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

[MrsG]

Wow, it looks prettier than i thought. Thanks for sharing!

 

[jilljill]

http://cpbaltic08.blog.co.uk/

That is a nice teaser of what will be seen on the Baltics cruises.
I agree with the blogger that Tallin is a city not to be missed. We enjoyed Helsinki but it looked like any other European city, whereas Tallin was so different since it's still so medievil looking. We went in one shop that had a basement entrance off a side alley and we all had to duck so we wouldn't hit our heads.
At another restaurant on the outside steps, they had little fires burning in cauldrons. Along the wall on one alley was headstones that were over 800 years old. They were placed on the wall and covered with plexiglass to preserve them.
Tallin is the hidden gem of the Baltics.

 

[Flora Fan]

Count me in!!! 07/27/2010 will be our 25th wedding anniversary and we have already been saving for something BIG...this is it! Can't wait to book next week.

I have never been on a cruise before. So I'm really looking forward to the experience. My husband is retired US Navy and is looking forward to a cruise where he won't have to work.

Any advise on making the experience top notch would be welcome. Has anyone done the "romantic package"?

 

[jilljill]

Count me in!!! 07/27/2010 will be our 25th wedding anniversary and we have already been saving for something BIG...this is it! Can't wait to book next week.

I have never been on a cruise before. So I'm really looking forward to the experience. My husband is retired US Navy and is looking forward to a cruise where he won't have to work.

Any advise on making the experience top notch would be welcome. Has anyone done the "romantic package"?

Wow...what a great first cruise to pick.

 

[jlawall]

Welcome!! We're celebrating our 30th anniversary on the cruise!!

I just rewatched the blog. It does have some great pics!!

 

[Caropooh]

http://cpbaltic08.blog.co.uk/

I really enjoyed that! It gave us a good idea of what we will be doing!

 

[eeyorelvr10]

Anyone heard from Mary Jo??? Wonder if she's interested. I'll ask over on Romancing the mouse thread.

OMG! HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT MARY JO




Yes, I hope she comes, that would be icing on the cake. Now I'm getting so and its still way, way off. I can see that I'm going to get on everyone's nerves the next couple years.


Anyone else in the same

 

[eeyorelvr10]

O yeah - does anyone know if we are going to have to get visas to get off on our own at St. Petersburg? Inquiring minds want to know. See, this is what I mean, I have to figure out where to go and hunt down all this info.

On our EBPC we had some very creative and inquiring minds that went out and found the info for dumb dumbs like me that ride others coattails. Now, I am wondering if I have to do this..........WHERE OH WHERE IS ANDREW???



AndrewDerek - please make an appearance, you are being paged. Calling AndrewDerek.......has anyone seen AndrewDerek?

 

[jlawall]

O yeah - does anyone know if we are going to have to get visas to get off on our own at St. Petersburg? Inquiring minds want to know. See, this is what I mean, I have to figure out where to go and hunt down all this info.

On our EBPC we had some very creative and inquiring minds that went out and found the info for dumb dumbs like me that ride others coattails. Now, I am wondering if I have to do this..........WHERE OH WHERE IS ANDREW???



AndrewDerek - please make an appearance, you are being paged. Calling AndrewDerek.......has anyone seen AndrewDerek?

I spoke to Andrew on his Panama Canal thread and he said he doen't like to post until he books, so I'm sure he'll be by on 10/14!

 

[jlawall]

OMG! HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT MARY JO




Yes, I hope she comes, that would be icing on the cake. Now I'm getting so and its still way, way off. I can see that I'm going to get on everyone's nerves the next couple years.


Anyone else in the same

I'm really excited too...................21 months to go!!!!

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

ok so my day has been fairly full on and quite stressful really. So today was Yom Kippur so me, the boys and my mum went to shul in the morning anyway about 1ish I wasn't feeling to good so we left and went back to my mum's house.

When we get back home about 2:30 we walk in only for the au pair to inform me that the washing machine has packed up oh and by the way we've also had the builders in for the last 2 days to take down the shower in Paul and my en-suite bathroom and retile and then fix the ceiling in Ethan's room where the shower water has been leaking and the ceiling has fallen down AND also cement the hole in our lounge room where the gas men had to dig up our concrete floor in the summer to replace a leaking water pipe

So Paul and I have just got in from buying a new washing machine and that will be the third appliance this year as we've also had to replace the oven and hob so right now I feel like I'm living in the MONEY PIT

 

[jilljill]

O yeah - does anyone know if we are going to have to get visas to get off on our own at St. Petersburg? Inquiring minds want to know. See, this is what I mean, I have to figure out where to go and hunt down all this info.

On our EBPC we had some very creative and inquiring minds that went out and found the info for dumb dumbs like me that ride others coattails. Now, I am wondering if I have to do this..........WHERE OH WHERE IS ANDREW???

Yes you will need to get your own visa to go off on your own in St. Petersburg. But FIRST you have to find a legal way to make the 2 mile trek to the port entrance and then have to figure out a way to navigate from there. It's definately not a city you want to travel on your own unless you've been there before or know someone living there that can help.
We were there this past summer and took a private tour with people I met on cruise critic and we had a great 2 days with a wonderful guide and saved well over $300. for the 23 of us.

We went to all the ports except Oslo and Stockholm so we are excited to see them and experience the ports that we have already been to.

This is one time when I recommend going over to cruise critic and looking at their Ports of Call European threads to get lots of info for this cruise. That's where I got a lot of my info for our cruise this past summer.

Hope this helps some.
Barb

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

ok just one or two things I feel I have to point out

1. We're already on the 3rd page of posts for this thread and booking for this cruise are not even being taken yet

2. I did find out today that my mum has already taken this cruise so I'm ready to ask her any questions and pick her brain about all the places and ports of call

3. we need to find a name for this thread and for our cruise as 7/18/2010 12 night northern european capitals cruise just DOES NOT have enough "Je ne sais quoi" about it.

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

We were there this past summer and took a private tour with people I met on cruise critic and we had a great 2 days with a wonderful guide and saved well over $300. for the 23 of us.

Oh yes we will certainly have to look into and book private tours as we had such a great time on our tours on the Med cruise with some FANTASIC guides.

 

[MrsG]

ok so my day has been fairly full on and quite stressful really. So today was Yom Kippur so me, the boys and my mum went to shul in the morning anyway about 1ish I wasn't feeling to good so we left and went back to my mum's house.

When we get back home about 2:30 we walk in only for the au pair to inform me that the washing machine has packed up oh and by the way we've also had the builders in for the last 2 days to take down the shower in Paul and my en-suite bathroom and retile and then fix the ceiling in Ethan's room where the shower water has been leaking and the ceiling has fallen down AND also cement the hole in our lounge room where the gas men had to dig up our concrete floor in the summer to replace a leaking water pipe

So Paul and I have just got in from buying a new washing machine and that will be the third appliance this year as we've also had to replace the oven and hob so right now I feel like I'm living in the MONEY PIT

Don't you know when "it rains, it pours!!!!" This is all because you are going to have that fabulous bar mitzvah and you are going to take this wonderful, expensive cruise with us!!!! They say things happen in 3's so that will be your last new appliance for awhile. You sound like you have been in a construction zone.

Yes, I do agree, anyone think of a name for this cruise? JoAnn, you're good with this stuff. Many, many, thanks to the person that started this thread. Maybe they can think of a catchy name.

 

[jlawall]

oK, well, I emailed my daughter for help with our name..................best wishes to Iz, due to her washing machine issues..........hopefully we can book our excursions w/o getting visas???

OK, name brainstorm..................NE reunion cruise..........Ariel, mermaids aline..............coolest DisBoard bunch ever..............MM travel the world cool people..............Brits Ammies aligned.............hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, anyone else want in on this brainstorm...........

 

[Flora Fan]

Eeyore lover wrote: O yeah - does anyone know if we are going to have to get visas to get off on our own at St. Petersburg? Inquiring minds want to know. See, this is what I mean, I have to figure out where to go and hunt down all this info.


Disney says no if you are on one of the official tours offered by Disney. Yes if you intend to go on your own. Also if you go off on your own, you will need a sponsor. And I believe the sponsor has to be a state licensed tour company.

It sounds easier...and safer to just stick with Disney on this one. (They mentioned a tour to Moscow too)

 

[MrsG]

We are definately doing this one through Disney. In all honesty, we did all the excursions through Disney on the Med. and were absolutely pleased with all of them. But we did have many friends who did excursions with local tour companies and were also pleased. I'm happy to leave the research to Disney and just pick the excursion. This way they are responsible for all the details and transportation back and forth to the ship. And if we're running late, it's their problem, not ours. Although every excursion we were on ran like clockwork a la Disney.

 

[jilljill]

We were there this past summer and took a private tour with people I met on cruise critic and we had a great 2 days with a wonderful guide and saved well over $300. for the 23 of us.

Big oops here - that should have said saved us well over $300. for the 3 of us.

 

[jilljill]

Eeyore lover wrote: O yeah - does anyone know if we are going to have to get visas to get off on our own at St. Petersburg? Inquiring minds want to know. See, this is what I mean, I have to figure out where to go and hunt down all this info.


Disney says no if you are on one of the official tours offered by Disney. Yes if you intend to go on your own. Also if you go off on your own, you will need a sponsor. And I believe the sponsor has to be a state licensed tour company.

It sounds easier...and safer to just stick with Disney on this one. (They mentioned a tour to Moscow too)

If you book with a reputable tour company your tour cost will cover a blanket visa. We just did this in July and all was good with the officials and the tour.