Northern Europe Magic 6/13/2015

[PhotoHappy]

Elizabeth has always wanted to see St. Petersburg.

 

[PhotoHappy]

Last one - thank you!

 

[pxlbarrel]

last one - thank you!

lol

 

[pxlbarrel]

Flights were running in excess of $1,500 for random dates when I checked two weeks ago (from St. Louis). We will also tack on some time to see part of Europe. That adds about $300 per person to have different flight segments, but we will have already spent a big chunk to get there. I was also limiting it to a single connection.

I checked flights from Toronto for the dates in 2013 and they were $1300 and there were no direct flights. This was something I forgot to think about when we booked. LOL Yikes.

 

[pxlbarrel]

Do most of you have second seating for dinner? For Estonia we're back on board at 5 pm. St Petersburg it is midnight and both Helsinki and Stockholm are 6 pm. I can't see rushing back to the ship for early seating.

It is kind of cool that sunset in St Petersburg on 6/16/15 is at 11:23 pm!

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=352&month=6&year=2015&obj=sun&afl=-11&day=1

We currently have first seating.... we figure if we want to change to second seating, it's easier to do than the other way around. When we've done the Med cruises, we've always had second seating so we can relax a bit after we return from the excursions but eating until 10 pm... it's a bit ... well, it's a bit hard to enjoy. And it means no pirate buffet.

 

[LKFan]

We currently have first seating.... we figure if we want to change to second seating, it's easier to do than the other way around. When we've done the Med cruises, we've always had second seating so we can relax a bit after we return from the excursions but eating until 10 pm... it's a bit ... well, it's a bit hard to enjoy. And it means no pirate buffet.

We've done both and decided on late seating for this cruise. Our kids are teenagers and can handle waiting and the pace seemed rushed at the early seating.

We've sailed to Mexico twice and those cruises were more about the ship than the ports. This trip is more about the ports than the ship. I'm not sure I'll ever get back to these places so I want to see as much as I can.

It has been a couple of years since we've sailed Disney. I haven't kept up with changes to the Magic since dry dock. Can anyone point me to the direction of threads about the new shows and restaurants? Are there any really good trip reports about the Magic?

 

[Alohagirl73]

We are doing earlier seating. With DD being only 4 on this cruise, the late seating is just too late. If we miss a meal in St. Petersburg, that's all right. I am really hoping they do Catherine's Ball again as an excursion.

 

[fieldssu]

We are also currently on early dining. I think we will switch, but it is easier to go to late than from late. We have done both, and they each have their advantages. When we did Alaska, late actually kept us closer to normal! Our youngest will be 9 at the time of the trip, so it really depends on if we can talk anyone else in the family into joining us.

 

[MattFromBuffalo]

We are doing the late dining. With a group for 4 adults and some of the late-ish returns from port, it will work out better with us. As for the double-dipping with the late dining and pirate party buffet, we will just need to pace ourselves...

 

[chiburple]

Hi all,

We're on this cruise too . This will be me, my mom and my step-dad.

And now to discuss this:

Good evening everyone! I am the aforementioned brother Matt. As my sister mentioned, we just booked the cruise (last night). We are all VERY excited and researching like crazy. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone better before we set sail!

OMG, talk about a small world!!!
Looks like we get to sail together again

 

[chiburple]

We are doing the late dining. With a group for 4 adults and some of the late-ish returns from port, it will work out better with us. As for the double-dipping with the late dining and pirate party buffet, we will just need to pace ourselves...

Wait, there can't be two users with the exact same user name and logo can there?

 

[MattFromBuffalo]

And now to discuss this:

OMG, talk about a small world!!!
Looks like we get to sail together again

Why hello there! I am looking forward to it!

Wait, there can't be two users with the exact same user name and logo can there?

Nope, there is only one person who can be this awesome!

 

[890537]

We're doing early dining. Our daughter will be almost 7 for the cruise but I think even without her we'd do the early seating. For our first cruise we did late seating because it was just the two of us and we hated eating that late.

 

[890537]

We're doing b2b this time and our second part is the 9 night Norwegian.
Someone on the forum for that cruise posted the following link that might be helpful to this group (at least the flight piece and Copenhagen details)

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3254799

 

[Alohagirl73]

I know we have more than a year before this cruise but never can start planning too early!!! Anyway when do you think DCL will post shore excursions? How far in advance do they post?

 

[MattFromBuffalo]

I know we have more than a year before this cruise but never can start planning too early!!! Anyway when do you think DCL will post shore excursions? How far in advance do they post?

This past year, my family waited for the excursions for their July 2014 Mediterranean cruises to be posted. The excursions did not post until Thanksgiving or early December. Also, additonal excursions posted in February.

Based on these time frames, my estimate of when excursions should come out will be around Halloween time.

Usually booking happens where Platinum members can book first for two weeks, then Gold, then Silver Castaway Club Members.

 

[Alohagirl73]

Thanks!!! Appreciate the answer.

By the way there's only 61 weeks until we board our cruise!!!

 

[Tracerr00]

Which Med cruise did you do? We were on the June 15 Turkey and Greece cruise.

My regret about this June 13 Northern Europe cruise is that we're the second trip into these ports. It's so much more fun if you're the first ... like we were last year.

Sorry it took me so long to respond! I’ve been away from my computer for a while! We were on the very first Med cruise of the season last year so I know what you mean! It was the 7 night (I think it June 6th?) and it was so much fun! I think I learned a few lessons from the Med cruise that I will take with me – one of those things is that while I’m a great traveler on my own – with a limited time in port I would rather do an organized tour in a port that I’m unfamiliar with (whether it’s Disney or an outside company). Luckily we didn’t get left behind but we had a small mishap or two! LOL!

 

[fieldssu]

Sorry it took me so long to respond! I’ve been away from my computer for a while! We were on the very first Med cruise of the season last year so I know what you mean! It was the 7 night (I think it June 6th?) and it was so much fun! I think I learned a few lessons from the Med cruise that I will take with me – one of those things is that while I’m a great traveler on my own – with a limited time in port I would rather do an organized tour in a port that I’m unfamiliar with (whether it’s Disney or an outside company). Luckily we didn’t get left behind but we had a small mishap or two! LOL!

What other lessons did you learn? This will be our first trip to Europe with the kids (15, 12, and 9 next summer).

 

[pxlbarrel]

Ohhh...so you were coming off the ship when we were lining up to board her!!

I'd love to hear the mishap stories.

Sorry it took me so long to respond! I’ve been away from my computer for a while! We were on the very first Med cruise of the season last year so I know what you mean! It was the 7 night (I think it June 6th?) and it was so much fun! I think I learned a few lessons from the Med cruise that I will take with me – one of those things is that while I’m a great traveler on my own – with a limited time in port I would rather do an organized tour in a port that I’m unfamiliar with (whether it’s Disney or an outside company). Luckily we didn’t get left behind but we had a small mishap or two! LOL!