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

[DISNEY FANTASY]

For those of you spending a few days in London before the cruise, how are you getting to Dover? (please forgive me if that's been asked already! My computer is so slow and I'm having trouble wading through everything!) We won't have a car seat for my toddler so I'm not quite sure what to do. Thanks!

I live local an hour drive, as well as the coach organised there are DCL transfers. You can get to the port by train the local station is Dover Priory. That's a short five min cab journey from the pier and a good number of taxis there. Trains come to / from London there, fast trains from London St Pancrus, and commuter trains from London Charing Cross, they call at London Bridge but avoid that this year re refurb work going on. London Victoria also has trains. Some trains of eight or more carriages split up at Faversham or Ashford so be in the correct part of four carries. I do not recommend public coach such as national express too many stops and will get caught in London traffic. You can hire a car there is a car hire place on the A20 outside the pier entrance that's a short walk.

 

[owensamo]

I was reading a "Shorts in the MDR" thread, and someone mentioned that the European cruises are more dressy on Formal/Semi-Formal nights than the US-based cruises. We normally take the opportunity to dress up pretty nicely (suit/tie for DH, formal gowns for DD and myself) on our cruises, but since we are flying to Paris for 6 nights prior to the cruise and planning to pack in carry-ons only, we're looking at slightly less formal attire for this one. DH doesn't plan to bring a jacket - probably dress shirts and ties, and DD and I will have dresses, but ones that can pack and not wrinkle too much. Will we be completely out of place?

 

[Deb T.]

Don't worry, you won't feel out of place at all. We've seen a little bit of everything on formal and semi-formal nights. DH and I attend several formal events each year near home, so we actually welcome the opportunity to dress casually on vacation, including on cruises. We will be dressed like your family: DH in dress shirts and ties and me in casual dresses/skirts. We'll bring clothes that can be mixed and matched over the 12 nights for greater flexibility and less packing.

 

[awaghorn]

Ironically because we are from the UK I was considering bringing my dinner jacket (tux) but not sure if it might be a bit OTT!

 

[Deb T.]

Ironically because we are from the UK I was considering bringing my dinner jacket (tux) but not sure if it might be a bit OTT!

Not OTT at all! There will be many cruisers in formal attire. This cruise offers a great opportunity for all of you from the UK since you don't have to worry about luggage restrictions and additional fees like you do when crossing the pond to cruise out of Florida. Go for it!

 

[Celestine]

My DH will be bringing his. It's not often we have an opportunity to dress up

 

[DisneyConvert]

Join us for dinner!?
.
My wife ("TiggerPU88"), our son and I would like to be part of a larger group for evening supper (late seating). We (will be) 56, 49, and almost-14yrs of age this summer and would enjoy spending time with other DCL enthusiasts with one or more boys in the 13-15yr range.

Our son likes video games, Pokemon, music and Boy Scouts and probably will be off to Edge or Vibe on a regular basis. Wife and I enjoy meeting new people and discussing the day's events; we have both been to Europe before, but never the Baltics nor Russia.

Send us a PM if you're interested. Thanks!

 

[Florian]

Hello from the UK,

We booked passage in the dim and distant past, but it is only now I have discovered this forum. We (DH and I) and travelling with my mom and my brother. The trip is a birthday gift for my mom and brother as his birthday is 2 weeks before we travel and hers is the weekend after we get back. For our family it is a pretty important trip as my brother has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and is quadriplegic, more significantly he has lived quite a number of years beyond the average life span for someone with the disease so we know we are on borrowed time. It seemed like fate when Disney announced trips from Dover as travelling with my brother is a complicated exercise, so travelling from the UK makes it an enormous amount easier as we don't have to difficulties of flying.

My mom is the main carer for my brother and through a set of circumstances they get by on state aid and no other income so would not normally to have a trip like this. I am a huge Disney fan (have been to WDW a bucket load of times, as well as once each to California, Paris and Tokyo) so it seemed totally worth cashing in some of our investment to make this trip happen.

I can't wait, and my family is almost beside themselves with excitement. It does mean that we are becoming friends with the lovely Chris in the Special Services Department at Disney who has been a great help. It has also made research into excursions interesting, especially as Disney don't seem to do pretty much anything in that area.

Fortunately at the end of last year DH and I did a non cruise tour of the Baltic states as part of "The 40 Project" (my gift to DH for his 40th birthday - something he was totally bummed about), so we have a pretty good idea of what can be done in each of the ports (especially since I am an obsessive planner). I am looking forward to revisiting all of the cities we had such a good time in them.

If anyone has questions about the ports we are stopping in I am happy to share the experiences we have had.

 

[Florian]

Copenhagen Day 1: DIY North Zealand castles tour (Train to Fredriksborg Castle, Train to Kronborg Castle, Train back to port area) - might try to hit Tivoli in the evening to see it with the lights on.
Copenhagen Day 2: Canal boat tour, Tivoli, Stroget
Stockolm: Bus to Vasa, Walk to Skansen, bus to Gamla Stan, Rick Steve's Gamla Stan walk
Helsinki: ?? Still working on it. I kind of want to see the Rock Church, and DH is interested in Suomenlinna. I'm tempted to take it easy and just wander the Market Square and areas since we'll have so much touring behind and ahead of us!

We're planning on getting the Copenhagen Card and the Stockholm Card - both include public transit and entrance to the places we're looking at going. The Helsinki card is tempting, but we might not use it enough to make it worthwhile.

Some notes from when we visited.

Copenhagen: Tivoli is a delight in the evening, make sure to stop at the Vaffelbagereit, the ice cream is fabulous. Strøget has become very commercial with big international brand names, the side streets have more interesting shops. Just two streets away from one end of Strøget is Rundetårn (Round Tower) which (25DKK / around $3.50 entrance) was an observatory which now offers fabulous views of the city and you can also have a look at the bells of the church it is attached to. If you have an interest in history the palaces (Rosenberg, Christianborg and Amalienborg) are very interesting with the latter two still in use. Rosenberg is the oldest and arguably the most interesting and also houses the crown jewels. Christianborg is the home of the Danish Parliament but the state rooms are open, you can also see the ruins of the old castle underneath it, the Royal Chapel and the interesting old Royal Theatre. Amalienborg is where the current royal family live and is probably the least interesting, but the nearby Marble Church is quite something. When walking from the port you will pass the Little Mermaid statue and Kastellet, a bastion which is worth the slight detour to walk the ramparts especially as it is on the walk into town (about 15 minute walk from ship to town). Separately you will find branches of Paradis Is around the place, they are a homemade ice cream business with very nice ice creams in a range of flavours. For lunch Ida Davidson offers around 180 kinds of Danish open sandwiches which very nice.

Stockholm: I understand our cruise is not docking in the normal area for cruise ships, instead is docking at Stadsgården which is a short 20 minute walk from Gamla Stan. I wouldn't then get the bus to Vasa, but catch the ferry which goes from close to the Royal Palace and docks at Djurgården a short walk from Vasa. The ferry is part of the public transport system so it pretty cheap (single ticket costs 40SEK (~$4.50), a day ticket costs 100SEK (~$11). Djurgården is also home to Nordic Museum, the Abba Museum, Skansen and Gröna Lund (an amusement park) amongst other things. Incidentally the cafe at Vasa is a little pricey but the food is quite nice.

Gamla Stan is interesting and quirky, off to one side across the bridge on Riddarholmen (very very short walk) is Riddarholm Church which contains the crypts of the majority of the monarchs up to 1950. The shops though are tourist specials in the main with prices to match.

Helsinki: The Rock Church is completely amazing, but it is a fair trip to go to (figure 20-30minutes each way on the tram). An interesting alternative (though not as spectacular) is the Kampii Chapel of Silence in the main shopping area, a delightful oasis of tranquility. We loved Soumenlinna, it was one of our highlights of Helsinki and takes longer than you imagine to see, worth visiting the submarine! The ferry goes from Market Square about every 40 minutes and is part of the city transport system and covered by regular tickets. Market Square is much less interesting than you would imagine and the Cathedral is very austere making it somewhat of a disappointment after the climb. Just to one side of Market Square is the Old Market Hall which has a great selection of places to get lunch and snacks.

Check carefully the value of the Stockholm and Copenhagen cards, we travelled hard and couldn't get them to be reasonable value for money. We found getting a day transport ticket and paying admission made more sense.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Hello from the UK,

We booked passage in the dim and distant past, but it is only now I have discovered this forum. We (DH and I) and travelling with my mom and my brother. The trip is a birthday gift for my mom and brother as his birthday is 2 weeks before we travel and hers is the weekend after we get back. For our family it is a pretty important trip as my brother has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and is quadriplegic, more significantly he has lived quite a number of years beyond the average life span for someone with the disease so we know we are on borrowed time. It seemed like fate when Disney announced trips from Dover as travelling with my brother is a complicated exercise, so travelling from the UK makes it an enormous amount easier as we don't have to difficulties of flying.

My mom is the main carer for my brother and through a set of circumstances they get by on state aid and no other income so would not normally to have a trip like this. I am a huge Disney fan (have been to WDW a bucket load of times, as well as once each to California, Paris and Tokyo) so it seemed totally worth cashing in some of our investment to make this trip happen.

I can't wait, and my family is almost beside themselves with excitement. It does mean that we are becoming friends with the lovely Chris in the Special Services Department at Disney who has been a great help. It has also made research into excursions interesting, especially as Disney don't seem to do pretty much anything in that area.

Fortunately at the end of last year DH and I did a non cruise tour of the Baltic states as part of "The 40 Project" (my gift to DH for his 40th birthday - something he was totally bummed about), so we have a pretty good idea of what can be done in each of the ports (especially since I am an obsessive planner). I am looking forward to revisiting all of the cities we had such a good time in them.

If anyone has questions about the ports we are stopping in I am happy to share the experiences we have had.

Some notes from when we visited.

Copenhagen: Tivoli is a delight in the evening, make sure to stop at the Vaffelbagereit, the ice cream is fabulous. Strøget has become very commercial with big international brand names, the side streets have more interesting shops. Just two streets away from one end of Strøget is Rundetårn (Round Tower) which (25DKK / around $3.50 entrance) was an observatory which now offers fabulous views of the city and you can also have a look at the bells of the church it is attached to. If you have an interest in history the palaces (Rosenberg, Christianborg and Amalienborg) are very interesting with the latter two still in use. Rosenberg is the oldest and arguably the most interesting and also houses the crown jewels. Christianborg is the home of the Danish Parliament but the state rooms are open, you can also see the ruins of the old castle underneath it, the Royal Chapel and the interesting old Royal Theatre. Amalienborg is where the current royal family live and is probably the least interesting, but the nearby Marble Church is quite something. When walking from the port you will pass the Little Mermaid statue and Kastellet, a bastion which is worth the slight detour to walk the ramparts especially as it is on the walk into town (about 15 minute walk from ship to town). Separately you will find branches of Paradis Is around the place, they are a homemade ice cream business with very nice ice creams in a range of flavours. For lunch Ida Davidson offers around 180 kinds of Danish open sandwiches which very nice.

Stockholm: I understand our cruise is not docking in the normal area for cruise ships, instead is docking at Stadsgården which is a short 20 minute walk from Gamla Stan. I wouldn't then get the bus to Vasa, but catch the ferry which goes from close to the Royal Palace and docks at Djurgården a short walk from Vasa. The ferry is part of the public transport system so it pretty cheap (single ticket costs 40SEK (~$4.50), a day ticket costs 100SEK (~$11). Djurgården is also home to Nordic Museum, the Abba Museum, Skansen and Gröna Lund (an amusement park) amongst other things. Incidentally the cafe at Vasa is a little pricey but the food is quite nice.

Gamla Stan is interesting and quirky, off to one side across the bridge on Riddarholmen (very very short walk) is Riddarholm Church which contains the crypts of the majority of the monarchs up to 1950. The shops though are tourist specials in the main with prices to match.

Helsinki: The Rock Church is completely amazing, but it is a fair trip to go to (figure 20-30minutes each way on the tram). An interesting alternative (though not as spectacular) is the Kampii Chapel of Silence in the main shopping area, a delightful oasis of tranquility. We loved Soumenlinna, it was one of our highlights of Helsinki and takes longer than you imagine to see, worth visiting the submarine! The ferry goes from Market Square about every 40 minutes and is part of the city transport system and covered by regular tickets. Market Square is much less interesting than you would imagine and the Cathedral is very austere making it somewhat of a disappointment after the climb. Just to one side of Market Square is the Old Market Hall which has a great selection of places to get lunch and snacks.

Check carefully the value of the Stockholm and Copenhagen cards, we travelled hard and couldn't get them to be reasonable value for money. We found getting a day transport ticket and paying admission made more sense.

Hello also from UK.

 

[tink too]

Some notes from when we visited.

Check carefully the value of the Stockholm and Copenhagen cards, we travelled hard and couldn't get them to be reasonable value for money. We found getting a day transport ticket and paying admission made more sense.

Hi Florian to the Disboards!

Thank you for sharing your previous tour adventures. We were considering purchasing the cards for Stockholm & Copenhagen for ease of use, but will consider your comments before purchasing to ensure we're getting value for money as well as convenience.

 

[scubadiver]

I have not been on the boards for some time and very behind on readings. Is it possible to disembark and make Disneyland Paris that evening? We are family of 4 and hoped to do this, but we have no experience on the train system in either England or France. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[awaghorn]

I have not been on the boards for some time and very behind on readings. Is it possible to disembark and make Disneyland Paris that evening? We are family of 4 and hoped to do this, but we have no experience on the train system in either England or France. Any help would be appreciated.

I would have thought this would be easily accomplished. Train wise the nearest Eurostar station is Ashford which is about 30 minutes by train from Dover. There is one direct Eurostar a day to DLP and it takes a couple of hours from Ashford so if you made that one (leaves about 11am I think) you'd be fine. Otherwise you'd have to take an indirect option via Lille or through Paris.

Of course you are also in Dover already so might be possible to get a ferry across (very frequent) as a foot passenger and then not sure but imagine you could get the train from Calais or hire a car.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I have not been on the boards for some time and very behind on readings. Is it possible to disembark and make Disneyland Paris that evening? We are family of 4 and hoped to do this, but we have no experience on the train system in either England or France. Any help would be appreciated.

I would have thought this would be easily accomplished. Train wise the nearest Eurostar station is Ashford which is about 30 minutes by train from Dover. There is one direct Eurostar a day to DLP and it takes a couple of hours from Ashford so if you made that one (leaves about 11am I think) you'd be fine. Otherwise you'd have to take an indirect option via Lille or through Paris.

Of course you are also in Dover already so might be possible to get a ferry across (very frequent) as a foot passenger and then not sure but imagine you could get the train from Calais or hire a car.

I would generally agree, the Eurostar direct train to DLP opens up about three months in advance, but charter holiday companies pre book it so say weekends can be sold out on release. I think its a risk to try to get it "if" we are in at 9.30am in Dover, but I guess we are in at 7am, but you never know. One cruise in 2010 did get back in at 9.30am the other three at 7am. You can get Eurostar to Lille and change there for DLP. Regular service.

 

[Florian]

I have not been on the boards for some time and very behind on readings. Is it possible to disembark and make Disneyland Paris that evening? We are family of 4 and hoped to do this, but we have no experience on the train system in either England or France. Any help would be appreciated.

The answer is Probably, but it is not straightforward. Even going to Ashford your chances of catching the Eurostar to Disneyland Paris is practically nil. The train leaves Ashford at 10:58 and it takes 30 minutes from Dover to Ashford. The latest connecting train you could get from Dover is 10:03.

Your choices are:

1. Train from Dover to Ashford International (two per hour, 30 minutes), Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord (2 hours), Change from Gare du Nord to Gare Lyon (on the dark green Metro Line D - technically 16 minutes, but getting in and out of the metro with suitcases is tough going, alternative is taxi but pricey and could take rather longer), RER train from Gare Lyon to Disneyland Paris (Marne la Vallée-Chessy) (around 40 minutes).
2. Get the ferry (P&O run about 1 an hour) from Dover to Calais (around 2.5 hours). Train from Calais Ville to Lille Europe, connect to TGV from Lille Europe to Marne la Vallée-Chessy (around 2.5 hours from Calais to Marne la Vallée-Chessy).
3. Stay overnight and get an early train to Ashford to catch the 10:58 Eurostar direct to Disneyland Paris (Marne la Vallée-Chessy)

I would select option 2, you will get there quicker (about 6hours), probably pay less and have far fewer changes if you want to get there the same day and not stay overnight in Dover.

 

[Deb T.]

Florian!

I've added your family to our Roll Call. This will certainly be a special cruise for all of you.

Thanks so much for all the helpful info you provided! It's great to have another UK and Baltic expert to help us with our planning!

 

[owensamo]

Check carefully the value of the Stockholm and Copenhagen cards, we travelled hard and couldn't get them to be reasonable value for money. We found getting a day transport ticket and paying admission made more sense.

Florian,

Welcome! Thanks for the tips. I have done some calculating, and the 2 day Copenhagen card will be worthwhile. We actually did end up joining a group tour for Stockholm, which I think will be fun and less stressful (trying to figure out the boat/transit times was making me a bit stressed). We're contemplating a DCL tour for Helsinki - mostly for ease of getting around with our group.

I can't wait - is it July yet?

 

[Deb T.]

Time Zone Changes

I was looking over our 2010 Baltic Navigators today and was reminded about all the time zone changes we had during the cruise! Our 2015 itinerary is a little different, but based on the 2010 changes, here is my best estimate of the nights we will be changing our clocks and watches.

Wednesday, 22July Day 1 At Sea: At bedtime, move clocks 1 hour forward (ie. 11pm to midnight) for Copenhagen and Stockholm

Monday, 27July Day 6 Stockholm: At bedtime, move clocks 1 hour forward (ie. 11pm to midnight) for Helsinki

*Friday, 31July Day 10 Tallinn: At bedtime, move clocks 1 hour back (ie. 11pm to10pm)

*Saturday 01August Day 11 At Sea: At bedtime, move clocks 1 hour back (ie. 11pm to10pm) for UK

*There is a possibility they will have us move our clocks back 2 hours on Friday night instead of gradually doing it one hour at a time over Friday and Saturday nights.

 

[ctnurse]

For some reason, I haven't been getting alerts on this thread. I happened to check it, and there was about 4 or 5 new pages. So, welcome to all the new people. We are really looking forward to this cruise.

Hello from the UK,

We booked passage in the dim and distant past, but it is only now I have discovered this forum. We (DH and I) and travelling with my mom and my brother. The trip is a birthday gift for my mom and brother as his birthday is 2 weeks before we travel and hers is the weekend after we get back. For our family it is a pretty important trip as my brother has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and is quadriplegic, more significantly he has lived quite a number of years beyond the average life span for someone with the disease so we know we are on borrowed time. It seemed like fate when Disney announced trips from Dover as travelling with my brother is a complicated exercise, so travelling from the UK makes it an enormous amount easier as we don't have to difficulties of flying.

My mom is the main carer for my brother and through a set of circumstances they get by on state aid and no other income so would not normally to have a trip like this. I am a huge Disney fan (have been to WDW a bucket load of times, as well as once each to California, Paris and Tokyo) so it seemed totally worth cashing in some of our investment to make this trip happen.

I can't wait, and my family is almost beside themselves with excitement. It does mean that we are becoming friends with the lovely Chris in the Special Services Department at Disney who has been a great help. It has also made research into excursions interesting, especially as Disney don't seem to do pretty much anything in that area.

Fortunately at the end of last year DH and I did a non cruise tour of the Baltic states as part of "The 40 Project" (my gift to DH for his 40th birthday - something he was totally bummed about), so we have a pretty good idea of what can be done in each of the ports (especially since I am an obsessive planner). I am looking forward to revisiting all of the cities we had such a good time in them.

If anyone has questions about the ports we are stopping in I am happy to share the experiences we have had.

Florian, Welcome. One of my first patients, as a nursing student, had Duchenne's, and I presented a small paper on it for my class.

 

[Florian]

Florian,

Welcome! Thanks for the tips. I have done some calculating, and the 2 day Copenhagen card will be worthwhile. We actually did end up joining a group tour for Stockholm, which I think will be fun and less stressful (trying to figure out the boat/transit times was making me a bit stressed). We're contemplating a DCL tour for Helsinki - mostly for ease of getting around with our group.

I can't wait - is it July yet?

I can't either, my brother keeps telling me I am getting over excited and will peak too early.

With Helsinki it kind of depends what you want to see. Helsinki is remarkably compact and the public transport is excellent. For the stuff in the centre we loved being able to walk round as it is a lovely city to look at. That said the Rock Church (which is stunning btw - when we visited they were just finishing mass and the last hymn sounded spectacular with the marvellous acoustics) is slightly trickier to get to and you will need to get a tram to the suburbs to see it, so the DCL tour might be easier. I did find myself thinking though that the tours within the city were really very pricey compared to the cost of doing it yourself, especially given that in the centre it is really tough to get lost and pretty much everyone seems to speak English.