Magic of the Baltic cruise add-ons Meets thread

[sayhello]

Quick question - do you have time to go to the nightly shows on the ship when doing the add-on? Just curious....

I'm planning on keeping main seating even though I may miss some bonding time with ABD. Similar to my kids, I have a hard time waiting until 9pm to eat and then sleeping on a full stomach. Plus, I'd like to catch some of the shows if possible after dinner.

When I did the Med cruise add-on, we had time for the shows *most* nights. On the nights where we were in port late (like Rome) they didn't have the big shows, anyways (they'd have a magician or a comedian or something). It seems like they deliberately put the big shows on sea days, or days when the all aboard times were earlier.

Sayhello

 

[paddles]

Has anyone booked a hotel in London yet for next summer? I was looking online and everything is soooo expensive. I'm looking for a decent moderate hotel...any suggestions?

Landmark looks incredible (where ABD stays), but I'll need 2 rooms and that will get pricey.

 

[sayhello]

I stayed at the Park Plaza County Hall, which is walking distance to the Houses of Parliament & the London Eye. I really liked it. It's part of Carlton hotels, and I got a really excellent Friends & Family rate when I stayed. They tend to run a lot of specials. Otherwise, it's not cheap, but it's a bit more moderate than the Landmark.

And yes. Everything in London is sooooooo expensive!

Sayhello

 

[HavinABlast]

Has anyone booked a hotel in London yet for next summer? I was looking online and everything is soooo expensive. I'm looking for a decent moderate hotel...any suggestions?

Landmark looks incredible (where ABD stays), but I'll need 2 rooms and that will get pricey.

Another option to look at is to rent an apartment. It's more cost effective and you will get a kitchen. Try booking.com.

 

[HavinABlast]

Welcome to the June 13/15 ABD group! My DH and I will be traveling with our DD who will be 10 at the time of the cruise! Glad to hear other DDs near her age. We've never done ABD before and have booked the pre-cruise and the cruise ABDs. Anything you can tell me will be much appreciated!

Hello! My girls are thrilled there will be some girls on this tour. ABDs are great - you'll love it. Everything is looked after. I'm hoping we'll be first off the ship and miss the lines!

 

[HavinABlast]

Quick question - do you have time to go to the nightly shows on the ship when doing the add-on? Just curious....

I'm planning on keeping main seating even though I may miss some bonding time with ABD. Similar to my kids, I have a hard time waiting until 9pm to eat and then sleeping on a full stomach. Plus, I'd like to catch some of the shows if possible after dinner.

I think we'll be at the early dinner too. We chose late seating on the Med cruise and we were all unhappy eating so late. No one will want to bond with us anyway if we are all grumpy!

 

[sayhello]

Hello! My girls are thrilled there will be some girls on this tour. ABDs are great - you'll love it. Everything is looked after. I'm hoping we'll be first off the ship and miss the lines!

You will be! The power of the paddle means first off the ship!

Sayhello

 

[RSM]

Has anyone booked a hotel in London yet for next summer? I was looking online and everything is soooo expensive. I'm looking for a decent moderate hotel...any suggestions?

Landmark looks incredible (where ABD stays), but I'll need 2 rooms and that will get pricey.

Hi Paddles,

We spent 8 days in London in August 2013. We spent 4 of those nights at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge. It is right near the London Eye, Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, and Parliament. We had 2 bedrooms for the 3 of us. The rate was 208 GBP. It was a good hotel right in the heart of the tourist area. So, it is very conveniently located, also close to the underground, but it is in a congested area. We found this to be one of the more reasonably priced hotels for what we were looking for. As a point of reference, we used DVC points to stay at the Royal Garden in Kensington. Very nice hotel, but I think the cost per night was around 500 GBP.

 

[paddles]

thanks for all the input. I'll check out Park Plaza!

I'm really excited about this trip. I found great hotels in Stockholm that are relatively reasonably priced. Airfare is painful, but I have no choice but to pay those high summer rates....

 

[PeterPanFanWDW]

Hi All -

I'm booked on the 05/30/15 Northern European DCL with the ABD add-on. The ABD site refers to it as a Baltic? So I apologize in advance if this is the incorrect forum.

I'm really trying to get some additional insight into the day in St. Petersburg (the main reason I booked ABD). . . The Magic is in port until almost midnight, but I had thought I had read the tour brings you back to the ship in time for dinner? I'd really like to see St. Petersburg at night as well as during the day and thought that ABD would take full advantage of port time but have been unable to validate anything. Has anyone had any success in determining if the ABD excursions will continue until closer to port departure?

I appreciate all the insight - the ABD forum has got me very excited about this (expensive) add-on.

Thanks in advance!
PPF

 

[Cousin Orville]

Hi All -

I'm booked on the 05/30/15 Northern European DCL with the ABD add-on. The ABD site refers to it as a Baltic? So I apologize in advance if this is the incorrect forum.

I'm really trying to get some additional insight into the day in St. Petersburg (the main reason I booked ABD). . . The Magic is in port until almost midnight, but I had thought I had read the tour brings you back to the ship in time for dinner? I'd really like to see St. Petersburg at night as well as during the day and thought that ABD would take full advantage of port time but have been unable to validate anything. Has anyone had any success in determining if the ABD excursions will continue until closer to port departure?

I appreciate all the insight - the ABD forum has got me very excited about this (expensive) add-on.

Thanks in advance!
PPF

It looks like ABD does not have an evening activity in St Pete's. I'm just looking at the website. I think the only way to know for sure is call ABD and ask. Remember, if you want to do an evening activity and ABD takes you back to the ship, it must be on a DCL organized excursion or a privately booked tour (which includes a Visa). You can't just walk off the ship in Russia and take a taxi. Also keep in mind, the port is a bit of a drive from the main area of St. Petersburg. I known on our previous DCL Baltic where they overnighted, there were shore excursions to a Ball or to a Ballet.

 

[sayhello]

Hi All -

I'm booked on the 05/30/15 Northern European DCL with the ABD add-on. The ABD site refers to it as a Baltic? So I apologize in advance if this is the incorrect forum.

I can't find my brochure right now to verify, but I'm pretty sure this is the right thread for you.

I've added you to the Roll Call on the first post of this thread. Let me know the makeup of your traveling party, and I can update the entry.

I *LOVE* the ABD add-ons. I think you'll really enjoy it!

Also, I'm going to suggest that if it turns out there isn't anything for you in the evening, that you suggest this as a trip improvement when you get your post-ABD survey! I'm with you. If I'm going to be in a port until midnight, I'd want to see the city at night, too!

Sayhello

 

[PeterPanFanWDW]

Thank you both for the reply! We are 2 adults traveling currently, but I really hate the thought of having to book another exclusion to see St. Pete at night.

We have about 20 days to compare the DCL excursions to the ABD add-on. While I'm excited about the "surprise and delight" aspect of ABD I may never get to Russia again and want to ensure I'm taking full advantage of our port time.

PPF

 

[Calfan]

We are booked for the ABD add-on to the July 10 Baltics cruise. I plan to call ABD prior to the opening of my 105-day window for booking DCL port adventures to try to press them for some specifics about what is included in the add-on. Similar to others, if the ABD does not include an evening activity in St. Petersburg, I want to know so I can reserve an evening PA. I also want more specifics about what the ABD will cover in Copenhagen since we have two pre-days there before the first cruise in our B2B, and I don't want to do something there on our own that will be repeated with the ABD.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Thank you both for the reply! We are 2 adults traveling currently, but I really hate the thought of having to book another exclusion to see St. Pete at night. We have about 20 days to compare the DCL excursions to the ABD add-on. While I'm excited about the "surprise and delight" aspect of ABD I may never get to Russia again and want to ensure I'm taking full advantage of our port time. PPF

I'm glad you asked as I'm wondering, too. I don't see anything at night on the itinerary right now in st.petersburg which does seem like a big hole. Like calfan, I plan to press them before I have to decide about Port adventures. I've had a really long post on this very subject ready to go for a while, but I was going to try to get more info from abd before I post it. For me right now the itinerary as written is very unexciting and lacks many of the special/unique activities that I'm I used to from abd. I'm really disappointed and will probably cancel if I can't get more info from them...

 

[paddles]

I agree with all of you. We have 2 days on our own in Stockholm before the cruise and need to figure out what to plan that doesn't overlap with the ABD. And for the price we're paying, I was really hoping they included a ballet performance in St. Petersburg in the evening - if not, I guess I need to book that on my own.

 

[PeterPanFanWDW]

Looks like the ABD site was updated with a bit more information, it now is including an evening sightseeing boat ride in st. Pete.

Thanks again for the help!
PPF

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Looks like the ABD site was updated with a bit more information, it now is including an evening sightseeing boat ride in st. Pete. Thanks again for the help! PPF

Where are you guys seeing this? I'm still seeing the canal boat ride listed as the first activity on both the PDF and daily look at itinerary on the website...

 

[sayhello]

Where are you guys seeing this? I'm still seeing the canal boat ride listed as the first activity on both the PDF and daily look at itinerary on the website...

It looks like it's on the 7-night Baltics daily itinerary, but not on the 12 night. Probably just a miss. I'd check with ABD or your Travel Agent...

Sayhello

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

It looks like it's on the 7-night Baltics daily itinerary, but not on the 12 night. Probably just a miss. I'd check with ABD or your Travel Agent...

Sayhello

Thanks Sayhello. That's exactly the problem. I'm signed up for the 12 night so that's where I was looking! I'm going to try to call ABD right now. Will see what they say.