Just back from first Baltic cruise.......any questions?

[Saamh]

Welcome back. Glad you had a good time. We were in 5009 (sideways inside) on the EBTA and got off the day you got on. I was wishing we could stay because I am very envious of your itinerary.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Welcome back. Glad you had a good time. We were in 5009 (sideways inside) on the EBTA and got off the day you got on. I was wishing we could stay because I am very envious of your itinerary.

It is a fantastic cruise, we did it in 2010 and doing it again next month.

 

[aggiedog]

We got home to Texas late last night from the same cruise. I'm up early due to jet lag.

We had NO problems going thru Russian customs. It was literally less than 5 minutes for our group of 8.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We got home to Texas late last night from the same cruise. I'm up early due to jet lag.

We had NO problems going thru Russian customs. It was literally less than 5 minutes for our group of 8.

Great news!

 

[tink too]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Vasa museum as that's one of the things we're considering. How easy was it to get to from the port?

 

[Angeshall]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Vasa museum as that's one of the things we're considering. How easy was it to get to from the port?

We took the DLC shuttle into the town centre and then I had the details of which bus to catch to get to Vasa. However, when we got there the weather was so nice, we decided to walk and only took us about 15 mins. This was with two kids (7,2). I had maps on my phone and it was approx. 1.3 miles.

The Vasa website is very good and had all the details. It was 130SEk entry fee and children under 18 are free, there wasabi automatic ticket machines just as you walk in. There was a lovely grassed area directly in front of the museum and we sat and grabbed an ice-cream after our visit.

The museum was amazing, very interactive, which both children enjoyed. We spent about 2.5 hours at the museum and then walked back into town.

 

[ctnurse]

We are also on the 12 night and can't wait. I would love to see the Navigators. We have non DCL tours in all of the ports.

My questions? How was the food? Did you happen to notice if the Pandora charms were available? What was the "special" merchandise available?

 

[Angeshall]

My questions? How was the food? Did you happen to notice if the Pandora charms were available? What was the "special" merchandise available?[/QUOTE]

The food was good, I don't think the deserts were quite as good as we have experienced in the past. The regional offerings were a nice touch, but I don't eat much fish so I can't comment. My DH enjoyed the gravlax. The standard and variety of lunchtime offering in Cabanas was much better than we experienced on the med cruise last year. We didn't do Palo.

Pandora charms, yes I 'think' there were some, but I didn't pay too much attention. Sorry I've never took up this trend.

There was Baltic cruise merchandise available, but again, i didn't really pay much attention!

 

[thndrmatt]

Some helpful Google Maps locations:

Estonia:
Free shuttle drop off and pickup in Tallinn (exact):
https://www.google.com/maps/place/T...m2!3m1!1s0x46929499df5616bf:0x400b36d18fc6270

StP:
We used SPB private tour, pickup was directly outside customs, drop off was the same.

Helsinki:
The actual port we ended up at in Helsinki (exact, which is not what was preplanned):
https://www.google.com/maps/place/J...d!3m1!1s0x46920a5273f0b3ad:0x2e5c5c9c77e9ef2c

That meant the tram was walkable, but the bus I had planned on for trans to the olympic stadium and church of the rocks (14) was not... The free shuttle line was quite lengthy for us (~30 min) which meant on an already late port arrival, we didn't actually get into town until ~1:15pm or so.

Free shuttle drop off and pickup in Helsinki (approximate, maybe someone else remembers exact? We were rushed and discovered we needed to reverse course quite a ways to our first stop...):
https://www.google.com/maps/place/E...d!3m1!1s0x46920bc9518fd385:0xa98fbb545d521af5

Stockholm:
Free shuttle drop off and pickup in Stockholm (exact):
https://www.google.com/maps/place/S...n!3m1!1s0x465f9d5928bcfbab:0x1126bb1875d56ab8

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Note In Stockholm the Magic will dock in different places, my cruise 7/22 is docking in Strasgarden. Close to the old town.

 

[awaghorn]

Were the free shuttles advertised in advance? I hadn't seen any mention of these for the cruise we are on (22nd July) although as Disney Fantasy notes above for some of the stops the berths are different and closer to the town etc.

 

[thndrmatt]

Note In Stockholm the Magic will dock in different places, my cruise 7/22 is docking in Strasgarden. Close to the old town.

One of the reasons I posted, is my cruise (30 May Baltic Disney Magic) was also "docking at specific known ports" and we planned transportation based on that. In the case of Helsinki, the dock changed the morning of arrival, which threw off a lot of people's plans. I wanted to provide other possible arrival options for those who want to plan for multiple contingencies. We also heard that Stockholm's docks can vary up until the morning of as well due to the numerous options and multiple ships invovled, but we docked there as planned at Frihammen.

 

[thndrmatt]

Were the free shuttles advertised in advance? I hadn't seen any mention of these for the cruise we are on (22nd July) although as Disney Fantasy notes above for some of the stops the berths are different and closer to the town etc.

If by advance you mean, the announcement over the ships loudspeakers the morning of that individual port, stating "the ship has been cleared, gangway is open on deck 1, and there is a free shuttle that will be on your right and take you downtown".

 

[awaghorn]

If by advance you mean, the announcement over the ships loudspeakers the morning of that individual port, stating "the ship has been cleared, gangway is open on deck 1, and there is a free shuttle that will be on your right and take you downtown".

Thanks - I was meaning more did you get info pre-cruise but by the sounds of it no! Was there plenty of capacity on the shuttles? Presume you got some sort of timetable for the way back (I suspect we might make use of coming back from a couple of places where we are DIY but knowing there is one to help get back might be useful).

Thanks!

 

[owensjro]

I'm curious if anyone has a list of the wines available for the wine package as the DCL website continues to not show anything for Dover or Copenhagen.

Thanks!
Jim

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I'm curious if anyone has a list of the wines available for the wine package as the DCL website continues to not show anything for Dover or Copenhagen.

Thanks!
Jim

I noticed that as well!

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Were the free shuttles advertised in advance? I hadn't seen any mention of these for the cruise we are on (22nd July) although as Disney Fantasy notes above for some of the stops the berths are different and closer to the town etc.

Often DCL doesn't advertise the free shuttle to the day before as it wants to sell its own Shore trips, some docks like Helsinki are commercial ports and it's not safe for you to walk about do they run a shuttle.

Note Copenhagen and Stockholm the ships nay dock in different places, IE Copenhagen the ships that " call" there rather than start and finish there dock closer to the city near the mermaid.



Helsinki. Free bus bottom right.



Copenhagen

 

[aggiedog]

There was no set shuttle schedule, just "it will keep running, last bus will leave town at X:00" There were many busses running back and forth, so it didn't seem like the wait was all that long. And agreed, there was no advance warning the shuttles would be available.

I also can't comment on the wine list. We drank some wine but we aren't big wine lovers to remember all the choices. There were several good local beers though, including Danish and Icelandic varieties.

 

[Angeshall]

I'm curious if anyone has a list of the wines available for the wine package as the DCL website continues to not show anything for Dover or Copenhagen.

We didn't drink any wine, but had many, many cocktails!

 

[Angeshall]

I will try again..........


We didn't drink any wine, but had many, many cocktails!