July 22, 2015 * 12-night Northern European Cruise!

[Deb T.]

Thanks for the welcome!

SleepyV

You're welcome! We're glad you've joined us! It's going to be a great cruise! And, it's been very helpful for us non-Brits to have so many local experts helping us out! For example, I've asked the others for authentic London dining recommendations. Do you have any favourites?

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

London is so diverse there are few authentic places left, there is do many places to eat but it's from all the countries of the world and all of the big corporates here, Londoners will feel, McDonalds, Starbucks are authentic.

What I would say is try the real fish and chop places, one between St Paul's and the Millennium bridge normally they have boards out directing you there, it's just behind the St Paul's / London city information centre.

There are lots of small sand which places that are family owned, many in Holborn Chancery Lane snd Fleet Street. A big sandwich or bps far better than Pret a Manger.


My old Dutch - well you can work it out isn't English but it produces the best large and thin pancakes Dutch style, not USA small thick breakfast ones but a pancake with everything in it, just off Holborn tube.

The tip go behind the big name streets they have high rents and high costs do only the corporates can afford it, go one road off Oxford Street towards Hanover Sq and you will find nice places, walk off Oxford Street, at Bond Street North and you find many nice places to eat in Saint Christopher's place.

Some hotels have nice buffets it depends where you are staying.

Maxwells in Covent a garden is nice more USA style food and Porters to the South West of Covent Garden has traditional English pies that are excellent.

 

[Deb T.]

London is so diverse there are few authentic places left, there is do many places to eat but it's from all the countries of the world and all of the big corporates here, Londoners will feel, McDonalds, Starbucks are authentic.

What I would say is try the real fish and chop places, one between St Paul's and the Millennium bridge normally they have boards out directing you there, it's just behind the St Paul's / London city information centre.

There are lots of small sand which places that are family owned, many in Holborn Chancery Lane snd Fleet Street. A big sandwich or bps far better than Pret a Manger.


My old Dutch - well you can work it out isn't English but it produces the best large and thin pancakes Dutch style, not USA small thick breakfast ones but a pancake with everything in it, just off Holborn tube.

Thanks. Do you, by chance, happen to know the name of the one between St Paul's and the Millennium bridge? And, can you tell me the names of some of the family owned sandwich places? DH can be a bit grumpy when he's hungry, so I'd rather avoid having to tell him, "Andrew says there's a good place to eat somewhere on Chancery Lane. I don't know where, exactly. And, I don't know the name of the place. But you'll be able to eat when we do find it."

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Thanks. Do you, by chance, happen to know the name of the one between St Paul's and the Millennium bridge? And, can you tell me the names of some of the family owned sandwich places? DH can be a bit grumpy when he's hungry, so I'd rather avoid having to tell him, "Andrew says there's a good place to eat somewhere on Chancery Lane. I don't know where, exactly. And, I don't know the name of the place. But you'll be able to eat when we do find it."

When I go walkabout I will look and see and tell you, keep reminding me as I may / may not go past each day.

 

[FutureMrsF]

WoooooHooooo we booked!!!

So excited we have paid our deposit and we are all set to cruise the baltics on 22nd July. We just need to scrape the rest of the money together now. Lol

We were originally booked on the 7 night med cruise but we really wanted to do this one and have been thinking of changing the booking for ages but weren't sure our finances would stretch, however we've decided to bite the bullet and just save like crazy for the next 9 months.

I'm super excited as I have an immense fear of flying and now don't have to worry about flights as we live in the UK.

Me, my DH and our 2 DD's (13 & 10 at the time of sailing) cannot WAIT to join you all.

Xx

 

[mousemom11]

WoooooHooooo we booked!!!

So excited we have paid our deposit and we are all set to cruise the baltics on 22nd July. We just need to scrape the rest of the money together now. Lol

We were originally booked on the 7 night med cruise but we really wanted to do this one and have been thinking of changing the booking for ages but weren't sure our finances would stretch, however we've decided to bite the bullet and just save like crazy for the next 9 months.

I'm super excited as I have an immense fear of flying and now don't have to worry about flights as we live in the UK.

Me, my DH and our 2 DD's (13 & 10 at the time of sailing) cannot WAIT to join you all.

Xx

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

WoooooHooooo we booked!!!

So excited we have paid our deposit and we are all set to cruise the baltics on 22nd July. We just need to scrape the rest of the money together now. Lol

We were originally booked on the 7 night med cruise but we really wanted to do this one and have been thinking of changing the booking for ages but weren't sure our finances would stretch, however we've decided to bite the bullet and just save like crazy for the next 9 months.

I'm super excited as I have an immense fear of flying and now don't have to worry about flights as we live in the UK.

Me, my DH and our 2 DD's (13 & 10 at the time of sailing) cannot WAIT to join you all.

Xx

Welcome and a double welcome to more Brits!

 

[Deb T.]

FutureMrsF!!

 

[SleepyV]

I'm super excited as I have an immense fear of flying and now don't have to worry about flights as we live in the UK.

I know that feeling! So glad ( and less expense) to be able to sail out of Dover.

For example, I've asked the others for authentic London dining recommendations. Do you have any favourites?

We are very sad when we visit London and tend to eat at places like Wagamama (Japanese dishes but not sushi) because we know the quality and we tend to want something relatively quick and not waiting ages. There are some nice cafes in Covent Garden itself but it is busy and you pay a premium for the location. If you turn off the main square area and go down the side streets it tend to be a little quieter. There is quite a bit of street entertainment in this area too.

SleepyV

 

[owensjro]

Hello all!

We just signed up for this cruise (we decided to wait until the price had gone up significantly so we could spend even more money on it....really smart of us eh?) so here we are

It will be me, my wife Amanda, and our daughter Hannah (13).

As the cruise gets a bit closer Hannah would love to get in touch with other kids her age before the cruise. We've done this in the past and it usually worked out great especially for long cruises.

We'll be joining up on the various FB pages as well.

Jim

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Hello all!

We just signed up for this cruise (we decided to wait until the price had gone up significantly so we could spend even more money on it....really smart of us eh?) so here we are

It will be me, my wife Amanda, and our daughter Hannah (13).

As the cruise gets a bit closer Hannah would love to get in touch with other kids her age before the cruise. We've done this in the past and it usually worked out great especially for long cruises.

We'll be joining up on the various FB pages as well.

Jim

Hello and Welcome.

 

[owensamo]

It will be me, my wife Amanda, and our daughter Hannah (13).

I'm with Jim! We're all so excited to be on this cruise. We had originally ruled it out, but ended up deciding that Disney was the right choice for our family. Plus - we want to finally enjoy our Platinum benefits!

I'm working on catching up on the thread - it's a lot of posts, but the long threads always make for the best cruises!

Amanda

 

[DisneyConvert]

Any ideas / guesses on how full the ship might get?

As many of you know TiggerPU88, DS Elian and I _loved_ the EBTA in April 2010 and it seemed that we had only ~1,350 fellow passengers with us. Plenty of elbow room, but maybe a bit empty for some events. The repositioning logistics and school period were likely a big factor because the price was extremely attractive.

Capacity is stated as 2,700 passengers but that presumes 5 people stay in a 5-person stateroom. I would guess that a more realistic estimate of "every-stateroom-booked" is 2,000-2,100 passengers.

Any thoughts from those who know more than I do?

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I'm with Jim! We're all so excited to be on this cruise. We had originally ruled it out, but ended up deciding that Disney was the right choice for our family. Plus - we want to finally enjoy our Platinum benefits!

I'm working on catching up on the thread - it's a lot of posts, but the long threads always make for the best cruises!

Amanda

Any ideas / guesses on how full the ship might get?

As many of you know TiggerPU88, DS Elian and I _loved_ the EBTA in April 2010 and it seemed that we had only ~1,350 fellow passengers with us. Plenty of elbow room, but maybe a bit empty for some events. The repositioning logistics and school period were likely a big factor because the price was extremely attractive.

Capacity is stated as 2,700 passengers but that presumes 5 people stay in a 5-person stateroom. I would guess that a more realistic estimate of "every-stateroom-booked" is 2,000-2,100 passengers.

Any thoughts from those who know more than I do?

Our DCL one in 2010 was one of four not markets well, not really known in the Uk and did well, not full but quite full can't recall numbers but was circa 2200, this one is one of two 12 nights with a couple of seven nights and the only one in school holidays UK wise, looking at cruise fish it's selling very well, awareness higher in UK now with Virgin cruises selling DCL I think DCL will advertise locally in our papers so I will say it will be full, there could be the odd discount post PIF but it will sell out.

My Med cruise in six weeks on cruise fish had a slower start and is now nearly sold out.

 

[AmericanExPat]

So, any 5-6 year olds going to be on board from this group? Sounds like some 7s and the rest older (but I haven't yet read every post). Our younger daughter will be almost 6 and she gets tired of always hanging out with her big sis (will be almost 8).

 

[ctnurse]

So, any 5-6 year olds going to be on board from this group? Sounds like some 7s and the rest older (but I haven't yet read every post). Our younger daughter will be almost 6 and she gets tired of always hanging out with her big sis (will be almost 8).

Sorry, we will have an 11 yr old and a 2 yr old when we cruise.

 

[owensjro]

So, any 5-6 year olds going to be on board from this group? Sounds like some 7s and the rest older (but I haven't yet read every post). Our younger daughter will be almost 6 and she gets tired of always hanging out with her big sis (will be almost 8).

Looking at the first post in the thread there are a couple in that range but in general it does look like this is an older kids group. The Edge and Vibe are going to be packed!

Jim

 

[owensjro]

The Adventures by Disney for our cruise are now up and available. No pricing listed but I imagine they will be pretty high.

http://www.adventuresbydisney.com/europe/baltic-cruise-12-night-a/#!trip-at-a-glance

Jim

 

[SleepyV]

Any ideas / guesses on how full the ship might get?

As many of you know TiggerPU88, DS Elian and I _loved_ the EBTA in April 2010 and it seemed that we had only ~1,350 fellow passengers with us. Plenty of elbow room, but maybe a bit empty for some events. The repositioning logistics and school period were likely a big factor because the price was extremely attractive.

Capacity is stated as 2,700 passengers but that presumes 5 people stay in a 5-person stateroom. I would guess that a more realistic estimate of "every-stateroom-booked" is 2,000-2,100 passengers.

Any thoughts from those who know more than I do?

We sailed on the repo from Dover to Barcelona in 2010. It was the first sailing in UK school holidays and they offered a kids sail free offer ( I believe). It was officially full with over 1000 children on board too. Now saying that it felt busy but not heaving! On the first sea day you could find loungers on the top deck and the Mickey pool was very busy.
We sailed on the Fantasy last year and felt that was more crowded and busier even though it probably had the same number of passengers on and was bigger.
(It was only ¾ full). Don't let the prospect of a full Magic put you off- you'll still have elbow room.

I agree with Disney Fantasy that the publicity for this cruise has not hit the UK yet and that will most likely happen in September with a peak after Christmas.

SleepyV

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We sailed on the repo from Dover to Barcelona in 2010. It was the first sailing in UK school holidays and they offered a kids sail free offer ( I believe). It was officially full with over 1000 children on board too. Now saying that it felt busy but not heaving! On the first sea day you could find loungers on the top deck and the Mickey pool was very busy.
We sailed on the Fantasy last year and felt that was more crowded and busier even though it probably had the same number of passengers on and was bigger.
(It was only ¾ full). Don't let the prospect of a full Magic put you off- you'll still have elbow room.

I agree with Disney Fantasy that the publicity for this cruise has not hit the UK yet and that will most likely happen in September with a peak after Christmas.

SleepyV

Yes TAs will promote here later in the year and better than 2010