The 2010 Baltic Thread--Cruise Tips and Planning

[RJAYL]

Anyone doing the All-Inclusive Tivoli ?

Wondering what the advantages are over doing it on your own ??

The tour starts at 8:30 and you can return at 1:30 OR 3:30.

If you returned at 1:30 would you have time for the harbor cruise ?

I am doing the Tivoli Gardens & Harbor tour which gets you early entry into Tivoli & some rides than off for a cruise & back to the ship to drop off the little ones & either head out again or head to the pool or whatever My DW desires!

 

[Madisonznana]

Anyone doing the All-Inclusive Tivoli ?

Wondering what the advantages are over doing it on your own ??

The tour starts at 8:30 and you can return at 1:30 OR 3:30.

If you returned at 1:30 would you have time for the harbor cruise ?

We are going on our own because of the cost, but I would say the advantage is getting in early. They don't open until 11:00am.

 

[abacab]

Does anyone know, what's the dining rotation on the Baltic cruise? Is it just a straight rotation, e.g. PLAPLAPLAPLA?

 

[MrsScooby]

Hey Disney Fans. We just got off the Star Princess, sailing the Baltics from June 11th to June 21st, 2010. How did Stitch get off your ship to join us in St. Petersburg, Russia for a drink of Vodka. We had a blast.
Michele & Milton

Too cute

 

[aurorafan65]

I hope I didn't sound preachy as that was not my intention. Just like you said, you could call DCL and inquire One other way to find out about the dress code is hopefully, cruisers on the Baltic cruise who visited churches will post their thoughts.

Just my thoughts...

Oh gosh no, I didn't think you were preachy, I was trying to explain that I understand where you are coming from - I was also hoping that people understood that I wasn't anti-church by asking about dress codes. Don't know if that makes sense or not

I think I'm stressing WAY too much about this! I think it's the final planning/getting ready that's getting to me

 

[birkner]

Oh gosh no, I didn't think you were preachy, I was trying to explain that I understand where you are coming from - I was also hoping that people understood that I wasn't anti-church by asking about dress codes. Don't know if that makes sense or not

I think I'm stressing WAY too much about this! I think it's the final planning/getting ready that's getting to me

Thanks for letting me know. I am so glad that your didn't think I was preachy. We are all stressing out so I try to be careful with my words.

 

[bhayes]

I think I am starting to overthink the packing thing ... got everybody (except DH) packed ... now I am starting to worry if I brought the right clothes I think I have repacked, reevaluated, repacked and reevaluated 5 times now I think I just need to close and lock the suitcases and stop overthinking

I feel pretty good that I got most everything done ... just finishing the adult FE gifts and door decorations ... plus a few surprise things for my own kiddos (special travel journals and luggage tags) that I am making!

 

[aurorafan65]

Thanks for letting me know. I am so glad that your didn't think I was preachy. We are all stressing out so I try to be careful with my words.

I'm glad you understand

After we're back we'll all think - why did we stress so much

 

[wickesy]

Does anyone know, what's the dining rotation on the Baltic cruise? Is it just a straight rotation, e.g. PLAPLAPLAPLA?

Yes it is.

We got home about an hour ago after a fantastic cruise. Other than our afternoon in Copenhagen the weather was dry all the time and more or less warm enough for T-shirts and we had calm seas most of the time so it was almost impossible to feel we were moving.

Some of this might have been mentioned in other posts/threads but I thought I would post our experiences in each port.

General observations
At each port the gangways were at deck 1 forward and aft. The Disney tours were taken off at the aft gangway so if you are DIY head forward. The one exception was St Petersburg where the gangway was deck 3 midship.
Disney didn't try and get their tours off before DIYers so as soon as you are ready you will be able to head ashore.

Oslo
There are HOHO buses parked right next to the ship for you to get on if you would like.
The shopping map given out on the ship has the stores in the cruise terminal listed as 'Disney guaranteed' stores but they are very cramped so my advice would be to do your souvenir shopping BEFORE you go sightseeing and avoid the rush at the end of the day.
If you are going to the museums at Bygdoy the ferry is very easy to find - get off the ship, turn left, walk to the end of the pier, turn left again and you will find the ferry in front of you. The tourist information desk in the cruise terminal has a slip of paper on the desk with directions that you can take if you want.

Copenhagen
Again HOHO buses were parked right next to the ship, however we got on the first one and had to wait an hour before it departed.
We did a canal boat tour and got rained and hailed on because we were on one of the completely open boats. The guide did hand out ponchos but they weren't really effective so either make sure you have decent waterproofs with you, or take one of the covered boats.

Warnemunde
We did a tour with Friends of Dave Tours and had a great day out looking around Warnemunde and Wismar. Dave is a great guy who made the tour really enjoyable so if you don't want to go to Berlin I can highly recommend his tours.

St Petersburg
We joined TammyAlphabet on her tour booked through Anastasia and as Tammy has already said we had a great guide who really knew her history, but was also conscious of timings and was always pro-active in re-arranging the itinerary if necessary to avoid crowds and traffic.

Helsinki
Again there are HOHO buses parked here and also a shuttle bus that left every 15 minutes for the town centre.
There is a fairly large souvenir shop at the terminal that will cover almost everything you might want to buy.

Stockholm
Again there are HOHO buses and shuttles parked right next to the ship.
If you are DIY you can buy bus tickets at the cruise terminal. Outside the terminal there is a blue line to follow which takes you down to the bus stop where you can get a number 76 bus to the Vasa Museum and I believe it goes on to Gamla Stan as well.


I will be starting a full trip report in the next couple of days over on the UK Trip Reports section but I'll post a link here to the Index, which I'll keep updated as and when I post new days. I've also got a full set of the Personal Navigators which I can scan and post if anybody is interested and I was even given a few original dinner menus this morning, which I wasn't expecting as even our Head Server had told me he would only be able to get me photocopies.

If anybody has got any questions about the cruise at all feel free to ask and I'll see if I can help.

 

[Deb T.]

Yes it is.

We got home about an hour ago after a fantastic cruise. Other than our afternoon in Copenhagen the weather was dry all the time and more or less warm enough for T-shirts and we had calm seas most of the time so it was almost impossible to feel we were moving.

Some of this might have been mentioned in other posts/threads but I thought I would post our experiences in each port.

General observations
At each port the gangways were at deck 1 forward and aft. The Disney tours were taken off at the aft gangway so if you are DIY head forward. The one exception was St Petersburg where the gangway was deck 3 midship.
Disney didn't try and get their tours off before DIYers so as soon as you are ready you will be able to head ashore.

Oslo
There are HOHO buses parked right next to the ship for you to get on if you would like.
The shopping map given out on the ship has the stores in the cruise terminal listed as 'Disney guaranteed' stores but they are very cramped so my advice would be to do your souvenir shopping BEFORE you go sightseeing and avoid the rush at the end of the day.
If you are going to the museums at Bygdoy the ferry is very easy to find - get off the ship, turn left, walk to the end of the pier, turn left again and you will find the ferry in front of you. The tourist information desk in the cruise terminal has a slip of paper on the desk with directions that you can take if you want.

Copenhagen
Again HOHO buses were parked right next to the ship, however we got on the first one and had to wait an hour before it departed.
We did a canal boat tour and got rained and hailed on because we were on one of the completely open boats. The guide did hand out ponchos but they weren't really effective so either make sure you have decent waterproofs with you, or take one of the covered boats.

Warnemunde
We did a tour with Friends of Dave Tours and had a great day out looking around Warnemunde and Wismar. Dave is a great guy who made the tour really enjoyable so if you don't want to go to Berlin I can highly recommend his tours.

St Petersburg
We joined TammyAlphabet on her tour booked through Anastasia and as Tammy has already said we had a great guide who really knew her history, but was also conscious of timings and was always pro-active in re-arranging the itinerary if necessary to avoid crowds and traffic.

Helsinki
Again there are HOHO buses parked here and also a shuttle bus that left every 15 minutes for the town centre.
There is a fairly large souvenir shop at the terminal that will cover almost everything you might want to buy.

Stockholm
Again there are HOHO buses and shuttles parked right next to the ship.
If you are DIY you can buy bus tickets at the cruise terminal. Outside the terminal there is a blue line to follow which takes you down to the bus stop where you can get a number 76 bus to the Vasa Museum and I believe it goes on to Gamla Stan as well.


I will be starting a full trip report in the next couple of days over on the UK Trip Reports section but I'll post a link here to the Index, which I'll keep updated as and when I post new days. I've also got a full set of the Personal Navigators which I can scan and post if anybody is interested and I was even given a few original dinner menus this morning, which I wasn't expecting as even our Head Server had told me he would only be able to get me photocopies.

If anybody has got any questions about the cruise at all feel free to ask and I'll see if I can help.

So glad to hear you had a good trip! Thank you for posting the port information! I would LOVE to see all of your Navigators!!! Looking forward to reading your trip report, as well!

 

[RJAYL]

Yes it is.

We got home about an hour ago after a fantastic cruise. Other than our afternoon in Copenhagen the weather was dry all the time and more or less warm enough for T-shirts and we had calm seas most of the time so it was almost impossible to feel we were moving.

Some of this might have been mentioned in other posts/threads but I thought I would post our experiences in each port.

General observations
At each port the gangways were at deck 1 forward and aft. The Disney tours were taken off at the aft gangway so if you are DIY head forward. The one exception was St Petersburg where the gangway was deck 3 midship.
Disney didn't try and get their tours off before DIYers so as soon as you are ready you will be able to head ashore.

Oslo
There are HOHO buses parked right next to the ship for you to get on if you would like.
The shopping map given out on the ship has the stores in the cruise terminal listed as 'Disney guaranteed' stores but they are very cramped so my advice would be to do your souvenir shopping BEFORE you go sightseeing and avoid the rush at the end of the day.
If you are going to the museums at Bygdoy the ferry is very easy to find - get off the ship, turn left, walk to the end of the pier, turn left again and you will find the ferry in front of you. The tourist information desk in the cruise terminal has a slip of paper on the desk with directions that you can take if you want.

Copenhagen
Again HOHO buses were parked right next to the ship, however we got on the first one and had to wait an hour before it departed.
We did a canal boat tour and got rained and hailed on because we were on one of the completely open boats. The guide did hand out ponchos but they weren't really effective so either make sure you have decent waterproofs with you, or take one of the covered boats.

Warnemunde
We did a tour with Friends of Dave Tours and had a great day out looking around Warnemunde and Wismar. Dave is a great guy who made the tour really enjoyable so if you don't want to go to Berlin I can highly recommend his tours.

St Petersburg
We joined TammyAlphabet on her tour booked through Anastasia and as Tammy has already said we had a great guide who really knew her history, but was also conscious of timings and was always pro-active in re-arranging the itinerary if necessary to avoid crowds and traffic.

Helsinki
Again there are HOHO buses parked here and also a shuttle bus that left every 15 minutes for the town centre.
There is a fairly large souvenir shop at the terminal that will cover almost everything you might want to buy.

Stockholm
Again there are HOHO buses and shuttles parked right next to the ship.
If you are DIY you can buy bus tickets at the cruise terminal. Outside the terminal there is a blue line to follow which takes you down to the bus stop where you can get a number 76 bus to the Vasa Museum and I believe it goes on to Gamla Stan as well.


I will be starting a full trip report in the next couple of days over on the UK Trip Reports section but I'll post a link here to the Index, which I'll keep updated as and when I post new days. I've also got a full set of the Personal Navigators which I can scan and post if anybody is interested and I was even given a few original dinner menus this morning, which I wasn't expecting as even our Head Server had told me he would only be able to get me photocopies.

If anybody has got any questions about the cruise at all feel free to ask and I'll see if I can help.

Thanks Dave let us know where to find the trip report when posted!

 

[brandysmommy]

Yes it is.

We got home about an hour ago after a fantastic cruise. Other than our afternoon in Copenhagen the weather was dry all the time and more or less warm enough for T-shirts and we had calm seas most of the time so it was almost impossible to feel we were moving.

Some of this might have been mentioned in other posts/threads but I thought I would post our experiences in each port.

General observations
At each port the gangways were at deck 1 forward and aft. The Disney tours were taken off at the aft gangway so if you are DIY head forward. The one exception was St Petersburg where the gangway was deck 3 midship.
Disney didn't try and get their tours off before DIYers so as soon as you are ready you will be able to head ashore.

Oslo
There are HOHO buses parked right next to the ship for you to get on if you would like.
The shopping map given out on the ship has the stores in the cruise terminal listed as 'Disney guaranteed' stores but they are very cramped so my advice would be to do your souvenir shopping BEFORE you go sightseeing and avoid the rush at the end of the day.
If you are going to the museums at Bygdoy the ferry is very easy to find - get off the ship, turn left, walk to the end of the pier, turn left again and you will find the ferry in front of you. The tourist information desk in the cruise terminal has a slip of paper on the desk with directions that you can take if you want.

Copenhagen
Again HOHO buses were parked right next to the ship, however we got on the first one and had to wait an hour before it departed.
We did a canal boat tour and got rained and hailed on because we were on one of the completely open boats. The guide did hand out ponchos but they weren't really effective so either make sure you have decent waterproofs with you, or take one of the covered boats.

Warnemunde
We did a tour with Friends of Dave Tours and had a great day out looking around Warnemunde and Wismar. Dave is a great guy who made the tour really enjoyable so if you don't want to go to Berlin I can highly recommend his tours.

St Petersburg
We joined TammyAlphabet on her tour booked through Anastasia and as Tammy has already said we had a great guide who really knew her history, but was also conscious of timings and was always pro-active in re-arranging the itinerary if necessary to avoid crowds and traffic.

Helsinki
Again there are HOHO buses parked here and also a shuttle bus that left every 15 minutes for the town centre.
There is a fairly large souvenir shop at the terminal that will cover almost everything you might want to buy.

Stockholm
Again there are HOHO buses and shuttles parked right next to the ship.
If you are DIY you can buy bus tickets at the cruise terminal. Outside the terminal there is a blue line to follow which takes you down to the bus stop where you can get a number 76 bus to the Vasa Museum and I believe it goes on to Gamla Stan as well.


I will be starting a full trip report in the next couple of days over on the UK Trip Reports section but I'll post a link here to the Index, which I'll keep updated as and when I post new days. I've also got a full set of the Personal Navigators which I can scan and post if anybody is interested and I was even given a few original dinner menus this morning, which I wasn't expecting as even our Head Server had told me he would only be able to get me photocopies.

If anybody has got any questions about the cruise at all feel free to ask and I'll see if I can help.

Thanks so much - great information - did you hear from any one who did the Tivoli Early Entrance or the Helsinki High Speed Boat Ride? Have them booked and wondering if they are worth the price. Thanks!

 

[MrsScooby]

If anybody has got any questions about the cruise at all feel free to ask and I'll see if I can help.

Great summary
Thanks so much for posting so soon. Love details about disembarking in port. Really takes a lot of the anxiety out of the process for us that are DIY

Was wondering if anyone was late getting back to the ship in Germany?

Also would love to see the navigators

Were there HoHo boats near the ship in Stockholm? I thought I read this was a good alternative to bus 76 for the Vasa.

 

[wickesy]

did you hear from any one who did the Tivoli Early Entrance or the Helsinki High Speed Boat Ride? Have them booked and wondering if they are worth the price. Thanks!

No, sorry. All the people we spoke to did DIY

Was wondering if anyone was late getting back to the ship in Germany?

Were there HoHo boats near the ship in Stockholm? I thought I read this was a good alternative to bus 76 for the Vasa.

Nobody late back that we know of and I think we left pretty much on time. Dave did say to us that the people who normally miss their ships are those who rent their own car because they misjudge the amount of traffic coming in to Warnemunde. Apparently it is a very popular tourist destination for Berliners so traffic can be heavy.

We asked at Tourist Information for the best way to get to the Vasa and we were pointed towards the 76 bus. I didn't see any signs for a HOHO boat but it might be an alternative, or maybe they leave from a different dock? I think I read that there are a couple of different docks the cruise ships use in Stockholm.

 

[Stimpy]

Thanks for the info! Looking forward to the trip report and Navigators too

 

[scrapycruiser]

David....THANKS for posting !!

Would also like to hear from those who did the Tivoli early entry. Just signed up for the one that includes the harbor cruise. Was wondering if we'll be able to stay in town after the harbor cruise and go back to the ship on our own ??

Thanks again ! Look forward to your full review. Glad you had fun !!

 

[scrapycruiser]

I am doing the Tivoli Gardens & Harbor tour which gets you early entry into Tivoli & some rides than off for a cruise & back to the ship to drop off the little ones & either head out again or head to the pool or whatever My DW desires!

Do you think they will let you stay in town after the harbor cruise and go back to the ship on your own ? We'd like to do that. Have lunch, walk around ??

 

[wickesy]

Day 1 Navigators (click on the thumbnail then click again for full size)



Voyage Navigator


Film & TV schedule for first week

 

[mom_rules]

OK I have to ask for DH-Are they televising many of the World cup games?

 

[wickesy]

OK I have to ask for DH-Are they televising many of the World cup games?

Yes they are - the Promenade Lounge, Rockin' Bar D and Diversions were all being used to show games during the cruise - just check the Personal Navigator each day to see which games are being shown and where. The Captain even changed course on the first day to get a better satellite position so people could watch the game! Outside Diversions there is a board with all the scores and group positions on so your DH will be able to keep track of what is going on.