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

[denise]

Well, one comes out of the hospital, and one goes in...

So glad to hear that your Dad can go home tonight. I know it's a big relief for everyone.

DH's Dad is planning to take DH's Mom to the hospital this morning. It does not look good. She's been very ill for over five years due to emphysema. For several months, she's eaten barely enough to keep going. However, for the last two weeks she's refused to eat and just in the last couple of days refuses to drink anything. She is very strong willed and has an amazing capacity for pain, but she is now severely dehydrated. She is deathly afraid of hospitals - to the point that she refused to be transported to a hospital for two full days after falling and breaking her hip last January! So, we aren't completely convinced that DH's Dad will actually be able to get her to the hospital today, and if he does, we're afraid she will probably refuse treatment. We could use a prayer or two that she will allow IV hydration today. We feel that if she can get rehydrated, she may perk back up. Her heart is strong, it's just this eating and drinking issue that is causing her decline right now. Unfortunately, they live half-way across the U.S. from us, so we can't easily get there to support DH's Dad through all of this. Fortunately, though, we flew there two weekends ago just to visit with them. As you can imagine, so many thoughts are running through my head right now. Thanks for letting me share.

Oh Deb....Having just gone thru this I know how you feel. My mom wanted nothing to do with the nursing home but she needed care 24 hours a day. At the end she kept asking to go back to the hospital. When she did go back she refused meds and food and was gone within 24 hours. I was lucky we had a nice visit two days earlier. She was at peace with dying and told me the month before she was ready to join my Dad. Still a hard thing to go thru when you have such a big trip ahead and it's your Mom.
I will pray for her and your family.
denise

 

[Deb T.]

Deb,

Best wishes for everything you have going on there. I'm concerned about our Dis-meet. I don;t think we can start boarding until 2:00 because the cruise before us does not arrive in port until 10:00ish. I'm I wrong on that info?

Jeff

The DIS Meet is on the first sea day, so no worries there!

 

[Deb T.]

I hope you get a happy outcome just like us.

Deb, sending good wishes for your MIL.

Deb,

Best wishes for everything you have going on there.
Jeff

Oh Deb....Having just gone thru this I know how you feel. My mom wanted nothing to do with the nursing home but she needed care 24 hours a day. At the end she kept asking to go back to the hospital. When she did go back she refused meds and food and was gone within 24 hours. I was lucky we had a nice visit two days earlier. She was at peace with dying and told me the month before she was ready to join my Dad. Still a hard thing to go thru when you have such a big trip ahead and it's your Mom.
I will pray for her and your family.
denise

Thanks, everyone, for all the good wishes. We're on pins and needles here, still waiting to hear from DH's Dad on how things are going.

 

[Monstro]

The DIS Meet is on the first sea day, so no worries there!

Oh. First sea day. Great!

Thanks

I just got off the phone with Guest Services and for sure we will not be boarding until 2:00 pm on the 6th and we are leaving Stockholm an hour and a half earlier than what is listed on the itinerary.

Travel safe
See you all soon.
Jeff

 

[tfc3rid]

Yes... Agreed on the Stockholm... Our Old Town and Ice Bar excursion now leaves at 9:15 AM instead of 12:15 pm to accomodate early departure due to tides...

 

[aurorafan65]

Oh. First sea day. Great!

Thanks

I just got off the phone with Guest Services and for sure we will not be boarding until 2:00 pm on the 6th and we are leaving Stockholm an hour and a half earlier than what is listed on the itinerary.

Travel safe
See you all soon.
Jeff

thanks for that info - I keep wondering why we haven't gotten a call about this yet since we have a late excursion - leaves at 11:45 due back at 3:30pm. Color me a little annoyed with the whole having to leave Stockholm early - I really thought, I'm no sailor though, that they knew tide stuff far in advance

 

[aurorafan65]

Deb prayers your way - hope all gets better

 

[aurorafan65]

One of my UK friends can you help me out????

We got our global phone today but it came with 3 plug things (technical term) & they aren't marked as to which works in the UK.

This is what they look like:

2 prongs that make a V shape

3 prongs - 2 on one side & on the other side is 1 prong perpendicular

2 round prongs

I hope that makes some sense. I only need the one that would work in London & Dover

thanks ..... there might be a DOD for this one

 

[Stimpy]

thanks for that info - I keep wondering why we haven't gotten a call about this yet since we have a late excursion - leaves at 11:45 due back at 3:30pm. Color me a little annoyed with the whole having to leave Stockholm early - I really thought, I'm no sailor though, that they knew tide stuff far in advance

They just called us about 10 minutes ago. Our excursion was changed from 10:45 to 7:30. I noticed it on our ressies on the DCL site the other day that it was changed too.

 

[Monstro]

One of my UK friends can you help me out????

We got our global phone today but it came with 3 plug things (technical term) & they aren't marked as to which works in the UK.

This is what they look like:

2 prongs that make a V shape

3 prongs - 2 on one side & on the other side is 1 prong perpendicular

2 round prongs

I hope that makes some sense. I only need the one that would work in London & Dover

thanks ..... there might be a DOD for this one

You could go to a luggage store and ask them about adapters they sell. They will probably have a good idea what it is and what you may need to charge it both here and in the UK.

 

[aurorafan65]

They just called us about 10 minutes ago. Our excursion was changed from 10:45 to 7:30. I noticed it on our ressies on the DCL site the other day that it was changed too.

they just called & told me it got moved to 8:30 but we'll still get to see everything

You could go to a luggage store and ask them about adapters they sell. They will probably have a good idea what it is and what you may need to charge it both here and in the UK.

after I posted my teen said to me 'just Google it mom'

 

[Deb T.]

after I posted my teen said to me 'just Google it mom'

Ahhh, yes. Google. The answer to everything!

I had just finished digging our adapter out of our bag to let you know what kind you needed. If you haven't had time to google yet, I can tell you that the plugs in London are "3-prongs: 2 on one side & on the other side is 1 prong perpendicular".

I think that's 2 DOD's now.

 

[Deb T.]

Deb prayers your way - hope all gets better

Thanks.

Well, DH's Dad did get Mom to the hospital this morning and they were able to hook up IVs for fluids. Her blood pressure was sky high, but that's probably because she most definitely did not want to be there. They kept her all day to pump the fluids in her, then they let her go back home. Now all we can do is hope she'll eat and drink again. Keeping our fingers crossed.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Shaun, I'm glad for the good report for your dad.

Deb - sorry to read about the stress re: your MIL's health. I hope that now she has received some treatment that her health will improve.

We haven't gotten a call about Stockholm but that might be because our TA is out of town this week (in Alaska, I think). I did see that our excursion time changed to a 7:45 a.m. start and return by 2:00 -Stockholm and Sigtuna with lunch.

We have everything packed except a couple of things that are currently in the dryer that we need for the backpack and tomorrow's overnight stay in Atlanta. We had a last minute panic scrounge looking for the charger to Nathan's DS game but we found one that will work. Whew.

Yesterday's flight that is comparable to ours left six minutes late and arrived 49 minutes early in London. Today's flight left 30 minutes late and will arrive about 10 minutes early. It was late leaving because it was late arriving in Atlanta from Orlando. I hope that if we do arrive considerably earlier than expected that we won't have to wait for our transfer from the airport to the hotel. I know we'll be glad to get somewhere once we land even though we won't be able to check in. I figure we'll store the bags and then go grab something to eat and then head for the tube to go to the London Eye - then take the tube to go to the Tower of London and then go back to the hotel and hopefully get our room and get cleaned up and rest. I'm not planning anything else for Saturday besides a meet and greet with our fellow DISers in the lobby at the Renaissance Chancery Court.

Oh, I printed out labels for the outside of our luggage tags. We have the kind that your name shows through but your home address, contact info, is inside the hard plastic. So I put a 2*4 inch label on them that has my name and our hotel information and dates and also the cruise information (dates, ship, where it sails from) so if it gets delayed or separated from us arriving in London, hopefully they'll be able to call the hotel. I also put our return hotel stay dates on because we'll be back there and maybe they would hold it for us. I figure by doing this, that will keep us from needing to do it. I made similar labels for our return flight as we'll be staying a night in ATL with my brother, so it has our cell-phone number and his address (and dates we'll be there). And a note to look inside the tag if it's outside of the travel dates.

But here's to on-time flights and all luggage making its way with each DISer so no one has luggage issues. I didn't read any reports of luggage issues from the first Baltic - not like there were for the first Med. (and even subsequent) in 2007.

Oh, an online friend who did the first Baltic (and did the Med in 2007) reports that all the DCL excursions she did included adequate time for souvenir shopping whereas on the Med there often wasn't any time included. That was one thing we had noticed in the Med, too - we didn't have time on all our DCL excursions to do any souvenir shopping. Some we did, but not all. Anyway, thought I'd mention it.

Safe travels everyone.

 

[slg]

We're heading out tomorrow. Just finishing up the last little bit of packing, but I just don't feel like it. I think I'm all packed out.

Its so soon! Good luck and safe travels everyone. See you on the 5th or the 7th.

S

 

[babybear42]

One of my UK friends can you help me out????

We got our global phone today but it came with 3 plug things (technical term) & they aren't marked as to which works in the UK.

This is what they look like:

2 prongs that make a V shape

3 prongs - 2 on one side & on the other side is 1 prong perpendicular

2 round prongs

I hope that makes some sense. I only need the one that would work in London & Dover

thanks ..... there might be a DOD for this one

Hi

You'll need the three pronged one. When you see our plugs it will all make sense. It's actually a triangle. The prong on it's own is the top and the other two go at the bottom.

 

[babybear42]

Oh. First sea day. Great!

Thanks

I just got off the phone with Guest Services and for sure we will not be boarding until 2:00 pm on the 6th and we are leaving Stockholm an hour and a half earlier than what is listed on the itinerary.

Travel safe
See you all soon.
Jeff

Ok now I'm confused. I wrote to DCL last week asking about the leaving time for Stockholm, as I'd booked to go the ice bar on our own after we'd got back from our excusion and this is the reply I got:-

During your visit to Stockholm, Guests are scheduled to be back onboard
by 4:30pm; however please keep in mind that the times are always subject
to change.

On our first 12-Night Northern European Capitals cruise, it was
necessary to depart Stockholm at 1:00 p.m. in order to ensure our timely
arrival in Dover on June 24th, due to tidal restrictions placed on
larger vessels in Dover, England. This will not be an issue with your
cruise.

I hope this information has been helpful. If you require further
assistance in planning your visit, please feel free to contact us.

Now it looks like we might not beable to go after all and the ticket is non refundable.

 

[scottishwee35]

Ok now I'm confused. I wrote to DCL last week asking about the leaving time for Stockholm, as I'd booked to go the ice bar on our own after we'd got back from our excusion and this is the reply I got:-

During your visit to Stockholm, Guests are scheduled to be back onboard
by 4:30pm; however please keep in mind that the times are always subject
to change.

On our first 12-Night Northern European Capitals cruise, it was
necessary to depart Stockholm at 1:00 p.m. in order to ensure our timely
arrival in Dover on June 24th, due to tidal restrictions placed on
larger vessels in Dover, England. This will not be an issue with your
cruise.

I hope this information has been helpful. If you require further
assistance in planning your visit, please feel free to contact us.

Now it looks like we might not beable to go after all and the ticket is non refundable.

If DCL change the times and they will do refund...

Scottishwee35

 

[DW2DH&DS]

HI everyone,

WE are finally here!!! non-stop flight from LA was uneventful. watched a couple movies, popped a pill and woke up 30 minutes before landing. gave the kid some benadryl and he slept fine too. customs took us about an hour, but our bags were waiting for us by the time we were done. braved the tube...long walk through tunnel but easy. took Picadilly to hammersmith and transfered the 10 steps it took us to walk across the platform to District line. Hoofed the bridge from the westminster station to county hall. unpacked, took a spin on the wheel...no lines, walked along the south bank and called it a night at 10:30. will pop on from time to time...not to read but just for a quick post!!! see you all next week...travel safe!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Beth, so glad you all arrived uneventfully. We are two days behind you.

Off to work in a short while for a half day then driving to Atlanta.