Northern Sights and Mickey's MAGICal Delights-1st Baltic Cruise-June 12,2010-Pt 2

[carolmb]

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!

 

[Lynn G]

Good Morning Cruisers!

Happy Mother's Day!

- I know about the dinner in Dover (we're in for that one!) and about the reveal meet on day 11. But on our previous cruises, we've always had a DisMeet on the first day, either boarding or first full-day on the ship, so that everyone could meet everyone else. Are we going to do that? If so, where and when? (DH needs to update his schedule...Did I mention he likes to plan???) If not, I wouldn't mind helping to organize it if folks are interested and someone who knows who we need to contact to reserve the space can point me in the right direction.

I guess I just assumed we would meet on deck 10/starboard side for the sail away party like we have on every other cruise we have been on Does that work for everyone? If weather is lousy, make it deck 9.

- Finally, does anyone have a recommendation on where to stay after the cruise? We have a flight at 6:30am on the 25th, so we'd really like to be very close to Heathrow. Just don't have a clue on any decent hotels around there that might be family-friendly (5 of us).

Wow! Okay - now I can focus on packing...

We are staying at the London-Heathrow Crowne Plaza Hotel because it has a shuttle to the airport (I believe) , and we also leave early the morning of the 25th.

Thanks for the info about the theme nights...but does this mean people get dressed up (yep, first time cruiser here). Should I just pack a pirate hat for everyone?

Thanks,
Rach

Yes, folks do get dressed up - we do have pirate costumes, however, they will not make it on this cruise - we also have pirate t-shirts that we bring when room is tight - they will not make it on this cruise either as room is REALLY tight.

Doing the doc dance in Utah!

We now have our docs for both cruises........

Now, if I could just get to packing.

Linda - if you got your doc's then everyone should have gotten them, you are always the last to get your doc's!

Excellent news Tammy!!!!

Am I remembering wrong or did someone do lanyards for this cruise?

Someone did some lanyards early on, we made our own name tags to attach to them, so folks will know us when they see us and we have a place to carry our KTTW card.

I sent you a PM.



Everyone - does anyone like to do cross-stitch? Just trying to figure out Secret Mickey and Fish Extender gifts, but don't want to put together a craft kit if folks aren't interested....Let me know.

I do cross stitch - but this sounds really ambitious!

We use the rolly dudes all the time, Lynn just ordered the hang up ones for the dress clothes.

I would hate to have my T-shirts come out wrinkled

That's why I'm going to try these because the rolling ones always scared me about wrinkles.

The set I ordered has 3 cubes, 3 large rolly's and 3 small rolly's. I figure I'll use the rolly's for underware, socks, etc., things I don't mind getting wrinkled a little.

Maybe, just maybe I'll get away with 1 suitcase and the garment bag this way. Might have to do a trial run.

I just looked up the Space Bags To Go and it looks like you can buy them at Walmart and Target.

I'll go look next week.

I am trying the hanging one for the first time - you can use either a vacuum cleaner or roll it, I figured I would use the vacuum cleaner to pack in, these will not be opened until we get on the ship - and just have to roll them when bringing them home. I was hoping the vacuum cleaner would not create as many wrinkles as rolling. We plan to iron any regular shirts, but the t shirts should be ok - several of my shirts are the wrinkled kind, so hopefully, they will be OK also. I also found that they were WAY more expensive at Walmart than on the internet. We are traveling with only one checked bag - so we need to save all the space we can!

I have one more week of work, then one week off to catch up on all the stuff I have to do at home before we leave! Really looking forward to vacation!

Have a great week all!

 

[lllpath]

I did lanyards for this cruise...I only have a few left though. How many do you need? They came out to $3.30 per lanyard.

 

[lllpath]

Just a note for those folks staying at hotels around LHR...most of these hotels do not have hotel-specific shuttles as I believe they are not allowed by the airport. Instead, these hotels use a service called Hotel Hoppa buses. They are located outside baggage claim and there are a couple of Hotel Hoppa routes so be sure you board the correct bus. In addition, they are NOT free. They are much cheaper than taxi fare of course but they are not free.

 

[3princessMommy]

I know we are all trying to pack light and limit ourselves to 1 suitcase or so. But just a reminder that saving space in a big suitcase isn't always a good idea. It has happened to me more than once that my suitcase ends up being overweight!!! The penalties for being overweight in a bag are much more than they used to be, particularly flying internationally. So if you are entitled to check two bags, sometimes it's better to pack two, but not full, to ensure that you have enough weight to be able to buy souvenirs.

The vacuum bags are great space savers, but they can easily put you overweight if you still pack the suitcase full.

Make sure you weigh those bags before you leave the house - I've been the person unpacking in front of the entire airport to avoid the $200 overweight charge!!!!

 

[Scott H]

Just a note for those folks staying at hotels around LHR...most of these hotels do not have hotel-specific shuttles as I believe they are not allowed by the airport. Instead, these hotels use a service called Hotel Hoppa buses. They are located outside baggage claim and there are a couple of Hotel Hoppa routes so be sure you board the correct bus. In addition, they are NOT free. They are much cheaper than taxi fare of course but they are not free.

That is what Lynn was referring to, I think about 4 pounds heavy on the think, I prob just told here there was a shuttle.

 

[Scott H]

I know we are all trying to pack light and limit ourselves to 1 suitcase or so. But just a reminder that saving space in a big suitcase isn't always a good idea. It has happened to me more than once that my suitcase ends up being overweight!!! The penalties for being overweight in a bag are much more than they used to be, particularly flying internationally. So if you are entitled to check two bags, sometimes it's better to pack two, but not full, to ensure that you have enough weight to be able to buy souvenirs.

The vacuum bags are great space savers, but they can easily put you overweight if you still pack the suitcase full.

Make sure you weigh those bags before you leave the house - I've been the person unpacking in front of the entire airport to avoid the $200 overweight charge!!!!

Most excellent point, we travel with a scale, have done so for years, hence no surprises at check in, as we give ourselves a couple of kilos fudge factor.

We like to just cut the bulk, helps with organization, and in the unlikely event on nasty weather, or over zelous bag handler they help keep the stuff inside day and clean.

Further each airline is different, and flying inter continent is usually more restrictive,

We are planning one bag each at 20 kilos. With a reasonable carryon.

We have also seen others the repacking and big credit card bills at the counter.

 

[gydell]

Who has the 7yo boy looking for another boy to email? My 8yo grandson said he would love to do it! Pm your info and they can start whenever,

 

[Meum]

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Make sure you weigh those bags before you leave the house - I've been the person unpacking in front of the entire airport to avoid the $200 overweight charge!!!!

First I was the one repacking at the check in counter, then I was the one paying the overweight charge and finally I was the one buying one more suitcase at the Polynesian Resort instead of paying the overweight charge. So that's why I now have a scale that I take everywhere

Finally I feel secure that we are going because yesterday we got our docs are we the last ones?! They went to our TA and she then sent them to us. And I booked our transportation from the ship to our hotel in London on SilverFleet so it will be door to door service I believe all that's left to do is so I can pack clean clothes. I don't have any of those space bags but was wondering if the large zip top bags might work for our socks and underwear.

Today is in the low 60s and raining, I wonder if this will be the kind of weather we have on the cruise I don't really care because as long as I'm on the MAGIC I'll be having fun

Marianne

 

[3princessMommy]

Nope - still no docs here...Of course, we would expect to be the very last ones since:
1) we booked very late; and
2) we live in Africa, so our mail generally takes 2 weeks longer to get here.

Oh well, we're pretty sure we're booked since they've already taken the money out of the bank account and we can see the ressie online. So we'll just show up and hope they let us onboard.....

 

[rach7]

I'm probably a bit behind the discussion, but was going to add that if you are in two minds about visiting Leeds Castle it was our favourite. We lived in London for 18 months & spent every weekend exploring (obviously BEFORE kids), Leeds Castle was like a fairytale castle, just beautifully restored and the displays are excellent (of course it was also the first place we ever saw falling snow, so that may have biased us a little)!

Packing weight - I seem to manage to just scrape in under the weight limit, but now they are on to my heavy hand luggage (I travel with a 4 yr old, I need to take the kitchen sink!). Anyway, lady said it was overweight, so I took out my camera & handbag, said weigh it again, she said, yep, you're OK, I said thanks & then put my stuff back in the hand luggage! Got to love airline rules!

Gydell, I'm pretty sure it was 2bundles who has the 7yr old son who would like to email.

Rach

 

[Bride-to-be]

Ok so we are trying to decide if we should just stick to tours in St. Petersburg or if we should also get a visa. I am leaning more towards getting the visa, but what have you all done?

If you got a visa where did you get it from and how hard was it to get? In the past we have gotten visas for some countries that have been a nightmare and some countries that have been super easy. If it's a pain - I don't really want to deal with it.

Has anyone been to St. Petersburg? Will we want to get off the boat and wander around on our own?

Thanks!!!

 

[WVMD]

Ok so we are trying to decide if we should just stick to tours in St. Petersburg or if we should also get a visa. I am leaning more towards getting the visa, but what have you all done?

If you got a visa where did you get it from and how hard was it to get? In the past we have gotten visas for some countries that have been a nightmare and some countries that have been super easy. If it's a pain - I don't really want to deal with it.

Has anyone been to St. Petersburg? Will we want to get off the boat and wander around on our own?

Thanks!!!

Here are a couple of links:

http://www.russianembassy.org/Embassy_eng/Consulate/tourist_visa.html

http://www.travisarussia.com/

Looks to be a minimum of $181 for each Visa (that's the consular fee and the processing agency fee).

Too much of a hassle for me....

Virgil

 

[MJGirl]

Ok so we are trying to decide if we should just stick to tours in St. Petersburg or if we should also get a visa. I am leaning more towards getting the visa, but what have you all done?

If you got a visa where did you get it from and how hard was it to get? In the past we have gotten visas for some countries that have been a nightmare and some countries that have been super easy. If it's a pain - I don't really want to deal with it.

Has anyone been to St. Petersburg? Will we want to get off the boat and wander around on our own?

Thanks!!!

You might be too late to get a visa. I've heard it takes quite a while! If you don't want to do DCL tours, you might want to try a private tour. They get the visas for you. I'm personally doing DCL, so can't help you with the private companies.

 

[rach7]

We booked a private tour with Red October, figured we don't speak the language and didn't want to end up lost in Russia! It's our one big splurge on the cruise, as we probably won't make it to St Petersberg again.

 

[DL1957]

We watched two of the Travel Channel programs with Samantha Brown over the weekend. She was in both of these countries in June and had a coat on! I guess we better pack our winter clothes! Oh no more weight in the suitcases!
Have a great week fellow cruises DH and I leave 4 weeks from tomorrow.
Hopefull the volcano stops soon! Sue

 

[sbell111]

We are staying at the London-Heathrow Crowne Plaza Hotel because it has a shuttle to the airport (I believe) , and we also leave early the morning of the 25th.

Just a note for those folks staying at hotels around LHR...most of these hotels do not have hotel-specific shuttles as I believe they are not allowed by the airport. Instead, these hotels use a service called Hotel Hoppa buses. They are located outside baggage claim and there are a couple of Hotel Hoppa routes so be sure you board the correct bus. In addition, they are NOT free. They are much cheaper than taxi fare of course but they are not free.

The Hoppa busses cost £4 per person.

Those people who are in hotels that are located on the airport perimeter roads can take advantage of free use of the public buses between the airport and your hotel. More info can be found here.

 

[rotary2808]

We watched two of the Travel Channel programs with Samantha Brown over the weekend. She was in both of these countries in June and had a coat on! I guess we better pack our winter clothes! Oh no more weight in the suitcases!
Have a great week fellow cruises DH and I leave 4 weeks from tomorrow.
Hopefull the volcano stops soon! Sue

We watched the Stockholm one as well. Already had the Helsinki one on the DVR. Once we get a little bit closer I'm going to go back and watch all of them one more time.

 

[Bride-to-be]

Thx for all of the info on the visas I think we will just stick to the tours.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

I am still dancing the no doc dance!