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

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Been booked on this cruise for ages but only now getting around to saying "hi". There is me, DH Tony, DS Simon (24) and DD Rebecca (18). this will be our 8th Disney cruise but first time back on the Magic since she had be reimagined so looking forward to it.

Welcome,

We were on the Magic for 12 nights in 2014 so seen the changes the best is Topsiders into Cabanas.

 

[Deb T.]

Pooh's Pals! So glad you joined us!

 

[Celestine]

Bus Update
Despite attempts by myself & others I have to assume that those I have not heard from are no longer travelling with us. Therefore there is a maximum of 9 seats left on the coach. If anyone is interested, please email balticbuccaneers@mail.com. Details of pickups, times etc. will not be posted anywhere. It will all be sent by email only.

Booking day for some of us on Wednesday

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Gold booking Tuesday night / Wednesday morning 00.00 8th.

 

[Karen727]

Been booked on this cruise for ages but only now getting around to saying "hi". There is me, DH Tony, DS Simon (24) and DD Rebecca (18). this will be our 8th Disney cruise but first time back on the Magic since she had be reimagined so looking forward to it.

Just got off the Magic, it looks cool. No wall have been moved, the layout is the same. Carpet is different, kids clubs are different. Some new personal. Very nice!!!

 

[Eliza Beringhause]

Hi, we are new to his board, and very excited for our second DCL cruise.

We would love to join the FE, but have not done so before. Please let me know what we should bring, and how many.

~Eliza

Room 6046
Eliza, Steve and Aviva (14)

WELCOME TO ALL BALTIC BUCCANEERS!


ROLL CALL
Melcatfish: Mel & Darren, DD Isabelle (10), DD Olivia (7)
disfamilyfun: Malikah, DD Rifqa (18), and mother Ellen
BethieTink: Bethie & Paulie
The Wombles: Dave & DW, DS16, DD14 [Resident UK Experts!]
mousemom11: Becky, DD16, DD14
ElizCanning: DW & DH, 16, 19, 5
TexasGolfDad: DH & DW, DS8
krisinparis: DW & DH, DS11, DD7
mum&son: Kim, DS Struan (15)
LynnTarrant: Lynn & Keith
ctnurse: DW & DH, DS (11), DD (2)
Celestine: [ReadingFC's DW] Celestine & Paul, DD Lauren (15), DD Hermione (10)
ReadingFC: [Celestine's DH] Paul & Celestine, DD Lauren (15), DD Hermione (10)
DISNEY FANTASY: family of four
mindelmouse: DW & DH, DS (14), DD (14)
wvuflu: Lisa & Rich, DD Maggie (12), DS Connor (10)
HAMLIE: Hollie, DD Amaya (8)
ynspire: Yvonne & Blair, DD Ariane (11), DS Blake (11)
kayochan: DW & DH, DS (13), DS (8)
pennymike: Mike & Penny
KatieG73: Katie & Donald, DD Niamh (14)
redcoral33: DW & DH, DD (12)
Jon G: Jon & Maria, DD Lauren (15)
tink,too: DW & DH
abayaflowers: Geri & DH, DD (12)
ICEMANPAD: Chuck & Lisa, DS Mason (15)
Philip Colmer: Philip & DW
Jon G's friends from a previous cruise: John & Michelle, DD Collette, DS Maxwell
mom3bellasorella: Tricia & Keith, DD Ashley (16), DD Jamie (13), DD Kiley (10)
esther1403: Esther & family
OnOurWayToDL: DW & DH
Lili2003: DW& DH, DD (22), DD (17)
ep1229: DW & DH, DD (12), DD (12)
Cjjoncas: Julia & Chris, DD (14), DD (10)
Tinksfriend2006: Lynne & Richard
RoyalCanadian: Neil & DW
TiggerPU88: [DisneyConvert's DW] Adrienne & Doug, DS Elian (13)
DisneyConvert: [TiggerPU88's DH] Doug & Adrienne, DS Elian (13)
val102uk: Valerie, DD Chris, DGrandsons Lewis (15), Elliot (15)
honeybear66: Sheree & David, DD Laura (8)
SarahBeal: Sarah
HesterJ: DW & DH, DS (7), DD (5)
Disneyfan1970: Jeroen & Suzanne, DS Tycho (16), DD Quinty (13)
Klomp: Debby & Michel, DS Quinn (3), DD Yara (1)
Zwerch: Michaela & DH M, DD L (15), DD M (12)
scubadiver: DH & DW, DD (14), DD (11)
OC stacylace: Stacy & Dennis, DS Dylan (16), DS Gavin (10)
gg.leigh: DW & DH, DD (4)
AmericanExPat: Lisa & Mark, DD (7), DD (5)
SleepyV: DW & DH, DD (17)
Goofydisneyfan: Ute & Jürgen, DD Celina (18), DD Denise (16), and Ute's parents
owensjro: [owensamo's DH] Jim & Amanda, DD Hannah (13)
owensamo: [owensjro's DW] Amanda & Jim, DD Hannah (13)
drlaurafsu: Laura & DH, DS (8)
EllaGrasso: Ella, DD
Osric: Andrew & DW, DD (5)
MN Dis Fans: DH & DW, DS (20), DS (17), and DH's parents aka Grandpa & Grandma
disneymomster:
time for travel: Carol, DD Carina (10)
traceyjayne: Tracey & Eric, DS Luke (14)
Hallfamily2011: Carey & Dave, Zach (14), traveling with Marchelle & Amy
fassiofive: DW & DH, DD Bella (8), DD Charlotte (6), DS Tommy (21mo)
Clairelow: Claire & Kevin, DS Isaac (12), DS Harvey (10), Claire's parents Linda & Malcolm
Tinkerbellesmum:
toffeecushion:
tinkerbell_29: Melissa, brother Matthew, mother Nancy
uk4: Christine, DS Lewis (15), DS Elliot (15), mum Valerie
jeff1: Jeff & Lisa, DD (10)
awaghorn: DH & DW, DS (7)
paddles: DW & DH, DS (12), DD (10), DW's mother
PVDude: Bill & Jennifer, DS Jack (16), DS Billy (14), DS Bobby (12), DS Danny (10)
mfams:
Karen727: Karen, DD Emily (27), DD Lorelei (9), DD Aria (9)
Florian: DH1 & DH2, DH1's Mum and Brother
Parrot CayH & DW, DD (15), DS (12)
Pooh's Pals: Jane & Tony, DS Simon (24), DD Rebecca (18)

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FISH EXTENDER EXCHANGE
I've organized eleven FE Exchanges so far and would be more than happy to do it again for this sailing. I like to keep it fun and simple, so I won't specify any themes or assign delivery days. It will be up to you whether you want to do one gift per cabin or individual gifts for everyone in each cabin. FE Exchanges are very popular, so the number of participants can get quite large, especially as the cruise date nears. Therefore, I would like to know upfront how many cabins you are comfortable exchanging with so that I can coordinate the groups accordingly. (I've been on cruises with well over 100 FE participants. Some people panic at such a large group, and some people think "the more the merrier." If I know your comfort level ahead of time, it will make setting up the exchange groups much easier and you will have a more positive experience.)

To give everyone time to prepare, the deadline to join the FE Exchange will be FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015. I will then send Private Messages to all participants on Saturday, June 20, 2015, with all the details of your FE group.

To join the FE Exchange, please send me a "Private Message" with the following information:
*Cabin Number
*Names of everyone in your cabin
*Ages of children
*Any allergy considerations
*The size of the FE group you want to be in: No more than 20, No more than 40, No more than 60, or Sky's the Limit

FE PARTICIPANTS:
LynnTarrant: Sky's the Limit
Celestine: Sky's the Limit
The Wombles: Sky's the Limit
Melcatfish: No more than 20
mum&son: No more than 20
ICEMANPAD: Sky's the Limit
mom3bellasorella: No more than 20
OnOurWayToDL: Sky's the Limit
abayaflowers: No more than 20
TiggerPU88: Sky's the Limit
esther1403: No more than 20
val102uk: No more than 20
Klomp: No more than 40
gg.leigh: No more than 20
honeybear66: Sky's the Limit
time for travel: No more than 40
Hallfamily2011: No more than 20
Clairelow: No more than 20
Clarelow's Parents: No more than 20
HAMLIE: No more than 50
AmericanExPat: No more than 20
owensamo: No more than 20
PVDude: No more than 20
HesterJ: No more than 20
mfams: No more than 40
Karen727: No more than 20
krisinparis: No more than 40
fassiofive: No more than 40

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PRIVATE COACH FROM LONDON TO DOVER!
Celestine & DH (ReadingFC) are organizing a private coach from London to Dover for us for just £20 per person (roughly US$30pp), which is a fantastic deal! They've also graciously offered to provide drinks, nibbles, and candy! If you are interested, please send an email to Celestine at balticbuccaneers@mail.com to sign up. After March 23, 2015 (the final paid-in-full date), they will set a deadline for signing up and the maximum number of travellers they can accommodate.

IMPORTANT COACH UPDATE MARCH 20, 2015!!!
Both coaches are nearly full! Now that we are almost at the Paid-In-Full date of 23March2015, if you intend to sign up but have not contacted Celestine by e-mail yet, please do ASAP at balticbuccaneers@mail.com. Also, as soon as you have booked your accommodations, please let Celestine know so they can set up the pick-up route. And finally, please let Celestine have details of your junior (under 16) cruisers (name & age) because she is creating goody bags for them! After the PIF date (23March2015), Celestine will be contacting everyone that has not sent her a recent e-mail to ensure you still want/need to travel on the coach. There will be a response deadline & if you have not responded by the deadline it will be assumed you no longer wish to travel by their arranged coach.

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EXCELLENT TRIP REPORTS FROM 2010 BALTIC SAILINGS
The 1st one has all the Navigators from the June 2010 Baltics cruise. A great big thanks to TiggerPU88 for finding and sharing them!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2500898 "Tiddly Carvings?! - A Baltic Cruise: Index"
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2496040 "Mini Trip Report-Inaugural Northern European Capitals Cruise *Photos added*"
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2494674 "Baltic Cruise June 12"

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If you are new to the DIS Boards:
(FYI: You will need to make ten posts before you can send a Private Message)
*Easiest way to send a “Private Message”:
-Click the recipient's name (in blue font) in the little box on the left side of one of their posts
-Click on “Start a Conversation” (in white font)
-Enter a “Conversation Title”
-Under the row of icons, type your message
-Click “Start a Conversation” under your message to send it

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Hi, we are new to his board, and very excited for our second DCL cruise.

We would love to join the FE, but have not done so before. Please let me know what we should bring, and how many.

~Eliza

Room 6046
Eliza, Steve and Aviva (14)

Welcome to the cruise 'I am not doing the FE but someone will be along"

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Just got off the Magic, it looks cool. No wall have been moved, the layout is the same. Carpet is different, kids clubs are different. Some new personal. Very nice!!!

Yes I have lots of photos from a 12 night Magic cruise last year, you can google MickeyMed, and see it with navigators.

 

[ctnurse]

Hi, we are new to his board, and very excited for our second DCL cruise.

We would love to join the FE, but have not done so before. Please let me know what we should bring, and how many.

~Eliza

Room 6046
Eliza, Steve and Aviva (14)

Welcome! We are very close to sailing. I know there is a FE, but like DF we aren't doing it.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Welcome! We are very close to sailing. I know there is a FE, but like DF we aren't doing it.

 

[Deb T.]

Hi, we are new to his board, and very excited for our second DCL cruise.

We would love to join the FE, but have not done so before. Please let me know what we should bring, and how many.

~Eliza

Room 6046
Eliza, Steve and Aviva (14)

Eliza!

I've added your family to the Roll Call on Page 1 and to the Fish Extender Exchange.

I will send you a private message through this DIS Meets Board in mid-June with the list of all the cabins you are participating with. In the meantime, it would be great if you could post on here at least nine more times so that you are able to send and receive private messages.

Is there a limit to the number of cabins you would like to participate with? No more than 20? No more than 40? Or, is the sky the limit? Does anyone in your cabin have any allergy issues we should be aware of when planning our surprises for your family?

As for what to bring to hand out, there are several threads on the main Cruise DIS Board that discusses ideas for FE gifts. Some gifts are from Dollar Stores, some are handmade, and some are bought in bulk from websites that sell trinkets (like the Oriental Trading Company). Often, they are stickers, candy, chocolate, glow sticks, lanyards, luggage tags, magnets, mugs, frames, etc., with themes such as pirates, beach, cruise, tropical, hometown, holiday, etc. Whatever you decide to give will be fine and dandy.

 

[Pooh's Pals]

We've just booked this cruise today, sailing will be me Laura, my husband Alan and our youngest son Connor (16) at the time of the cruise. We might add our older son Liam (20) nearer the time depending on his summer plans.
We are from the northeast of Scotland, this will be our 4th Disney cruise although we've not actually been on our 3rd Disney cruise yet. We'll be sailing to Alaska this coming August.
Feeling very excited.

We are traveling down from North of Scotland too, bases just outside Inverness

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We are traveling down from North of Scotland too, bases just outside Inverness

Our 2016 cruise stops there and we have booked a private tour there.

 

[Pooh's Pals]

It seems strange to think that the Magic is going to be visiting us so close to home. We are planning a visit us to Invergordon to see her when she docks there

 

[Pooh's Pals]

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 at all. I love to see people in their formal wear and we will all be dressed up too. As this is a 12 night cruise, does anyone know if we will get 2 formal nights and if so when the second one will be?

 

[Pooh's Pals]

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.

My DH is in a wheelchair so if you have any tips/suggestions for suitable tripswith a wheel chair that would be great. Also do you know if any ports are tender then we know not to plan for anything on shore there. (Tenders are not possible for my husband )

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Copenhagen




Stockholm.



Helsinki



St Petersburg




Tallinn

My DH is in a wheelchair so if you have any tips/suggestions for suitable tripswith a wheel chair that would be great. Also do you know if any ports are tender then we know not to plan for anything on shore there. (Tenders are not possible for my husband )

No tender ports' we dock at all of them.

Above all the ports in cruise order and where we dock, Also I suggest contact Anastasia in St Petersburg for a private accessible tour. Also in Stockholm, stockholmyourway is good.
Tallinn I can recommend Estonian Experience who provides excursions and tours designed specifically for cruise tourists with a private pick-up and drop-off at the cruise port.
http://estonianexperience.com/tours-category/tallinn-shore-excursions/

 

[Celestine]

Not at all. I love to see people in their formal wear and we will all be dressed up too. As this is a 12 night cruise, does anyone know if we will get 2 formal nights and if so when the second one will be?

Just one formal night (first sea day) and a semi formal is later in the cruise (3rd sea day I think), but I'm happy to be corrected on that as I'm trying to remember. Andrew will jump in here to help me out...I hope!

 

[Deb T.]

It seems strange to think that the Magic is going to be visiting us so close to home. We are planning a visit us to Invergordon to see her when she docks there

Oh how fun! Very exciting!!!

 

[FunluvinJ23]

Hi! This cruise will be the first ever for my family and me, and unlike planning for WDW this has been a little intimidating. Does anyone know if any of the excursions have sold out yet or have limited availability? I tried talking to DCL but they weren't helpful. Also, if anyone has any Europe-specific tips for an American, it would be greatly appreciated!