Anyone else disappointed w Baltic add on?

[EllinK]

I patiently waited for the Baltic cruise add on and then when it was announced -- meh. No details, nothing enticing. Just a high price tag. Sounds like it sold out anyway. The announcement was mostly just a list of the obvious places anyone would go. Are you supposed to book on faith and hope that they followup with some great tours? Am I the only one who was disappointed?

 

[sayhello]

I'm not cruising next year, so my interest in the add-ons has been pretty academic. But what I would have done is called ABD and asked them about the add-on. They will give you all the details you want! The ABD Vacationistas are very helpful in that respect. Or if you work with a Travel Agent, I'm sure they could have done the same thing for you.

Sayhello

 

[paddles]

I booked the Baltic add-on and need to call the vacationistas to get more detail.

But I have a different take. I am happy to see that the obvious places are included, and then I'm sure ABD will layer on the extra, fun things. It would break my heart if we skipped the "obvious" and important in lieu of some random other activity. Especially since this is a cruise and it would be tough for me to add pre/post days to some of the ports we're visiting.

I was disappointed with the London pre-stay. While Copenhagen looked pretty good, London was really light on activities and expensive.

 

[Calfan]

I booked the Baltic add-on and need to call the vacationistas to get more detail.

But I have a different take. I am happy to see that the obvious places are included, and then I'm sure ABD will layer on the extra, fun things. It would break my heart if we skipped the "obvious" and important in lieu of some random other activity. Especially since this is a cruise and it would be tough for me to add pre/post days to some of the ports we're visiting.

I was disappointed with the London pre-stay. While Copenhagen looked pretty good, London was really light on activities and expensive.

My opinion is very similar to paddles', but I do agree with the OP that the written itinerary for the Baltics add-on comes across as pretty bland. I think it would help if ABD put the same level of detail into the written itineraries for the cruise add-ons as it does for the regular ABD trips.

But, like, Paddles, I am very happy to see that the obvious things that I would want to do in the ports are covered. For example, St. Petersburg includes the four places I most want to go (the Hermitage, Peterhof, Catherine's Place, and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood) and also includes a river/canal ride, which was also on my to do list for that port. I am hopeful that ABD will sprinkle some extra pixie dust and there will be some additional special touches added in St. Petersburg (and the other ports). But if not, I will get to the sites I care most about, with two included lunches and some on-our-own time to shop for souvenirs or fit in some extra sites without having to worry about getting visas.

I also really like the idea of traveling with a consistently smaller group of 40 or so versus some port adventures that could have a lot more. And I also think ABD will do a good job of getting the ABD group off the ship before the regular port adventures and maybe even folks doing the ports on their own.

So overall, I am confident that I will see more with the ABD than I would trying to piece together port adventures or doing the ports on my own, with a consistent and relatively small travel group. I also think ABD will layer in extras and special touches that aren't included in the current written itinerary. For example, it has already been confirmed that the ABBA museum will be a stop in Stockholm, but for some reason ABD is not allowed to advertise that in its published itinerary. There is also apparently a karaoke night that is not listed in the itinerary. And I read on one of the blogs that there will be a guided tour of Tivoli Gardens which is not clear in the written ABD itinerary. I agree it would be helpful if ABD put more detail into the written itineraries for the cruise add-ons. I suspect they might still be developing the details for some of the port stops. But as the OP pointed out, I guess it doesn't matter whether ABD makes the add-ons sound exciting or not, since they are selling out. Go figure!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I patiently waited for the Baltic cruise add on and then when it was announced -- meh. No details, nothing enticing. Just a high price tag. Sounds like it sold out anyway. The announcement was mostly just a list of the obvious places anyone would go. Are you supposed to book on faith and hope that they followup with some great tours? Am I the only one who was disappointed?

I'm signed up, but I was disappointed as well. If you look at the DCL port adventures from the last Baltics cruise, they basically sound like those (not even souped up versions of those BTW). I'm hoping Calfan is right, and there are lots of extras that aren't being mentioned. I'm planning to go through the itinerary and compare to the prices of previous PA's to compare. I'll report back when I do. But what these cruise add-ons seem to be missing is the "special" kinds of activities and balanced itinerary that the regular ABDs have. For example, things like archery at Glamis Castle, Canoing on Loch Ness, and making scones (like Scotland ABD).

 

[EllinK]

I'm signed up, but I was disappointed as well. If you look at the DCL port adventures from the last Baltics cruise, they basically sound like those (not even souped up versions of those BTW). I'm hoping Calfan is right, and there are lots of extras that aren't being mentioned. I'm planning to go through the itinerary and compare to the prices of previous PA's to compare. I'll report back when I do. But what these cruise add-ons seem to be missing is the "special" kinds of activities and balanced itinerary that the regular ABDs have. For example, things like archery at Glamis Castle, Canoing on Loch Ness, and making scones (like Scotland ABD).

That's my point, exactly! Following up on someone's suggestion (SayHello, maybe) I called Adventures by Disney and asked for any additional details about the adventure in the Baltics. I was told that they are all on the website. I pointed out that the website was more of a general itinerary but it was missing those really unique experiences that make ABD so fantastic. Basically, the CM said "no, it's not". She told me that the whole trip was unique because I hadn't been there. I was so looking forward to completing the survey after that phone call (!) but she disconnected me. Not a very Disney Day.

 

[EllinK]

I checked out the Baltics Meet thread and see that most of the families who have signed up have kids in the 8-13 age group. My son will be 11. We usually go on cruises that include ports where he can be very active (carribbean, Mexico, Alaska) but since this cruise will be to a lot of cities, I was especially interested in what ABD would be doing to include/interest kids. (Only thing I noticed was shield making...)

 

[abdgeek]

I patiently waited for the Baltic cruise add on and then when it was announced -- meh. No details, nothing enticing. Just a high price tag. Sounds like it sold out anyway. The announcement was mostly just a list of the obvious places anyone would go. Are you supposed to book on faith and hope that they followup with some great tours? Am I the only one who was disappointed?

Having done the ABD Med Cruise Add-on in 2011, I can tell you that you will see more by doing the ABD than others who don't. Yes, ABD goes to the same places but there are extra special touches that they don't advertise. I also did the 12 night DCL Venice cruise in 2013 and did not do the add-on because the first seven days was the same as what I had done before and there is a HUGE difference between what you get with ABD and without!

With ABD, you will have a content expert, snacks, water, ponchos if it's raining and anything else they think you need. You are the first off the ship and often the last to return. Rules about photography and other things like bags don't always apply to the ABD. The ABD a lot of times combines 2-3 of the regular excursions to make up the day. What I found when I did the pricing of regular excursions was that I couldn't piece together what ABD was doing because you only had time for one excursion a day. When we did Malta, I did the DCL excursion that was similar to what ABD was doing. Besides being expensive, the excursion was fraught with issues and several of us got our money back when we complained in writing to the shore excursion desk. Based on our feedback, DCL adjusted the excursion and put in certain disclaimers. I'm pretty sure the ABD didn't have the issues we had when they did it.

We were also given a case of water for our stateroom, gifts, adult dinner at Palo which was hosted by ABD, an animation class, etc. and all of the ABD group had late seating and sat together. I'm not sure if they are still doing all of that, but there are extras that you don't read about. The ABD guides also meet you in the terminal(there is a kiosk) and they answer any questions you have and let you know any last minute details. I can tell you that ABD is now doing the add-ons and not DCL. That should make things better because there were only two or three people at DCL who could talk about the ABD add-on and no one ever seemed to know who they were. Also keep in mind that this is a new itinerary, relatively speaking, and they are probably still firming things up. ABD has also changed their practice of giving out information. Any specific questions about an ABD are researched and you are called back in a couple of days. This is different because you used to be able to call up and they had the hourly itinerary in front of them and could answer your questions.

I hope the above info soothes some of your fears. I've looked at this trip, but aren't sure I want to take it. What I am sure of is that I would do an ABD cruise add-on for every cruise I took it they were offered. I want to do the Norway/Iceland cruise in 2016(if it's offered) and I hope they offer an add-on there.