7/18/2010 Mickey's Baltic Ballyhoo!! Part 4

[RJAYL]

Yes, seen that, but not for the first time the website might not be correct, I understand its 11.30am 1st day, leave 10.30pm 2nd day. Unless that have changed for 4th time.

BALTIC Daily Itinerary
Date Port of Call Action Time Note
7/18/2010 DOVER, GB EMBARK 05:00 PM
7/19/2010 AT SEA
7/20/2010 OSLO, NO DISEMBARK 08:30 AM
7/20/2010 EMBARK 04:30 PM
7/21/2010 COPENHAGEN, DK DISEMBARK 09:30 AM
7/21/2010 EMBARK 05:00 PM
7/22/2010 WARNEMUENDE, DE DISEMBARK 08:00 AM
7/22/2010 EMBARK 08:30 PM
7/23/2010 AT SEA
7/24/2010 ST. PETERSBURG, RU DISEMBARK 11:30 AM
7/25/2010 ST. PETERSBURG, RU EMBARK 10:30 PM
7/26/2010 TALLINN, EE DISEMBARK 10:00 AM
7/26/2010 EMBARK 05:00 PM
7/27/2010 STOCKHOLM, SE DISEMBARK 07:30 AM
7/27/2010 EMBARK 04:30 PM
7/28/2010 AT SEA
7/29/2010 AT SEA
7/30/2010 DOVER, GB DISEMBARK 09:30 AM

I had the same times on my confirmation for final payment, which we got back in August! :

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I had the same times on my confirmation for final payment, which we got back in August! :

I think this is the latest revision, now maybe they are confused on the time zone changes loosing hours to Russia, and gaining on the way back.

Dover disembark at 9.30am looks incorrect?

 

[bellelinus]

11:30 would be a lot better than 12:30, that's for sure . . . I guess we won't know for sure until the beginning of the year or so but a 9:30 disembark in Dover sounds late (not that it matters to us since we will be staying on the ship, but we do plan to get off and see Dover Castle that day).

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

11:30 would be a lot better than 12:30, that's for sure . . . I guess we won't know for sure until the beginning of the year or so but a 9:30 disembark in Dover sounds late (not that it matters to us since we will be staying on the ship, but we do plan to get off and see Dover Castle that day).

I am sure this is to do with time zones, they work out the average speed of the ship, and then on the draft schedule, post port times and agree these with the harbours. I think as its swinging about an hour back/forth, they didn't work out the effect of loosing a couple of hours going East, and gaining a couple of hours going West.

It must get finalised soon to tie up with shore trips, in fact most likely is finalised they just haven't updated their website. And example of this is the New CC Tiers and concierge, it hasn't said anything on the website but you are bumped to the earliest slot of you are concierge, it has said 105 days.

 

[bellelinus]

I am sure this is to do with time zones, they work out the average speed of the ship, and then on the draft schedule, post port times and agree these with the harbours. I think as its swinging about an hour back/forth, they didn't work out the effect of loosing a couple of hours going East, and gaining a couple of hours going West.

It must get finalised soon to tie up with shore trips, in fact most likely is finalised they just haven't updated their website. And example of this is the New CC Tiers and concierge, it hasn't said anything on the website but you are bumped to the earliest slot of you are concierge, it has said 105 days.

Yes, it seems impossible to believe that they don't already have pretty set port times at this relatively late date -- and the shore excursions should be out soon.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Yes, it seems impossible to believe that they don't already have pretty set port times at this relatively late date -- and the shore excursions should be out soon.

About a month back, they had a newspaper report on the Med and Baltic shore trips, so you would expect them to be agreed and in the can, just awaiting release now.

 

[RJAYL]

Hey Barb

You toured with Annastasia the last go around any recommendations & sites to skip?

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Hey Barb

You toured with Annastasia the last go around any recommendations & sites to skip?

Mine includes:-

• The Hermitage
• Peter and Paul Fortress
• City Tour
• St.Nickolas Cathedral,
• Tsarskoye Selo (Tzars' Village)
• Tsarskoye Selo tour (City of Pushkin).
• Catherine's Palace,
• Peterhof tour (or Petrodvorets). Park tour.
• downtown. Metro trip.
• Savior on the Spilt Blood.
• St.Isaac's Cathedral visit.

 

[RJAYL]

Mine includes:-

• The Hermitage
• Peter and Paul Fortress
• City Tour
• St.Nickolas Cathedral,
• Tsarskoye Selo (Tzars' Village)
• Tsarskoye Selo tour (City of Pushkin).
• Catherine's Palace,
• Peterhof tour (or Petrodvorets). Park tour.
• downtown. Metro trip.
• Savior on the Spilt Blood.
• St.Isaac's Cathedral visit.

Yes

Mine as well though I think our order is a little different as we are 6 the 1st day & 4 for the full day, I cannot take the younger ones for a full day of touring I think it will be a bit too much for them.

I am interested in Barb's opinion as she has already done all of this!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Yes

Mine as well though I think our order is a little different as we are 6 the 1st day & 4 for the full day, I cannot take the younger ones for a full day of touring I think it will be a bit too much for them.

I am interested in Barb's opinion as she has already done all of this!

I made a change or two to accomodate a Metro train trip, they have a fabulous underground railway system.

Stalin said, that Russian tzars used to built Palaces for themselves, while Communists build palaces for people. And it is really so, St. Petersburg metro stations resemble more palace interiors, than regular subway tunnels. The interiors are decorated with mosaics, marble, crystals and outstanding chandaliers.

 

[RJAYL]

I made a change or two to accomodate a Metro train trip, they have a fabulous underground railway system.

Stalin said, that Russian tzars used to built Palaces for themselves, while Communists build palaces for people. And it is really so, St. Petersburg metro stations resemble more palace interiors, than regular subway tunnels. The interiors are decorated with mosaics, marble, crystals and outstanding chandaliers.

I have to review all the itineraries that I received from them & do some research as well before I finalize!

Someone mentioned a Hydrafoil ride I wonder what that is all about?

Mine sounds very much like yours, I wonder if they are going to try & combine small parties together?

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I have to review all the itineraries that I received from them & do some research as well before I finalize!

Someone mentioned a Hydrofoil ride I wonder what that is all about?

Mine sounds very much like yours, I wonder if they are going to try & combine small parties together?

Well there is logic to that, it could save a lot on costs, and maybe greater safety. In the Med I combined with Sally and Jimmy and it worked very well.

Far better than DCL tours in flexibility, access, and cost.

 

[RJAYL]

Well there is logic to that, it could save a lot on costs, and maybe greater safety. In the Med I combined with Sally and Jimmy and it worked very well.

Far better than DCL tours in flexibility, access, and cost.

No problem here just wondering

I am also interested to see what DCL is going to offer!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

No problem here just wondering

I am also interested to see what DCL is going to offer!

Yes would be nice to go around in a group, maybe, I am awaiting the release of Baltic shore trips, will be interesting what they do for Berlin, its a long way, thats why they extended port times there to 8.30pm, I think its 3>4 hours away, most operators go by train there/back, then a coach tour, not sure if DCL, will do that.

The others are straight forward enough, looking for the Disney touch.

I have already made a provisional booking for private tours in the Med for 2011, Rome and Naples, they looked after me well on thoose ones, we are far better off than any DCL tour, we saw them everywhere, will do DCL in the other ports, but change the places we visit.

With the Olympics in London in 2012, thats an ideal time to break from DCL, and do something different.
We always keep our hands in other stuff, Venice this year, Rhodes in 2010, with the Mrs wanting to travel on plane less and restrictions on time off, IE two weeks not three weeks, USA seems to be out now!

 

[Celestine]

Also waiting for DCL so we can decide. St Pete's is the only port we are contemplating using DCL, will do all the others on our own, so it will be good to see what they offer and what $$$ they want for the priviledge.

Have decided not to book Alaska although I am still keen to see it. Just can't justify DCL sitting on $2400 for almost 2 years. The timing really doesn't work either, so we'll sit tight & hope they revisit in 2012.

Am lurking occassionally, but this new job is filling more hours than I actually have which makes for some interesting juggling! Can't wait for our 6 night Orlando break (sans kids) at the end of November to do a bit of Xmas shopping & generally chill & see things you miss when you whirlwind with the kids!!!

Celestine

 

[jilljill]

Hey Barb

You toured with Annastasia the last go around any recommendations & sites to skip?

Mine includes:-

• The Hermitage
• Peter and Paul Fortress
• City Tour
• St.Nickolas Cathedral,
• Tsarskoye Selo (Tzars' Village)
• Tsarskoye Selo tour (City of Pushkin).
• Catherine's Palace,
• Peterhof tour (or Petrodvorets). Park tour.
• downtown. Metro trip.
• Savior on the Spilt Blood.
• St.Isaac's Cathedral visit.

• The Hermitage Don't recommend with the little ones, too crowded.
• Peter and Paul Fortress Didn't go there.
• City Tour This you can get just by going from site to site.
• St.Nickolas Cathedral, - Didn't go inside, saw it a couple of times driving by each day.
• Tsarskoye Selo (Tzars' Village) - Saw this when we went to Catherine's Palace
• Tsarskoye Selo tour (City of Pushkin). Saw this when we went to Catherine's Palace
• Catherine's Palace, Interesting to see since it has been totally restored from being looted. The amber room is stunning.
• Peterhof tour (or Petrodvorets). Park tour. We just toured the fountains and grounds, interesting for the little ones.
• downtown. Metro trip. Loved the subway stations and ride. Stations are stunning with all the crystal, artwork, and statues. My only regret was that we didn't have our guide buy us a couple of extra subway tokens as a souvenier. The ride was CHEAP, maybe 20¢, so the token would have been a really cheap souvenier.
• Savior on the Spilt Blood. Interesting cathedral, gorgeous walls and ceilings. We were there when they were holding mass and it was interesting to see how they were held. History behind the cathedral is also intersting. This is across from a park that has very ornate iron railings and gates.
• St.Isaac's Cathedral visit. Another stunning interior and also an interesting war history.

We also did Yusopov's Palace since DD had studied Rasputin and knew his history. It was such a contrast to the palaces that are located outside of the city, but still interesting. It's not a stop that many first timers go to, but we thought it was well worth the stop. There is a small theater inside the palace that is still in use today.
We also stopped at the post office which was quite intersting to see. Not that anyone should stop there, but if you need to use an ATM it was handy. We stopped there on Sunday morning at it was open. That was interesting in itself.

Keep in mind, in many of the venues they charge you a fee to use your camera or video camera inside. The typical cost is $4 for a still camera and $12 for a video camera. We did pay the fee since we felt it was worth it and in the entire scheme of things it didn't add much to our tour cost.

We are there on the weekend so it's great traffic-wise, there won't be much in the city.

 

[jilljill]

I have to review all the itineraries that I received from them & do some research as well before I finalize!

Someone mentioned a Hydrafoil ride I wonder what that is all about?

Mine sounds very much like yours, I wonder if they are going to try & combine small parties together?

The hydrofoil is a faster way to get back to the city from Pushkin, where Catherine's Palace is located and also nearby is Peterhof Palace. We opted to not do it since it was the weekend and there was no traffic.

She will combine groups if you ask her to. If everyone wants to see the same things on day 2 and not on day 1 I would think she could combine your tours for the 2nd day, but an not sure.
We had 12 people in our group and our van could have held 14 people. We liked the size of our group, it was the right amount of people to keep up with and we all had kids in the same age range.

For lunch the 1st day 2 families ate at the cafe at Peterhof Palace and the other family brought food from the ship. The 2nd day the same 2 families ate at Stolli Pie Shop and the same family brought their lunch again and ate in the van while we were in the pie shop.
I think lunch for the 3 of us at Peterhof, including 1 beer, was around $15 and lunch at Stolli for the 3 of us was around $10.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

• The Hermitage Don't recommend with the little ones, too crowded.
• Peter and Paul Fortress Didn't go there.
• City Tour This you can get just by going from site to site.
• St.Nickolas Cathedral, - Didn't go inside, saw it a couple of times driving by each day.
• Tsarskoye Selo (Tzars' Village) - Saw this when we went to Catherine's Palace
• Tsarskoye Selo tour (City of Pushkin). Saw this when we went to Catherine's Palace
• Catherine's Palace, Interesting to see since it has been totally restored from being looted. The amber room is stunning.
• Peterhof tour (or Petrodvorets). Park tour. We just toured the fountains and grounds, interesting for the little ones.
• downtown. Metro trip. Loved the subway stations and ride. Stations are stunning with all the crystal, artwork, and statues. My only regret was that we didn't have our guide buy us a couple of extra subway tokens as a souvenier. The ride was CHEAP, maybe 20¢, so the token would have been a really cheap souvenier.
• Savior on the Spilt Blood. Interesting cathedral, gorgeous walls and ceilings. We were there when they were holding mass and it was interesting to see how they were held. History behind the cathedral is also intersting. This is across from a park that has very ornate iron railings and gates.
• St.Isaac's Cathedral visit. Another stunning interior and also an interesting war history.

We also did Yusopov's Palace since DD had studied Rasputin and knew his history. It was such a contrast to the palaces that are located outside of the city, but still interesting. It's not a stop that many first timers go to, but we thought it was well worth the stop. There is a small theater inside the palace that is still in use today.
We also stopped at the post office which was quite intersting to see. Not that anyone should stop there, but if you need to use an ATM it was handy. We stopped there on Sunday morning at it was open. That was interesting in itself.

Keep in mind, in many of the venues they charge you a fee to use your camera or video camera inside. The typical cost is $4 for a still camera and $12 for a video camera. We did pay the fee since we felt it was worth it and in the entire scheme of things it didn't add much to our tour cost.

We are there on the weekend so it's great traffic-wise, there won't be much in the city.

The hydrofoil is a faster way to get back to the city from Pushkin, where Catherine's Palace is located and also nearby is Peterhof Palace. We opted to not do it since it was the weekend and there was no traffic.

She will combine groups if you ask her to. If everyone wants to see the same things on day 2 and not on day 1 I would think she could combine your tours for the 2nd day, but an not sure.
We had 12 people in our group and our van could have held 14 people. We liked the size of our group, it was the right amount of people to keep up with and we all had kids in the same age range.

For lunch the 1st day 2 families ate at the cafe at Peterhof Palace and the other family brought food from the ship. The 2nd day the same 2 families ate at Stolli Pie Shop and the same family brought their lunch again and ate in the van while we were in the pie shop.
I think lunch for the 3 of us at Peterhof, including 1 beer, was around $15 and lunch at Stolli for the 3 of us was around $10.

THANK YOU for the information.

Glad I got the Metro train bit right!!!!

 

[jilljill]

THANK YOU for the information.

Glad I got the Metro train bit right!!!!

YOu are welcome. I did forget to mention NO picture taking in the metro station!!! YOur guide will remind you of this several times and I think there were signs posted in the stations that we saw. It's not worth the risk of having your camera confiscated or being carted off to jail for a couple of pics. When we went we left everything in the van with the driver as per our guide's request. She said we didn't need to take any chances of getting anything stolen from us. Plus there was no risk of picture taking temptation since we didn't have cameras with us.
None of us felt unsafe in the metro stations. In fact, since it was the weekend they weren't very crowded at all.

 

[jilljill]

Here's the link to the Stolle pie shop: http://www.stolle.ru/eng/main.html
I'm disappointed that they changed their website and don't list the eat in menus, just the menus for the whole pies. I had the salmon pie, which I wasn't thrilled with, DH had either a chicken or pork pie, DD had a salad. We also split a cabbage pie which was extremely good, I wished I had gotten just that instead of the salmon pie. We also split a lemon pie and we were lucky to get that since it was the last piece.
The exchange rate was in the range of 25 rubles = $1.
The pics of the pies posted below are for the small slice.


Cabbage Pie and the lemon pie in the background

DD's salad