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

[RJAYL]

Good Morning All

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Good Morning All

Good Afternoon,.

Solved the computer issue??

 

[RJAYL]

Good Afternoon,.

Solved the computer issue??

New Hardrive, New Operating system full day with a tech reinstalling & rebuilding programs & databases. I am now Windows 7 64 bit compliant!

Probablly a new GSM phone before the cuise as I have switched from a Palm Desktop to Windows Outlook!

I sent you an e-mail!

I am off to the gym have a good afternoon I will shout out later!

 

[Sailingpartyof10]

Palo Tea/Brunch does look like going, (tea Gone) but if you get to the ship early on embarkation you should get a slot, if you go to Rockin Bar D. Or ask for waitlist at Palo.

I often see people say this, but my own experience was that I didn't get either brunch or tea on a 15-night cruise with a lot of sea days, even though I did get to port early and went straight to Rockin Bar D. I think it's much harder to get on these special itinerary cruises with so many repeat cruisers who all know to do the same thing. I was on the wait list, too, and didn't get called the entire time. True, I didn't nag or beg, so maybe I could have gotten in if I had done so, but it's not really my personality, and I also knew I'd have another chance since we were lucky enough to be going on a big family reunion cruise later the same year. For that one I did get both brunch and tea, and as I said, I thought the brunch was much, much better. That was in 2008, though, when Andrew says tea was in one of its "off" periods.

 

[Samanthasmom1]

Me too! THere don't seem to be many first timers on this cruise otherwise it would be 15 days later than that. However, when we did the EBPC repo 2 years ago my parents couldn't book until 75 days out & they got everything they wanted except 1. I'm hopeful it will be similar this time around. For both myself & my parents we are only after trips each day in St P's & we are also after a spa ressie. Must remember to set my alarm early as booking will be 0500 here!!!

Celestine

This is our first cruise and I am afraid that there won't be anything to book once I am able to! Most ports we don't plan on using DCL for our tours (with the exception of Stockholm and possibly Oslo) but I would like to try Palo at least once since everyone seems to really enjoy it!

 

[caven553]

Hope everyone had a good Easter! I am almost glad to be back to work today since this weekend was both Easter and my daughter's 6th birthday. At least at work I can sit every once in a while

We have all of our first and second choices picked out for everyone in our group - now I just have to get them all organized so that we are ready to go in less than 2 weeks for booking!

 

[Samanthasmom1]

Hi Andrew,

Please thank your DD so very much for her answer to my DD's question regarding Tinkerbell. That is a great answer! I was typing my DD's questions as she told them to me. My DD really wants to find some fairies while we are in London but I was worried that the older kids might think she was joking (she's not). She also wants to find the two little prince ghosts at the Tower of London and "save them"- we saw some kids show here that was talking about them so now the Tower of London is a must visit for her!

Thanks,
Monica

 

[MrsScooby]

Finally able to get back on here now that my parents have gone home. Unfortunately had a horrible weekend with them
Actually a sad reminder that I am better off not traveling with them.

So envious of those of you who can travel with your family.


On the up side
Looking forward to chatting with all of you about this trip

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I often see people say this, but my own experience was that I didn't get either brunch or tea on a 15-night cruise with a lot of sea days, even though I did get to port early and went straight to Rockin Bar D. I think it's much harder to get on these special itinerary cruises with so many repeat cruisers who all know to do the same thing. I was on the wait list, too, and didn't get called the entire time. True, I didn't nag or beg, so maybe I could have gotten in if I had done so, but it's not really my personality, and I also knew I'd have another chance since we were lucky enough to be going on a big family reunion cruise later the same year. For that one I did get both brunch and tea, and as I said, I thought the brunch was much, much better. That was in 2008, though, when Andrew says tea was in one of its "off" periods.

Being in a 14 night and a 15 night Panama cruise, I agree, that special cruises have more repeat guests therefore they all know what they want, therefore, it goes fast. 2008 Panama was the worst, now 2009 was my first suite booking at it was a breeze, but I even got up at 4am to book this one, 'just in case'. If you are early at port and have a low boarding card, and go straight to Rockin Bar D, you have a very high chance of snagging a booking for Palo, but not guaranteed.

Now I would hope DCL if they have pressure and waitlists open things up a bit, they can do Brunch on St Petes first day if they wanted, like Key West arrival. On my 2009 Caribbean cruise we swapped routes and went from three to two sea days, they still accommodated everyone's bookings.

This is our first cruise and I am afraid that there won't be anything to book once I am able to! Most ports we don't plan on using DCL for our tours (with the exception of Stockholm and possibly Oslo) but I would like to try Palo at least once since everyone seems to really enjoy it!

Shore trips hopefully we still have availability, I can see, despite the price things like the Ball at St Petes going. It has 'Disney' appeal. But i also think we will see the same as posted on this thread people review the overall price and say, no thats over budget, and just before 72 hours pre cruise we will see some cancellations of expensive trips.

Hi Andrew,

Please thank your DD so very much for her answer to my DD's question regarding Tinkerbell. That is a great answer! I was typing my DD's questions as she told them to me. My DD really wants to find some fairies while we are in London but I was worried that the older kids might think she was joking (she's not). She also wants to find the two little prince ghosts at the Tower of London and "save them"- we saw some kids show here that was talking about them so now the Tower of London is a must visit for her!

Thanks,
Monica

Monica, when we saw this today, we had a long and hard thought down at McDonalds for Brunch on how Alice would respond. We wanted to give an answer linked to Peter Pan hence Big Ben but also add in the current highlights of sightseeing such as the London eye.

Fairies are difficult, firstly you have to really believe in them, but they are often up at dawn in the London Parks.

Finally able to get back on here now that my parents have gone home. Unfortunately had a horrible weekend with them
Actually a sad reminder that I am better off not traveling with them.

So envious of those of you who can travel with your family.


On the up side
Looking forward to chatting with all of you about this trip

I wish your family and you all the best.

 

[BluegrassBelles]

We were up at midnight too booking- and also wanted the High Tea, but were left high & dry...so we booked a brunch instead..

We were able to get all the excursions we wanted - except for the first night I was hoping for the Ballet, but the start time of that conflicted with the end time of the afternoon excursion and the system wouldn't let us book- seeing the times listed, I thought it was feasible, but the computer said no.....

Try calling Disney or Castaway direct. They were able to override it for us and we had 1 hr 15 mn between the two excursions.

 

[MI-MINI]

Thank you again for all your help & advice! We did get a Palo brunch on a sea day- so I'm thrilled and very much looking forward to everything! And I'll be sure & check out the Cove Cafe for a tea some afternoon for sure!

Next week we'll be under 100 days to go!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Thank you again for all your help & advice! We did get a Palo brunch on a sea day- so I'm thrilled and very much looking forward to everything! And I'll be sure & check out the Cove Cafe for a tea some afternoon for sure!

Next week we'll be under 100 days to go!

If you have snagged a BRUNCH slot you have done very well and that is the best of the three Palo slots. Dinner is good but you miss a normal dinner, and that diminishes the value of it.

BRUNCH, is a great event and there is so much food there, do not eat before, or if you do, toast only at 7am leave space.

TEA, is as posted really a non event, its 30>45 mins, a Coffee or Tea, cakes and Sandwiches, nice, in a nice location but, not a deal-breaker, and you can get a good quality Coffee or Tea at Cove Cafe for less and about mid afternoon, lots of cakes etc there exactly the same as Palo Tea.

 

[MI-MINI]

Hi Andrew,

Please thank your DD so very much for her answer to my DD's question regarding Tinkerbell. That is a great answer! I was typing my DD's questions as she told them to me. My DD really wants to find some fairies while we are in London but I was worried that the older kids might think she was joking (she's not). She also wants to find the two little prince ghosts at the Tower of London and "save them"- we saw some kids show here that was talking about them so now the Tower of London is a must visit for her!

Thanks,
Monica

Your DD might also be interested in the Hyde Park Peter Pan statue- the detail is incredible! It's fun to walk around it and find all the little animals and sprites-
http://golondon.about.com/od/londonforfree/ss/Peter_Pan.htm

 

[MI-MINI]

Try calling Disney or Castaway direct. They were able to override it for us and we had 1 hr 15 mn between the two excursions.

We did call today, and it worked! We were able to book the Evening Ballet- A big thank you to everyone who suggested I call- It's getting harder to be patient for July to get here every day!

 

[MrsScooby]

I wish your family and you all the best.

Thanks Andrew
You know I have to say thankfully my DH was wonderfully patient all weekend

Very much looking forward to planning this trip

 

[MrsScooby]

This may sound silly, but my big thing I want is Tea in Palo. Not sure if I'm going to get that or not. I guess we can always try on board.
We are still so undecided on excursions. St Petersburg we already have set up with Anastasia and Copenhagen we hopefully have set up with our old foreign exchange student. We've already decided we aren't going into Berlin (much to Alana's dismay), it's the other ports we don't know about.

Last night when we tried to book they did not have any high tea left available and we logged on at 00:00

Definitely try on board, but if you don't get it, I hope you won't be too upset. I didn't get tea or brunch on my 15-night PC cruise and was so disappointed, but then when I did have a chance to go on a Mexican Riviera cruise, I was a little disappointed in the tea. I am a huge Palo fan and love dinner and brunch there, but I thought the tea was not nearly as good. I LOVE going to tea at fancy hotels and love, love, love the whole tiny sandwiches and scones with clotted cream scene, and I just didn't think the Palo one was as good as it should be, compared with how exceptional the other meals are there. If you have a nice hotel or tea room near you or can go to one in London pre or post cruise, I would do that and not worry about getting the Palo one.

We were up at midnight too booking- and also wanted the High Tea, but were left high & dry...so we booked a brunch instead..

We were able to get all the excursions we wanted - except for the first night I was hoping for the Ballet, but the start time of that conflicted with the end time of the afternoon excursion and the system wouldn't let us book- seeing the times listed, I thought it was feasible, but the computer said no.....

I often see people say this, but my own experience was that I didn't get either brunch or tea on a 15-night cruise with a lot of sea days, even though I did get to port early and went straight to Rockin Bar D. I think it's much harder to get on these special itinerary cruises with so many repeat cruisers who all know to do the same thing. I was on the wait list, too, and didn't get called the entire time. True, I didn't nag or beg, so maybe I could have gotten in if I had done so, but it's not really my personality, and I also knew I'd have another chance since we were lucky enough to be going on a big family reunion cruise later the same year. For that one I did get both brunch and tea, and as I said, I thought the brunch was much, much better. That was in 2008, though, when Andrew says tea was in one of its "off" periods.

This is our first cruise and I am afraid that there won't be anything to book once I am able to! Most ports we don't plan on using DCL for our tours (with the exception of Stockholm and possibly Oslo) but I would like to try Palo at least once since everyone seems to really enjoy it!

I also hope to get Palo brunch and tea. On the EBRepo in 2008 I wasn't able to get the tea at the "no hassle" booking night, but one of our DIS people took a list of names, managed to get to the port early enough to get a group tea for us (Caro were you at this tea?-With the infamous speedo parade)
If there is someone that knows they will get there early-maybe we can try this
I don't mind trying, but I'm on the bus from London and not sure if I'll get there earlier than the folks staying in Dover

 

[MrsScooby]

Excursions help needed!

So, I booked last night, with minimal preparation as we figure we are going to do almost all the towns on our own.

(I have 5 kids and they are all very well traveled and we are fairly free spirited). Also, the cost of excursions for 7 people...

But, we aren't going to skimp on St. Petersburg or Berlin. Having 3 daughters ranging in age from 5-16, we seriously considered the Catherine's Palace Ball excursion. Even the boys (age 15 and 18) thought it would be a memory of a lifetime. BUT...really $2760 for 5 hours. We just couldn't pull the trigger!

So, I booked the intro to St. Petersburg for day 1. Seems like a great way to "meet" the city.

Then, for day 2, we booked Peterhof and Pushkin tour, thinking that would be a neat overview of the 2 palaces. That covers everything we really wanted to see except the Hermitage, but with the wide range in age of my kids and really not wanting to beat us to a pulp, I think that is all we can manage.

So, has anyone been to the Hermitage that can let me know if I am completely missing something? We aren't huge "art" people. We are more "nature and activity" geared. For example, our favorite part of the Panama Canal cruise was Zip lining in Puerto Vallarta. And, we are spending 2 weeks in Europe before the cruise. I am sure we will be going to museums (for example in Paris). So, are we okay missing it? I am also concerned about the crowding.

Next, in Talinn, that day is my 40th Birthday! I booked the city overview/fishing excursion. I am not sure about this at all. Does anyone know how easy Talinn is to do on your own? Also, what are other people doing for Talinn excursions?

Thanks in advance if you have any advice for me!

Personally for StP's, I think you should book

http://www.anastasiaworld.com/

It will be cheaper and you will get more out of it, my basic tour was $1,300 for two days, its now a bit more as we have early entry day two, thats for a family of four. You should be able to still book and select trips that are within budget for you.

I second this

I'm also on a tour with Anastasia, but there are other private companies that have good reps as well (Red October, S&B and DenRuss). You see tons more and the cost for at least a day and a half of touring runs about $300 pp for a group of 11 or so.

If you can find a family of 4 to combine with you should save money and see more sites

 

[Caropooh]

I also hope to get Palo brunch and tea. On the EBRepo in 2008 I wasn't able to get the tea at the "no hassle" booking night, but one of our DIS people took a list of names, managed to get to the port early enough to get a group tea for us (Caro were you at this tea?-With the infamous speedo parade)
If there is someone that knows they will get there early-maybe we can try this
I don't mind trying, but I'm on the bus from London and not sure if I'll get there earlier than the folks staying in Dover

No, I wasn't a part of the infamous "Speedo Tea!" That would be great if one of our early birds could set this up! I'm already part of the group brunch and I really don't care one way or another if I do dinner.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Your DD might also be interested in the Hyde Park Peter Pan statue- the detail is incredible! It's fun to walk around it and find all the little animals and sprites-
http://golondon.about.com/od/londonforfree/ss/Peter_Pan.htm

Excellent idea, I mentioned the parks and was thinking either this or Green Park, if the weather is nice the parks are great to walk around and up to Buckingham Palace.

We did call today, and it worked! We were able to book the Evening Ballet- A big thank you to everyone who suggested I call- It's getting harder to be patient for July to get here every day!

Congrats, always worth asking.

Thanks Andrew
You know I have to say thankfully my DH was wonderfully patient all weekend

Very much looking forward to planning this trip

Wish them all the best.

I second this

I'm also on a tour with Anastasia, but there are other private companies that have good reps as well (Red October, S&B and DenRuss). You see tons more and the cost for at least a day and a half of touring runs about $300 pp for a group of 11 or so.

If you can find a family of 4 to combine with you should save money and see more sites

Looking at the pricing, the posts on other Baltic threads and the combined one, people continue to bulk, at the price of DCL shore trips which are limited in time. Anastasia overall will be cheaper pp, for anyone with a party of 4 or more. More flexibility, and tailor made.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Thank you again for all your help & advice! We did get a Palo brunch on a sea day- so I'm thrilled and very much looking forward to everything! And I'll be sure & check out the Cove Cafe for a tea some afternoon for sure!

Next week we'll be under 100 days to go!

Cove cafe is often overlooked, considered just for Coffee and Tea, but they have nice food there all day. I had my room below it in 2009, would nip up a few times a day and bring stuff back down to our room for the family. It changes during the day.

On all sea days worth a visit, and if you do not get Palo Tea a great alternative, the Palo fee of $5pp would cover a nice drink there.