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

[carolmb]

I'm still worried about getting from Dover to our hotel in London but my husband keeps insisting we can handle it via train and tube. I'm wondering about making reservations on the train out of Dover. Anyone else taking the train out?
Marianne

We are taking the tube from Heathrow to our hotel. I think we will have one transfer. And we are taking the train to Dover and back. Should be interesting. I keep reminding DH that he needs to pack his patience and that we will be helping the kids especially DD with their bags. I am just thinking of it as an adventure. I have not bought our train tickets yet and I am about to order our Oyster cards and the kids photo Oyster cards for the tube, buses etc.

Carol

 

[gydell]

Man, this has become the slooooooooooowest disboard! Guess everyone has their excursions, pre and post bookings, airfare, packing ideas. What will we do with ourselves for the next 2 months??

(I'm still hoping to get a call regarding an upgrade--I'm clinging to that!)

It's spring break here so we're busy playing! Six Flags yesterday, movie today, Chuckie Cheese Friday. And next Thursday, MEXICO for 2 weeks! Haven't started packing yet but hoping to start today.

Finally a clear day here but kinda cool!

We are slowing down aren't we? Well anyway, I was reading other threads and trying to get an idea of items that I should take and someone mentioned travel extension cord, is this a regular extension cord? Also the over the door shoe thingy, what is that?

Also, I think I'm going to call DCL and see if I can find out what size table we are going to be sitting at. Are there any "early" dinners that want to share a table with us? Don't know if it will work but thought I would ask just in case.


Marianne

We have a travel extension cord - Target for around $4. Very compact.

Can't help you here as we always get a table for just us. This is the time of the day that we all sit down and talk about the day we had and plans for the next day. We even make the DGS eat with us.

 

[Jendisney9]

On our last cruise, instead of doing the shoe hanger on the door, I took one of those hanging shelving units for more space. It really gave us more storage for clothes. They're pretty light and collapse nicely. This one didn't have much shelf support (got it at target 3 weeks ago 10-20 bucks), so I just threw socks and undies and things that I didn't have to worry about wrinkling in it. If anyone were interested, I'd suggest looking for something with a little more support, but then it will weigh more in your luggage.

Extension cord is great idea.

I'll have more room without DH there, that's for sure~!

 

[mheywood]

Welcome to everybody new! Colette, my daughter Lauren will be on this cruise. She's also 15 so I'm sure that she'd love to have new friends too....

Virgil
[/QUOTE
Thanks I've past that to her. She's happy to hear that!

 

[mheywood]

I was thinking the same thing. But we're all busy. But can't wait it'll be fun and i hope warm?? No fun being on a boat when it's cool out! But then I'm always cool(as my family says).
Thought the idea of taking a cord with is a GREAT idea!!!
Haven't even thought of packing yet...will take any more ideas from anyone. Even how to try NOT to take so many cloths( besides washing them on the boat).

 

[WeLoveABD]

There are so many details to keep track of! We are flying into London a few days early and booked one of the hotels Disney uses, but on our own (much cheaper)--so we'll tube from the airport to the hotel. (We stayed in this hotel when we did the Adventures by Disney Knights and Lights trip, so are familiar with the area and the tube location; my only concern is lugging bags onto the tube and then a couple of blocks to the hotel, but the kids (16 and 9) are old enough now to lug their own!). Have excursions set up--a sunrise trip to Stonehenge/Bath (private company), the Disney excusion to Leeds and tickets to the Phantom sequel. Guess we'll need the sea day to rest!

I think all of the dust has settled (should I say pixie dust?) re the excursions--we ended up with private tours (St P and Berlin), Disney tours and on our own stuff. Gotta keep it all straight! At the end, we decided to just go from the ship to the airport, so no hassles re getting from Dover to London etc.

I love to hear packing tips! Extension cord is good, and the shoe hanger. I know you can fit your bags under the bed (lifting the mattress), which we did not do before--so that will save on space. When we did the med cruise in 2007 we had a terrible time getting laundry done--people got very pushy, I had to wait hours in the laundry room to get washers/dryers. Ugh. I hear that they have expanded the number of machines--anyone hear this? Is it true? (I'm bringing some wash and wear stuff that I can rinse in the room sink, just in case--and my DW has saved up those all in one sheets for detergent and dryer).

I haven't looked recently--but on the disboard site for this cruise (that has the list of names and other info) do we have a "packing list" list? (or a running list of helpful packing tips?)

 

[DL1957]

There are so many details to keep track of! We are flying into London a few days early and booked one of the hotels Disney uses, but on our own (much cheaper)--so we'll tube from the airport to the hotel. (We stayed in this hotel when we did the Adventures by Disney Knights and Lights trip, so are familiar with the area and the tube location; my only concern is lugging bags onto the tube and then a couple of blocks to the hotel, but the kids (16 and 9) are old enough now to lug their own!). Have excursions set up--a sunrise trip to Stonehenge/Bath (private company), the Disney excusion to Leeds and tickets to the Phantom sequel. Guess we'll need the sea day to rest!

DH was suppose to be working on a trip to Stonehenge and could not find anything so I am taking over. Please provide who you used to get your tour.
I am now leaving town for 5 days in San Francisco so likely will not be able to work on it until I return which I hope is not to late!
thanks for any help,
Sue

 

[carolmb]

DH was suppose to be working on a trip to Stonehenge and could not find anything so I am taking over. Please provide who you used to get your tour.
I am now leaving town for 5 days in San Francisco so likely will not be able to work on it until I return which I hope is not to late!
thanks for any help,
Sue

I am planning to use http://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/index.php for their Stonehenge, Salisbury & Avebury - The Mysteries of Ancient Britain tour on Wednesday June 9th. The cost is 79 pounds per person. It is more expensive than the bigger tour companies but the group size is 16 people max.
Carol

 

[Lynn G]

Good Afternoon Cruisers!

Lynn-you are just an overachiever!

I still don't have my bags out for the April 15th on the Wonder for Jamie's 18th birthday. Just a little 3 night cruise, but for her annual mother/daughter birthday trip, she wanted to be on the ship, in Palo's eating her birthday dinner, on her actual birthday April 16th!

She has this Palo's thing all figured out already! We train them well, don't we.....

Linda - it helped to finish off the extra guest room in the basement, now I have a room I can dedicate almost full time to packing

Don't know what everybody else's excuse is but I'm in the midst of planning 2 weddings....one 10 days before we leave and one 6weeks after we return! Unfortunately, the boards have been placed on the back burner.

Good luck with the weddings, Jeanne!

Finally a clear day here but kinda cool!

We are slowing down aren't we? Well anyway, I was reading other threads and trying to get an idea of items that I should take and someone mentioned travel extension cord, is this a regular extension cord? Also the over the door shoe thingy, what is that?

Marianne

Well, it seems a bunch of others already answered this, so I guess I do not have to, but we do have a travel extention cord (short extention cord with a strip at the end of it). I have seen folks use the shoe hanger, but have never used on myself. We try for the split bath so we have a bit more room for that stuff.

We always store our luggage under the bed! Really gives you more room to move around in cramped quarters!

Have a great day all!

 

[4boons]

DH was suppose to be working on a trip to Stonehenge and could not find anything so I am taking over. Please provide who you used to get your tour.

The 3 of us are booked with Viator for the sunrise tour of Stonehenge then on to Bath for Thursday the 10th.

We have tickets to Love Never Dies on Tuesday night the 8th.

Bill

 

[2bundles]

Stockholm Viking Walking Tour - "From Ice Age to Ikea"

One last plug for this guys. We now have enough people to do an 8.30am tour. It is #2 rated thing to do in Stockholm, and takes you through Gamla Stan.
http://gallivantproductions.com/

If you want to join, please email Ellissa Nagle [lis@gallivantproductions.com]. It works about $15pp, but is $99 through DCL!!

Our plan is to do the tour at 8.30am then over to the Vasa, then back to the ship.

Hoping more people will join. Should be great for both adults and kids.

 

[4boons]

Stockholm Viking Walking Tour - "From Ice Age to Ikea"

One last plug for this guys. We now have enough people to do an 8.30am tour. It is #2 rated thing to do in Stockholm, and takes you through Gamla Stan.
http://gallivantproductions.com/

If you want to join, please email Ellissa Nagle [lis@gallivantproductions.com]. It works about $15pp, but is $99 through DCL!!

Our plan is to do the tour at 8.30am then over to the Vasa, then back to the ship.

Hoping more people will join. Should be great for both adults and kids.

Laura is going to contact Ellissa about moving to the 8:30 tour.

We have the same plan:
8:30 - 10:00 viking tour then stop by the Hard Rock Cafe (we collect HRC pins from wherever we go) on the way to Vasa by 11:00 (guided tours in English on the hour) and back to the ship before 1:00 pm.

This should be fun.
Bill

 

[tinkfanatic]

Thanks, Bill. You responded the first time I posted and knew that I was talking about Philmont. We're spending this week getting ready for DS17 Eagle court of honor planned for Sunday.

Guess I should have put names...Jennifer, Matthew, 17 and Andrew, 14.

The boys had a blast at the stack; this was the first time the youngest could go legally. Last time, he snuck in a lot. They are pretty psyched, as they made good friends on last weeks' cruise. This should be great for them. We let them stay for the activities until 2 am. all week, but we only hit 2 ports. We're all going to need more rest for this cruise. I think we parents should all bond together right now and set a curfew on pre-port nights! I sound like I'm getting old now!

Tell your son congrat on making Eagle Scout that is a major accomplishment.

Katie
4th of the 4boons

 

[WeLoveABD]

The 3 of us are booked with Viator for the sunrise tour of Stonehenge then on to Bath for Thursday the 10th.

We have tickets to Love Never Dies on Tuesday night the 8th.

Bill

Hey! We'll meet you all then--we are on the same tour. We'll probably be all wiped out (we fly in on the 9th)--so wake us up when we get to Stonehenge! We have tickets to Love Never Dies for the 11th (Leeds Castle excursion with Disney during the day on the 11th). We'll have our DS16 and DD9.

 

[carolmb]

Stockholm Viking Walking Tour - "From Ice Age to Ikea"

One last plug for this guys. We now have enough people to do an 8.30am tour. It is #2 rated thing to do in Stockholm, and takes you through Gamla Stan.
http://gallivantproductions.com/

If you want to join, please email Ellissa Nagle [lis@gallivantproductions.com]. It works about $15pp, but is $99 through DCL!!

Our plan is to do the tour at 8.30am then over to the Vasa, then back to the ship.

Hoping more people will join. Should be great for both adults and kids.

How many people can go on the tour? We are a family of 4 (me, DH, DS 11 and DD 9). I wanted to ask DH if this sounds like something he might be interested in doing.
Thanks,
Carol

 

[2bundles]

How many people can go on the tour? We are a family of 4 (me, DH, DS 11 and DD 9). I wanted to ask DH if this sounds like something he might be interested in doing.
Thanks,
Carol

Looking at the photos, maybe 30. We only have around 10 at the moment, so plenty of room. Have a look at the trip advisor reviews. They give a good idea of what it is all about.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189852-d1488252-r60629677-Gallivant_Productions-Stockholm.html

 

[gydell]

Looking at the photos, maybe 30. We only have around 10 at the moment, so plenty of room. Have a look at the trip advisor reviews. They give a good idea of what it is all about.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189852-d1488252-r60629677-Gallivant_Productions-Stockholm.html

You may have my crew of 5 joining you! I e-mailed them with a few more questions.

 

[Jendisney9]

The three of us are interested; I wanted to make this decision on Sunday night or Monday morning. I'm about 80% sure we are going to join if there's room, but just can't make that decision right now.

Our basement (finished) was flooded with sewage (though I got mostly rain water; I was one of 17; the subcontractor is at fault for pumping all this in. Relatively speaking, we are lucky; some people are displaced and had brown yuck pumping from their toilets onto their main level.) the day my hubby was meeting me @WDW for spring break. $8000 in sanitation and removal of all baseboards and carpet immediately. I came home to a real mess and have been dealing with insurance etc. PLus my boy's court of honor planning. The fun part of planning this cruise is on the backburner. I'm trying to read all your posts, but am having a hard time making these decisions given the circumstances. I'd much rather be reading the boards all day! I have a million questions. And I haven't booked air yet.

I do think we are going to Paris first. I have a sister-in-law there. We can arrive and relax for a day. Plus, it gives us 2 days to get our luggage if there are problems. I met a woman when we got on the boat last week (really 2 weeks now); her luggage didn't make orlando. The first 3 days were at sea; so she wasn't going to have anything until Tuesday! That convinced me to never arrive @ MCO the day of!

 

[carolmb]

The three of us are interested; I wanted to make this decision on Sunday night or Monday morning. I'm about 80% sure we are going to join if there's room, but just can't make that decision right now.

Our basement (finished) was flooded with sewage (though I got mostly rain water; I was one of 17; the subcontractor is at fault for pumping all this in. Relatively speaking, we are lucky; some people are displaced and had brown yuck pumping from their toilets onto their main level.) the day my hubby was meeting me @WDW for spring break. $8000 in sanitation and removal of all baseboards and carpet immediately. I came home to a real mess and have been dealing with insurance etc. PLus my boy's court of honor planning. The fun part of planning this cruise is on the backburner. I'm trying to read all your posts, but am having a hard time making these decisions given the circumstances. I'd much rather be reading the boards all day! I have a million questions. And I haven't booked air yet.

I do think we are going to Paris first. I have a sister-in-law there. We can arrive and relax for a day. Plus, it gives us 2 days to get our luggage if there are problems. I met a woman when we got on the boat last week (really 2 weeks now); her luggage didn't make orlando. The first 3 days were at sea; so she wasn't going to have anything until Tuesday! That convinced me to never arrive @ MCO the day of!

All I can say is YUCK I have dealt with a flooded house before but that was just water from a busted pipe. Good luck with getting everything back together. Congrats to your son on making Eagle My DS who is 11 is in Boy Scouts. DH and DS are going camping and deep sea fishing with their troop this weekend. DH is an Eagle Scout from many years ago and has enjoyed getting involved with Boy Scouts again. Happy Planning.
Carol

 

[Rogillio]

By now we've all probably received the note from DCL about us having to leave Stockholm earlier in order to get to Dover's harbor earlier due to tidal conditions.

OK, so here is my whine. With 2 sea days between Stockholm and Dover, it really stretches the imagination to think that DCL can't make up 4 hrs over the course of 2 days steaming west.

Being an amature conspiracy theorist, my guess is someone determined that picking up our cruise speed between Stockholm and Dover in order to make it there in time to account for tidal conditions, was gonna cost $xxx in added fuel cost for sailing at 37 knots instead of 34 knots (I have not idea if these numbers are even close to what we really sail at). So when they look at the balance sheets, leaving stockholm 4 hrs earlier and losing a few dollares in excursions, was cheaper than picking up our at-sea cruising speed.

I really hate that they are cutting out port time. I wonder too if they can go faster from Helsinki to Stokholm and put us in Stockholm earlier. Heck, I wouldn't mind getting up early and getting off the ship at 0600 hrs to get a couple more hrs shore time.

~Mike