The 2010 Baltic Thread--Cruise Tips and Planning

[Rogillio]

I just returned from a 2.5-week vacation yesterday, so I didn't know about the Baltic cruise price reduction until I returned. DCL is finally offering a price I would be willing to pay for their Baltic cruise, but I am already committed to another Europe cruise with my daughters. While I wouldn't have booked a balcony cabin in the first place, it would sure be worth the mega-bucks to give up a pricier cabin for the cat. 12, and get my butt to an outside deck to view the sailing into and out of Oslo and Stockholm! The price difference may be only money to some, but it would mean another cruise for me.

OTOH, you seem to have plenty of time. We are just the opposite and time is a bigger limiter than money for us. We are resource limited in different areas.

~Mike

 

[Samanthasmom1]

Rental car info in Germany

It has taken numerous emails to various car companies in Germany but here is what I found. Avis, Enterprise and Hertz all provide rental cars in Rostock. Getting from the port in Warenmunde is about 12 miles and, if you went there youself, you'd take a train from the port to Rostock, then a tram in Rostock to get closer to the car place and then finally walk the rest of the way. Or you can arrange pick-up directly with the car companies.

We ended up settling on Enterprise. Somebody from Enterprise will be waiting for us in the cruise terminal. We have a VW Touran booked for 54 EUR plus another 5 EUR for the Garmin. They will pick us up at the port at 0800 and take us to our car. If we return to Rostock NLT 5:45, they will take us back to the port, otherwise, we can leave the car at the port for another 25 EUR. So that is our plan, we will get the rental car and Garmin and plan on leaving the car at the port at about 8 pm. Cost will be about 85 EUR plus gas.
Our plan is to see Rostock and then drive south and/or east and see what we can see. We'll buy a Frommer's travel guide for Germany and seek out the hidden gems off the beaten path. I doubt we'll try to go to Berlin but we'll keep that option open....really depends on what we find closer in.

~Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the information. We are still leaning towards renting a car and going west when in Germany but haven't booked anything yet. The information you have been posting regarding the car rental has been helpful to us. I do have a question for you....How did you find out about the option to return the car after 6pm at the port? When I look on the Enterprise web site it says that the location is only open until 6pm and that I must select a different time after I first entered a return time of 8pm.

Thanks,
Monica

 

[Rogillio]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the information. We are still leaning towards renting a car and going west when in Germany but haven't booked anything yet. The information you have been posting regarding the car rental has been helpful to us. I do have a question for you....How did you find out about the option to return the car after 6pm at the port? When I look on the Enterprise web site it says that the location is only open until 6pm and that I must select a different time after I first entered a return time of 8pm.

Thanks,
Monica

From this email:

Dear Mister Rogillio,

thank you for your reservation!
Picking you up from the port is without any charge, also a ride back from our office to the port after your rental, if you drop off during our business hours latest at 5:45 pm. If you want to drop the rental car right next to the port, there´s an extra fee of 25,-€ incl. taxes. Please take care, that the VW Touran is only an example for the booked car-class and could be changed in type of manufactor.
If there´s anything I can help you with, please don´t hesitate to contact me or my team-members, adresses are shown in the cc-adr.line!

Kind regards!

Stefan Raedel
Filialleiter

Enterprise Autovermietung Deutschland GmbH Warnowufer 54
18057 Rostock

Tel 0381 / 77894 0
Fax 0381 / 77894 70
stefan.raedel@erac.com<mailto:stefan.raedel@erac.com>
www.enterprise.de<http://www.enterprise.de/>
​

~Mike

 

[MrsScooby]

Thanks for the suggestions on attacking the Rick Steves book. I think it's going to look pretty worn by the time we're done with it! And DH has been instructed to tape the Samantha Brown Stockholm episode for weekend viewing!

Me too

I have the book I received the Baltic DVD yesterday & have watched Wunermunde & Copenhagen so far!

Watching Wunermunde has me split between hanging around the port & going to Rostock (Barb R U Watching Always Watching) anyway doing it NonDCL.

Copenhagen there is so mutch to do & see I will use Wise guy terminology (Forget About It!) I think I will stick with DCL & do Tivoli & the sightseeing cruise! then I have free time if I want to do or see or drink anything else!

Haven't gotten to Germany yet on the DVD, but we were also planning on keeping it light in Copenhagen...until we watched the DVD
Dh was going "oh cool!!!" when it got to some of the pictures of the really unusual buildings-so we might be cramming in more here before we are done planning

OTOH, you seem to have plenty of time. We are just the opposite and time is a bigger limiter than money for us. We are resource limited in different areas.

~Mike

Good point

And then there are those of us that have limited time and money
Most of my vacation time goes for family obligations -as it is I barely have enough to cover this one cruise.
Saving every dime we can to make this work and doing all ports on our own to save money as well.
But this is my first trip to Europe and I am so excited

Hope the discounting of some cabins allows this to be more affordable so others here can join us

 

[mardonna]

I am also torn on London pass....

We are a party of 6, 2 adults, 1 -9 year old, and 2- 5 year olds, and a 2 year old. Transportation for kids is free....we are staying in belgravia and have been told to do pay as you go oystercard.....because it caps out each day so low cost......

The London Pass.....just doesn't seem like it would be worth it....with 4 kids under 4...many places offer family rates for admission and many museums are free....it seems better to pay as you see stuff....and look for discounted tickets....although skipping lines may be good.....but wondering if June 16th -June 24th is really that busy.....it is considered shoulder season.....am I crazy for thinking that.....thoughts?

 

[mardonna]

We were on TA crossing in 2007 in a cat 1 and din receive that kids book you are referring too.....We had 3 children at the time......really disappointed.....I am looking now for a book for each port with info and am having no luck...anyone seen sometype of passport book or something?

 

[MrsScooby]

I am also torn on London pass....

We are a party of 6, 2 adults, 1 -9 year old, and 2- 5 year olds, and a 2 year old. Transportation for kids is free....we are staying in belgravia and have been told to do pay as you go oystercard.....because it caps out each day so low cost......

The London Pass.....just doesn't seem like it would be worth it....with 4 kids under 4...many places offer family rates for admission and many museums are free....it seems better to pay as you see stuff....and look for discounted tickets....although skipping lines may be good.....but wondering if June 16th -June 24th is really that busy.....it is considered shoulder season.....am I crazy for thinking that.....thoughts?

I have heard that certain spots (Tower of London or Westminster Abbey) can get really long lines up to a 2 hour wait. If you are in London for a week, you can hit these spots early in the morning and maybe avoid the long lines. But if you don't have that kind of flexibility because you are only there a day or so (like us) then they make more sense as a long wait will mean less time to see other things
I'm sure someone who has made this trip can give you a better answer though.

We were on TA crossing in 2007 in a cat 1 and din receive that kids book you are referring too.....We had 3 children at the time......really disappointed.....I am looking now for a book for each port with info and am having no luck...anyone seen sometype of passport book or something?

What a bummer. I would have been disappointed also
Have you checked ebay to see if someone is trying to sell one?

Not sure what type of book you are refering to...do you mean something like those kids books from the Med in 2007? I haven't seen anything like that
But if you mean a travel book that contains all the ports in one book..the closest I found was the Rick Steves Scandinavian book that has Oslo, Copehagen, Helsinki , Tallinn and Stockholm in one book.
The John Lawrence DVD (check google) is the only thing I have found with info on all our ports in one place.
Maybe someone else has found something better

 

[Cptjackandcrew]

Thanks for the suggestions on attacking the Rick Steves book. I think it's going to look pretty worn by the time we're done with it! And DH has been instructed to tape the Samantha Brown Stockholm episode for weekend viewing!

Thanks for mentioning the Travel Channel. Samantha Brown is visiting Helsinki and Stockholm on the 6th and Copenhagen on the 10th.

 

[abacab]

From this email:


Kind regards!

Stefan Raedel
Filialleiter

Enterprise Autovermietung Deutschland GmbH Warnowufer 54
18057 Rostock

Tel 0381 / 77894 0
Fax 0381 / 77894 70
stefan.raedel@erac.com<mailto:stefan.raedel@erac.com>
www.enterprise.de<http://www.enterprise.de/>
[/INDENT]


~Mike

Thanks for the info. Where did you find the email address to contact them?

 

[Rogillio]

Thanks for the info. Where did you find the email address to contact them?

I had emailed Enterpise via their website with my reservation number and a day or so later I got an email back from the this guy in Rostock.

BTW, I sent a similar email to Avis but all they sent back was the long distance phone number of the Avis Rostock office. So I canceled that reservation and went with Enterprise who took the time to email me back.

~Mike

 

[scrapycruiser]

There's a great article in PortHole magazine, June 20010. Called " Fit for a Kid ". They talk about kids' receiving journals !! I'm very happy ! But want to ck w/ the Med cruisers to see if they are infact getting them !

 

[xangav]

I am also torn on London pass....

We are a party of 6, 2 adults, 1 -9 year old, and 2- 5 year olds, and a 2 year old. Transportation for kids is free....we are staying in belgravia and have been told to do pay as you go oystercard.....because it caps out each day so low cost......

The London Pass.....just doesn't seem like it would be worth it....with 4 kids under 4...many places offer family rates for admission and many museums are free....it seems better to pay as you see stuff....and look for discounted tickets....although skipping lines may be good.....but wondering if June 16th -June 24th is really that busy.....it is considered shoulder season.....am I crazy for thinking that.....thoughts?

We are a family of four and I was going to do the London Pass as well but while I was contemplating the price went up. So..I crunched the numbers and figured it came out about the same plus we were going to see places that we probably wouldn't without the pass. Also with the pass I felt like we had to cram as much into each day to get our moneys' worth.

What we did instead was figure where we really wanted to go and then I purchased those tickets online i.e. the London Eye, the Tower of London, and Henry VIII at the Globe theater. We will throw in a couple of museums and maybe Portobello Martet. Then if something comes up we can be a little more flexible as we are there for six days.

Our kids are a little older but I have learned that it is easier on you if there is a little flexibility in your plans. Have a great trip!

 

[DadofLostBoys]

When we cruised the Med in 07, Disney had photographers at key tourist locations (Tower in Pisa, Colossium in Rome, Pompeii, etc) where you get pictures taken even if you were not with a Disney excursion. You could then check them out at Shutters.

 

[Rogillio]

When we cruised the Med in 07, Disney had photographers at key tourist locations (Tower in Pisa, Colossium in Rome, Pompeii, etc) where you get pictures taken even if you were not with a Disney excursion. You could then check them out at Shutters.

Yeah, we bought some of those too. We took about 800 digital pictures on our Med '07 trip with our camera and yet some of the best pictures are the ones we bought at shutters. Why is that? I guess becuase they are 8x10 glossy prints with all four of us in the shot and were taken by real photographers not amatures.

~Mike

 

[wintergreen]

Töölönlahti Bay, Tuomiokirkko Cathedral....I'm just gonna tape my mouth shut in Helsinki and not even try to pronounciate these words...I have a hard enought time with English.

~Mike

 

[cindy18]

When we cruised the Med in 07, Disney had photographers at key tourist locations (Tower in Pisa, Colossium in Rome, Pompeii, etc) where you get pictures taken even if you were not with a Disney excursion. You could then check them out at Shutters.

That is very cool! We would definitely take advantage of this. Hope they offer this in the Baltics.

 

[denise]

When we cruised the Med in 07, Disney had photographers at key tourist locations (Tower in Pisa, Colossium in Rome, Pompeii, etc) where you get pictures taken even if you were not with a Disney excursion. You could then check them out at Shutters.

HI JOHN!!!!!

I remember the photo of your boys when Max was held upside down in Rome. Great photo.

Sure wish you where on this cruise with us....

Eleni sends hugs to the boys....

Have to agree, the Med cruise pictures came out the best of all our cruises...

Take care and tell the family hi from us....
denise

 

[jilljill]

When we cruised the Med in 07, Disney had photographers at key tourist locations (Tower in Pisa, Colossium in Rome, Pompeii, etc) where you get pictures taken even if you were not with a Disney excursion. You could then check them out at Shutters.

Is this something they posted ahead of time so you knew the photographers would be in port? This would be great if they did this on the Baltics cruises.

 

[Doingitagain]

Is this something they posted ahead of time so you knew the photographers would be in port? This would be great if they did this on the Baltics cruises.

I can't remember how we knew, but we did know to look for them. Maybe in the navigator?

When we were in the Med in 2007 they didn't have the CD option. It would be great to get all those photos on a CD.

I am sure they will have photographers at the ball in Russia, but not sure if there are big attractions in the Baltics to match the Coliseum, Leaning Tower of Pisa, and St. Peter's...these are the types of places they staged photographers so you could have them in the background. Then again, they would be missing out if they didn't...since the cruise is 12 days and only 4 sea days they would not have many photos to sell if they didn't go off the ship.

 

[denise]

we got some great pics at the Vatican...and in Monte Carlo...it was a great added treat. I also spent the most I have ever spent on photos on that trip too!!!