The 2010 Baltic Thread--Cruise Tips and Planning

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I selected 150 out of 2,270 pictures to give a flavor of our trip.

http://s184.photobucket.com/albums/x143/CasMicRog/Baltic Cruise 2010/?albumview=slideshow

Our trip report is posted here. I posted a draft on the firs page of the thread and the final on the second page....so use this URL if you want to read the report:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2494674&page=2

~Mike

Thank you very good.

 

[CastawayClubCruisers]

We are trying to get the last of our planning done today and have a few questions:

For those of you just off the ship: is formal night a lobster dinner? We booked Palo that night before finding out it was formal night and I would rather not miss the lobster if they have it on the menu?

Is there a staff member on board going by Natalie or Bailey...she has been on all our previous cruises and my daughter is really hoping to get to see her again, but flipping through some of your pictures I am not seeing her?

Did anyone use the Oslo Pass? Is there enough time in port to make it worth the money? (Especially with small children that will not necessarily go from place to place to take it all in as quickly as if DH and myself were doing it alone)

Any suggestions for germany if we aren't going to Berlin?

For anyone that may know the answer: is there a shuttle service/private car company that anyone can recommend to get us from Dover to I think its the Eurostar station in London (high speed train I think, I am trying to remember the train the travel agent is recommending) that anyone can recommend? We have found a couple on websites but would prefer to know its reliable company?

Wow, guess that was alot of questions...will probably have more once everyone is awake.

Thank you

 

[3princessMommy]

Hi everyone! Just thought I'd post a short synopsis of our experiences. We have three young children, so some of our impressions were probably colored by their reactions to the experience. Please feel free to ask any questions. It was a great trip!!!

Dover
London-Dover: Stephen Smith - private car hire. Very good service and price. Highly recommend.

B&B in Dover: Hubert House. Lovely family room. Enough room for 5 of us in one room. Left most luggage in storage, otherwise would have not had any room to move. But with only one suitcase, the room was quite spacious for our family. The son is very friendly. The father, a little gruff. Keep in mind that check-in is 4pm. Can drop luggage and go explore, but not possible to get into room in the am.

Dover Castle: Very nice. The tunnels are neat, but little kids can get freaked out by the audio, which simulates bombing and emergency medical situation. Tower is a LOT of steps, but worth it to get to the top.

Food: Ate lunch at nice little cafe in center - Chaplan's. Kids menu and good food with reasonable prices. Cullins' Yard had a hard time with a large group although the food was fine. They ran out of fish and chips for the kids though. Little shocked that someplace in UK would run out of fish and chips, but...

Check-in: Got to port about 10:30, not overly crowded, fairly smooth check-in process. Note - if you want to check on an upgrade, go to the supervisors counter. Our check-in person told us they couldn't do any upgrades at the port, they could only happen on board. This was wrong and resulted in hassle trying to move once onboard. Pretty good set up with lots of seats. We lucked out and were selected to get on first. Evidently my older daughter pulling our youngest around the terminal on her rolling carry-on got the attention of someone who thought it was cute.

Sea Day: Be prepared, the North Sea can be rough. This was the day that most people had issues with. I started to feel a little off and took a dramamine and was fine.

Oslo: We really wanted to go to theto the Hadeland glassworks factory, but couldn't get space on the DCL tour. I contacted Hadeland directly and they put me in touch with a private bus company for a flat day rate of 3000NOK. I was a little nervous because the owner of the company didn't speak English very well, but they were there when we docked. We drove off to Hadeland through wonderful countryside. We got to the factory early and got a private tour of the factory. Then the shops started opening up so we did a little shopping, had a very, very yummy cinnamon bun, and the kids got to play at the playground. There were actually two playgrounds and later in the morning they brought in animals for a petting zoo. The kids loved running around. Also got to dip their own candles at the candle shop. Had to pay for it, but they enjoyed it. Downside: several shops were closed, including the Christmas shop that I had been hoping to visit. But overall it was a fantastic experience. After the factory, our driver took us to the Tiki and Fram museums and dropped our friends off at the Hard Rock Cafe on the way back to the ship so they could get their souvenirs. Later I heard the DCL tours had problems, so I was very glad we did this on our own.

Copenhagen
Did entirely on our own. Had planned to do harbor tour and water taxi joint ticket. But water taxi doesn't come to the cruise pier until 10:30 and you can't buy the ticket there, so we walked downtown to the central point. Bought our tickets there and took the harbor tour. Chilly! On the water it's colder thanon land and the kids didn't enjoy the tour as much as we would have liked. We got back and walked to Tivoli. It wasn't crowded and the kids liked the rides. They have more for older kids than younger ones. The rides are also older style. Our oldest LOVED the high swings. You go about 10 stories up and can actually see the ship from that vantage point. Just don't look down if you get quezy at all. The Viking hamburger joint there was great for kids food - and really was the only sit down place for that kind of food. Of course amusement park fare was on hand at most stands.

Leaving Tivoli we walked down to the harbor to take the water taxi back to the ship. That's when our luck changed and we were drenched and pelted with hail on the open-air water taxi!!! Kids definitely didn't enjoy that and everyone needed a hot bath and hot chocolate back on the ship. We were all soaked to the skin despite ponchos, umbrellas, and windbreakers!!!

Warnemunde
We were going to go to Schwerin castle, but just didn't have the energy with the kids. The late nights and constant action in the clubs were starting to take their toll. So we took a short train ride to Rostok, wandered around, visited the cathedral. The kids' highlight was a stop at the gummybear store (everything gummy you can imagine!) and Burger King for lunch. (Living in Uganda this was a big treat for them.) Then back to Warnemunde, where we took a little train tour (not terribly exciting, but kids enjoyed it), and walked to the beach where they could put their toes in the VERY cold water! I can't imagine taking kids into Berlin. By this stage we were so tired already that I know the kids would have revolted if we had tried to plan a 12 hour tour.

St. Petersburg
We started with the ballet class on board. This was very nice, but I would have organized it differently. They had a mix of kids from very young never had ballet to adults and teens in pointe shoes. I would have organized it more along the lines of ability or age, but my daughter enjoyed it. She had a lot of help from one of the Russian ballerinas during the class.

Then we left the ship with another dis family for a private tour with Red October. No problem getting off the ship and our tour guide was waiting for us. Red October had car seats for the two children that needed them. We did city highlights on the first day. Managed to get into the Spilled Blood cathedral despite the economic forum. Traffic was bad, but our tour guide was pretty good. One caution, don't walk down Nevsky Prospect. Nothing to see and way to busy. Plus we weren't told it was going to be a long walk, and left the strollers in the van - big mistake! Stopped for souvenirs - nice store, little overpriced, but not different from any other "sanctioned" souvenir stop or the prices on the ship later in the cruise. Unfortunately, traffic caused us to be delayed back to the ship. But our head server made space for us despite the late arrival.

Early morning the next day. Headed out to Peterhoff. Very crowded. No food. Hydrofoil was fine, but kids and adults were hungry. Next stop was Hermitage. HORRIBLY crowded. Could barely move in places. Ate at cafe. Not much kids would touch. Bring sandwiches from room service for kids (at least we had done that!). The Hermitage is fantastic - the rooms are ornate and the art is impressive. HOWEVER, even kids who are into art have short attention spans at this stage. We had a cadre of whining and tired kids begging to leave less than half-way through. At least we had the strollers this time.

Our guide was very knowledgeable, but she didn't seem to have a lot of patience with the kids. Other than that the service from Red October was great. The crowds in St. Petersburg left a lot to be desired though. Hard with young kids.

Helsinki
We did the DCL Santa tour. I know others had different experiences, but for us, this was a great tour. It was very kid-focused and everything went smoothly. This was the kind of tour I expected from DCL. Not sure how others could have had such a different experience, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this tour to a family with young kids. Particularly after they might have felt left out of the St. Petersburg stuff.

Stockholm
Due to the short time in port, we opted for the DCL Skansesn and Vasa tour. We were first to Vasa, which was nice. But then had to walk to Skansen. Silly really because nothing to see between the two and the bus had to go to Skansen anyway. Vasa was cool, even the kids liked it. Check out the skeletons on the ground floor! Skansen is a lot of walking. Unfortunately much of it seemed to be closed (opening later) and we didn't have nearly enough time to see it all. Skansen needs to be done in the afternoon and you need at least 2-3 hours to see it. What we did see was nice. The kids really liked the one room school-house and the baby reindeer and moose.

Sea Days
So nice to end the trip on two sea days - gaining hours on the way back. (Loosing them on the way out probably contributed to the kids' and parents' tiredness.) So great to catch up on some sleep and relax a bit with onboard activities.

London
Steve picked us up at the port and took us to our hotel in Heathrow. He was going to take us onto Windsor, but the kids (and us) had had enough. We simply hadn't built enough downtime into the agenda for everyone. So we crashed at the hotel. After all we had to be up at 4am to catch our 6:30 flight out of Heathrow. We stayed at the Marriott, which we got for a steal on Priceline. Nice rooms and pool, not much in the way of restaurants. But a decent family style restaurant about a block or so away.

Well, I hope this is helpful from a family perspective. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[3princessMommy]

We are trying to get the last of our planning done today and have a few questions:

For those of you just off the ship: is formal night a lobster dinner? We booked Palo that night before finding out it was formal night and I would rather not miss the lobster if they have it on the menu?

Is there a staff member on board going by Natalie or Bailey...she has been on all our previous cruises and my daughter is really hoping to get to see her again, but flipping through some of your pictures I am not seeing her?

Did anyone use the Oslo Pass? Is there enough time in port to make it worth the money? (Especially with small children that will not necessarily go from place to place to take it all in as quickly as if DH and myself were doing it alone)

Any suggestions for germany if we aren't going to Berlin?

For anyone that may know the answer: is there a shuttle service/private car company that anyone can recommend to get us from Dover to I think its the Eurostar station in London (high speed train I think, I am trying to remember the train the travel agent is recommending) that anyone can recommend? We have found a couple on websites but would prefer to know its reliable company?

Wow, guess that was alot of questions...will probably have more once everyone is awake.

Thank you

Check out my short trip report above and earlier posting about recommended car hire - Steve really is great and the price is reasonable.

Lobster night was the semi-formal night at the end of the cruise. So enjoy Palo! I could be wrong though, but I think they serve lobster in Palo on lobster night, but I don't know for sure.

Check out Rostock and Warnemunde for small kids. If you're feeling up to the adventure try Schwerin. DCL had a steam train tour, but I don't know anyone who took it.

I don't remember a Natalie or Bailey. Our daughter's favorite was Annie, but she leaves at the end of this cruise.

 

[wickesy]

We are trying to get the last of our planning done today and have a few questions:

For those of you just off the ship: is formal night a lobster dinner? We booked Palo that night before finding out it was formal night and I would rather not miss the lobster if they have it on the menu?

Did anyone use the Oslo Pass? Is there enough time in port to make it worth the money? (Especially with small children that will not necessarily go from place to place to take it all in as quickly as if DH and myself were doing it alone)

Any suggestions for germany if we aren't going to Berlin?

No lobster on the formal night menu that I have but I do seem to remember a few dishes that contained lobster through the cruise (I have to avoid it so I normally notice dishes that contain lobster or crab). It may have been on the Captain's Gala menu on semi-formal night.

We had the Oslo Pass and there is definitely enough time to make it worthwhile. We took the ferry over to Bygdoy, did the Viking Ship, Kon-Tiki and Fram Museums in the morning and took a public bus back to the ship for the ship for lunch so I think it paid for itself right there. We also got a discount on the HOHO bus tour we did in the afternoon and still would have had time to do more attractions if we wanted.

If you are not going to Berlin I can highly recommend Friends of Dave tours. We did his Complete Hansa tour with some others from our meet thread and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Dave limits his groups to 16 which makes it easy to get around and he also provides headsets so you can always hear him even if you move away from the main group. He doesn't take children under 12 though so if you want to do something with the kids the tour won't be for you.

 

[Rogillio]

We are trying to get the last of our planning done today and have a few questions:

For those of you just off the ship: is formal night a lobster dinner? We booked Palo that night before finding out it was formal night and I would rather not miss the lobster if they have it on the menu?

Is there a staff member on board going by Natalie or Bailey...she has been on all our previous cruises and my daughter is really hoping to get to see her again, but flipping through some of your pictures I am not seeing her?

Did anyone use the Oslo Pass? Is there enough time in port to make it worth the money? (Especially with small children that will not necessarily go from place to place to take it all in as quickly as if DH and myself were doing it alone)

Any suggestions for germany if we aren't going to Berlin?

For anyone that may know the answer: is there a shuttle service/private car company that anyone can recommend to get us from Dover to I think its the Eurostar station in London (high speed train I think, I am trying to remember the train the travel agent is recommending) that anyone can recommend? We have found a couple on websites but would prefer to know its reliable company?

Wow, guess that was alot of questions...will probably have more once everyone is awake.

Thank you

Formal is not lobster night. We had lobster on our next to the last sea day.

In Germany we went on-line and booked a rental car thru Enterprise. They picked us up from the port and took us into Rostock to the Enterprise office. We got a Garmin and they programmed in the port (so we could find our way way) as well as a few places we wanted to see. At the end of the day we drove right to the port (100' from the ship) and left the car in the Enterprise parking place and dropped the keys in their drop box inside the port terminal. The car, pick-up, drop-off and Garmin cost us $101.93. We drove to Lubeck via the autoban, toured there (absolutely incredible town!), then drove on the back roads to Wismar and then back to the port. Driving in Germany is no different than driving anywhere else (well, ecept London). We had bought a Frommer's Germany book before we left to help us find the 'gems'.

~Mike

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

For those still to come on BA.

Unite union offers to postpone BA strike ballot

Page last updated at 10:43 GMT, Sunday, 27 June 2010 11:43 UK


Unite says it is sensible to consider the new "interesting" BA offer Unite has offered to postpone its strike ballot of British Airways cabin crew in order to allow them time to consider its latest revised offer.

The union was due to begin balloting on Tuesday unless there was a breakthrough in the dispute, which has seen 22 days of strike action since March.

BA said in a statement that it welcomed Unite's move as "a genuine opportunity to end this dispute".

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

I have to say that we also took this tour and had a much better experience. The kids LOVED it! yes, the summer house was on the grounds of a hotel-like place, but once at the house you couldn't see the hotel.

I am glad to hear that the afternoon was better. They may have worked out the bugs by then. In the morning they were not very clear on what activities there were and how to move the groups around.

Here is our Santa. Just curious if it is the same one!

And I totally agree about the yummy cinnamon roll pastry. Those were amazing!!!

Debbie

 

[3princessMommy]

I am glad to hear that the afternoon was better. They may have worked out the bugs by then. In the morning they were not very clear on what activities there were and how to move the groups around.

Here is our Santa. Just curious if it is the same one!

And I totally agree about the yummy cinnamon roll pastry. Those were amazing!!!

Debbie

Definitely a different santa!

 

[Stimpy]

Wow! What a difference in Santas

Looks like we will be keeping the Santa after all. My DD, out of nowhere this morning, asked if baby reindeers know how to fly already. Apparently at some point we told her we might see some baby reindeer on our trip. She was all excited to ask Santa or an elf when we go.

How much money should we bring into the ports with us? We'll use our credit cards for most purchases but how much should we expect to bring for snacks/lunch or small treats for the kids?

 

[MrsG]

We used a private taxi hire recommended by our B&B in Dover. He was GREAT! Met us at Heathrow, loaded all our big suitcases in and drove us to Dover. 130 pounds one way. He also picked us up at the port on the way back. He was always on time and very friendly. He offered us stops along the way, but we were tired and with three kids, just wanted to get where we were going.

Large taxi seats 6 or 7. But not a lot of luggage space. We had five people and six big suitcases. Little cramped for us, but manageable.

Would highly recommend his services for anyone else trying to get to Dover from London.

Stephen Smith
Tel: 01708 452 923
Mob: 07710 348 126
E-mail: stevetaxichannel@aol.com

Hi JoAnn,

It's great to hear from you. What a great pic of the girls! How they've grown in a year. I still remember getting together at SSR and the fun we had at our Palo brunch. We'll be doing the Baltic soon so we are grateful for any info. Tell Aaron we said hello!

Maryann & Tom

 

[TDC Nala]

Hello from the Magic sailing through the Danish Isles!

You guys will love the Tivoli & Harbor Canal excursion, what fun. Ride the "Soarin Over Copenhagen" thing (I think they call it the Star Swinger or something) if you are not afraid of heights. I hope you get weather like we got.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Hello from the Magic sailing through the Danish Isles!

You guys will love the Tivoli & Harbor Canal excursion, what fun. Ride the "Soarin Over Copenhagen" thing (I think they call it the Star Swinger or something) if you are not afraid of heights. I hope you get weather like we got.

Enjoy;

 

[Madisonznana]

Not sure if I saw this answered or not yet but, Were there any MICKEY BARS!!!

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Not sure if I saw this answered or not yet but, Were there any MICKEY BARS!!!

Nope....

they have an ice cream bar covered in chocolate. My tablemate affectionately called it a "duck bill" They just do not have a supplier for them in Europe.

Debbie

 

[3princessMommy]

Not sure if I saw this answered or not yet but, Were there any MICKEY BARS!!!

No.

 

[Madisonznana]

Nope....

they have an ice cream bar covered in chocolate. My tablemate affectionately called it a "duck bill" They just do not have a supplier for them in Europe.

Debbie

DGD is going to be so disappointed. This is her favorite memory of her first Disney cruise. Getting Mickey bars from room service with Papa!

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Definitely a different santa!

I'll say!! Maybe your santa wasn't a morning person I guess we just had the luck of the draw.

Debbie

 

[RJAYL]

Hello from the Magic sailing through the Danish Isles!

You guys will love the Tivoli & Harbor Canal excursion, what fun. Ride the "Soarin Over Copenhagen" thing (I think they call it the Star Swinger or something) if you are not afraid of heights. I hope you get weather like we got.

Thanx we have that excursion booled for my Tribe!

 

[Fivepin]

Anyone know if they have the PB&J uncrustables onboard? We were planning on getting a few those from room service for a couple of places.

Thanks