July 6, 2010 - 7/6/2010 ~ Pounds to Rubles ~ Mickey invades the Baltic Sea

[blackbird890]

Hail fellow Canuck!

We are also a family of 5 from Canada! Victoria is our home but my dh has family in Saskatchewan! We have 3 boys 14, 8.5 (today) and 11. Look forward to meeting you. We are also July 6.

We are leaving on July 2 and are going to be in Dover 3 nights before and london 12 nights after.

We are on deck 8!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!

slg, my parents actually live in Victoria, I grew up in BC as well. Today with massive amounts of snow, I'm wondering what we are doing in Saskatchewan. Otherwise though, it is a great place to raise a family.

We are in in London for four nights prior to the cruise and only one after. We have never taken the children away for this long, and I think I'm extending the reasonable boundaries of my husband being away from work. Will be fabulous though!

I am looking into the possibility of a private tour in St. Petersburg, have just requested some quotes. Otherwise we will likely stick with Disney excursions, just for the ease of accommodating the kids.

Tina

 

[goingsouth]

Hello,
Hi I'm Emily and I am the daughter of iowazipcode. I set up a teen/kid thread so that we can all meet before the cruise. The board is here:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=35146799#post35146799

In 2007 my family and I went on a European Disney cruise and before it I meet many great people my age to hang out with during the cruise on the disboards. I hope that many of your kids will be interested in participating in this thread.

Emily

Hi Emily,

I'm so glad you posted this! My daughters are 14 1/2 and 12 (will turn 13 on the cruise). Sara is the oldest and she is very social. Our last cruise in 2007, she made friends she still talks to today. I know she has been looking forward to meeting others before the trip.

I'm not sure if it's better to create a new account for her. Is that what most parents do?

Thanks!

Joanne

 

[goingsouth]

Hi Joanne-

We are thinking about going with DenRus b/c so far Disney doesn't have a tour set up like theirs, unless I missed it. I read a couple of diser's trip report on them as well. Let us know which way you go. I haven't booked yet, but am leaning towards them. Anyone else have other companies they are researching for St. Petersburg?

Hi Judy-

I sent the email back to Denrus the same day and still have heard nothing in regards to adding to Catherine's Palace. I probably should send another request. As soon as I do have a response, I'll be sure to post...


Joanne

 

[slg]

Has anyone used or heard of Silverline Travel? I got a very good quote from them from Gatwick to Dover (110 pounds) and was hoping to get a reference. Andrew Derek? Any thoughts?

 

[denise]

Called in today to Disney Vacation Club to change our cruise.
I deleted my DD BFF off the cruise. Getting a refund less $95 transaction fee. So it is official----there are just three of us---
It didn't change our reservation or our room....yahoo...
She also said I could "request" our dining rotation....

 

[CarolAnnC]

But on the flip side, for our 2007 Med cruise we did the Sistene Chapel tour plus stops at other places but it was basically an all day affair and then, at the end of the day we got to walk through the musuem and be in the chapel with only DCL excursions. Our guide said that this never happens. She said normally, the Sistene Chapel would be PACKED and no pictures allowed. We got to do both. So, maybe they did get special opening. We are still probably going to do a private tour as you see more in the day.

We love the DCL excursions and did them in every port on the Med. The shopping expert on board fortunately, forwarned us though of the stores being closed on Sundays in Portofino, (Italian law). I know some still took the excursion and enjoyed even just sitting outside viewing the water there. We were looking to shop till we dropped, however, lol. Those who were unaware of the shops closing were highly annoyed at only being able to purchase postcards at a small stand..especially since this excursion touted the fine shopping that would be available.

It is going to be hard to narrow down our choices on this cruise.

 

[missy4414]

I'm just curious. Is anyone planning to go on the shore excursion--the Royal Ball at St. Catherine's Palace? It seems very expensive but I wonder if it's worth it. We don't have children but it sounds so wonderful. But I'm curious if many people will decide it's worth the expense.

 

[Fivepin]

I'm just curious. Is anyone planning to go on the shore excursion--the Royal Ball at St. Catherine's Palace? It seems very expensive but I wonder if it's worth it. We don't have children but it sounds so wonderful. But I'm curious if many people will decide it's worth the expense.

I would love to go. We aren't traveling with kids this time. My BFF is coming with us. She told me she can't do it. My DH & I are considering, but I have to find out the time and see if conflicts on our return from St. Petersburg tour we are planning. It was more than I thought it would be.

 

[aurorafan65]

Hi all

we're booked on the July 6th trip - can't wait

there's me (Andrea), dh Tim, Bryce (14) & Jimmy (12)
we're from Phoenixville PA (near Philly)

totally can't wait for the trip - I've been looking at the excursions, some are really cool especially the Princess/Royal palace but with 2 boys & the cost we'll forget that one LOL!

I've slowly been reading from the beginning, but I'm sure I'll have some questions for you all

 

[denise]

Hi all

we're booked on the July 6th trip - can't wait

there's me (Andrea), dh Tim, Bryce (14) & Jimmy (12)
we're from Phoenixville PA (near Philly)

totally can't wait for the trip - I've been looking at the excursions, some are really cool especially the Princess/Royal palace but with 2 boys & the cost we'll forget that one LOL!

I've slowly been reading from the beginning, but I'm sure I'll have some questions for you all

Welcome aboard Andrea and family!
This is going to be so much fun!!!

 

[goingsouth]

Hi all

we're booked on the July 6th trip - can't wait

there's me (Andrea), dh Tim, Bryce (14) & Jimmy (12)
we're from Phoenixville PA (near Philly)

totally can't wait for the trip - I've been looking at the excursions, some are really cool especially the Princess/Royal palace but with 2 boys & the cost we'll forget that one LOL!

I've slowly been reading from the beginning, but I'm sure I'll have some questions for you all

Glad to have you join the group, Andrea! Your kids are the same age as mine..I think they will really enjoy this amazing itinerary.


Joanne

 

[goingsouth]

Yeah!-

Heard from Denrus this morning..

They did add Catherine's Palace to our itinerary..

It doesn't involve much time for meals..but that's exactly what we wanted. We only have 2 days to see St Petersburg and 12 days to eat far too much on the ship!

I know some people discourage paying in advance..but DH was sooo nervous about carrying so much unwrinkled, pristine cash around until we need to pay the guide. Since DH is "he who makes all trips possible", I don't want to add to his stress level.

Joanne

 

[Fivepin]

Yeah!-

Heard from Denrus this morning..

They did add Catherine's Palace to our itinerary..

It doesn't involve much time for meals..but that's exactly what we wanted. We only have 2 days to see St Petersburg and 12 days to eat far too much on the ship!

I know some people discourage paying in advance..but DH was sooo nervous about carrying so much unwrinkled, pristine cash around until we need to pay the guide. Since DH is "he who makes all trips possible", I don't want to add to his stress level.

Joanne

Joanne-

Would you mind sharing those details with me via PM? We had decided we were going to with them. They are a US based company, and I'm willing to pay up front, less expenses when we're on the cruise. Plus, we have the credit card protection if anything happens. If we can get Catherine's Palace in that would be great.

Thanks

 

[Fivepin]

Welcome to the new families. I can really start to concentrate on this cruise now. We had just done a short cruise on the Wonder last week, so I could get up to Platinum for this cruise. Plus the kids sail free offer helped in that decision.

I am so far behind in reading the pages on thread. Anything major I may have missed? Wasn't sure if there was an FE list yet.

Off to do some research on the ports to see what we can do on our own. The only big excursion we were planning on doing was the St. Petersburg. I saw the excursion to the shipyard in Germany, but a bit pricey with all the other stuff we wanted to do. Plus, going in a Cessna plane helped me rule it out. I'm not a fan of small planes.

We have hotels and plane tickets booked. I think we are doing the train into Dover from London since we are not traveling with the kids. We are going to be exhausted by the time we get to the ship. We arrive the morning of 7/3 at 6:35. We were going to drop our stuff off at the hotel and then doing sightseeing in London. The next morning we are planning on taking the Eurostar into Paris for a day trip. The next morning get on the train to Dover and take in those sights and get some wine for the ship. We wanted to get up to watch the Magic pull into port. We'll be ready for that sea day.

Getting really excited..need to start putting my binder together.

Hope everyone has a great day.

 

[wintergreen]

I'm just curious. Is anyone planning to go on the shore excursion--the Royal Ball at St. Catherine's Palace? It seems very expensive but I wonder if it's worth it. We don't have children but it sounds so wonderful. But I'm curious if many people will decide it's worth the expense.

We're thinking seriously about it. I don't think that we will be doing the Disney shore excursions in any of the ports other than St. Petersburg, so we will be saving some $$ there, and may decide to put it towards this. I am wondering, though, what the timing of this is, so that we can decide if there is anything else we can do on that day.

 

[Fivepin]

Well, I just got a quote back for a car from London to Dover for 3 adults (larger than a standard vehicle due to luggage and carryons) for 105 pounds. We were going to do the train, but this is only 30 pounds more than what the train would have cost. I think I'll go with the for the convenience now. They had recommended we get a taxi or the Heathrow Express to get to the hotel. It's with silverline travel
http://www.silverlinetravel.co.uk/

 

[slg]

I've decided to go with Silverline from Gatwick to Dover too! They have the best prices. They won't do London back to Gatwick for us, but I think I'll use Woodrow for that part of the trip.

 

[goingsouth]

Joanne-

Would you mind sharing those details with me via PM? We had decided we were going to with them. They are a US based company, and I'm willing to pay up front, less expenses when we're on the cruise. Plus, we have the credit card protection if anything happens. If we can get Catherine's Palace in that would be great.

Thanks

sent to you...

joanne

 

[Fivepin]

sent to you...

joanne

Thank you so much.

 

[DW2DH&DS]

woohoo...PAID IN FULL!!!!!!