If we were not taking the Ballyhoo Bus we would have had private transportation to Dover!

I always like to get settled on the ship early & start the vacation!

I am following yourgo with the flow plan as well (after finding out about the 2nd day of the Big Bus for 10 pounds) I feel that way I can just use the Big Bus & taxi's for what we need!

If we get up late on Thursday morning our tickets will be valid untill Saturday late morning or afternoon (Saturday is our Portabello road & Harrods day) so we can tour Thursday & Friday & the Bug Bus includes a river cruise as well!

So Hopefully Thursday will be London Eye River cruise & Madame Tusseads (whilst touring on the Bus) that leaves Friday for changing of the guard & the Tower of London & whatever else.

 

[aurorafan65]

I asked my hotel concierge first then I e-mailed Big-Bus & they responded!

In a message dated 5/15/2010 5:16:54 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, Info@bigbustours.com writes:


GROSVENOR GARDENS HOUSE, 35/37 GROSVENOR GARDENS, LONDON SW1W OBS
TELEPHONE: 020 7233 8722 FACSIMILE: 020 7233 8766
www.bigbustours.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Robert.

The procedure is as you have been told by you concierge, you can also pre purchase your ticket on line through our website and on arrival at our bus stop, upgrade the ticket to 48 hours from a member of our staff at the bus stop before you travel.

With Regards

Customer services


Sent: 15 May 2010 12:52
To: Info
Subject: Re: Multi Day tickets


Can I do this at the stop in front of the Royal Gardens Hotel or do I need to go to a certain bus stop?
Also do I have to purchase the tickets through your site or can I use one of the discounted sites?
We are a family of with 4 children so I am trying to get all my ducks in order before we arrive in London.

Thank you for your help.
Robert

Dear Robert .

You can upgrade your ticket at our Kensington stop, which is across the road from your hotel outside the Goat Tavern, you will find a member of our staff there. The first bus of the day 9.01am and then every 20 minutes.

I hope this helps you plan.

With Regards

Customer services.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

thanks so much - I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a coupon code or something that I needed to put in online. I was planning on getting this for our first day as a nice introduction to the city. But if we can ues it for an extra day I think that would save us as opposed to the metro fares

 

[RJAYL]

thanks so much - I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a coupon code or something that I needed to put in online. I was planning on getting this for our first day as a nice introduction to the city. But if we can ues it for an extra day I think that would save us as opposed to the metro fares

Last time I was in London it was just DW & Myself we prefered Taxi's over the metro!

With 4 children with us this will work out better than delving into the underground!

 

[aurorafan65]

Last time I was in London it was just DW & Myself we prefered Taxi's over the metro!

With 4 children with us this will work out better than delving into the underground!

you are probably right about that one We have to go on the Metro or my younger ds (11) will be very disappointed. He loved when we went to DC & used the metro there - they had cool magic gates that let you in!

 

[TDC Nala]

The London Underground is very different from the Metro we have in DC - it does not look like Darth Vader works there.

 

[Tammy_in_NC]

For anyone on the June 12 trip that didn't read the other thread:

Stockholm Viking Walking Tour - "From Ice Age to Ikea"

One last plug for this guys. We now have enough people to do an 8.30am tour. It is #2 rated thing to do in Stockholm, and takes you through Gamla Stan.
http://gallivantproductions.com/

If you want to join, please email Ellissa Nagle [lis@gallivantproductions.com]. It works about $15pp, but is $99 through DCL!!

Our plan is to do the tour at 8.30am then over to the Vasa, then back to the ship.

Hoping more people will join. Should be great for both adults and kids.

Are there plans to meet as a group and get to the Nobel Musuem ? If not, how are you all planning on getting to the museum from the boat ? I could look it up, but you guys are so helpful !!

 

[grizbuzz]

This may not be as helpful as you like, but if memory serves, the answer to those question are buried in this thread, someone in these 154 (and counting) pages of backs and forths. I'm pretty sure the whole dinner rotation was posted and maybe port arrival and departure times. As a general rule, with the exception of St. Pete, we're in pretty early and we're out late afternoon. And for the June 24th cruise, we don't get back to Dover until 10-10:30.

This is the info I got for theme nights:


There will be 1 formal night (night 2), 1 semi formal night (night 11) and 1 pirate night (night 9).

 

[sinnika]

I just booked the Barcelona to Dover cruise on Saturday, and am leaving in a few days for the May 26th Med cruise, so have little time to plan. I have a few questions about getting from Dover to London. Are advance tickets needed for the train or can I purchase them that morning? Does anyone know if the white cliffs of Dover can be seen from the port where the ship is going to dock? DS really wants to see them, but we would also like to get to London to see the queen's birthday celabration on June 12th. I booked a 3 night stay at a hotel near Paddington Station. Planning to take a cab from Victoria station there.
Thanks in advance!

 

[cindy18]

This is the info I got for theme nights:


There will be 1 formal night (night 2), 1 semi formal night (night 11) and 1 pirate night (night 9).

I remember a rumor (and it must have been on this thread) that there was going to be some sort of Villians theme one evening, whichever evening the new Villians show was on. This lead to a spirited discussion over dinner a few nights ago about which Villian to dress as....

 

[Rogillio]

Thinking out loud....we will be getting up early Wednesday, fly to Atlanta and then to Newark but we get on our trans-Atlantic flight at 6:30 pm....we'll play games, watch movies, have dinner....turn out the lights about 9 pm....the lights will come back on about 12 pm when they serve breakfast...and we get off the plane at 1 pm (or 7 am London time). So, best-case is we might get 2 - 3 hrs sleep. So yeah, we will all be cranky and lethargic.

Check-in time at our hotel is 1 pm so we will go there and drop our bags and then go touring till we can check-in and take a nap that afternoon. Our trick is to only take a 2 hr nap...if we sleep too long, we will not be able to sleep that night. This is hard because once we all settle down and get to sleep, no one wants to get back up 2 hrs later.

I'm anxious to see the Tower of London and Wisdsor Castle and St Paul's and Westminster Abby....but hate that we will be lethargic on this first day....so maybe we'll save the best stuff for Friday after we've got a night's sleep.

So how do you plan to deal with jet-lag in London?

~Mike

 

[cindy18]

For what it's worth, we have taken our daughters to Europe 4 times, the earliest when they were 9 and 7. It turns out for us that they best way is not to sleep at all that first day. You would think that a nap will be essential, but they get a boost of addrenaline from being someplace new and wanting to explore it. We never managed more than 2 hours of sleep on the plane, and the kids pushed through, falling asleep after an early dinner and sleeping for 14-16 hours. I don't know how it would have gone if they had napped in the afternoon, but it might have meant a great deal of difficulty falling asleep. If there is anyway you can get into your hotel room in the morning, I think a nap right away, followed by an afternoon and evening of exploring might work better than a nap in the afternoon.

 

[Rogillio]

For what it's worth, we have taken our daughters to Europe 4 times, the earliest when they were 9 and 7. It turns out for us that they best way is not to sleep at all that first day. You would think that a nap will be essential, but they get a boost of addrenaline from being someplace new and wanting to explore it. We never managed more than 2 hours of sleep on the plane, and the kids pushed through, falling asleep after an early dinner and sleeping for 14-16 hours. I don't know how it would have gone if they had napped in the afternoon, but it might have meant a great deal of difficulty falling asleep. If there is anyway you can get into your hotel room in the morning, I think a nap right away, followed by an afternoon and evening of exploring might work better than a nap in the afternoon.

Yeah, I can see doing this too. The problem is we will all be cranky and lethargic having been up all night. That' why I'm thinking an afternoon nap, get up, take a shower to wake up and get a second wind. Then go out and do some more touring, have dinner and go to bed early....and then get up early to get an early start the next day.

We did this in Barcelona and London and Norway and it worked well of us...but when we flew to Beijing, that was a 12 hrs flight and we layed down to take a nap at 3 pm and slept till 6 am the next morning.