The 2010 Baltic Thread--Cruise Tips and Planning

[Rogillio]

Just spent the last 2 hrs filling out all the on-line stuff for the cruise. Anyone else already done this or am just too anxious? We sail in 62 day!

~Mike

 

[RJAYL]

Just spent the last 2 hrs filling out all the on-line stuff for the cruise. Anyone else already done this or am just too anxious? We sail in 62 day!

~Mike

I did mine awhile ago & we dont sail for about 99 days!

 

[carolmb]

Just spent the last 2 hrs filling out all the on-line stuff for the cruise. Anyone else already done this or am just too anxious? We sail in 62 day!

~Mike

Mine is done...but I still need to fill out the payment forms. The cruise will be here before we know it. My kids get of school on Friday, June 4th and we leave for London on Monday, June 7th. It will be a busy weekend.
Carol

 

[Caropooh]

Mine is done...but I still need to fill out the payment forms. The cruise will be here before we know it. My kids get of school on Friday, June 4th and we leave for London on Monday, June 7th. It will be a busy weekend.
Carol

I think I'm one better than your kids! I get off work at 2:00PM on July 14th and our flight leaves 4 hours and 50 minutes later! I'm using up all my vacation for this trip, so that's how it had to be!

 

[gydell]

Just spent the last 2 hrs filling out all the on-line stuff for the cruise. Anyone else already done this or am just too anxious? We sail in 62 day!

~Mike

Done mine!

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Andrew

We will be in London prior to the June 12 cruise for about 2.5 days. I notice that the Trooping of the Colour is on June 12. Will the week leading up to that be unusually busy? And will this affect anyone that is travelling by train to Dover that morning?

Thanks!

Debbie

 

[MrsScooby]

We are staying near Marble Arch while in London. Our return flight is at 9am on Saturday from Gatwick.
Any suggestions on the route from Marble Arch to Gatwick very early on a Saturday morning (probably arriving to the airport by 7am)?
And how much time to allow of the 7 of us (we will each have a large suitcase)?
How different are the Tube schedules on Saturday?
Will we have much "rush hour" on a Saturday? .. I would assume not..
Would you recommend just hiring a car to come and pick us up? (Would traffic take forever?)
Thanks so much .. this is the last of my big planning and we should be good to go..

Also staying near the Marble Arch, but on a different sailing than you. We'll be there (Parkwood) 7/16-7/18 for the last Baltic. Post back here and let me know what you like about the area

I think I'm one better than your kids! I get off work at 2:00PM on July 14th and our flight leaves 4 hours and 50 minutes later! I'm using up all my vacation for this trip, so that's how it had to be!

Working on the 15th and flying out the night of the 15th
Hope it will help me sleep on the flight.
I think I'll start packing the weekend before

 

[Caropooh]

Also staying near the Marble Arch, but on a different sailing than you. We'll be there (Parkwood) 7/16-7/18 for the last Baltic. Post back here and let me know what you like about the area



Working on the 15th and flying out the night of the 15th
Hope it will help me sleep on the flight.
I think I'll start packing the weekend before

Luckily Andrew is off starting on the Monday, so he can do packing also. (Yes, I trust him!)

 

[ktkspider]

Also staying near the Marble Arch, but on a different sailing than you. We'll be there (Parkwood) 7/16-7/18 for the last Baltic. Post back here and let me know what you like about the area

We are also staying at the Parkwood. We will be there July 6-10th. I will post when we get home....

I also noticed you were from Virginia.. so are we.. Hampton Roads area...

 

[slg]

We're staying at the Parkwood also July 18-30! And we need to get back to Gatwick for a 10 am flight. I thought we would just book a taxi...it'll be about 100 pounds for the 5 of us I think. I don't think I want to attempt the tube so early in the morning...too nerve-wracking. But if anyone has any great ideas, please share.

How are you getting to the Parkwood from Dover? I thought we would do the Leeds excursion which drops off at the Grosvenor hotel which is about 5 minutes away from the parkwood. If that doesn't pan out, just planning on catching a national express to victoria station and then a taxi (or 2 I guess as there are 5 of us).

Love to hear other Parkwood reviews and plans! How did you find out about it? I booked January 2009 and posted on these boards back then. I found out about it through sleeps 5.com.

 

[ktkspider]

We're staying at the Parkwood also July 18-30! And we need to get back to Gatwick for a 10 am flight. I thought we would just book a taxi...it'll be about 100 pounds for the 5 of us I think. I don't think I want to attempt the tube so early in the morning...too nerve-wracking. But if anyone has any great ideas, please share.

How are you getting to the Parkwood from Dover? I thought we would do the Leeds excursion which drops off at the Grosvenor hotel which is about 5 minutes away from the parkwood. If that doesn't pan out, just planning on catching a national express to victoria station and then a taxi (or 2 I guess as there are 5 of us).

Love to hear other Parkwood reviews and plans! How did you find out about it? I booked January 2009 and posted on these boards back then. I found out about it through sleeps 5.com.

Too Funny! It looks like the Disney Ships will have the Parkwood booked up for a good bit of the summer.. I sure hope it is a good place. the reviews I have read have been pretty positive. It looks like we are the first to give it a try. I will post when we get home how it was.

We have hired dovertaxis for a private transfer... 200L for 7 of us..

I think we got the Parkwood from Trip Advisor.. not sure as we booked it so long ago..

 

[MrsScooby]

Luckily Andrew is off starting on the Monday, so he can do packing also. (Yes, I trust him!)

Lucky you
No way could my DH pack for me
I've got too many sizes in my closet

We are also staying at the Parkwood. We will be there July 6-10th. I will post when we get home....

I also noticed you were from Virginia.. so are we.. Hampton Roads area...

Hey
We're in Fairfax (near Chantilly). Nice to see someone relatively close by
I'll be looking for your posts

We're staying at the Parkwood also July 18-30! And we need to get back to Gatwick for a 10 am flight. I thought we would just book a taxi...it'll be about 100 pounds for the 5 of us I think. I don't think I want to attempt the tube so early in the morning...too nerve-wracking. But if anyone has any great ideas, please share.

How are you getting to the Parkwood from Dover? I thought we would do the Leeds excursion which drops off at the Grosvenor hotel which is about 5 minutes away from the parkwood. If that doesn't pan out, just planning on catching a national express to victoria station and then a taxi (or 2 I guess as there are 5 of us).

Love to hear other Parkwood reviews and plans! How did you find out about it? I booked January 2009 and posted on these boards back then. I found out about it through sleeps 5.com.

Someone from the Dis came on our meet thread and mentioned the Parkwood a while back (June 2009). Gotta love the price for a family of 4
We're there prior to our cruise and a friend is arranging transport to the port for us and then airport.
The Parkwood did say they could help with rides to and from the airport though Send them an email and see what they say.

Too Funny! It looks like the Disney Ships will have the Parkwood booked up for a good bit of the summer.. I sure hope it is a good place. the reviews I have read have been pretty positive. It looks like we are the first to give it a try. I will post when we get home how it was.

We have hired dovertaxis for a private transfer... 200L for 7 of us..

I think we got the Parkwood from Trip Advisor.. not sure as we booked it so long ago..

I've seen mostly good reviews too
A little worried about there being no elevator though
We'll be able to work off the breakfast with the stairs
Really don't want to forget anything in the room

 

[slg]

Well perhaps it was me that mentioned the Parkwood since until now I haven't seen anyone else mention it and I've been on these boards since day 1!

I'm pretty excited about going there actually. The location looks prime. I don't care about elevators, I try not to use them as much as possible. Every little bit of exercise helps!

I've booked with Silverline from Gatwick to Dover, but haven't booked back from Parkwood to Gatwick. I thought I'd just go with what the hotel suggested much closer to the time.

 

[has]

Paper work is finally done and printed. It's been so long since we have had 70degree weather. I hope we have a few days before we leave so I can remember what it is I wear when it's warm.
All that is left to do is read about where we are going and throwing in the clothes.
Happy Planning
Heidi

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Andrew

We will be in London prior to the June 12 cruise for about 2.5 days. I notice that the Trooping of the Colour is on June 12. Will the week leading up to that be unusually busy? And will this affect anyone that is travelling by train to Dover that morning?

Thanks!

Debbie

Trooping the colour is nice to watch, but the effect is very localised in time and the area, and overall that will not have an effect in itself. But London is very busy now, and will be busy in June. The £ is low against Euro and $, and great value, with easy connections to Europe via Eurostar, and the next Olympic host city, and a centre for theater and heritage, believe me we are popular, and i have seen wait times at attractions of two hours plus.

There will not be any effect on the trains however to Dover.

Things that do effect London are Wimbledon, (end June) and major concerts, live aid etc. Major sporting events.

 

[MJGirl]

Hey Andrew .. apologies for being off topic here, but without giving show plots away, what do you think about Matt Smith as the new Doctor Who? Next week we get to see Episode 1! Thanks

 

[aurorafan65]

Hey Andrew .. apologies for being off topic here, but without giving show plots away, what do you think about Matt Smith as the new Doctor Who? Next week we get to see Episode 1! Thanks

ooohh good questions - we've been waiting for the new episode. I got my eldest ds hooked on the Doctor

 

[slg]

Okay...need some advice. At the moment I've booked the evening canal cruise for the first night in St.P, but I'm debating on changing it to the second night.

We're booked on the Peterof Parks and Fountains the first day (returning at 4:45) and the Hermitage and Catherine's Palace the second day which has a meeting time of 7:15!

We have 3 boys: 14,11,8.

Originally we thought the first night would be better for the canal as we are only off the boat for a short period of time, however, with the second day tour starting so early I'm wondering is we shouldn't just try to get to bed early. My dh says that its unlikely we'll get to bed any earlier if we don't go on the canal cruise, and that we might be super tired the second day after getting up so early and touring all day.

I just can't decide what's best If we go the first day, we can't get to bed early (but we have a hard time with that on cruises anyway), and if we go the second day we might be too tired to enjoy it.

So what do you experts think?

 

[Doingitagain]

Okay...need some advice. At the moment I've booked the evening canal cruise for the first night in St.P, but I'm debating on changing it to the second night.

We're booked on the Peterof Parks and Fountains the first day (returning at 4:45) and the Hermitage and Catherine's Palace the second day which has a meeting time of 7:15!

We have 3 boys: 14,11,8.

Originally we thought the first night would be better for the canal as we are only off the boat for a short period of time, however, with the second day tour starting so early I'm wondering is we shouldn't just try to get to bed early. My dh says that its unlikely we'll get to bed any earlier if we don't go on the canal cruise, and that we might be super tired the second day after getting up so early and touring all day.

I just can't decide what's best If we go the first day, we can't get to bed early (but we have a hard time with that on cruises anyway), and if we go the second day we might be too tired to enjoy it.

So what do you experts think?

We are doing the canal cruise the first night. We were worried about it being rushed the second night since the ship is leaving. We thought the first night would be more leisurely since they wouldn't be so concerned about getting back to the ship.

 

[MrsScooby]

We are doing the canal cruise the first night. We were worried about it being rushed the second night since the ship is leaving. We thought the first night would be more leisurely since they wouldn't be so concerned about getting back to the ship.

Us too

Plus I like the overview kind of tour in the beginning if I can get it that way