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

[MrsScooby]

Laurie they have nice linen pieces in Tallinn. I really went wild in the ship across from the Segway store. I picked up a lot of gifts for us and others in there. They also carried the nesting dolls, some were even Disney themed. Since I bought so much, the shopkeeper gave me a 10% discount and then on top of that she took off the VAT so I didn't have to worry about filing paperwork at Heathrow before we flew out. So all in all I think I did very well in her shop.

I'll be on the look out for that shop as we are hoping to do a segway tour there as well
Of course the pictures and the memories will be the best souvenirs

Good Morning All
The rain has stopped lets hope the Sun comes out as well!

Good morning
Cloudy and drizzly here in VA.

 

[MrsScooby]

My DS16 is having oral surgery today
They are pulling baby teeth, exposing adult teeth and putting in chains...




sounds like torture doesn't it?

Anyone had their kid go through this?
I imagine he is on a liquid diet today if he eats at all

 

[jilljill]

'Morning all, nice and sunny here today.


Laurie it sounds like your son is living in the 16th century and he's being put into the torture chamber with that work. I'm sure it's for the best, but it sounds like torture to me.

 

[Celestine]

Celestine,
On the FE. Do we have to make gifts for everyone in the family or can it just be a "family" gift?

A family gift is more than acceptable. Basically the theory is 1 gift/sign up, but on prior cruises some people put in enough for all in the party, e.g. pens and others it was just 1, e.g. magnetic memo board, so there is no real "rule"

Celestine

 

[Celestine]

Wow you heard Barb, I gave good advise!

Engineering & Business, God help us all!

OK, I'll tap my sources & see what falls out!

Celestine

 

[Madisonznana]

My DS16 is having oral surgery today
They are pulling baby teeth, exposing adult teeth and putting in chains...


sounds like torture doesn't it?

Anyone had their kid go through this?
I imagine he is on a liquid diet today if he eats at all

Yikes!

 

[Madisonznana]

A family gift is more than acceptable. Basically the theory is 1 gift/sign up, but on prior cruises some people put in enough for all in the party, e.g. pens and others it was just 1, e.g. magnetic memo board, so there is no real "rule"

Celestine

Thanks, I was really hoping you would say that!

 

[Celestine]

Celestine or Andrew -

I have booked the Jurys Inn Heathrow and was wondering if either of you have heard anything good or bad about this hotel? Jurys Inn Heathrow Hotel, East Perimeter Rd Heathrow TW6 2SR England
It was 48 GBP VAT included for the night we get kicked off the ship. I thought that was a great rate and since it's near Hatton Cross tube station we will be able to go into London or even take a trip out to Windsor if we want that afternoon/evening.
thanks

I haven't stayed there, but when I'm back in my office on Thursday (tomorrow is a tutorial day) I'll look on our internal hotel guide & see what, if anything has been posted & get back to you. Traditionally Jurys Inn hotels are perfectly acceptable & that is a great price for that location

Celestine

 

[Madisonznana]

We have weather in the 80's again. It is so weird to look at the mountains an hour and a half from here full of snow.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Celestine or Andrew -

I have booked the Jurys Inn Heathrow and was wondering if either of you have heard anything good or bad about this hotel? Jurys Inn Heathrow Hotel, East Perimeter Rd Heathrow TW6 2SR England
It was 48 GBP VAT included for the night we get kicked off the ship. I thought that was a great rate and since it's near Hatton Cross tube station we will be able to go into London or even take a trip out to Windsor if we want that afternoon/evening.
thanks

Location is good, Hatton Garden station is next to it, think maybe linked by a foot-way. Thats then Piccaddilly line straight up to the West End, its slow at the start, but once past Acton misses about 4 stations and is fast to Hammersmith. The same line will take you to Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square,Covent Garden.

There ok, you get what you pay for they are basic, but satisfactory, at £48 they are very good value for a hotel.

I have seen it, but I say at T5, Sofitel, which is quite a bit more expensive.

Windsor might be a slight challenge, the Piccadilly terminates at Heathrow, but you can get a bus to Staines or Feltham and then rail, or go on Heathrow connect to Hayes, and then change for Slough and then Windsor. By car its close. M4.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

A REMINDER

For those coming into Gatwick and going by train to London.

At Gatwick you have three main services to London, they all have different ticket structures.

Gatwick express, -The tourist train.

This is the most expensive, it does run directly, Gatwick to Victoria, and is a nice train with luggage space. it takes 30 mins and runs every 15 minutes.

Southern

Between Gatwick and London, there are four tracks, two each direction, two fast two slow.

Southern runs services on the fast tracks, exactly the same tracks as Gatwick Express, the fast trains call at East Croydon, apart from that they are direct. Now the smart ones of you will note as they run on the same tracks, the Gatwick express cannot overtake Southern services on 99% of the distance to London.

Southern runs to Victoria and London bridge and is far cheaper than the tourist train, it has luggage space.

First capital connect/ Thameslink.

Again basically the same as Southern but to London bridge, and on to Blackfriars, Holborn and St Pancras. One stop, you guessed it East Croydon.

So in summary, when you are on the fast Gatwick Express and its going slow, its because people in front of you are on the cheaper fast train, and the GE cant overtake it.

 

[jilljill]

Andrew which website do I look at for the price of the Southern train service from Gatwick into Victoria Station?
I looked on the GE website and they have a 3for2 and a 4for2 special, so it would be 33.60 GBP for the 3 of us. This has to be purchased in advance.



Thanks to you and Celestine for the Jurys Inn info. We've stayed at a JI in Ireland. I like the idea of being close to a tube station and the Hoppa bus stops there as well for going back to the airport the next morning.
It looks like we will be flying on USAir and they use T1 so this will be convenient for us, plus it's only 1 night.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Andrew which website do I look at for the price of the Southern train service from Gatwick into Victoria Station?
I looked on the GE website and they have a 3for2 and a 4for2 special, so it would be 33.60 GBP for the 3 of us. This has to be purchased in advance.

Thanks to you and Celestine for the Jurys Inn info. We've stayed at a JI in Ireland. I like the idea of being close to a tube station and the Hoppa bus stops there as well for going back to the airport the next morning.
It looks like we will be flying on USAir and they use T1 so this will be convenient for us, plus it's only 1 night.

http://www.southernrailway.com/

Fares from £5.65 to £11.80

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Just got my email, feels like its coming now:-

​

DCL Concierge Services to me
show details 20:00 (5 minutes ago)


Hello ********** Family,

We would like to be the first to welcome you to our Disney Cruise Line Concierge Family!
As a Concierge Guest, your services begin even before you board the ship. Beginning 120 days (March 20th, 2010) prior to your sail date, we are here to offer you personalized service in planning the details of your cruise including:

· Port Adventures, Palo dining, Spa treatments and Nursery reservations
· Dining Room seating preference requests
· Special occasions and celebration planning
· Assistance with all special requests

The Disney Cruise Line Shoreside Concierge Services Team is available Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm EST and can be reached at 1-866-784-1654, or by email at DCL.Concierge.Services@disneycruise.com.
We look forward to helping you plan a memorable Disney cruise full of Magic and Wonder!

Sincerely,
Autumn, Eric and Jamira
Disney Cruise Line Shoreside Concierge Services

​

 

[jilljill]

http://www.southernrailway.com/

Fares from £5.65 to £11.80

Thanks for this.

 

[scottishwee35]

All is now well. DH's vacation is approved. The idiot manager only put 1 week in the computer and then threw away his vacation request paper - good thing I told him to make a copy. The co-manager approved his weeks and will get change into the computer.

We cancel the Dreams Cruise for next year Husband's boss didn't approved for 2 half weeks off but gave us 2 weeks off oh well, another times we will be on Dreams Cruise

Scottishwee35

 

[jilljill]

YOu can really tell when people don't travel, they don't have a clue as to how vacations need to be scheduled and most need to be scheduled way in advance any more.

 

[RJAYL]

YOu can really tell when people don't travel, they don't have a clue as to how vacations need to be scheduled and most need to be scheduled way in advance any more.

Thats not neccesarily true You Schedule Way in advance & still dont have a clue!

Happy St Patricks Day!

 

[jilljill]

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 

[jilljill]

Thats not neccesarily true You Schedule Way in advance & still dont have a clue!

That is true to a point . Especially when I have 2 or 3 reservations in the works, but it's better than not having anything in the works.
We didn't used to be this way, we were pretty much late vacation planners, but at least we would make reservations a little bit in advance.