One more perspective on the Baltic add-on, and some additional tips

[paddles]

We just got back late Monday night from the 12-day Baltic cruise (that left July 22nd). Overall, we loved the cruise and had a great time with Adventures by Disney. That said, I have to agree with the others that the add-on wasn’t a good value, and rather over-priced for what it included. However, on our trip, we were first ones off the boat and last ones on (maybe since we were the last group, they heeded others' feedback). Also, our group had no issues with Russian immigration and got through in about 10-15 minutes.

For this trip, we were a family of 5 (2 kids and also my mom). The ABD was really good for the kids and my mom because the pace was pretty easy, the guides are AMAZING and patient and everything is well planned and organized. My mom liked Dusty and James so much, she told them that if she had sons, she would hope they were as sweet and well-brought up as those 2 young men. I seriously think she was ready to ditch her 3 daughters for them! LOL!


There are a few fundamental things I think Disney needs to address for the Baltics:

1. The cruise itineraries are lacking for the Baltic. The 12-night cruise would have been much better leaving from Copenhagen, and adding additional days in Stockholm and St. Pete’s and maybe one other port. Stockholm and St. Petersburg just can’t be seen in one day, so I think the 7-day Baltic itinerary doesn’t do the region justice. I know they keep saying that cruising is like a buffet where you do small samples of everything, but realistically, most of us won’t have a chance to return as these ports are out of the way. This logic may make more sense on a Med cruise where people often travel to Spain, France and Italy multiple times in their lives. For me….not sure when I’ll have a chance to go back to Russia.
   Other cruise lines have 7-9 day cruises that start in Copenhagen and end in Stockholm (and vice versa), with at least 2 days in St. Petes. That way, you can really maximize pre- and post-days. I personally wouldn’t recommend the DCL Baltic itineraries for 2016.
   
   
2. Given such limited time in port, it is really tough to tour with big groups so there really should be groups of 15-20 people max for everything. That way, you can make it to ABBA museum or Faberge museum, etc.
   
   
3. St. Petersburg needs to be reworked. Truly the most disappointing for me out of port days. As others have said, we wasted so much time going back to the ship for a lousy meal when we could have done some amazing things in St. Pete’s. Vodka tasting with a nice dinner, and then a backstage pass to the ballet would have been awesome for that evening! The ballet was a signature DCL port adventure and should have been included.
   Also, the shopping spot they took us to was AWFUL – a complete tourist trap and waste of time. At least 30%+ more in prices than everywhere else. Best shopping was actually at the cruise terminal. Instead of 2 hours wasted on shopping on the second day (shopping could have been done on the first day if we didn’t go back to the ship!), they could add the canal boat ride with performers for that afternoon when everyone was pretty tired anyway.
   
   
4. Stockholm needs some reworking as well. More time needed at Vasa Museum (minimum 1.5 hours), Food hall can be skipped (this seemed like a waste of time), ABBA museum should be added. It’s a fun museum and can be done in about 45 minutes.
   

Before the cruise, we did several pre-days in Stockholm since I knew I wanted to see more than what we could with only a one day port stop. And it blew me away! Stockholm was far and away my favorite city of all the ports, even more than St. Petersburg. I HIGHLY recommend anyone doing a Norway (or any other European) ABD or cruise to spend several days in Stockholm.


It’s a beautiful city – rather small and surrounded by water (like San Francisco of the North), and the food was great and people were friendly. We used a private tour guide, Marco, for one pre-day and he was great (http://www.stockholmguideservices.com). While the ABD local guide was good, I thought Marco was much more engaging and interesting, and he provided a lot of great insights into the Swedish economy and culture. We also walked through Sodermalm (which ABD skips) and Marco gave a great background on Steig Larsson and the “Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” books, and we saw some key sites related to the books and also went to the SoFo (the Hipster section of town). At City Hall, we went to up to the tower and had great views of the city and descriptions of the various islands. ABBA museum is right next to Vasa museum and it’s a fun way to spend a little time (not a “must see”, but very “fun to see”).

If you have a second day in Stockholm, then I would recommend taking a ferry to Drottningholm Palace and touring the Palace, court theater and Chinese Pavilion. They also have a very good café there for lunch. Skansen (the open air museum) and the IceBar were also fun. My kids loved putting on the big ponchos and drinking apple juice from glasses made of ice. Again, not a must see, but it was a blast.


If you do the 7-day Baltic cruise, I would skip the add-on and get private guides for Stockholm and St. Petersburg. You’ll get to see a lot more and still have the security and ease of a guide. Tallinn is a cute town, but you can totally do that on your own. There’s a great Marzipan shop there (I believe it’s called Almond Marzipan) and they had classes there that looked really fun. I wish ABD had done that instead of the palace in the morning.

Helsinki would be the hardest one to replicate. That really was a nice day and we loved the farm. However, there may be other things you can arrange with a private guide.


Net/net – I’m glad we went with ABD for the ease of it all and I’m so glad we did extra days in Stockholm. It’s always tough being on the first year of their trips since kinks haven’t been fully worked out. That said, I think our cruise add-on (since it was the last of the Baltics for this season) ran much more smoothly than the others. And also, since we were in Copenhagen for 2 days (vs. 1 day in Berlin), we essentially got the same itinerary as the Copenhagen pre-cruise add-on (minus the dinners) – which was great!

I don’t think I’ll do another add-on unless it was for a place like Norway where there are lots of physical and out of the way activities, that ABD excels in arranging and executing. For a historical city sites/museum type of tour, a private tour guide would be better (and a lot cheaper)!

 

[aggiedog]

We loved Stockholm as well. We voted it our favorite city of the cruise, despite seeing so very little of it. We were not on an ABD, and did not like the DCL excursion either that we did, for that matter, but did get to go back into town and spend more time. I actually liked the food market, but I love to eat and try new foods. I had a great time talking to the workers in the stalls trying to pick out what to sample.

I am seriously planning on going back to Stockholm one day.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Paddles, welcome back! What a great summary! I absolutely love your comments and advice--completely spot on. I'm glad they were able to maximize the time for your group--hopefully that helped in Stockholm. I'm still sad about having to leave the Vasa museum so early. So funny, but Stockholm ended up being my favorite port of the second cruise as well. I absolutely fell in love with that city (I should say that I'm from the SF bay area so maybe that has something to do with it, LOL) and can't wait to go back.

I love your suggestions, and I hope you forward to ABD. It sounds like they are taking our comments into consideration. If they could keep the groups to 15-20 for the tours that would have made a HUGE difference. I also completely agree with your last paragraph--that's where it comes down for me as well.

I wonder if some of the difference in pace with your group was also size? How big was your group? I've been stressing about what to do with next year and last night I had a dream that I showed up for the trip and the group was 60, LOL.

I've actually come to a decision on that score and your report helped me solidify it. I'm signed up for the inaugural DVC River Cruise next year, and as much as I want to be "the first," I don't think it's worth the risk of being on an early cruise where the logistics have not been fine tuned. So now I need to decide what to do...

 

[paddles]

I just want to make sure that it's clear to everyone that we REALLY enjoyed the trip and absolutely LOVED Dusty and James! That said, I do think the itinerary and/or price point need to be tweaked to be better aligned. ABDs are quite expensive and you want to feel the value justifies the premium price.

CaliforniaGirl - I just read your full trip report yesterday. I'm impressed you were able to write such a comprehensive report on the ship and have the Wifi to post it! I understand your concerns in doing the Danube trip in the inaugural year...it may make sense to wait a year to ensure the kinks are worked out. We booked the 12-night Baltic cruise and add-on this summer since we weren't sure it would be offered next year. There are a lot of other great ABD land tours to do next summer if you change your mind!

We were also rushed through Vasa since we arrived a little later than expected...that was my comment about the food hall. I would have preferred the 30 extra minutes at Vasa vs. rushing through a food hall in Stockholm.

 

[evilipoo]

Paddles, I have to agree on almost all counts. Stockholm was a lovely surprise, but St. Pete's was my favorite--probably because with the political instability, I don't know if we will be able to return for a while.

I agree that the food hall was a waste of time. We could not buy anything that was not vacuum sealed to bring back to the ship, so that was disappointing and took a lot of the fun out of the experience for us. There was a LOT of cool food and things to buy, but with 30 minutes, you did not even have time to sit and eat it and then to not have the option of bringing it back to the ship? What is the point of even going?

Glad your adventure maximized your time in the ports. That was also a big disappointment for our group.

Welcome home!

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Paddles, I agree with you about the food hall...it was my least favourite thing we did in Stockholm but I know others in our group loved it...there was one family that bought a box of strawberries and handed them out to the group and they also bought macaroons and passed those out. While it was fun to walk around, I would have loved to have visited the ABBA museum, just for the fun aspect of it...I did ask about the both the Fabrege Museum and the ABBA museum and Dusty & James explained that they only allow small groups to go in (between 15-20) so they were unable to arrange it. I was sad because I was sure those would have been 2 places we would have visited. I also agree about staying out for dinner in St. Petersburg...we had such a limited time in port on the 7 night Baltic that it seemed like such as waste to come back to eat in Cabanas (yuck)...I too would have loved a backstage tour at the ballet, but we had so much fun on our canal boat ride I wouldn't have traded it for anything....I'm sure James would like to forget it....we ended up embarassing James but he was a really good sport!!!! I know most feel that the ABD was over priced but I felt it was a good value for me, being a single traveller it gave me comfort to know I would be travelling with the same people for the cruise. BTW...we had 42 people on our ABD...

 

[Calfan]

Great report, paddles. I also encourage you to provide your feedback directly to ABD if you haven't done so already.

 

[kaseyC]

Paddles, I agree with you about the food hall...it was my least favourite thing we did in Stockholm but I know others in our group loved it...there was one family that bought a box of strawberries and handed them out to the group and they also bought macaroons and passed those out. While it was fun to walk around, I would have loved to have visited the ABBA museum, just for the fun aspect of it...I did ask about the both the Fabrege Museum and the ABBA museum and Dusty & James explained that they only allow small groups to go in (between 15-20) so they were unable to arrange it. I was sad because I was sure those would have been 2 places we would have visited. I also agree about staying out for dinner in St. Petersburg...we had such a limited time in port on the 7 night Baltic that it seemed like such as waste to come back to eat in Cabanas (yuck)...I too would have loved a backstage tour at the ballet, but we had so much fun on our canal boat ride I wouldn't have traded it for anything....I'm sure James would like to forget it....we ended up embarassing James but he was a really good sport!!!! I know most feel that the ABD was over priced but I felt it was a good value for me, being a single traveller it gave me comfort to know I would be travelling with the same people for the cruise. BTW...we had 42 people on our ABD...

I'm not sure why they told you that about the ABBA museum because that is not true. The ABBA museum has a dedicated groups department that can arrange for visits for larger groups. They do have to be booked in advance, though. We've been to the ABBA museum twice, the first year they opened in 2013 with my family and about a year later in 2014 as part of a larger group from my husband's company. There was a total of about 50 of us for that visit and we were split in half , our two groups entrance times were staggered by about 15 mins. Part of the tour was guided and then we were left on our own. So I don't see any reason ABD couldn't have arranged the same.

 

[Calfan]

I'm not sure why they told you that about the ABBA museum because that is not true. The ABBA museum has a dedicated groups department that can arrange for visits for larger groups. They do have to be booked in advance, though. We've been to the ABBA museum twice, the first year they opened in 2013 with my family and about a year later in 2014 as part of a larger group from my husband's company. There was a total of about 50 of us for that visit and we were split in half , our two groups entrance times were staggered by about 15 mins. Part of the tour was guided and then we were left on our own. So I don't see any reason ABD couldn't have arranged the same.

It really irritates me when ABD gives those answers that just aren't' true. They told CaliforniaGirl09 the same thing about visiting the Reichstag in Berlin (i.e., that they don't work with groups), and she went online and found that the Reichstag has a specific groups department. Really, ABD?

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Agree! Same thing with the gold room and yet Disney PAs went there (why couldn't we have been broken up into smaller groups when we were for other things?). The who ABBA thing was really weird. I'd been told by a vacationista a few months after we booked that it was part of the tour but they couldn't put it on the itinerary for business reasons (I think trademark issues is what she said), but then the guides INSISTED that it was absolutely never part of the plan. Very weird.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

CaliforniaGirl09...we went to the Gold Room at the Hermitage with our June 13 ABD....I just checked my pictures...I know our group was split in half with the adults in one group and the junior adventurers and their families in the other. I was in the adult group and we visited the gold room. I would have liked to have seen the choice between visiting the ABBA Museum and visiting the Indoor Food Market...I would have selected the ABBA Museum because I can visit a food market any day but the chances of me being back in Stockholm anytime soon is slim....

 

[Calfan]

CaliforniaGirl09...we went to the Gold Room at the Hermitage with our June 13 ABD....I just checked my pictures...I know our group was split in half with the adults in one group and the junior adventurers and their families in the other. I was in the adult group and we visited the gold room.....

Well now I'm just even more irritated.

 

[Ralphlaw]

Our kids decided not to come along on the canal boat in St. Petersburg, which was probably a good thing. They stayed on the ship and went to Ant Man instead. It would have been a pretty long day away from the ship for my daughter (8) to have done it all. But I agree that we seemed to waste a lot of time going back & forth and in & out through passport just to have an hour or so on the canal boat. The canal boat was great, but something of a tag on in some ways. I wonder if it had something to do with the food shortages in Russia right now. Buffets always work well for groups like ours, but I wonder if our friends in St. Pete's could have pulled it off.

Going through the market in Stockholm probably cost nothing for ABD, whereas the ABBA museum would have cost something. Maybe that had something to do with it. In my opinion, they probably could have arranged somehow to do half the group at the Vasa museum first while the other half was at the ABBA museum, and then switch, assuming size would have been a problem.

We did the Baltic add on because we really did not have a strong desire to see anything specific in the Baltic. We did the Med cruise last year, but we didn't do the ABD add on for the med because we had an idea in each port what we wanted to do and because the ABD did not include Pompei. For us, the Baltic add on worked well: We didn't have to worry about anything, we made friends on the ship, and the guides were always good. In the med, we did a Port Adventure in each port, and sometimes the guides were good, sometimes not. Dusty and James got good ones each time, and we did not have to wait around. I remember standing in line in the hot sun in Italy with my Port Adventure one time while the ABD folks zipped right passed us. That clinched it for us.

In another thread, people noted that there were no amazing surprises with the Baltic add on, referring to some amazing unpublicized trip or visit. We got a little of that with the medieval shenanigans in Tallin, which was great, but nothing utterly amazing. A few of those things can carry a lot. When we did our Disneyland and Hollywood ABD we had several, including breakfast at Club 33. We still talk about it.

If I had a complaint, it would probably be that I was really palaced out by the end, and didn't need a tour of the smaller palace in Estonia at the end. Some kind of Medieval breakfast show or something would have been better than standing around yet another palace while listening to even more about Tsars and their families.

It might also have been nice to perhaps publicize where some of us might meet and talk around 8:00 p.m. or so. Every day we got our ABD navigator, and it might have a been a good idea to say something like, "For anyone who wants to get together, some of us may be meeting at 8:00 pm tonight at the Promenade Lounge." We ran into a few other families there on our last night, and I couldn't help but think stopping together for a drink in a family friendly place would have been nice from the get go.

Overall, a great trip, but tweakable, like most things in life.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Well now I'm just even more irritated.

I didn't post that we got to go to upset or irritate you, it was more, I couldn't believe that one group got to go and another did not...I just thought that all groups should have done and seen the same things...

In another thread, people noted that there were no amazing surprises with the Baltic add on, referring to some amazing unpublicized trip or visit. We got a little of that with the medieval shenanigans in Tallin, which was great, but nothing utterly amazing. A few of those things can carry a lot. When we did our Disneyland and Hollywood ABD we had several, including breakfast at Club 33. We still talk about it.

It might also have been nice to perhaps publicize where some of us might meet and talk around 8:00 p.m. or so. Every day we got our ABD navigator, and it might have a been a good idea to say something like, "For anyone who wants to get together, some of us may be meeting at 8:00 pm tonight at the Promenade Lounge." We ran into a few other families there on our last night, and I couldn't help but think stopping together for a drink in a family friendly place would have been nice from the get go.

I also would have liked an evening get together that if you wanted to attend you could, I also think ABD could have added some optional activities on the sea days like animation, trivia, a movie...some thing special to make the trip more memorable.

 

[Calfan]

I didn't post that we got to go to upset or irritate you, it was more, I couldn't believe that one group got to go and another did not...I just thought that all groups should have done and seen the same things....

Mickey&JoshNut, my irritation is definitely not directed at you. It's directed at ABD for not taking us to the Gold Room. Clearly it was feasible. And if their answer would be that it was feasible with your group but not ours due to size, have I mentioned that I wasn't happy with 49 people in our group?

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

CaliforniaGirl09...we went to the Gold Room at the Hermitage with our June 13 ABD....I just checked my pictures...I know our group was split in half with the adults in one group and the junior adventurers and their families in the other. I was in the adult group and we visited the gold room.

Wow, wow, wow. There is just so much wrong with this. I was specifically told not only by a ABD Vacationista but also by one of the guides that it wasn't feasible. I guess it was as long as there weren't 49 people in the group! I'm so disappointed. That was one of the big things I really wanted to see and one of the trade-offs I thought I had to make for doing ABD. The vacationista even gave me some obviously BS excuse about there being an issue with ABD using their own guides. Thanks for letting us know. I think I will be following up on this with ABD.

A few of those things can carry a lot. When we did our Disneyland and Hollywood ABD we had several, including breakfast at Club 33. We still talk about it.

If I had a complaint, it would probably be that I was really palaced out by the end, and didn't need a tour of the smaller palace in Estonia at the end. Some kind of Medieval breakfast show or something would have been better than standing around yet another palace while listening to even more about Tsars and their families.

It might also have been nice to perhaps publicize where some of us might meet and talk around 8:00 p.m. or so. Every day we got our ABD navigator, and it might have a been a good idea to say something like, "For anyone who wants to get together, some of us may be meeting at 8:00 pm tonight at the Promenade Lounge." We ran into a few other families there on our last night, and I couldn't help but think stopping together for a drink in a family friendly place would have been nice from the get go.

Overall, a great trip, but tweakable, like most things in life.

So jealous about Club 33--we didn't get to do it on our tour and now they've stopped doing it. Sigh. But agree, those little surprises (or not so little surprise in the case of Club 33) go a long way.

I was so palaced out, too (and listening to the tour guided out as well). Totally agree about the palace in Estonia. That day really should be rethought.

I thought the same thing as you as well about even something as simple as announcing impromptu get togethers would have really helped make it feel more like a regular ABD with the group bonding.

Mickey&JoshNut, my irritation is definitely not directed at you. It's directed at ABD for not taking us to the Gold Room. Clearly it was feasible. And if their answer would be that it was feasible with your group but not ours due to size, have I mentioned that I wasn't happy with 49 people in our group?

Ditto!!!!

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

I think maybe I am mistaken with respect to the Gold Room....we went to a room in the Hermitage, that was all gold and white and we were told this was called the Gold Room. I understand (from a google seach) that there is a separate place at the Hermitage where there are displays of artifacts etc but that to visit it is a separate entry fee. We did not visit that room...here is what I found on google with rspect to what is referred to as the Gold Room. If this is what you are referring to then no, we did not visit this room, like I said, we visited a room in the palace that was all gold and white and were told it was known as the gold room.

The Gold Room is a treasure gallery located in The Hermitage Museum. There are two sections: The Gold and Diamond Rooms which display the gold jewelry of ancient nomadic tribes of Russia and the jewelry pieces from The Gallery of Jewelry of The Imperial Hermitage which was created in more recent times. The Gold Room collection of antiquities includes a large number of gold artifacts: bracelets, rings, earrings, female and male clothing decorations. The earliest works in The Gold Room date back to 4th-3rd millennium B.C. The first ancient goldsmiths' works came from The Siberian Collection of Peter the Great. Those were discovered during the period when the Russians were intensively colonizing Siberia. Scythian gold jewelry was found in the southern areas of Russia during archeological excavations in the late 18th century onwards. Greek gold jewelry was found on the Northern Black Sea coast, ancient location of Greek towns and colonies.

Among the religious objects of The Gold Room are rich icons once owned by the imperial family. All of them are clad in gold mounts, adorned with brilliant-cut diamonds or the most precious gemstones such as emeralds, sapphires, rubies and pearls. A major part of The Gold Room is occupied with secular jewelry that belonged to the Imperial collection.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Wow, wow, wow. There is just so much wrong with this. I was specifically told not only by a ABD Vacationista but also by one of the guides that it wasn't feasible. I guess it was as long as there weren't 49 people in the group! I'm so disappointed. That was one of the big things I really wanted to see and one of the trade-offs I thought I had to make for doing ABD. The vacationista even gave me some obviously BS excuse about there being an issue with ABD using their own guides. Thanks for letting us know. I think I will be following up on this with ABD.

See my post above about what we were told was the "gold room"....also, some people on our ABD asked about seeing specific things and we too were told that it was not possible because ABD uses their own guides...not sure what was meant with respect to that as we saw many tour guides with groups in the Hermitage. I think we were told we saw only a very small portion of the Museum and that to see it all would take days.

 

[Calfan]

I think maybe I am mistaken with respect to the Gold Room....we went to a room in the Hermitage, that was all gold and white and we were told this was called the Gold Room. I understand (from a google seach) that there is a separate place at the Hermitage where there are displays of artifacts etc but that to visit it is a separate entry fee. We did not visit that room...here is what I found on google with rspect to what is referred to as the Gold Room. If this is what you are referring to then no, we did not visit this room, like I said, we visited a room in the palace that was all gold and white and were told it was known as the gold room.

The Gold Room is a treasure gallery located in The Hermitage Museum. There are two sections: The Gold and Diamond Rooms which display the gold jewelry of ancient nomadic tribes of Russia and the jewelry pieces from The Gallery of Jewelry of The Imperial Hermitage which was created in more recent times. The Gold Room collection of antiquities includes a large number of gold artifacts: bracelets, rings, earrings, female and male clothing decorations. The earliest works in The Gold Room date back to 4th-3rd millennium B.C. The first ancient goldsmiths' works came from The Siberian Collection of Peter the Great. Those were discovered during the period when the Russians were intensively colonizing Siberia. Scythian gold jewelry was found in the southern areas of Russia during archeological excavations in the late 18th century onwards. Greek gold jewelry was found on the Northern Black Sea coast, ancient location of Greek towns and colonies.

Among the religious objects of The Gold Room are rich icons once owned by the imperial family. All of them are clad in gold mounts, adorned with brilliant-cut diamonds or the most precious gemstones such as emeralds, sapphires, rubies and pearls. A major part of The Gold Room is occupied with secular jewelry that belonged to the Imperial collection.

Still disappointed that ABD couldn't find a way to include the Gold Room in the itinerary, but I'm less irritated than when it seemed one ABD did it and the others did not. Thanks for the follow-up. We did see lots of rooms decorated in gold at the Hermitage, which were stunning. I think our guide told us that if you tried to see everything in the Hermitage, it would take you 11 years! So clearly ABD had to pick and choose. Other than not getting to go to the Gold Room, I was fine with our Hermitage tour. Frankly, for the most part, I was more interested in the rooms than the artwork, but I am not generally a musem lover.

 

[Ralphlaw]

Wow, the gold room would've been great.