Northern Sights & Mickey's MAGICal Delights - 1st Baltic cruise - June 12,2010

[EpcotKilterFan]

Debbie: Can I just say: WOW! you are quick with the pictures woman!!!!!!!

LOL. I knew you were on the TA and something just clicked that you were at Jimmy Buffet night

 

[pixie3]

LOL. I knew you were on the TA and something just clicked that you were at Jimmy Buffet night

Ugh! My husband would never miss a Jimmy Buffet night, Jimmy Buffet day, or Jimmy Buffet anything else. He just came back from seeing Jimmy at a jazz club in Paris. He is a true Parrothead.

 

[ibouncetoo]

Ugh! My husband would never miss a Jimmy Buffet night, Jimmy Buffet day, or Jimmy Buffet anything else. He just came back from seeing Jimmy at a jazz club in Paris. He is a true Parrothead.

I have a friend who was going to be there, but the doctor said DW couldn't fly at her stage of her pregnancy, so DH didn't go.

I'd of left her.....

 

[MJGirl]

Just wanted to let you all know that I added a link to our thread on the 2010 Cruise Meet Link thread here.

 

[Pinky166]

I do have an addiction. I'm glad to hear you say this because I too have ones to places I haven't even been. I ran out today and got the cruise one and St. Petersburg one.

Oh well there is certainly a lot worse things we could be addicted too.

Have fun reading.

 

[Claire L]

Just sent an email for our details to be added to the cruise list

Claire

 

[CustardTart]

Kaz - Beaches & Cream sounds good - do you want to meet at 6pm? I'll pm you my cell phone nbr in case anything changes.

Excellent idea, Monica! Your cell number would be great just in case, but fingers crossed I'll see you there...

 

[CustardTart]

We're in! I'm trying not to allow myself to get too excited though. I've never booked anything 20 months out!

I've not read all 72 pages of this thread so this might have already been mentioned but I was told that if you don't do a DCL Russian excursion, you will need a visa to get off the ship. And if you do go on a DCL Russian excursion and you want to stay ahore a little longer, you will need a visa.

We had to get visas for our trip to China. They are easy enough to get but I think they were about $100 pp or so and took a couple of months. Anyway, just something to keep in mind....for about this time NEXT year.

~Mike

Hi Mike and ... Thanks for the Russian visa info - I've decided to get my own as DH goes to Moscow on business so his work already pay for his visa. I just want the chance to explore St.Petersburg on our own should we wish to...

 

[CustardTart]

Packing for this trip is going to be completely different than most of our vacations. I am used to sunny weather with highs usually from 75 to over 90. I was just checking on averages for our stops and here they are for June:

London - 68/52
Oslo - 68/52
Copenhagen - 66/52
Berlin - 74/55
St. Petersburg - 68/51
Helsinki - 68/48
Stockholm - 67/49

I guess there may not be too much swimming on the sea days. The sites were listing the highest it has ever been in those cities. And the highest temps recorded were in the mid 80's for June. Hmm, time for a new wardrobe!

PS - most of the cities average 10 to 15 days of rain in June. Pack the raincoat!

It's a little scary to have it all written down!!! This was one of the reasons I thought Richard might not go for this trip, Eva - he really likes the sun! However his reaction was "better weather for sightseeing" and I didn't argue!!!

 

[CustardTart]

I think we will see quite a few cabins open up in the next 600 days!

Me too...

 

[CustardTart]

Pixie... is this you??

Cute photo...

 

[Rogillio]

Originally Posted by gydell
I think we will see quite a few cabins open up in the next 600 days!



It's funny the number of rooms that opened up at midnight on Friday. I tried to get a Cat 4 on Friday but they were all gone....so I booked a Cat 5. I was told that people who didn't pay their deposit by midnight on Friday would lose their room and the room would go back into inventory. So I got up Saturday morning at 3:00 am to see if there were any Cat 4s; there were and I booked one. I checked again Saturday night and there are STILL Cat 4s available. Obviously I did not need to get up at that ridiculous hour to secure a room!

This means that a lot of people booked Cat 4s and then did not pay their deposit. I'm new to the game....so WHY would someone do this? That is, why would someone book a room and lock it up in the system and then not pay the deposit?

~Mike

 

[CustardTart]

...This means that a lot of people booked Cat 4s and then did not pay their deposit. I'm new to the game....so WHY would someone do this? That is, why would someone book a room and lock it up in the system and then not pay the deposit?

~Mike

I'm not being flippant but the obvious answer is because they can!!! I imagine there must be plenty of speculative booking in that feverish first day craziness!!! Then real life catches up and some folk are going to sense it's not for them.. Or it could be that peeps asked their TAs to book for them and then found the prices too high. TBH I think there'll be plenty of buyers remorse over the next year and a half...

 

[Rogillio]

I'm not being flippant but the obvious answer is because they can!!! I imagine there must be plenty of speculative booking in that feverish first day craziness!!! Then real life catches up and some folk are going to sense it's not for them.. Or it could be that peeps asked their TAs to book for them and then found the prices too high. TBH I think there'll be plenty of buyers remorse over the next year and a half...

Yeah, you're probably right. RE the buyer's remorse.....we are still only about 90% certain we'll do this trip. But given that we're 90% sure on this trip, it's worth paying the deposit to secure the room we want.

I think booking a Cat 1-3 would be tough though - not only is the deposit 2x as much, but it's non-refundable. Ouch! So much can change in 20 months....

~Mike

 

[sweetsue]

Yeah, you're probably right. RE the buyer's remorse.....we are still only about 90% certain we'll do this trip. But given that we're 90% sure on this trip, it's worth paying the deposit to secure the room we want.

I think booking a Cat 1-3 would be tough though - not only is the deposit 2x as much, but it's non-refundable. Ouch! So much can change in 20 months....

~Mike

Non-refundable, yes. But moveable. The deposit that I used for this cruise was originally a rebooking done back in 2006 for a September 2007 Eastern sailing in a Cat 3. I later moved that deposit to the Sept. 5 night on the wonder (2008) since we went to the Med in 2007. As the time approached on the 5-night cruise, I realized DD would miss too much school, so I again moved the deposit to a 4-night during Spring Break. Once DCL announced these cruises I moved it here! We're not in a suite anymore, so maybe the deposit is refundable now - I haven't asked though.

Basically, if you don't mind having the deposit money "tied up" at DCL, booking a non-refundable deposit isn't quite as bad as it sounds. They are plenty flexible.

Sue

 

[gydell]

Originally Posted by gydell
I think we will see quite a few cabins open up in the next 600 days!



It's funny the number of rooms that opened up at midnight on Friday. I tried to get a Cat 4 on Friday but they were all gone....so I booked a Cat 5. I was told that people who didn't pay their deposit by midnight on Friday would lose their room and the room would go back into inventory. So I got up Saturday morning at 3:00 am to see if there were any Cat 4s; there were and I booked one. I checked again Saturday night and there are STILL Cat 4s available. Obviously I did not need to get up at that ridiculous hour to secure a room!

This means that a lot of people booked Cat 4s and then did not pay their deposit. I'm new to the game....so WHY would someone do this? That is, why would someone book a room and lock it up in the system and then not pay the deposit?

~Mike

A lot of people don't trust their TA enough and book a room themselves so they have 2 rooms, so one they just let go.

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

Hey guys! Are we there yet??

I went online to check out our cruise, and it didn't seem that the prices went up any from the first day of sale, so you think that means that they didn't move beyond "Tier 1" prices yet? If so, I spent 3 hours online when I could have just waited until the afternoon!!!

Do you think there may be something Mickey/Baltic on the cruise coming up? We will be on the ship on Nov. 1, so if you think there may be something I can get to help us with our Northern Sights "logo" I'd be happy to get it and we can work from it! I'll keep my eyes peeled! Maybe even something in Norway in Epcot we can work from...I'll take a look!


Well, need to get packing our this trip. Trying to pack for the warm weather when it just got cold here! BTW, I think we are really going to like the 70s for weather for sightseeing and all. Perfect weather, as long as its not raining! Limited pool access may be a bit sad, but there are plenty of "Polar Plunge" swimmers out there that will probably jump right in!!

 

[ibouncetoo]

.. Or it could be that peeps asked their TAs to book for them and then found the prices too high. ...

I know we were waiting for a travel agent quote and had a couple of days to decide once we got it.

We're not in a suite anymore, so maybe the deposit is refundable now - I haven't asked though.

Basically, if you don't mind having the deposit money "tied up" at DCL, booking a non-refundable deposit isn't quite as bad as it sounds. They are plenty flexible.

Sue

No, it's always non-refundable, even if you downgrade catagiries. Sue...GET ON THE SHIP!

The way the market is lately, 'investing' in a future DCL cruise (and locking in a good rate) with your deposit money is very probably a sound investment! At least, that's what I'm telling myself.

.

 

[Claire L]

Just thinking ahead, how many formal and semi formal nights will there be on the cruise?

Claire

 

[gydell]

Just thinking ahead, how many formal and semi formal nights will there be on the cruise?

Claire

I hope not many! We have enough luggage to carry without adding lots of formal wear. We only have 4 sea days and 1 is pirate night. Does anyone on the 11 night Med cruise in 2007 remember?