The 2010 Baltic Thread--Cruise Tips and Planning

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Knowing that you already did the London Eye, would you say it is a worthwhile part of visiting London?

Did you combine it with one of the dinner packages? If so, which one? Do you recommend it?

The London eye is a must do, its has a great view and its very popular I saw lines about two hours long about a week ago when I went past it. its great to orantate you and see palces such as Westminster, Horse guards etc.

In summer expect long long lines unless its raining,

I live in london and pre book it!!!! Jump the q.

 

[nodan]

Knowing that you already did the London Eye, would you say it is a worthwhile part of visiting London?

Did you combine it with one of the dinner packages? If so, which one? Do you recommend it?

which dinner package/restaurant did you book with the London Eye?

 

[jilljill]

Knowing that you already did the London Eye, would you say it is a worthwhile part of visiting London?

Did you combine it with one of the dinner packages? If so, which one? Do you recommend it?

which dinner package/restaurant did you book with the London Eye?

We had been to London several times before finally going on 'The Eye' and we wondered why we waited so long to go on it. The view is spectacular on a clear day.

We pre-booked a dinner package that included the Eye and dinner at Porter's in Covent Garden. We had a great dinner there. There are several cruisers on the July 18th Baltics cruise that are doing the dinner package for there. When we did it the package was only the Eye and dinner, now it has changed a bit. One of them posted a link a few pages back to book the package.

 

[slg]

I had an aha moment tonight...I just realized as I was downloading world clocks on my ipod that St. P is 3 hours ahead of London. Well I knew that but I didn't KNOW it! That 7:30 am excursion is going to be SOOO painful! A total of 11 hours ahead of my hometown! Last year when we went to Portugal and Ireland (8 hours ahead) we had a hard time going to sleep and would sleep in every day until 10.

Is anyone else a little worried about it?

 

[OurDogCisco]

I had an aha moment tonight...I just realized as I was downloading world clocks on my ipod that St. P is 3 hours ahead of London. Well I knew that but I didn't KNOW it! That 7:30 am excursion is going to be SOOO painful! A total of 11 hours ahead of my hometown! Last year when we went to Portugal and Ireland (8 hours ahead) we had a hard time going to sleep and would sleep in every day until 10.

Is anyone else a little worried about it?

Omgosh... are you serious. I didn't even think of time changes. You are right that is going to be brutal. Are the times different for the other countries so at least it would be gradual?

 

[slg]

Day 1 Dover
Day 2 At sea
Day 3 Oslo +1hr
Day 4 Copenhagen same
Day 5 Berlin same
Day 6 At sea
Day 7 St. P +2hr (from Oslo)
Day 8 same
Day 9 Helsinki -1hr (from St. P)
Day 10 Stockholm -1hr (from Helsinki)
Day 11 At sea
Day 12 At sea
Day 13 London -1 hr (from Stockholm)

Our 7:30 am excursion in St. P is going to be tough. It almost makes me want to rethink it.

 

[jilljill]

I had an aha moment tonight...I just realized as I was downloading world clocks on my ipod that St. P is 3 hours ahead of London. Well I knew that but I didn't KNOW it! That 7:30 am excursion is going to be SOOO painful! A total of 11 hours ahead of my hometown! Last year when we went to Portugal and Ireland (8 hours ahead) we had a hard time going to sleep and would sleep in every day until 10.

Is anyone else a little worried about it?

Omgosh... are you serious. I didn't even think of time changes. You are right that is going to be brutal. Are the times different for the other countries so at least it would be gradual?

The time changes will be gradual so it's not that bad.
Our last Baltics cruise had 6 time changes, each by 1 hour forward and 1 hour back. We visited different ports that time, so hopefully this time it will be similiar.

 

[NancyIL]

Omgosh... are you serious. I didn't even think of time changes. You are right that is going to be brutal. Are the times different for the other countries so at least it would be gradual?

Hopefully many people will arrive in London a day or two before the ship sails to get over jet lag. Oslo, Copenhagen, and Warnemunde are all in the same time zone - 1 hour ahead of London. You'll lose an hour two nights in a row between Germany and St. Petersburg, and one is a sea day so you can sleep in. Then you'll regain an hour as you travel west to Helsinki or Talinn, another hour as you go to Stockholm, and one more hour as you return to Dover. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Europe_time_zones_map_en.png

 

[NancyIL]

Day 1 Dover
Day 2 At sea
Day 3 Oslo +1hr
Day 4 Copenhagen same
Day 5 Berlin same
Day 6 At sea
Day 7 St. P +2hr (from Oslo)
Day 8 same
Day 9 Helsinki -1hr (from St. P)
Day 10 Stockholm -1hr (from Helsinki)
Day 11 At sea
Day 12 At sea
Day 13 London -1 hr (from Stockholm)

Our 7:30 am excursion in St. P is going to be tough. It almost makes me want to rethink it.

Nah - you'll turn your clock ahead one hour as you leave Germany and once more the night before arriving in St. P. The worst part of the trip is the flight from North America to London. After that, it's no worse than driving from California to Florida...taking a week to do so! When you have an early morning excursion, you go to bed early the night before.

 

[slg]

Well, we can try to go to bed early, but I have never been successful in getting my kids to bed early on any DCL trip.

Too much excitement...ah well, they can sleep on the bus.

 

[NancyIL]

Well, we can try to go to bed early, but I have never been successful in getting my kids to bed early on any DCL trip.

Too much excitement...ah well, they can sleep on the bus.

Wait a minute...you don't arrive in St. P until 12:30 the first day, so you can sleep in to make up for the lost hour. You might stay up late the first night in St. P, but at least you're not changing time zones.

 

[slg]

I'm not worried about the 12:30 excursion...we are doing the canal tour the first evening and then a 7:30 am excursion the next day. I'm sure we will be super excited after the canal tour and it'll be hard to settle down. An excursion that starts at 7:30 requires at least a 6:30 wakeup (which will biologically means about 4:30 from our previous couple of nights). I realize that they may change the time the night before, but honestly, we will still sleep in.

We travel a lot...I know what my kids are like. I know it'll be painful, but hey, I'm banking that it'll be worth it.

I just hadn't really clued in that St. P was 3 hours + of London until this evening. I'm trying to wrap my brain around it.

We'll survive.

 

[has]

the national bus company offers 'fun' fares from victoria station to dover central for 3 British pounds...really!!!!!!!!! it is 2.5 hours long, limited seats so try it fast. The return is more money, about 25 pounds but takes 5 hours...we need advice on how to make it to gatwick or stansted airports on the cheap and not spend 5 hours to get there. any ideas?

We are using blackberry car hire from London to Dover and then back to London after the cruise. Sarah has been excellent to work with. No pre-payment required. blackberrycars@live.co.uk]

 

[MrsScooby]

Came across this blog of someone's Baltic cruise last year. It starts at the bottom of the page and made for some interesting reading. Some ports the same and some different from ours-but love the details


http://miner-heretodaytheretomorrow.blogspot.com/


I was hoping that those of you who are going on the earlier Baltic cruises could let us on the later ones know how Disney handles the St Petersburg disembarktion on the first day. Have heard that other cruiselines can be really difficult about those that book private tours in St Petersburg.

 

[scrapycruiser]

Came across this blog of someone's Baltic cruise last year. It starts at the bottom of the page and made for some interesting reading. Some ports the same and some different from ours-but love the details


http://miner-heretodaytheretomorrow.blogspot.com/


I was hoping that those of you who are going on the earlier Baltic cruises could let us on the later ones know how Disney handles the St Petersburg disembarktion on the first day. Have heard that other cruiselines can be really difficult about those that book private tours in St Petersburg.

We were in the Baltic 2 yrs ago and no problem with RCCL. Even tho, like yourself , I had read there could be a problem. I would expect no problems with Disney either. Once the ship is cleared, legally, they can't keep you from disembarking. All the cruise lines want to sell you their tours and they may try to "scare" you, but I just go about my business. Someone once said, " If you don't know what you're doing, at least act like you do" ( I'm referring to ME ,not you )

 

[MrsScooby]

We were in the Baltic 2 yrs ago and no problem with RCCL. Even tho, like yourself , I had read there could be a problem. I would expect no problems with Disney either. Once the ship is cleared, legally, they can't keep you from disembarking. All the cruise lines want to sell you their tours and they may try to "scare" you, but I just go about my business. Someone once said, " If you don't know what you're doing, at least act like you do" ( I'm referring to ME ,not you )

That's good to hear

Yeah I was thinking I could bluff if it was just me-but convincing my family to follow suit would not be so easy
Maybe I'll get a chance to embarress my kids

 

[scrapycruiser]

That's good to hear

Yeah I was thinking I could bluff if it was just me-but convincing my family to follow suit would not be so easy
Maybe I'll get a chance to embarress my kids

I'm sure I've embarrassed my sons more than once

 

[MJGirl]

I've decided to attempt to blog the June 12 Baltic ... If you want to follow along with me ... Here is the link!

 

[wintergreen]

Thanks. I'll follow along. Hope you have a great time! We are on the July 6 sailing, so can't wait to hear about your experiences.

 

[cindy18]

I've decided to attempt to blog the June 12 Baltic ... If you want to follow along with me ... Here is the link!

I just bookmarked your blog so I can check in regularly. We're on the 2nd Baltic, so everything you experience (except for Helsinki) will be very timely to know! Thanks for doing this.