It's called the Baltic for a reason - a Northern Europe trip report 2017 - complete 6/18

[janiebubble]

Fantastic trip report! Loved reading about it! Travelling in September so enjoying seeing whats going on for info

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it. Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[cheermom2four]

Great TR! I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it and now cant wait for next summer to sail in Northern Europe!

 

[wdwfan]

I enjoyed reading your trip report!! Thanks for posting.

 

[EllieBride]

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

 

[DCSWO]

Thanks for the info. Taking this cruise next summer in Aug so the port temps should be closer to 60-70. It will be a nice break from Texas heat.

 

[janiebubble]

Great TR! I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it and now cant wait for next summer to sail in Northern Europe!

Thank you! I've enjoyed writing it. I bet you have a great trip next year!

 

[janiebubble]

I enjoyed reading your trip report!! Thanks for posting.

Thanks for reading, and letting me know you're reading!

 

[janiebubble]

Thanks for the info. Taking this cruise next summer in Aug so the port temps should be closer to 60-70. It will be a nice break from Texas heat.

Hopefully warmer than that, in Stockholm last summer it was around 80 most of the week!

 

[janiebubble]

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome, thanks for reading

 

[Geomom]

Thank you for writing the trip report! I enjoyed reading it and am looking forward to our Northern European cruise next August!

 

[janiebubble]

Thank you for writing the trip report! I enjoyed reading it and am looking forward to our Northern European cruise next August!

I hope you have a lovely trip - I know I loved reading trip reports in the build up to our trip but I wasn't able to find many Northern Europe ones, especially recent ones. Glad you enjoyed mine

 

[Hubie]

We did the 6/11/17 Baltic Cruise and there were no adult T-shirts with the ship/logo design provided in the on-board shops.

We had fantastic weather for 3 days in Copenhagen prior to the cruise though, and while on the cruise (sunny to partly cloudy every day, except for afternoon showers in Stockholm). Our guide in St. Petersburg said that they have 30 - 40 days a year like we had (sunny & 58 degrees). This was our 4th Disney cruise. We enjoyed it so much and, because there is so much to see while in the Northern European Ports, we re-upped while on ship to take the same cruise next year that sails from Copenhagen on 8/9/18 in a reverse order to Tallinn first, then on to St. Pete, etc. We also did the Norway Fjords cruise from CPH last year and that also is great even if you experience lots of rain.

One tip I have for spending 3 days in CPH prior to taking your cruise is to buy a 72-hr. transport pass (200 DKK/person) at the airport. Then locate the free shuttle van to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The hotel is wonderful with large AC rooms with a king size bed, and it's located right next to the Field's Mall. The mall is huge and provides a good diversion if you should experience a rainy day.

Crowne Plaza Hotel


But more importantly, the Metro track & train track is right across the street from the hotel and mall. You can get to the city center very quickly on the Metro or to the central station on the train. Another advantage is not having to get a taxi to the port, since you can take the train to the central station and then jump on the train that travels to the Osterport Station. From there around the corner you can catch Bus 27 that will drop you off right by the port terminal and the Magic.

 

[Ware Bears]

Thanks for the great trip report I've just read it all through in one go.

We were also on this cruise and it's been so enjoyable reliving it through your perspective.

We didn't bother with the character breakfast this year after being so disappointed with the one we went to on the Magic in the Med last summer. Now whether it's because it's a different ship or whether they are now the same as on the Magic but we had previously enjoyed several character breakfasts on the Wonder where you were allocated your time/day and you were seated at your usual table with your usual servers and tablemates and it was a relaxed unhurried affair. So even though we had to pre-book our slot on the Magic last summer and realised we wouldn't have our usual servers we were expecting similar. It was the total opposite to what we'd experienced on the Wonder, service was very rushed and we felt the characters were so hurried through that we barely had chance to have photos with them and there was none of the hilarity with servers and napkin hats that we'd previously experienced. We were on a b2b and afterwards went to Guest Services to cancel our slot for the following week although didn't mention why because I too would have felt like an over-entitled adult making a fuss over nothing! After reading about your disappointment I'm really glad we didn't bother to book one on this cruise.

We also felt the same about Robert Creighton as you - we enjoyed his singing but feel he should really have concentrated on just that!

And yes, we saw that queue for the future cruise desk we were so glad we'd gone earlier in the week even though we didn't book anything - we are already booked on the Copenhagen to Dover repo next summer and had hoped to reshop but, as I suspected, the prices have increased more than the discount and OBC covers.

Thanks again for taking the time to write this and I hope everyone yet to go on this itinerary has a great cruise - I hope to sail it again one day.

 

[cindianne320]

Thanks for the great report! I hope to do Europe on the Magic someday (hopefully 3 years from now) and have been reading different TRs to get a feel for what we might like to do!

 

[janiebubble]

Thanks for the great trip report I've just read it all through in one go.

We were also on this cruise and it's been so enjoyable reliving it through your perspective.

We didn't bother with the character breakfast this year after being so disappointed with the one we went to on the Magic in the Med last summer. Now whether it's because it's a different ship or whether they are now the same as on the Magic but we had previously enjoyed several character breakfasts on the Wonder where you were allocated your time/day and you were seated at your usual table with your usual servers and tablemates and it was a relaxed unhurried affair. So even though we had to pre-book our slot on the Magic last summer and realised we wouldn't have our usual servers we were expecting similar. It was the total opposite to what we'd experienced on the Wonder, service was very rushed and we felt the characters were so hurried through that we barely had chance to have photos with them and there was none of the hilarity with servers and napkin hats that we'd previously experienced. We were on a b2b and afterwards went to Guest Services to cancel our slot for the following week although didn't mention why because I too would have felt like an over-entitled adult making a fuss over nothing! After reading about your disappointment I'm really glad we didn't bother to book one on this cruise.

We also felt the same about Robert Creighton as you - we enjoyed his singing but feel he should really have concentrated on just that!

And yes, we saw that queue for the future cruise desk we were so glad we'd gone earlier in the week even though we didn't book anything - we are already booked on the Copenhagen to Dover repo next summer and had hoped to reshop but, as I suspected, the prices have increased more than the discount and OBC covers.

Thanks again for taking the time to write this and I hope everyone yet to go on this itinerary has a great cruise - I hope to sail it again one day.

I'm glad you had as good a trip as us and really pleased you've enjoyed the trip report! I'd promised myself I'd do it then I looked at my photos and wasn't sure I had enough suitable ones!! At the time I was disappointed about the character breakfast but it really wasn't a big deal and didn't spoil the trip! Possibly because our previous experience had been so good I had unrealistic expectations!

Good to know someone else felt the same about Robert Creighton!

Your cruise next year sounds fantastic - hope you have a great time! I think I have to be realistic and accept we won't be cruising next year (or at least not with Disney - although I can't quite bring myself to book with anyone else). We've booked WDW for next Easter and in the summer there are only 3 cruises we could do in Europe and two are more than I can justify paying ... which leaves the 5 day Med ... we did a 4 day in 2014 and it wasn't long enough!! Keeping everything crossed for Norway in 2018 (before the placeholder expires!)

 

[janiebubble]

Thanks for the great report! I hope to do Europe on the Magic someday (hopefully 3 years from now) and have been reading different TRs to get a feel for what we might like to do!

Thank you so much!

I've now done 4 Europe cruises on the Magic ... they've all been great so I'm sure whatever you pick you'll have a fabulous time!

 

[madbaby]

Thank you so much for your TR! We are sailing next August and your report has me so excited!!! Can't wait to start planning everything!

 

[janiebubble]

Thank you so much for your TR! We are sailing next August and your report has me so excited!!! Can't wait to start planning everything!

Thank you so much. Hope you enjoy your cruise!

 

[Hubie]

It was great to read your entire report! You did a great job, and gave us a couple of ideas for our return Disney Northern Europe Cruise next August. You also have me thinking I should do a trip report. I have lots of pictures from our June 2017 sailing. We were fortunate to have had really fine weather for almost our entire trip, and were lucky to be able to visit Catherine's Palace on a totally sunny day. We also did a 3-day stopover in Iceland on our way home since we flew with Icelandic Air from Chicago (great airline and much cheaper than SAS).

 

[Piperflowers]

We didn't do much that morning. My water order from the day before never arrived so a quick trip to guest services was needed to sort that out. After getting up late we ended up grabbing lunch on deck ...
I had the special of the day in Pete's Boiler Bites ... pulled pork sandwich, it was really quite good!

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After lunch we bumped into Tiana ... she graciously posed for me ..

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we had an appointment later with some different princesses though ...but first (at 1.45pm) we headed up to the Buena Vista Theatre for
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we got there early (well 15mins or so) and it was already quite full. By the start time it was standing room only. Dr Dolberg gave a lecture on each port (including Copenhagen at the end) but due to the nature of the ports, Tallin and St Petersburg were on the same day (we missed Tallin - slept too late!). I'm really glad we went to this, I learnt a lot and it made our visit to St Petersburg even more meaningful. I wouldn't however have taken my children, those that were there were clearly bored! He overran making the end a little rushed but all ways round a good experience. Worth remembering the talks all were repeated on the TV Channels. The only reason I was worried about the over-running is we had a date in Arendelle, just 15 minutes after the scheduled end of the talk.

We ran down to Animator's to see the trio taking a quick break, so we waited to see them return
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This time, all three were meeting together, and were lovely that two adults wanted to meet them!
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Unlike previous visits, all three were meeting together. Two years ago Olaf was separate.

Again we were running out as our next date was in Fathoms.... yes it was Bingo

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we didn't win but we had a laugh ....

Then it was Cove Café

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and another random character meet

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and again it was dinner time ...

We are taking this cruise next summer. Good to know the Dr. Dolberg info is not the best idea with kids in tow. Thanks for such great details...so helpful.