Good morning!
Quick answers: the teens definitely have scheduled activities in the Stack, often until 2 am. But I think there is a lot of hanging out as well. On the first evening, they met to discuss what types of things they wanted to do, so they helped plan their activities.
Not sure about 2nd dinner at Palo. But on our night, we had an 8 pm seating, and the restaurant did not fill while we were there, which made me think that there was room to make another reservation on top of one you already had.
Agree with Andrew's post about internet in the dover departure lounge. I didn't specifically ask, but it didn't look like there was.
Also a correction: our head waiter Mario (from Serbia and great) said that 1,200 passengers went to and from Berlin with Disney on Monday. My DH thinks that when Brent mentioned 400 passengers, he was talking only about the first train and that there is more than one train. I have no idea if he's right about that, but Mario was quite clear about the number of people. He said early seating Monday evening was empty and that he, and others, were pulled out of the dining rooms to help with crowd control when the train got back to Warnemunde.
OK, so yesterday afternoon flew by, as I think sea days do. The weather remained really sunny but cooler (you needed a blanket if you weren't in the sun). My salon treatment was really nice. I found out they have a teen package on port days (manicure, pedicure and mini-facial for teens only) that DD 14 is doing this morning. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the adult pool, relaxing and reading. We were all very lazy and it felt great.
The Villians Tonight show was fine but not overwhelming. The special effects were very good, as were the costumes. It was more of a way to showcase some Disney villians rather than a show with a real plot (although there was a semblance of a plot), but some of the asides were very clever and funny, and several of the numbers were fun. Afterwards, we had a Villains Night menu in Parrot Cay. Nice menu -- duck, steak, swordfish. All good. The Villians Ball was packed not just on Deck 3 but from above on Decks 4 and 5 as well. Lots of character Villians showed up, but it was a little too crowded to do much unless you had gotten there early enough to be in the thick of it.
The DDs went off to their clubs and DH and I went to see John Charles in Rockin Bar D. Guys, if you can, do not miss this show. Rockin Bar D was absolutely packed and he got a standing ovation, the first one I've ever seen in there. It was an absolutely fantastic show.
So we are expected to arrive in St. Petersburg at about midday. We went ahead another hour last night. The sun officially set at about 10:45 (we watched it right before we went to the show, and it was practically perfect in every way), but it seriously never got dark. It was weird. The sky never even turned dark blue, it just got a deeper shade of royal blue. We went to sleep at around 1, which was already 2 am ship's time because of the clock change. And sunrise was supposed to be at about 4:30, I think. So I can't imagine that the sky got much darker than it was when we went to sleep. Really weird and amazing, and it does sort of mess with your time clock, because it just doesn't feel so late. We left dinner after 10 pm, and it was still sunny. That just makes you rethink what time it is.
Here are some things about Russia I learned last night: we get landing cards and have to fill them out and take them, our trip tickets and our passports with us. We get a passport stamp when we return to the ship later today, and that stamp lets us go in and out after that. Does not sound like there will be any distinction between people leaving the ship with a Disney tour and people who have booked a private tour, in terms of debarkation times, which are estimated at being between 12:15 and 12:30. Lumieres is hosting brunch from 9-12:30, and we're planning to eat there right before we get off the boat. Dinner seating times are changed this evening: regular rotations are at 5 and 7:30 instead of 6 and 8:30, and Topsiders is serving a buffet dinner from 4:45-7. There are a series of Russian performers coming onboard to do a show up on Deck 9 at 10:15 this evening. So they are clearly working around the expected schedules.
We are doing Russian with a private tour guide named Masha who came very highly recommended and seemed terrific via email. We are spending this afternoon and evening with her (folk show, dinner and late evening drive around to get the white nights feel) and all day tomorrow, until around 7 (and we might stay out for dinner tomorrow evening -- we're not sure yet). I will do my best to report as time and either internet or blackberry permit. It looks like another very sunny day today with a forecast high of 80. I think this may be the last sunny day, but it's hard to complain when we've had such a good string of weather!
