Mini Trip Report - Inaugural Northern European Capitals Cruise *Photos added*

[bigAWL]

Well, we’re back in Uganda. It wasn’t a fun trip back. Up at 3am to catch a 6:30 flight to Amsterdam, then after boarding the flight for Uganda, we waited on board for two hours while the tried to fix a backup system for the engines. Finally, they asked us to move to a different plane… at a gate all the way across the airport… without our stroller which we had gate checked. Finally took off about 3 hours late. When we got home it was 1am in the morning.

Here is a mini trip report for any of you looking for info about the itinerary:

Dover:
We arranged a private van recommended by our B&B. Stephen Smith is a very nice guy with a Mercedes van which was a bit cramped for our family of five plus six big suitcases (prefect for a family of four). He’s flexible and can make any stops along the way. We paid 130 pounds each way. stevetaxichannel@aol.com

B&B was the Hubert House in Dover.

Great little place just at the bottom of the hill leading up to Dover Castle

(the walk up includes steep inclines and a long staircase, but is fairly quick).

We had a room for five with just enough room to stretch out and relax. We put five suitcases in storage, and only had one in the room which we packed specifically with what we would need that day before embarkation.

Dover Castle was interesting and a great view of the town from the top of the towers.

But my young girls hated the Secret Wartime Tunnels saying it was too “dark and scary.”

Lunch was at a nice little café just around the northeast corner of the central market square, called Chaplan’s. I highly recommend the Brie, Bacon and Cranberry panini. They had a decent kids menu, too.

Dinner at Cullin’s Yard was good food but slow service. They ran out of the kids’ fish and chips, and trying to order cheese on a burger took a little negotiating. I can’t imagine what it would be like there with a group of 50.

At Sailaway:

Oslo:
We had wanted to book the Hadeland Glazsswerks Factory excursion, but it was sold out from the beginning. We called the factory directly, and they recommended a taxi van. Joann called them and arranged a van for 11 people (us and another family). If you try this, definitely arrange pickup time as soon as ashore time starts. That way you can get there before the cruise excursions. It was empty when we arrived. They had a sort of tour through the factory with guys working with glass,

lots of shopping,

a couple playgrounds, and a small petting zoo.

Also a bakery and a café. The drive to the factory was something like an hour through beautiful countryside.

Then our driver took us to the Kon Tiki and Fram museums – very interesting places.

As it turned out, I think we had a better experience than the DCL excursion. From what I heard, they were delayed to start, and had poor service for the tour part of the factory.

Copenhagen:
A lot of people liked the hop-on-hop-off buses to get around and see the key sights. We wanted to take the canal tour, so bought an all-day ticket that included unlimited use of the water taxis. We walked to Nyhaven to get to the tour.

After the one-hour boat tour (It was nice, but slow and a bit boring), we walked along the mile-long Stroget pedestrian street with lots of shopping available. We didn’t stop, but continued on to Tivoli.

Since it was Tuesday, Tivoli was not crowded even in mid afternoon. Most rides were walk-ons. As someone else said, some of them looked outrageous from a spin-you-till-you-puke standpoint. But we enjoyed the super-tall swings from which you could catch a glimpse of the Magic off in the distance.

Not a lot for toddlers to do, but they do have a beautiful little carrousel with tall giraffes, a camel, an elephant, lions and tigers and such.

We had lunch at the Valhalla Burger place there and had really good burgers.

We had gorgeous weather the entire trip, except for the afternoon. Just as we were getting onto the water taxi to get back to the ship, a skies opened up with loud thunder, rain and… yikes!... hail stones. We were soaked by the time we got to the ship and all had nice hot baths or showers.

Warnmunde:
I had big plans for a train ride to Schwerin Castle on this day. But we were really tired after the previous two days adventures and chose to take the much shorted train ride to Rostock and walk around that town. We were stumped by the automated ticket machine, so found the ticket office inside the train station and they were very helpful in finding us the most efficient ticket for a group of 7 including a 3 year old – that was a group ticket for five and one full fare (toddler was free). The trains are nice and comfortable and easy to use.

When we got to the Rostock main station (Hauptbahnhof), we decided to ride the tram into town rather than walk the mile or so. This took a little more time to figure out which tram would take us to Neu Markt (New Market) in the center of town, and which direction to go (train number 6 if you’re looking for the same one).

In Rostock, there’s a nice old church – Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church) with a fabulous pipe organ, and an interesting astronomical clock.

Then we walked through the town a bit, found a few nice looking cafes but we were done for when the girls saw McD’s and Burger King. A few happy meals later we were back on the tram and took the train back to the port.

Finally, we took a little sightseeing train ride through Warnemunde (slightly interesting, but not great),

Then walked back to the beach and the girls dipped their toes in the cold sea.

A fairly relaxing day, but we were really looking forward to the day at sea.

More later, and I'll try to update with photos as I get more organized over the next few days.

 

[wickesy]

You did Copenhagen the right way round. We did Tivoli before lunch and the canal tour after - you can imagine what happened to us in an open-topped boat in the hail!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Looking forward to reading more. We are on July 6th.

 

[bigAWL]

St Petersburg - Day 1:
This was the city we were most looking forward to. Maybe because of that, it turned out the be the most disappointing. A couple things were working against us here: 1) we were there on the weekend (Fri and Sat) so crowds in the tourist areas like Nevsky Prospect and Hermitage were packed, and 2) there was some international economic summit going on that caused some road closures.

First, our DD8 took the Master Ballet class, which was kind of neat, but would have made more sense to break it down by age group rather than doing a class with all ages and abilities. This took place in the Walt Disney Theater.

We had arranged (or rather tagged along with another family who had arranged) a private tour through Red October Tours. This worked fairly well. We had 11 people in a large van with a dedicated driver and a dedicated guide. We started with a driving tour through the main parts of downtown, stopping briefly for a photo op with St Isaac's Cathedral. The square where we stopped was packed with buses and cars trying to get parked or get going and was frankly quite dangerous.

Our next stop was for a walk along Nevsky Prospect. The guide was adamant that we protect our valuables and passports because they always end up with someone being pickpocketed (guess we were lucky this time). I'm not surprised, since the sidewalks were packed with throngs of people - it was difficult to keep up and stay together. We also failed to take strollers on this walk - big mistake with toddlers in tow. This photo shows a bit of the crowds but doesn't really do it justice.

We went a long way around a block and ended up at the Church of the Spilt Blood (or whatever they call it - it seems to have many names) which is stunning both inside and out.

From there we walked even more, including a detour due to the road closures, to get back on the van and drive to the Peter and Paul Fortress. There we visited the Church of St Peter and St Paul (I forget if that's the exact name) where most of the Tsars are entombed. It's interesting to be in such a sacred place, but aside from the tall guilded spire, the church itself is not as remarkable as the others we visited.

The day ended with a stop at the tour guide's office for payment and then a shopping stop next to Peter the Great's original "palace," a small cottage, really, that was one of the first things built in the city.

St Petersburg - Day 2:
The bus took us early in the morning to Peterhof, which is room after room of extremely ornate and extravegant furnishings and ornamentation (sorry no photos alowed inside). This was also very crowded with tour groups, of course, and the going was sometimes rather slow.

The gardens are extensive with dozens of glinting gold statues and huge fountains.

From there we hopped on a hydrofoil boat

for the ride back up to the Hermitage Museum.

The Hermitage is... well... vast. It's packed with millions of pieces of fine art, rare artifacts, and fascintaing antiquities. It's also packed tight with tourists on a Saturday afternoon. Even with stollers for the littlest ones, patience of even the best children can be worn thin after three hours. I would love see what it would be like on, say, a Tuesday morning. It's amazing, yes, but we were all ready to go by the end.

I think St Petersburg is great and has a lot to offer. But two days is just not enough to see all you want to see. And for kids who have already been going non-stop for several days, it can be a little overwhelming... or boring. some of our disappointed also stemmed from the run-down appearance of virtually every building that wasn't a national treasure. I guess this shouldn't have surprised us - we've travelled in the former Soviet Union before, and obviously they don't have the resources of the other cities we visited. But we had the impression of St Petersburg as this grand old European Capital - and it is, but for us something was missing.

 

[croppincolburn]

Wow! I would have loved to do this cruise. Today is the feast day for Sts Peter and Paul, for Orthodox Christians anyway, so it was fun to see pics of the church. Thanks for posting the TR!

 

[aurorafan65]

thanks for the info & the pictures

Wow! I would have loved to do this cruise.
Today is the feast day for Sts Peter and Paul, for Orthodox Christians anyway, so it was fun to see pics of the church. Thanks for posting the TR!

It's also the Roman Catholic feast of Sts Peter & Paul.

I can't wait to see it all in person in a few weeks!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Great photos!

 

[Fastpaks]

I'm totally sold! Please keep 'em coming.

 

[bigAWL]

Helsinki:
It was time to do something for the kids. We signed up the Helsinki Hightlights and Santa's Summerhouse excursion. Our first DCL tour of the trip. I've heard that others on this excursion (I think a different group from us) were not at all satisfied with their experience. But we had a great time, and really thought it was a well run tour and great for the kids.

We started on the bus driving through town, out into some suburbs, and after not too long a trip ending up... someplace... where a very nice elf was waiting to board our bus and guide our driver to the secret location. We ended up seeminly deep in the woods at a gorgeous, small lake with a handful of cottage-type buildings nearby.

The elf announced that she was just getting ready to prepare Santa's sauna and asked if the children would help her collect a big bucket-full of water from the lake. Each kid took a small wooden cup to scoop up water and fill up the tub.

Then they "helped" her carry it a little ways up to one of the cottages which was a real smoke sauna. She explained how the sauna worked and what it was for. It smelled VERY smokey all around it.

After that we split into 3-4 groups. Some went to visit the post office, some stopped for refreshments, and we played a game of throw the hoop into the giant stocking.

Then it was our turn for the post office. The kids did some crafts before going in.

And finally, it was time. The first room showed letters flying through some kind of sorter contraption, others were flashing in by fax. And there was a video screen with a direct feed from the shop above the arctic circle.

Then we were taken into the second room where we were greeted by non other than the big man, himself. Santa was great. He told the kids a little about his operation there, and did the normal "Have you been good" and "What do you want for Christmas" routine. The kids really loved it, but were a bit shy (and perhaps at a loss for something to ask for) and said they would write a letter.

Then we went on a bit of a nature hike through the lovely woods.

At last we got to the refreshments and enjoyed Mrs. Claus's special recipes of juice and pastries. Of course, there was a little souvineir shop conveniently close by. The Mrs. and reindeer were not around, but we saw at least three little helpers, maybe four.

After leaving, we drove back into Helsinki and made a 30 minute stop in front of the Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral. Big and beautiful! There was a market nearby where DW picked up some berries. Finland, we were told, is famous for its berries, especially blueberries. After she got them to the bus, she noticed there were imported from Portugal. Oh well.

 

[Becx N Gav]

Wow it looks like you got to see a lot!

I suspect the berries are imported until the season starts in Finland, I know here in the UK we've only just got strawberries and the others will come later in the summer.

Did you find the cost of the DCL excursions reasonable for what was included? On the Med cruise it seemed to be some were better value than others, they also didn't always match the description - but that didn't detract from them at least on the tours we did.

 

[bigAWL]

Wow it looks like you got to see a lot!

I suspect the berries are imported until the season starts in Finland, I know here in the UK we've only just got strawberries and the others will come later in the summer.

Did you find the cost of the DCL excursions reasonable for what was included? On the Med cruise it seemed to be some were better value than others, they also didn't always match the description - but that didn't detract from them at least on the tours we did.

We only took two Disney excursions. I think in general, if you can figure out how to do the same thing on your own, you save a lot of money. We did Stockholm (I'll write about soon) with DCL mainly because of the short time in port (we sailed out at 1pm). Sometimes it just takes some time and research on the internet to figure out the transportation systems or to find an indepentdent tour guide that will give you better value.

Then again, I do love the piece of mind that the DCL excursion gives you if your return to the ship is delayed - you're not going to be left behind.

 

[bigAWL]

Stockholm:
Our stop here was shortened for some reason - some said it was attributed to the tides (meaning those in Stockholm or those in Dover, I'm not sure). In any case, we only had about 5 hours to work with. So here we decided no to risk any traveling on our own for fear of being stranded somewhere and not getting back to the ship in time for sailing. But what a beautiful city! This was my favorite city of the cruise.

We chose the Skansen and Vasa excursion, but I didn't really know what to expect from these places. Having chosen the DCL tour early on, I did much less research on Stockholm. We were getting off the ship as soon as it was clear. We bused a bit through the city to first visit the Vasa museum. This is a great museum. Even if you really have no real interest in naval history or ships in general, you have to respect this museum for its excellent exhibits, and a really well-done movie presentation. Very well done. I highly recommend a visit.

All their testing showed an array of colored paints used on the carvings. This model shows what experts think the ship looked like when it sailed.

There was a series of mockups showing how they raised the wreck from the bottom of the harbor. The movie was fascinating and described the excavation and preservation processes which took decades. Preserving the wood alone took 17 years.

After leaving the museum we walked (maybe 20 minutes) to the Skansen outdoor museum. Again, not having researched this site, I wasn't sure what to expect. This is a really big place. Probably the size of a medium-sized theme park. Here's the map model.

There's a lot of walking involved. We stayed with the tour guide the entire time, but some from the tour broke off to do their own thing with a pre-arranged meeting place and time afterward. There is a lot to see here and the exhibits are quite diverse. From windmills to old farm buildings to mud huts to a school house and even an old bank.

There were also many kinds of animals in pens, like reindeer, moose, ducks, seals, otters, pigs, fuzzy bunnies, goats, peacocks etc.

I'm sure there were many things we didn't get to see - partly because we were there in the morning, and apparently some exhibits didn't open or get fully going until the afternoon. There were also some nice views over the city.

I will also mention here the sailaway. Cruising through the waterways amongst the many islands near Stockholm was beautiful.

 

[Dollar2]

Wonderful report! Thanks for the pictures. Can't wait to get there.

 

[bigAWL]

Shows:
I tend to go for the large cast shows and leave out the one-man or cabaret entertainers. So I can only offer experiences on the main shows. They had the usual Twice Charmed and and Disney Dreams, which I'm not going to bother reviewing here. If you haven't seen them, you really, really should (especially Dreams - amazing show even on my third time around). The three new shows that I hadn't seen before were Villains Tonight, Walt Disney: The Dream Goes On, and Once Upon a Song. I just listed them in the order that I enjoted them. Actually in some ways I enjoyed Walt Disney better than Villains, but I'll list Villains first because it's the biggest production and the one most are interested about.

Villains Tonight:
Hades (from Hercules) is all out of evil, and has to enlist help from all his villain budies to fill up his evil-ometer, or whatever it was called, or he will lose his rule over the underworld (or something like that). Not much of a plot, I guess, but it was enjoyable to see some of the villains come out and strut their stuff. All the actors did great jobs imitating their characters, excpet for Hades, I guess. He was played as more of a stand-up comedian than the Hades I remember from the movie. I really like James Woods (voice in the movie) so that probably took a little away for me. (Edit: I should say that the Hades actor did a great job of carrying the show and got a lot of laughs. It just wasn't the character that I know.) There were some great and elaborate sets, as usual. I'd probably rank it a little below Twice Charmed. (Unfortunately, my camera battery died in the middle of the show, so I didn't get shots of much of it, but this will give you a little taste.)

Walt Disney: The Dream Goes On:
I didn't know anything about this show going into it, but I really enjoyed it. It's a sort of history of Walt's career. A mix of narrated scenes, film montages, and musical production numbers, this is a fun little show. I say "little" because the sets are not so extravagant. But the musical numbers were really pretty good, including Pinocchio, Mary Poppins and a "groovy" 60s recording studio scene for I Wanna Be Like You.

Once Upon a Song:
I didn't know what to expect from this one either. And I was a bit disappointed. It wasn't a full cast production. Instead it was a series of songs to feature the talents of five of the stars. No costumes, minimal sets, and non-traditional arrangements made this more like a lounge act to me. But indeed those are five talented performers, and if you like all the Disney movie standards (and a few lesser known songs thrown in), it's worth seeing.

 

[2littlegirls]

great reviews! thanks

 

[bigAWL]

About Villains tonight (and I've put in an edit in that post)... I should say that the Hades actor did a great job of carrying the show and got a lot of laughs. It just wasn't the character that I know.

Is there anything else people would like to know about the cruise. I think I'll try to scan the navigators if I have time today (and if I can find them).

 

[wickesy]

Is there anything else people would like to know about the cruise. I think I'll try to scan the navigators if I have time today (and if I can find them).

It might save you a job if I say that I've already scanned them and posted them on the Baltic planning thread. I can post a link if you would like?

 

[scottishwee35]

I would like to saying many thanks for show the photos as some of these brought my memories back which I went to Baltic Cruise with school in 1975!!

I wish I go to Baltic Cruise never mind... maybe one day....

thanks again....

Scottishwee35

 

[Kouris_Family]

Does anyone know where the drop off point is for the Berlin on your own?

 

[bigAWL]

Does anyone know where the drop off point is for the Berlin on your own?

I didn't get to Berlin, but you might ask on this thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2169793&page=228 of the other disers on my cruise.