7/18/2010 Mickey's Baltic Ballyhoo!! Part 5

[Celestine]

Flights the Mrs has said no more long flights!!!

& you are seriously (or not) considering Oz!!!!!!

Can't believe they've still not come out with anything - don't they know we all like planning years in advance?

Celestine

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

& you are seriously (or not) considering Oz!!!!!!

Can't believe they've still not come out with anything - don't they know we all like planning years in advance?

Celestine

The Mrs gave her blessing for us to do Aus without her!!!

Kids want to go and are getting older now, however thats another factor and the reason why I booked the Med in 2011 after the Baltic in 2010 to avoid flights or long flights.

She is tempted by Alaska but I would try to break it up.

Also agree DCL re in a mess over this one and its very contradictory.

 

[MrsScooby]

We had 12 on our tour it was a good number with a couple of extra seats. The guide sat up front and we could all hear her pointing out things as we were driving.
Really none of us bought much in StP. We only did a couple of stops for shopping and bathroom breaks. We didn't look in the shops at the museums and didn't go to any of the kiosk markets near the Church of the Savior of the Spilt Blood. We ended up with a couple of t-shirts, a small watercolor, and a couple of pieces of amber jewelry. In the ship's shop there was a lot of StP merchandise for sale we just bought it there since the prices were comporable. Not sure if DCL will do the same. That was the only city that did that for. There is a shop at the port, but it was so crowded in there and we were tired we didn't stay long to look around, so we didn't buy anything there. The places we stopped at had the prices in rubles, euros and US$ - we opted to pay in rubles since we had gotten them from the atm.

I'm hoping to get some of those Russian nesting dolls
A watercolor sounds great though. Where did you get that? I was kicking myself for not getting one when I was in Puerto Vallarta last year. A local was painting small scenes near the Magic where we docked, but we were in a rush to make an excursion and missed getting one
Were soveniers very expensive in St. P. (Things like t-shirts and amber)?

I have been to DC before, and its on the list but not too high up, NEW YORK is top of my kids list, then Australia, you couldn't get further apart, NY with Alaska is going through a feasibility study, but I am not too pleased with DCL so will await the outcome of these DCL TA Meetings.

Issues are restirctions of time off in one go ie If I go to USA I try for 21 days, but now 14 days in one go, plus weekends is it.

Flights the Mrs has said no more long flights!!!

Hard to please everyone in the family. NYC can be fun too though

We're meeting family in NYC this year for Thanksgiving. Part of my family is going to Radio City Music Hall the next day-but my DH and kids were not at all interested --so we are going to the Empire State Building instead. If we had time I would take them to the Statue of Liberty-that's a lot fun.

& you are seriously (or not) considering Oz!!!!!!

Can't believe they've still not come out with anything - don't they know we all like planning years in advance?

Celestine

I was just telling someone that I plan my vacations years in advance too
My DH and his Mom both think it is better to not plan anything in advance and to just "wing it"
Apparently that is the way his family did their vacations when he was younger
Not my thing at all. I get very annoyed when he tries to critique a vacation after he did nothing (or very little) to plan it
If you say you don't care when I ask you in advance you give up the right to comment on it later That's my not so humble opinion

Nice to know that I have a place to go to where others are like me

 

[jilljill]

I have been to DC before, and its on the list but not too high up, NEW YORK is top of my kids list, then Australia, you couldn't get further apart, NY with Alaska is going through a feasibility study, but I am not too pleased with DCL so will await the outcome of these DCL TA Meetings.

Issues are restirctions of time off in one go ie If I go to USA I try for 21 days, but now 14 days in one go, plus weekends is it.

Flights the Mrs has said no more long flights!!!

& you are seriously (or not) considering Oz!!!!!!

Can't believe they've still not come out with anything - don't they know we all like planning years in advance?

Celestine

The Mrs gave her blessing for us to do Aus without her!!!

Kids want to go and are getting older now, however thats another factor and the reason why I booked the Med in 2011 after the Baltic in 2010 to avoid flights or long flights.

She is tempted by Alaska but I would try to break it up.

Also agree DCL re in a mess over this one and its very contradictory.

Wow Andrew, you have a great Mrs. giving you her blessing to visit 'down under' without her. I keep threatening to go there by myself and I keep getting told 'NO WAY!!!'. I can't wait to go back there someday.

 

[jilljill]

I'm hoping to get some of those Russian nesting dolls
A watercolor sounds great though. Where did you get that? I was kicking myself for not getting one when I was in Puerto Vallarta last year. A local was painting small scenes near the Magic where we docked, but we were in a rush to make an excursion and missed getting one
Were soveniers very expensive in St. P. (Things like t-shirts and amber)?

I have no clue what the prices were for the nesting dolls, but they were all over the place since some of them aren't made in Russia.
We picked up the watercolor in one of the gift shops we stopped at for a potty break and a shot of vodka.
I think the t-shirts were around $12-15 and the amber pieces I picked up were cheap, about $4/piece. I was only looking for little pendants for some girls and that was perfect.
I think for the amber pieces, 2 t-shirts, and watercolor it was about $65.

In Tallinn I picked up an amber necklace at the sweater wall and it was a bigger piece and maybe $7 or $8. I also picked up an amber bracelet in varigated shades of brown at a shop near the segway place. I bought a lot in that shop and the lady gave me a great deal on everything - I ended up getting the bracelet, a linen sweater, some linen towels, t-shirts, and a couple of winter hats.
We also picked up a watercolor there that the artist was doing. We also found a glass blower and I got a colorful plate there. I definately want to find him again and this time take euros or pounds and buy more things from him. He wouldn't take US$ and we only had a few euros with us, and he didn't take credit cards. His prices were so good that I was glad we didn't have more money with us since I wanted so many things. I think the plate I got was about $15.

 

[scrapycruiser]

Bellelinus...could you add our Grandson, Nick ( 15 ). We're so excited that he's coming on the cruise. Nick likes football,basketball,enjoys meeting people and can be very funny. He's been on 3 cruises ( 2 Disney ). I hope there's alot of teens on this cruise.
Can't wait for the shore excursion info to come out ! I keep looking on the DCL site everyday.
Also, what would a 15 year old boy like to do in London ? Any suggestions ?

 

[danfromca]

I have been to DC before, and its on the list but not too high up, NEW YORK is top of my kids list, then Australia, you couldn't get further apart, NY with Alaska is going through a feasibility study, but I am not too pleased with DCL so will await the outcome of these DCL TA Meetings.

Issues are restirctions of time off in one go ie If I go to USA I try for 21 days, but now 14 days in one go, plus weekends is it.

Flights the Mrs has said no more long flights!!!

I've been to Australia a few times and have always had a great time there. So I can't fault their list.

 

[RJAYL]

Wow Andrew, you have a great Mrs. giving you her blessing to visit 'down under' without her. I keep threatening to go there by myself and I keep getting told 'NO WAY!!!'. I can't wait to go back there someday.

Wow am i missing something, or is that the most obvious double entendre i have ever read on this thread!

Good Morning All

 

[MrsScooby]

I have no clue what the prices were for the nesting dolls, but they were all over the place since some of them aren't made in Russia.
We picked up the watercolor in one of the gift shops we stopped at for a potty break and a shot of vodka.
I think the t-shirts were around $12-15 and the amber pieces I picked up were cheap, about $4/piece. I was only looking for little pendants for some girls and that was perfect.
I think for the amber pieces, 2 t-shirts, and watercolor it was about $65.

In Tallinn I picked up an amber necklace at the sweater wall and it was a bigger piece and maybe $7 or $8. I also picked up an amber bracelet in varigated shades of brown at a shop near the segway place. I bought a lot in that shop and the lady gave me a great deal on everything - I ended up getting the bracelet, a linen sweater, some linen towels, t-shirts, and a couple of winter hats.
We also picked up a watercolor there that the artist was doing. We also found a glass blower and I got a colorful plate there. I definately want to find him again and this time take euros or pounds and buy more things from him. He wouldn't take US$ and we only had a few euros with us, and he didn't take credit cards. His prices were so good that I was glad we didn't have more money with us since I wanted so many things. I think the plate I got was about $15.

I had seen some nesting dolls at a craft show years ago and hesitated to buy them as they were pretty expensive
Good to know that the soveniers in general are not too pricey in St P. or Tallinn. I'll be saving my euros for these ports
The glass plate sounds nice... How did you make sure it stayed safe while traveling?

Bellelinus...could you add our Grandson, Nick ( 15 ). We're so excited that he's coming on the cruise. Nick likes football,basketball,enjoys meeting people and can be very funny. He's been on 3 cruises ( 2 Disney ). I hope there's alot of teens on this cruise.
Can't wait for the shore excursion info to come out ! I keep looking on the DCL site everyday.
Also, what would a 15 year old boy like to do in London ? Any suggestions ?

My DS15 really loved the stack on our last cruise-but he is a big video game addict and very shy.

As for London- my DH and DS both have a strong interest in history and plan to see whatever we can cram in the 2 days we are there. The London Eye, the London Tower and Buckingham Palace are the things I'm planning for us so far. But there is a Jack the Ripper tour that Celestine was mentioning a while back that sounded cool if he doesn't like the typical tourist stuff.

 

[MrsScooby]

Wow am i missing something, or is that the most obvious double entendre i have ever read on this thread!

Good Morning All

I'm sure you are the only one that read it that way

Good morning

 

[RJAYL]

I'm sure you are the only one that read it that way

Good morning

 

[jilljill]

Wow am i missing something, or is that the most obvious double entendre i have ever read on this thread!

Good Morning All

We need to stay on the alcohol subject next time.

 

[jilljill]

Bellelinus...could you add our Grandson, Nick ( 15 ). We're so excited that he's coming on the cruise. Nick likes football,basketball,enjoys meeting people and can be very funny. He's been on 3 cruises ( 2 Disney ). I hope there's alot of teens on this cruise.
Can't wait for the shore excursion info to come out ! I keep looking on the DCL site everyday.
Also, what would a 15 year old boy like to do in London ? Any suggestions ?

I'll be with a 16 yo DD, a 16yo boy, and possibly a 15yo nephew. There are several other kids in the same age range going. I think there are more teen girls than boys.


Tower of London definately, although my DD is totally fascinated with it but the tortune rooms did creep her out a bit.

 

[jilljill]

I had seen some nesting dolls at a craft show years ago and hesitated to buy them as they were pretty expensive
Good to know that the soveniers in general are not too pricey in St P. or Tallinn. I'll be saving my euros for these ports
The glass plate sounds nice... How did you make sure it stayed safe while traveling?

They wrapped it in paper and we were able to get a little bit of bubble wrap in the gift shop. This time I'm coming prepared with bubble wrap. It's a little bigger than a dessert plate so it was easy to get home. We are used to bringing back breakables safely since we seem to buy a lot of them.


As of now Tallinn uses their own currency, EEK (Estonian kroner), but are converting to the euro at some point but I don't know when that will be. We were able to use euros at the little jewelry stand along the sweater wall and at the glass studio. I think we used US$ at the art gallery and I know we used a credit card at the shop I made a large purchase and at the liquor store.


I know someone is going to ask me what the sweater wall is - it's a side street that has sweater vendors lined up along the one wall and the majority of them sell sweaters. I can't believe I forgot to take a pic of it. I was hoping to find a good price on a really nice sweater, but they were very pricey due to the poor currency exchange rate at the time. The sweaters and other knit gooods they were selling were very nice and had so many colors and styles to choose from.
I was happy with the woven linen sweater I found at the shop a couple of blocks over.

 

[bellelinus]

Bellelinus...could you add our Grandson, Nick ( 15 ). We're so excited that he's coming on the cruise. Nick likes football,basketball,enjoys meeting people and can be very funny. He's been on 3 cruises ( 2 Disney ). I hope there's alot of teens on this cruise.
Can't wait for the shore excursion info to come out ! I keep looking on the DCL site everyday.
Also, what would a 15 year old boy like to do in London ? Any suggestions ?

Will do!

It depends on the 15 year old boy . . . does he like history? What about the Tower of London? Does he like popular music, counter-culture, etc? Take him to see Camden Market. Go see a musical, maybe We Will Rock You (music of Queen)? It really depends more on his own individual interests than just him being a 15 year old boy!

 

[MrsScooby]

They wrapped it in paper and we were able to get a little bit of bubble wrap in the gift shop. This time I'm coming prepared with bubble wrap. It's a little bigger than a dessert plate so it was easy to get home. We are used to bringing back breakables safely since we seem to buy a lot of them.


As of now Tallinn uses their own currency, EEK (Estonian kroner), but are converting to the euro at some point but I don't know when that will be. We were able to use euros at the little jewelry stand along the sweater wall and at the glass studio. I think we used US$ at the art gallery and I know we used a credit card at the shop I made a large purchase and at the liquor store.


I know someone is going to ask me what the sweater wall is - it's a side street that has sweater vendors lined up along the one wall and the majority of them sell sweaters. I can't believe I forgot to take a pic of it. I was hoping to find a good price on a really nice sweater, but they were very pricey due to the poor currency exchange rate at the time. The sweaters and other knit gooods they were selling were very nice and had so many colors and styles to choose from.
I was happy with the woven linen sweater I found at the shop a couple of blocks over.

I'm a big sweater person
So ...get someone to distract my DH while I buy one
Not a bad idea to bring some bubble wrap-can always leave it behind if not needed.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I'm hoping to get some of those Russian nesting dolls
A watercolor sounds great though. Where did you get that? I was kicking myself for not getting one when I was in Puerto Vallarta last year. A local was painting small scenes near the Magic where we docked, but we were in a rush to make an excursion and missed getting one
Were souvenirs very expensive in St. P. (Things like t-shirts and amber)?



Hard to please everyone in the family. NYC can be fun too though

We're meeting family in NYC this year for Thanksgiving. Part of my family is going to Radio City Music Hall the next day-but my DH and kids were not at all interested --so we are going to the Empire State Building instead. If we had time I would take them to the Statue of Liberty-that's a lot fun.



I was just telling someone that I plan my vacations years in advance too
My DH and his Mom both think it is better to not plan anything in advance and to just "wing it"
Apparently that is the way his family did their vacations when he was younger
Not my thing at all. I get very annoyed when he tries to critique a vacation after he did nothing (or very little) to plan it
If you say you don't care when I ask you in advance you give up the right to comment on it later That's my not so humble opinion

Nice to know that I have a place to go to where others are like me

Wow Andrew, you have a great Mrs. giving you her blessing to visit 'down under' without her. I keep threatening to go there by myself and I keep getting told 'NO WAY!!!'. I can't wait to go back there someday.

I've been to Australia a few times and have always had a great time there. So I can't fault their list.

Oh yes my family have different preferences nowadays and its difficult to please everyone, the kids are a bit like me adventures, and the Australia bit comes form a number of things, DD Alice wants to go to 'Alice Springs' DS wants to go to Sydney and the places seen on finding Nemo, Its on the list but so are many other things, preference is to keep everyone together hence the 2011 Med cruise was a very good idea, with new ports, but also not far to fly.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Bellelinus...could you add our Grandson, Nick ( 15 ). We're so excited that he's coming on the cruise. Nick likes football,basketball,enjoys meeting people and can be very funny. He's been on 3 cruises ( 2 Disney ). I hope there's alot of teens on this cruise.
Can't wait for the shore excursion info to come out ! I keep looking on the DCL site everyday.
Also, what would a 15 year old boy like to do in London ? Any suggestions ?

There is so much to do in London ,it will be down to his likes and preferences, if he likes historical stuff, Tower of London, Hampton court, Windsor. Likes trains, go on the new high speed trains you can take a short trip to Ebsfleet, or go on the Docklands light railway. Madame Tussuad's, planetarium, Thames river cruise, football grounds Wembley and Arsenal and Chelsea.
Good bankers are The London Eye, and the museums.

 

[scrapycruiser]

Thanks,everyone, for the suggestions ! This will be our 2nd trip to London so we're very excited. Nick's wondering about the London Dungeon ? Is this worth seeing ? Can someone give me a website to check out the Keys ceremony at the Tower of London, we missed that last time.Don't you have to purchase tickets ahead of time ? Thanks!

Any news about the shore excursions ? I'm esp anxious to see what Disney puts together for Berlin ! We were on a Baltic cruise 2 yrs ago, but we didn't stop in Warnemunde.

This seems to be a very large DisBoards group ! Do you think the ship is almost full ? I'm very pleased to see several teens going.

 

[jilljill]

Thanks,everyone, for the suggestions ! This will be our 2nd trip to London so we're very excited. Nick's wondering about the London Dungeon ? Is this worth seeing ? Can someone give me a website to check out the Keys ceremony at the Tower of London, we missed that last time.Don't you have to purchase tickets ahead of time ? Thanks!

Any news about the shore excursions ? I'm esp anxious to see what Disney puts together for Berlin ! We were on a Baltic cruise 2 yrs ago, but we didn't stop in Warnemunde.

This seems to be a very large DisBoards group ! Do you think the ship is almost full ? I'm very pleased to see several teens going.

I've heard the London Dungeon is very cheesey and not worth the money, haven't experienced it myself.
Ceremony of the Keys tickets are free but you have to mail off for them. I think Julie (bellelinus) has done this before. We've been to London many times and I had never heard of this until I was researching our summer 2008 Baltics cruise and it sounds very interesting.

For Berlin the main excursion will be a 3 hour train ride in each direction leaving you less than 6 hours in the city itself. Usually the train that is used does not have a/c. There will probably be a couple of different offerings once you are in the city as far as tours go.
Last time we opted to stay in Warnemunde and found it to be quite the charming seaside town. We would love to go back and stay for a week on vacation since we liked it so much. There's also a couple of towns that are easily accessible by train and less than ½ hour away. The train station is right at the port.
There should be a couple of links in the first post about Warnemunde.

From the sounds of other sailings this is a small DISboard group, but more families may join as it gets closer. Several families have had to cancel the cruise and they are noted in the first post if they let us know. Other families just don't post very much.
I'm sure after the first of the year we'll have a better feel of how full the ship will be since suite are to be paid in full the end of Jan. or sometime in Feb. and everyone else the paid in full date is in March.