The 2010 Baltic Thread--Cruise Tips and Planning

[slg]

Thanks so much.

 

[jilljill]

I see a couple of people have mentioned going to the Ice Bar in Stockholm, if you are going to be in London pre/post cruise there's an Ice Bar there in case you don't want to cut into your Stockholm time.
I had looked into going to the Stockholm Ice Bar but the times weren't appealing to me on when they are open. If you look at the 7/18 Baltics meets thread there's a link to the Stockholm Ice Bar in the first post.
We went to an Ice Bar in Australia so it's not imperative that we visit one in either Stockholm or London, but if you haven't been to one they are really neat to go to.

 

[Rogillio]

Rogillio -- I have a question.

Will the HOHO combo tickets you purchased be delivered to your home or do you have to pick them up in Stockholm?

Good question. I have no idea. They emailed us a voucher but I'm not sure where we actually get the passes. I just sent thm an email asking about this. I'll let you know as soon as I hear back.

~Mike

 

[Fivepin]

Try this one

http://www.magicalbalticcruise.com/excursion-starting-info.html

That was the one I was trying to post.s I must have done something wrong. I had it saved in a Word document with some research notes.

 

[jilljill]

I just posted this link on our meets thread as a reminder, so I'll post it here as well. It's a link to a self-guided walking tour of Tallinn, which is very doable on your own: http://www.brentjes.com/tallinnwalk.html
The link is at least 2 years old, since I had saved it from our Baltics cruise that we took in 2008.

 

[DL1957]

Thanks so much.

The list is great however this is one thing wrong with it. There are more 1/2 cruises offered on day 1 in St. Petersburg than are listed.

 

[denise]

Hi Denise-

Guess we're not the only ones going to the HRC. My DH and I have been collecting city tees for quite awhile. I'm not sure about the HOHO. That is what we are leaning towards. We want to do the ice bar as well, still waiting for our time frame to open up to make reservations. I was able to make one in Copenhagen just in case I can't get stockholm. I can cancel that 48 hrs prior and didn't have to pay up front.
Are you going to try to hit HRC in Berlin? As of right now, we're not going into Berlin.

The plan is to go the the HRC in Berlin. DD wants to see what's left of the wall and the HRC of course. We are going to do the Disney on your own in Berlin.
Got your PM, sure no problem...just have to remember... i'm old my kid tells me...
My DH collects HRC pins and T's also and at one time had one of the biggest collections of pins. He is featured in the HRC Book! The centerfold no less!
When we were in Athens HRC the upstairs is wallpapered with the fold out from the book. His pins! It was beyond cool. He had to prove they were his to the manager who seated us. Yes we ate there.needed some American food (we are Greek so it was a nice change)..The manager just kept saying we sell those pins at all the HRC's. I said no those are HIS PINS. He got a copy of the book and saw the credits and my DH showed his credit card so the names matched....then he believed him.
When we were in the Hawaii HRC they had him autograph the book!
We don't plan vacations around HRC but if there is one where we are, we must see it when we are there.
We will have to talk before we go!

 

[denise]

any one have any luck printing out the HOHO map in Sweden? Don't know what I am doing wrong. It just will not print...

 

[mom_rules]

I know some one posted but a question-if you are in St. Petersburg on Monday and Tuesday and you want to do the St. Catharines Palace and Hermitage tour (one is open on Monday and the other on Tuesday?) will you be denied the combo tour and have to book them separately?

 

[Rogillio]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Traveling Tinkerbell
Rogillio -- I have a question.

Will the HOHO combo tickets you purchased be delivered to your home or do you have to pick them up in Stockholm?


Good question. I have no idea. They emailed us a voucher but I'm not sure where we actually get the passes. I just sent thm an email asking about this. I'll let you know as soon as I hear back.

~Mike


OK, I got an email back this morning:

Thank you for your booking!



It is just to show up your confirmation for the bus driver/ the ticket booth!



Very welcome to Stockholm ,

Enjoy!
​

Man, ya just gotta love emails like this! LOL Yes, we will be visiting an land where English is not their primary language.


So I figure we will just bring the voucher to the nearest bus or ticket booth we see and they will give us the tickets. Since the HOHO busses serve the cruise ports, I'm guessing there will be booths very visible near the port.


On a related note.....I saw the HOHO acronym here and so started using it in emails to my wife. She said she thought it was fun that we'd be riding the Ho Ho busses. I told her that my son and I were going to show up with red Christmas hats and tell them we were looking for the Ho Ho bus.

~Mike

 

[Rogillio]

any one have any luck printing out the HOHO map in Sweden? Don't know what I am doing wrong. It just will not print...

Yeah, I printed it. I printed it on 8.5x14 paper and it is just barely readable. I think 8.5x11 paper might be too small to read so if you can, print on bigger paper.

~Mike


http://get.adobe.com/reader/


I think you need Adobe Reader. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free at the above site.

 

[wintergreen]

On a related note.....I saw the HOHO acronym here and so started using it in emails to my wife. She said she thought it was fun that we'd be riding the Ho Ho busses. I told her that my son and I were going to show up with red Christmas hats and tell them we were looking for the Ho Ho bus.

~Mike

My thoughts, exactly!

 

[sbell111]

any one have any luck printing out the HOHO map in Sweden? Don't know what I am doing wrong. It just will not print...

Try printing it from these links:

Stockholm Viator HOHO bus map

The Stromma map is a pop-up from this page. Right click the map and choose print.

 

[MrsScooby]

On a related note.....I saw the HOHO acronym here and so started using it in emails to my wife. She said she thought it was fun that we'd be riding the Ho Ho busses. I told her that my son and I were going to show up with red Christmas hats and tell them we were looking for the Ho Ho bus.

~Mike

My thoughts, exactly!

Really...

I was actually picturing a different kind of HoHo

 

[Traveling Tinkerbell]

Rogillio,

Thanks so much for checking about the HOHO voucher. I was worried we would have to get a taxi to the Stockholm TI to turn in the voucher for the tickets. I think a lot of us will be doing the same thing!

 

[jilljill]

I know some one posted but a question-if you are in St. Petersburg on Monday and Tuesday and you want to do the St. Catharines Palace and Hermitage tour (one is open on Monday and the other on Tuesday?) will you be denied the combo tour and have to book them separately?

Call DCL and see what they are doing in this case.

 

[dylan'smom]

Really...

I was actually picturing a different kind of HoHo

We were planning to do this...thanks to everyone for the wonderful info!!!!

Also, for anyone planning on going to the Ice Bar there, anyone taking less-than-21s with them?? Worried DS18 will either want to sample the drinks he can't, but maybe the uniqueness of the place will be fun for him too.

 

[aurorafan65]

I know some one posted but a question-if you are in St. Petersburg on Monday and Tuesday and you want to do the St. Catharines Palace and Hermitage tour (one is open on Monday and the other on Tuesday?) will you be denied the combo tour and have to book them separately?

on our crusie meet thread someone posted that they had contacted DCL about Catherine's Palace & the Hermitage & both places have agreed to be open on both days for DCL - it's probably only for DCL so if you are planning a private excursion this might not work for you (I haven't read back far enough to see what your situation is)

 

[denise]

We were planning to do this...thanks to everyone for the wonderful info!!!!

Also, for anyone planning on going to the Ice Bar there, anyone taking less-than-21s with them?? Worried DS18 will either want to sample the drinks he can't, but maybe the uniqueness of the place will be fun for him too.

Our DD is 20 and she will be going. My understanding is if on the Disney tour then it's soda for the under 21. If on your own, then 18 and up is ok
check out this site for age limits
http://icap.org/table/MinimumAgeLimitsWorldwide

 

[dylan'smom]

Our DD is 20 and she will be going. My understanding is if on the Disney tour then it's soda for the under 21. If on your own, then 18 and up is ok
check out this site for age limits
http://icap.org/table/MinimumAgeLimitsWorldwide

Wow, thanks! What an interesting web site. DS will be interested, lol. We may do DCL's so maybe we could give him a taste...depending on if it's policed or not.