June 5 to June 24: Barcelona to Dover AND First Baltic cruise BACK 2 BACK CRUISERS

[padalyn]

Good Morning Cruisers!

This thread is a respite after the crazyness of the 1st Baltic (anyone else notice that it is "Batlic" ) thread!

Cayla - how is school going?

Have a great day!

I haven't looked at that thread. I did spend some time on the announcment thread - seemed more like speculation than known information. Then the thread did a left turn and went so far off topic that I couldn't follow it. There were about 50 posts per day. I just don't have that kind of time. I get to read the boards every couple of days usually and going through 100+ posts of varing degrees of interest was too much for me.

School is interesting. I am so excited about what I am learning. The work load is manageable, but not easy. While I am on vacation I am finding it tough to make time to read the chapters. I have the next assignment ready to go (online assignments are posted and have to be completed and uploaded within a window of time) but now I am concerned that I may need to re-work it a bit. Thank you for asking - I am hoping that by 2010 I will be a lot closer to the Masters degree. I am taking the slow path. Only one class per semester. I will take 4 years to complete the degree (the school suggests 2 years - rrrriiiiggghhhhtt!) I plan on finishing about Dec 2012 (wow - it seems like yesterday I bought my DVC...it has been almost 8 years!)

I went to a new Food & Wine event last Friday - 'City Walk Taste of Melbourne, Australia'. I loved it! It was like a mini party for the senses. Less crowded and more intimate. There were 6 stations each serving a whole entree (one could ask for small portions luckily!) and paired with 3 wines. That was a lot of wine! I did try about 10 of them, and actually drank about 6 or 7 glasses (luckily I am at BCV!!!) the walk "home" was interesting....I am doing Spain (I think it is Barcelona) on Friday this week. I am really looking forward to it.

Keep us updated on anything you read on the other boards please...

 

[Lynn G]

Good Morning Cruisers!

Cayla - glad that you are enjoying your classes, I remember that you were a bit apprehensive about the whole project. We will be arriving at WDW on Friday, staying at BWV - so we would be within walking distance for the Tower of Terror race on Sat night. The new events sound interesting - we usually just "graze around the world" at Epcot. Some of our running/walking friends will be doing "beer laps" around the world, and we will meet them for that - of course, neither of us drink beer, but we will manage!

Scott posted a link to this thread on the 1st Baltic thread, so maybe some others will find their way over here. The main topics of discussion over there (at least that I have been interested in) have been the need for Visa's for Russia if you plan to get off ship and are not part of a Disney shore excursion, and the discussion on how to handle fish extender gifts, and who will do the lanyards, as our usually lanyard makers are not on this cruise! This will be a reunion cruise for several different groups of people, so everyone is catching up.

Have a great day everyone!

 

[seaulater]

Good Morning Cruisers!

Cayla - glad that you are enjoying your classes, I remember that you were a bit apprehensive about the whole project. We will be arriving at WDW on Friday, staying at BWV - so we would be within walking distance for the Tower of Terror race on Sat night. The new events sound interesting - we usually just "graze around the world" at Epcot. Some of our running/walking friends will be doing "beer laps" around the world, and we will meet them for that - of course, neither of us drink beer, but we will manage!

Scott posted a link to this thread on the 1st Baltic thread, so maybe some others will find their way over here. The main topics of discussion over there (at least that I have been interested in) have been the need for Visa's for Russia if you plan to get off ship and are not part of a Disney shore excursion, and the discussion on how to handle fish extender gifts, and who will do the lanyards, as our usually lanyard makers are not on this cruise! This will be a reunion cruise for several different groups of people, so everyone is catching up.

Have a great day everyone!

Okay, I'm here! (Thanks for the link Scott!) I am crossing my fingers that Jamie graduates from high school on June 3 so we can fly out the morning of the 4th. We will either take the direct Salt Lake City to Paris flight, or go SLC to Barcelona, Delta does both right now. If we go to Barcelona though, we have to make a connection. Considering Jamie's graduation, we may just take the Paris flight so once we are in the air we know we are landing in Paris and then connect from there.

But we have plenty of time to think about it.

Anyway, on the B2B, I've done it before. Haven't had to change rooms. We are in 6067 for both cruises for this one. However, don't know what will happen in Dover, but last year DCL made changes, and you are required to get off the ship in Port Canaveral at least. You only have to be off for a couple of minutes though and they recheck you in and you get back on. We were back on the ship in less than 15 minutes. We ate late breakfast, waited till everyone got off, wandered around, then got off when they told us to. When we got back on, we wandered deck to deck and did our own stateroom tour of all the different categories. Plus, they were changing the window dressings for Mickey's Mates to Christmas theme and that was fun talking with the people who did that.

Besides that, we had soda up on deck 9 and the time went by so fast, people were on the ship in no time at all. It was fun. I bet there will be a bunch of us this time too.

 

[seaulater]

P.S. Count me in. I'll plan on doing the mini-navigator, but if someone out there is willing to keep an excel spreadsheet of the cruisers, staterooms, etc., that would help me out.

Then I can just cut and paste the file into the mini-nav!

 

[padalyn]

P.S. Count me in. I'll plan on doing the mini-navigator, but if someone out there is willing to keep an excel spreadsheet of the cruisers, staterooms, etc., that would help me out.

Then I can just cut and paste the file into the mini-nav!

Linda - glad to see you guys will be with us. I will add you to the list!

And thanks for taking on the mini-navigator. I will make the spreadsheet as I see people add themselves to the list. I can forward it to you as we get close to the cruise.

Cayla

 

[Lynn G]

Okay, I'm here! (Thanks for the link Scott!) I am crossing my fingers that Jamie graduates from high school on June 3 so we can fly out the morning of the 4th. We will either take the direct Salt Lake City to Paris flight, or go SLC to Barcelona, Delta does both right now. If we go to Barcelona though, we have to make a connection. Considering Jamie's graduation, we may just take the Paris flight so once we are in the air we know we are landing in Paris and then connect from there.

But we have plenty of time to think about it.

Anyway, on the B2B, I've done it before. Haven't had to change rooms. We are in 6067 for both cruises for this one. However, don't know what will happen in Dover, but last year DCL made changes, and you are required to get off the ship in Port Canaveral at least. You only have to be off for a couple of minutes though and they recheck you in and you get back on. We were back on the ship in less than 15 minutes. We ate late breakfast, waited till everyone got off, wandered around, then got off when they told us to. When we got back on, we wandered deck to deck and did our own stateroom tour of all the different categories. Plus, they were changing the window dressings for Mickey's Mates to Christmas theme and that was fun talking with the people who did that.

Besides that, we had soda up on deck 9 and the time went by so fast, people were on the ship in no time at all. It was fun. I bet there will be a bunch of us this time too.

Linda - Glad you found us - the cast member at DVC told me when I was making the reservations that we had the choise of getting off or staying on - she just kept hammering in that there would be "NO AMMENITIES" if we stayed on. From what you and Cayla have been saying, it sounds more interesting to stay on than to hang out at the terminal!

I see that ClassicalCinderella has not found us yet, she had asked for the link on the other thread.

Have a great day everyone! I need to brave the cold (wind chill of .3 degrees) for a short dog walk, I am not yet prepared for winter walking!

 

[ClassicalCinderella]

Hi everyone!
We too are on the Barcelona to Dover and the 1st Baltic cruise. We have never done a B2B before so we are very excited to see how it goes! Thanks for all the information so far!

We are:
Mary DW
Wayne DH
Lisa DD 16
Amy DD 14
in cabin 7054

 

[wrabitdad]

The main topics of discussion over there (at least that I have been interested in) have been the need for Visa's for Russia if you plan to get off ship and are not part of a Disney shore excursion,

Hi All,

Had a chance to talk with our former TA at AAA (she's now Assistant Office Manager and so doesn't do travel arrangments anymore). Anyway, she escorted a cruise group that went to St. Petersburg a couple of years back and said you really don't want to try and do it on your own. The Russian tourist visa is complicated and she said there really isn't anything in close proximity to the port. She also said you have to go thorough a part of town that is not the best between the port and any tourist sites. She strongly recommended going with cruise line offered excursions.

Bob

 

[padalyn]

Hi everyone!
We too are on the Barcelona to Dover and the 1st Baltic cruise. We have never done a B2B before so we are very excited to see how it goes! Thanks for all the information so far!

We are:
Mary DW
Wayne DH
Lisa DD 16
Amy DD 14
in cabin 7054

Welcome aboard! I have added you to the list on post #1!

Hi All,

Had a chance to talk with our former TA at AAA (she's now Assistant Office Manager and so doesn't do travel arrangments anymore). Anyway, she escorted a cruise group that went to St. Petersburg a couple of years back and said you really don't want to try and do it on your own. The Russian tourist visa is complicated and she said there really isn't anything in close proximity to the port. She also said you have to go thorough a part of town that is not the best between the port and any tourist sites. She strongly recommended going with cruise line offered excursions.

Bob

sounds like good advice - thanks for the info!

I am going to see if I can find a map of the ports/itinary and add it to the first post. Does anyone want other information on that post as well? Just let me know.

Cayla

 

[Scott H]

Bob, Good info, will talk to a gal that worked in our office , she was stationed in Russia, and get her take, I have heard the same things.

Maps, I have Garmin Eurpoe City Navigator all loaded in my GPS, LOL....

 

[Lynn G]

Good Morning Cruisers!

Someone on the other thread also said that Russian visa's were hard to come by, not to mention the $200 price tag.

We are off on vacation tonight - we will drive to Denver when Scott gets off work, then fly out tomorrow - I will see you all in a week, Scott will probably still post, he has the computer.

Mary - glad to see you found us over here!

Have a great week everyone!

 

[padalyn]

Bob, Good info, will talk to a gal that worked in our office , she was stationed in Russia, and get her take, I have heard the same things.

Maps, I have Garmin Eurpoe City Navigator all loaded in my GPS, LOL....

I can see my TomTom getting a lot of updates!

 

[Scott H]

I can see my TomTom getting a lot of updates!

Garmin is Better

 

[padalyn]

Garmin is Better

hmm - I have to disagree. I use all three, Magellin, Garmin, and my TomTom. I find the software is more self-intuitive and easier to use. I have found over the last couple of years that Magellin and Garmin units are not happy unless one is on the same side of the street as the address. We have been run around the block on numerous occosions adding minutes to the trip. As a medic, those minutes are really important.

 

[Scott H]

hmm - I have to disagree. I use all three, Magellin, Garmin, and my TomTom. I find the software is more self-intuitive and easier to use. I have found over the last couple of years that Magellin and Garmin units are not happy unless one is on the same side of the street as the address. We have been run around the block on numerous occosions adding minutes to the trip. As a medic, those minutes are really important.

Been there done that and agree.

 

[Yensidfan]

Hi Cayla,

Can you add the rest of my family to the list on page 1.
DH - Pete, DD - Courtney, and DS - Peter

Also, we are in Cabin 7512 for both cruises.

Thanks for all you are doing.

Faith

 

[ClassicalCinderella]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes!

 

[padalyn]

Hi Cayla,

Can you add the rest of my family to the list on page 1.
DH - Pete, DD - Courtney, and DS - Peter

Also, we are in Cabin 7512 for both cruises.

Thanks for all you are doing.

Faith

of course - done!

 

[Scott H]

Hey Cayla, get that sun shinning in FL for us OK.

 

[ClassicalCinderella]

Just wondering if anyone is planning on staying on the boat during the hours we aren't allowed in the room. Our family was hoping to get the laundry done during this time, but we also know we want to explore parts of Dover. What are your ideas?

I figured I would start a thread for us BACK 2 BACK folks on the mini reposition and first Baltic cruise....who else will be there with me????

screen name(s) other name(s) cabin
{Padalyn} Cayla & TBA!! (6502)
{Scott H & Lynn G} Scott & Lynn (5522)
{MV Photon}
{Yensidfan} Faith, Pete, Courtney, Peter (7512)
{wrabitdad} Bob, Dale and Gordy
{seaulater} Linda & Jamie (6067)
{classiccinderella} Mary, Wayne, Lisa, Amy (7054)

By the way, classicalcinderella is missing its "al"
But I like ClassicCinderella better, wish that was our name.