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

[CarolAnnC]

loh it would be lovely to have photo it with snow....

Scottishwee35

It is quite icy outside of our house in the driveway and sidewalk so I think we will wait a bit to go take pictures...more snow coming Wednesday so it will look even better by then, lol.

Thank you very much. Snow! We get a sprinkling lasting all of about 5 minutes maybe once every other year. 20 miles north the snow will get us our freeway shut down a half dozen times a year.

Have a great day everybody!!!

Nice that you can visit if you like but don't have to deal with it right at your home. It is pretty, but by February I am usually pretty sick of it, lol.

Carol we are also getting snow. I'm actually sick of it and ready for winter to be over and winter has not even started yet. We decorated our house even though we are not going to be here. As soon as i can go outside and not be to terrible cold I'll take some pics and post them.

Lissa

Wow, you don't usually have snow do you? Will look forward to the pics...

 

[nzdisneymom]

Lissa - you all are getting the snow and cold now so that you'll enjoy the warmth of the Caribbean even more. You know it's only 2 1/2 weeks til you're out of it for a magical week!

 

[nzdisneymom]

I am happy to report that our TA emailed yesterday and said that she has secured our 2nd night post-cruise in London! So we'll have three-nights pre-cruise and two nights post-cruise - which gives us about 4 full-days to see London. Woo-hoo!

 

[slg]

Do you know the cost of this?

We would like to do pre/post as well, but think dcl will charge way too much for a family of 5.

What is your costs?

Have you booked transfers as well? What are those costs?

We booked with DU and they didn't offer us the option of adding pre/post/transfers to our cruise at all.

 

[sharper_fin]

...4 full-days to see London...

Do you know where you'll be staying?

 

[nzdisneymom]

Do you know where you'll be staying?

We're at the Renaissance Chancery Court. I know we could probably stay cheaper but we agreed that for us, for the way we travel as a family, it's just as well to do it all through "the program." We'll be much happier knowing that we haven't screwed something up trying to do it ourselves.

 

[sharper_fin]

We're at the Renaissance Chancery Court.

Wow Cindy, you guys don't do things by halves! I know exactly where that hotel is. It's a great part of town, within easy reach of all the tourist bits. Good for you.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Wow Cindy, you guys don't do things by halves! I know exactly where that hotel is. It's a great part of town, within easy reach of all the tourist bits. Good for you.

That' good to know - it's one of the three DCL options. And it is the less expensive of the two that can take four people in a room. We said the Med was our "trip of a lifetime" but now this will take it's place It's definitely a chunk of change to do the extra nights pre- and post-cruise but we figured if we made a return trip to London and stayed somewhere else, the savings would be eaten up by the airfare. We got DCL transfers as well as DCL air as that worked out well for us for the Med trip.

 

[DW2DH&DS]

I am happy to report that our TA emailed yesterday and said that she has secured our 2nd night post-cruise in London! So we'll have three-nights pre-cruise and two nights post-cruise - which gives us about 4 full-days to see London. Woo-hoo!

Thats awesome. How were you able to book a room so far in advanced?

 

[slg]

What do you guys think about the fuel surcharge? I think it should be removed!

 

[denise]

I agree too! I also think the airlines should stop charging for each checked bag! Oil and gas have gone down so much....they should take these fees away and refund any future fees charged.....

 

[nzdisneymom]

Thats awesome. How were you able to book a room so far in advanced?

DCL has blocked rooms at three hotels in London for pre- and post-cruise stays, so they are able to sell those rooms as part of their cruise travel packages.

As for the fuel surcharge, I hope they will remove it and because it is still so far away, I hope they will just adjust the price rather than doing OBC's like they are doing for those cruises coming up so soon.

 

[DW2DH&DS]

DCL has blocked rooms at three hotels in London for pre- and post-cruise stays, so they are able to sell those rooms as part of their cruise travel packages.

As for the fuel surcharge, I hope they will remove it and because it is still so far away, I hope they will just adjust the price rather than doing OBC's like they are doing for those cruises coming up so soon.

that is cool. i thought i read early on in the post you could do that. we are looking to use Marriott or Hilton points for pre cruise and DVC points for DLP post cruise. I was able to find 3 Hiltons with family rooms. haven't checked mariott yet. we only have the one kid, so two rooms is out of the question for us.

regarding the fuel surcharge...i don't care how we get it back as long as we get it back.

 

[nzdisneymom]

that is cool. i thought i read early on in the post you could do that. we are looking to use Marriott or Hilton points for pre cruise and DVC points for DLP post cruise. I was able to find 3 Hiltons with family rooms. haven't checked mariott yet. we only have the one kid, so two rooms is out of the question for us.

regarding the fuel surcharge...i don't care how we get it back as long as we get it back.

We actually have a pretty decent OBC from our TA, so I'd rather not "front" DCL any more money than necessary -- once final payment is due, there is still three months to finish saving up for excursions, tips, etc.

I had hoped to use DVC for either pre- or post-cruise in London but the accommodations options were limited for us with a family of four. Oh well - we have plenty of other things to use our DVC points for (like our DL trip in June 2009).

 

[denise]

I used most of our DVC points for the cruise (DH and me, cash for the girls).. (I did "rent" some points out so that helped) want to bank what is left over for 2011/2012 and the new ships!!!
Will try and use Marriott points or a I.I. trade for pre/post cruise.
Would love to get a trade into Marriott Vacation Club at Disneyland Paris before the cruise. Don't know how hard it will be. Might put in request with I.I. now and pay fee for them to search. Also just looking at Marriott hotels..there may be 4 of us (so far that is the plan) so that puts a wrinkle in getting one room unless it's big....

 

[APinCA]

We're at the Renaissance Chancery Court. I know we could probably stay cheaper but we agreed that for us, for the way we travel as a family, it's just as well to do it all through "the program." We'll be much happier knowing that we haven't screwed something up trying to do it ourselves.

We used Marriott points to stay there after the Med cruise. It was very nice and convenient. We only used public transportation and shlepped all of our bags on the train and down the block into the hotel. We did walk down to see the Lion King

Don't know if we'll try to stay there again or try another part of town. We've built up our Marriott points again and so should have plenty by 2010.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We used Marriott points to stay there after the Med cruise. It was very nice and convenient. We only used public transportation and shlepped all of our bags on the train and down the block into the hotel. We did walk down to see the Lion King

Don't know if we'll try to stay there again or try another part of town. We've built up our Marriott points again and so should have plenty by 2010.

Kathy - so how was the hotel? I was looking at it online last night trying to get a feel for where it is. We plan to just use public transportation to get around except we do have DCL transfers to and from the airport and to and from Dover.

Speaking of Dover, I'm really hoping that DCL will offer either a sailing day or disembarkation day excursion in Dover as we'd like to see some of the area. My SIL was showing us some pics from there - she said it was her favorite part of their trip to England in 2007.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Carol no we do not usually have snow this early. Usually we don't see snow unitl the end of December but this year we had our first winter storm in October. I have a feeling this is going to be an icky winter for us.

Cindy I counted today and we have 15 days until we leave!!!! We are at the same hotel ya'll are at for pre and post stays except for we are staying 2 nights before and 3 after(hopefully haven't heard anything about our waitlist yet).

hope everyone is having a good week.

Lissa

 

[CarolAnnC]

I used most of our DVC points for the cruise (DH and me, cash for the girls).. (I did "rent" some points out so that helped) want to bank what is left over for 2011/2012 and the new ships!!!
Will try and use Marriott points or a I.I. trade for pre/post cruise.
Would love to get a trade into Marriott Vacation Club at Disneyland Paris before the cruise. Don't know how hard it will be. Might put in request with I.I. now and pay fee for them to search. Also just looking at Marriott hotels..there may be 4 of us (so far that is the plan) so that puts a wrinkle in getting one room unless it's big....

Sorry to report, but DVC has severed its relationship with II. No inquiries will be accepted after December 31. As of the first of the year, they will partner with RCI, however, consensus seems to be there will not be as much nor as high quality of choice with them.

Carol no we do not usually have snow this early. Usually we don't see snow unitl the end of December but this year we had our first winter storm in October. I have a feeling this is going to be an icky winter for us.

Cindy I counted today and we have 15 days until we leave!!!! We are at the same hotel ya'll are at for pre and post stays except for we are staying 2 nights before and 3 after(hopefully haven't heard anything about our waitlist yet).

hope everyone is having a good week.

Lissa

Hey Lissa, lucky you to be going on the nice Christmas Cruise! That will give you a break from the early, snowy weather you have been having! Wish I was going with you all...

 

[denise]

Sorry to report, but DVC has severed its relationship with II. No inquiries will be accepted after December 31. As of the first of the year, they will partner with RCI, however, consensus seems to be there will not be as much nor as high quality of choice with them.

I have never traded DVC into II. I have with my Mariott and have had lots of good luck too. Hope I will again for Paris.....