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

[MrsG]

Quick Hi to all.

Braces are not fun. Both my kids had them. Keep tylenol on hand at first to relieve some of the discomfort. Not a lot else to do.

Getting ready for our trip to WDW next Sat. DH has to come back and forth back to NY for a few days in between so I'll be down there by myself for a few days.

Happy weekend!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Quick Hi to all.

Braces are not fun. Both my kids had them. Keep tylenol on hand at first to relieve some of the discomfort. Not a lot else to do.

Getting ready for our trip to WDW next Sat. DH has to come back and forth back to NY for a few days in between so I'll be down there by myself for a few days.

Happy weekend!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

First Baltic cruise, 120 dayers and Suites will book next week, i have asked them to post port shore trip times on the main planning thread as they know them.

 

[Sailingpartyof10]

I asked the excursions desk via email, and I was told the Royal Ball excursion is at 5:15 on the 24th. But then when I asked if it included dinner (a 4.5 hour excursion at 5:15 ought to have some food, I think!), I got the reply that no, there is no food, and you need to eat on the ship before 6:15 when the excursion is. So I don't know if it's 5:15 or 6:15. I really wanted to do it with my niece and DD, but I think we are going to skip it since it wouldn't really be possible to see much that day if we don't get off the ship until 12:30 and then had to be back on board, get dressed up, and eat before 5:15. I wish it were the second evening in St. Petersburg. Oh well. Fortunately, I hadn't mentioned it to the girls yet. I think we will have plenty to do there as it is. I've wanted to go to the Hermitage since taking art history in college, so I am looking forward to that as well as to Peterhof, a canal boat tour, etc.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I asked the excursions desk via email, and I was told the Royal Ball excursion is at 5:15 on the 24th. But then when I asked if it included dinner (a 4.5 hour excursion at 5:15 ought to have some food, I think!), I got the reply that no, there is no food, and you need to eat on the ship before 6:15 when the excursion is. So I don't know if it's 5:15 or 6:15. I really wanted to do it with my niece and DD, but I think we are going to skip it since it wouldn't really be possible to see much that day if we don't get off the ship until 12:30 and then had to be back on board, get dressed up, and eat before 5:15. I wish it were the second evening in St. Petersburg. Oh well. Fortunately, I hadn't mentioned it to the girls yet. I think we will have plenty to do there as it is. I've wanted to go to the Hermitage since taking art history in college, so I am looking forward to that as well as to Peterhof, a canal boat tour, etc.

There are a few that have a warning saying you will miss dinner and you must eat before at the snack places on Deck 9, another example is the evening at the Ballet. They will have some logistical issues, they might only we worked out when the first Baltic cruise takes place.

IE Berlin and St Petes, there will be many people coming in and missing at least early dinner, maybe late for the late sitting. Will they try to accommodate?

I know for Rome they had 7pm and 9pm dinner, but you couldn't have to much later than that, and then you have to consider the people who are onboard and for example stay local, in Rostock, and do not go to Berlin.

I think they will review who has booked what and plan on that, but people going DYI, and Private tours , or late cancellations will effect those statistics.-An example of how things are monitored, was in August 2009, when 1,200 people were still on the Magic at 12 noon in Cozumel, we had switched routes, and many didn't book anything, they called on extra servers expecting a surge in the restaurants.

 

[Celestine]

There are a few that have a warning saying you will miss dinner and you must eat before at the snack places on Deck 9, another example is the evening at the Ballet. They will have some logistical issues, they might only we worked out when the first Baltic cruise takes place.

IE Berlin and St Petes, there will be many people coming in and missing at least early dinner, maybe late for the late sitting. Will they try to accommodate?

I know for Rome they had 7pm and 9pm dinner, but you couldn't have to much later than that, and then you have to consider the people who are onboard and for example stay local, in Rostock, and do not go to Berlin.

I think they will review who has booked what and plan on that, but people going DYI, and Private tours , or late cancellations will effect those statistics.-An example of how things are monitored, was in August 2009, when 1,200 people were still on the Magic at 12 noon in Cozumel, we had switched routes, and many didn't book anything, they called on extra servers expecting a surge in the restaurants.

Whilst we shouldn't be affected by our trip choices, I hope there is not another Cartagena eating problem - as in all the half day tours arrived together when the only places serving were deck 9 - queues around the Mickey pool, no sandwiches etc. & John (the Scottish head waiter) serving up at Pluto's dog house as though it was the first site of food after a long famine!

Celestine

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Whilst we shouldn't be affected by our trip choices, I hope there is not another Cartagena eating problem - as in all the half day tours arrived together when the only places serving were deck 9 - queues around the Mickey pool, no sandwiches etc. & John (the Scottish head waiter) serving up at Pluto's dog house as though it was the first site of food after a long famine!

Celestine

A lot depends on the forward thinking of the Restaurant managers, some are very good others, not so good. in 2009 they were on the ball in Cozumel with the anticipated demand, but yes they dropped the ball in Cartagena, funny they did get Acapulco right, but that was hard to get wrong with a port departure time of 1pm, staring you in the face.

The night of Berlin and both St Petes nights will have logistical issues, even people book a spread of trips some day some night, some local some long, it should work. They need Topsiders open, for those nights on longer hours say 7pm to 11pm.

 

[MrsScooby]

Remember how I said I hate waking up to find the heat out...
Guess what happened this morning

Apparently our local electric company had shut down the power over night for some emergency maintenance...whatever that means. Always wonder what the real story is Maybe I watch too many movies

Luckily everything was back on by 7:30 am

Good Morning everyone

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Remember how I said I hate waking up to find the heat out...
Guess what happened this morning

Apparently our local electric company had shut down the power over night for some emergency maintenance...whatever that means. Always wonder what the real story is Maybe I watch too many movies

Luckily everything was back on by 7:30 am

Good Morning everyone

Morning, (Afternoon).

Not many people around nowadays..........

 

[MrsScooby]

Morning, (Afternoon).

Not many people around nowadays..........

Good afternoon Andrew, Celestine and everyone across the pond

Yeah, I wish more people would post...

Tons of snow here! So I am avoiding housework right now

 

[jilljill]

Quick Hi to all.

Braces are not fun. Both my kids had them. Keep tylenol on hand at first to relieve some of the discomfort. Not a lot else to do.

Getting ready for our trip to WDW next Sat. DH has to come back and forth back to NY for a few days in between so I'll be down there by myself for a few days.

Happy weekend!

Don't want to be a downer for you, but keep a watch on the weather for next Sat., I hear they are calling for another storm for us.
We are heading down in the morning (checking in for the flight right now) and supposed to come back on Wednesday. But there's another storm coming Tues. night/Wednesday. So we'll see if we get home or not.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Good afternoon Andrew, Celestine and everyone across the pond

Yeah, I wish more people would post...

Tons of snow here! So I am avoiding housework right now

Yes, seen the snow on our reports, looks rather heavy,

Not a lot of people around here on this thread, but the general thread of all Baltic planning is busy.

The first cruise starts advance booking next weekend for shore trips.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Don't want to be a downer for you, but keep a watch on the weather for next Sat., I hear they are calling for another storm for us.
We are heading down in the morning (checking in for the flight right now) and supposed to come back on Wednesday. But there's another storm coming Tues. night/Wednesday. So we'll see if we get home or not.

Seems you guys are getting cold snaps and snow the same time as us, we had a really bad one in January when you had yours, we have more snow this week, but currently they are saying it will not be too bad.

 

[jilljill]

I'm not liking all this talk of food service problems. I was hoping for a smooth transition from 'normal' shore days and the long ones.
On Carnival they did a great job of food service for the first StP day and Warnemunde day - they had open seating in the dining rooms those 2 nights and a late buffet.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

QUESTION?

Working out with the schedule of dinners, that I posted a few weeks back, what does everyone think would be the best night for Palo dinner??

I am working on the assumption that I am on PLA.

Night 1. Parrot Cay Let the Magic begin (Dover)

Night 2. Lumiere's Prince and Princess- Formal (Sea)

Night 3, Animator's Palate Rotational dining (Oslo)

Night 4 Parrot Cay Rotational dining (Copenhagen)

Night 5. Lumiere's Rotational dining (Berlin) will be late.

Night 6. Animator's Palate Villians- Semi Formal (Sea)

Night 7 Parrot Cay Are still listed as pending.(St Petes)

Night 8. Lumiere's Are still listed as pending. (St Petes)

Night 9. Animator's Palate Pirates (Tallinn)

Night 10. Parrot Cay Flavors of Scandinavia (Stockholm)

Night 11. Lumiere's Captains Gala- Semi Formal (Sea)

Night 12. Animator's Palate Till We Meet Again (Sea)

Breakfast Animator's Palate (Dover)

Berlin not back to 8.30pm so will miss normal dinner, have a light meal Pizza etc on the train.

St Petes. Not back to at least 7.30pm, each night, may miss dinner.


Options; May book Palo dinner for one of the nights I am late back say 9.00pm?-At least I have a meal if I miss 'main' dinner, kids can have room service?

Don't want to miss Villains

 

[jilljill]

Seems you guys are getting cold snaps and snow the same time as us, we had a really bad one in January when you had yours, we have more snow this week, but currently they are saying it will not be too bad.

This past storm was classified as a nor'easter for us. We ended up with about 22-24 inches of snow and then the wind caused 3-4 foot drifts. Then with the next 2 storms they are saying 4-8 more inches of snow.
The weirdest part is that there are mountains a couple hours from us and they are desparate for the snow, they ended up with about 6 inches from this storm since it was a coastal storm.
We've had more snow this winter than the last 4 or 5 put together and I'm not happy about it. There's a reason I don't live in the snowbelt, but rather the mid-atlantic region.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I'm not liking all this talk of food service problems. I was hoping for a smooth transition from 'normal' shore days and the long ones.
On Carnival they did a great job of food service for the first StP day and Warnemunde day - they had open seating in the dining rooms those 2 nights and a late buffet.

Well;

Good news.

They have three Baltic cruises before us to iron out the issues.
On the Panama ones, issues on the WB were generally sorted out for the EB, such as poor shore trips in Acapulco, but Cartagena was only on the EB, so whilst the port was ok, the food service was poor.

St Petersburg should be better as you have to 'book' something, either DCL or private, but as we get in at 12.30pm, you can see early lunch getting 'hit', book Brunch!!!, and people not getting back for main dinner as they have a lot to fit in and its light.


Bad News

DCL track record on this is poor.
Berlin night, circa 1,000 people getting off a train at Dinner time!!!!
Plus coaches, yes some will stay local.
But a bottleneck there.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

This past storm was classified as a nor'easter for us. We ended up with about 22-24 inches of snow and then the wind caused 3-4 foot drifts. Then with the next 2 storms they are saying 4-8 more inches of snow.
The weirdest part is that there are mountains a couple hours from us and they are desparate for the snow, they ended up with about 6 inches from this storm since it was a coastal storm.
We've had more snow this winter than the last 4 or 5 put together and I'm not happy about it. There's a reason I don't live in the snowbelt, but rather the mid-atlantic region.

Yes, seen it on our news, even Florida got cold weather, our winter has been the worst since the 60's.

 

[jilljill]

Yes, seen it on our news, even Florida got cold weather, our winter has been the worst since the 60's.

WDW area has been hit with a lot of rain this past week. Friday afternoon they had a tornado warning and then a watch out for hours.
Just hoping for dry weather down there the next couple of days.

 

[jilljill]

Well;

Good news.

They have three Baltic cruises before us to iron out the issues.
On the Panama ones, issues on the WB were generally sorted out for the EB, such as poor shore trips in Acapulco, but Cartagena was only on the EB, so whilst the port was ok, the food service was poor.

St Petersburg should be better as you have to 'book' something, either DCL or private, but as we get in at 12.30pm, you can see early lunch getting 'hit', book Brunch!!!, and people not getting back for main dinner as they have a lot to fit in and its light.


Bad News

DCL track record on this is poor.
Berlin night, circa 1,000 people getting off a train at Dinner time!!!!
Plus coaches, yes some will stay local.
But a bottleneck there.

True, at least the other cruisers will be able to tell us about their dining experiences.