The 2010 Baltic Thread--Cruise Tips and Planning

[slg]

Can you let me know what DCL says about this tour OURDOGCISCO? It is listed as a signature tour, so my guess is the early entry and guided tour makes it special.

So this is my guess: meet at studio sea at 8:45, collect everyone, get some talk about what we are doing, get to the pier for a 9:30 bus pick up. 15 minutes to drive to Tivoli and then 15 minutes to get to the gate and collect tickets for a 10 am guided tour for one hour. Then at 11 we are free for 5 hours, of which we will have to eat lunch during that time (which will probably take about 1.5-2 hours if its table service...including waiting for a table). Which is only about 3 hours for rides and shows.

I hope that I haven't done the math right and that it actually is more time in the park.

Otherwise, it might be a better idea to take a taxi and go to the park on our own and dispense with the guided tour. A tour is very nice, but the cost to enter Tivoli with unlimited rides is only about 50 dollars. That means we are paying about $150 for a ride there and back, a private tour and lunch. Steep! Perhaps I'm missing something?

 

[MickeyWatch]

We are doing the full day Tivoli tour because
1) Kids deserve it because they will be doing alot of "historical' things and
2) Walt based the original ideas for DL on Tivoli, and I need to see it!

We are booked on the full day Tivoli tour for the reasons above, plus, with the early opening, I think we could explore the park, have lunch, and still have time to leave the park for an hour or two to explore the city and return in time for our bus ride back to the ship. (We all walk fast in our family). I have been considering doing Tivoli on our own and then exploring the city but with the early opening for DCL guests I think we will stick with the tour.
We are on the first Baltic cruise so I guess we are the guinea pigs for this excursion. I will let future cruisers know if this one was worth the extra money.

 

[slg]

We've pretty much decided to book the all day all inclusive tour...for now. If we get bad reviews, we may rethink, but the convenience, the tour and the early opening are all plusses.

The Tivoli Gardens and harbour tour will not work for our family of 5. The 3 boys will not only want to be in the park for one hour and do a ride or two and then be whisked off for a canal tour. They will raise a riot!

Thanks for all your input and I look forward to some reviews! Hopefully it won't be sold out when I book tomorrow night!

 

[MJGirl]

Hi we are from Sudbury, nice to see others here from home!

Yes ... it is nice to see others from home. We are from Waterloo, but have been to Sudbury a couple of times. Nice city!

 

[CarolAnnC]

I believe the Signature excursions require prepayment at time of booking and are nonrefundable. We went with the shorter Tivoli and boat tour excursion with the idea that we may have time to skip back over there after the excursion if we so desire.

Tivoli is a must for us, but I also wanted to see a bit more of Copenhagen. This tour seemed best for us. Otherwise, we may have done it on our own as well.

Good luck to those booking this week...

 

[slg]

Do you think that if we take the harbour tour/tivoli excursion that we could get back into tivoli with our entrance ticket after the harbour tour?

I'm not sure about this, but I thought that the signature excursions that had to be prepaid were the ones that you had to fill out a form for and submit. I could be wrong about this, so if anyone knows please let me know.

I'm not too keen to book and prepay the all day excursion quite yet.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I believe the Signature excursions require prepayment at time of booking and are nonrefundable. We went with the shorter Tivoli and boat tour excursion with the idea that we may have time to skip back over there after the excursion if we so desire.

Tivoli is a must for us, but I also wanted to see a bit more of Copenhagen. This tour seemed best for us. Otherwise, we may have done it on our own as well.

Good luck to those booking this week...

Do you think that if we take the harbour tour/tivoli excursion that we could get back into tivoli with our entrance ticket after the harbour tour?

I'm not sure about this, but I thought that the signature excursions that had to be prepaid were the ones that you had to fill out a form for and submit. I could be wrong about this, so if anyone knows please let me know.

I'm not too keen to book and prepay the all day excursion quite yet.

DCL does confuse people on this, I have booked true signature tours before, and also have done do for the Baltic.

True signature tours are the ones you contact DCL by email, and request personal pricing, its often for private car and van hire, mine is the private reserved train and Berlin tour in a Van.

I paid this up in January 2010, for July, its non refundable, unless the ship doesnt dock. (At Warnemunde).

If you can book it online on the DCL 'my cruise plans' page, and do not pay up, then its normal rules, you can cancel up to 72 hours before, they also call some of these 'signature', just to confuse.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Figures that this would be the one port where the ship docks overnight. Maybe DCL got a great deal on port fees there... and now we know why.

We will be in with I think 7 ships on my Blatic cruise.

 

[cindy18]

Thanks for the information on mosquitos in St. Pete. Frankly, I hadn't given any thought at all to a summer bug issue, given how cool the weather is supposed to be (except in Berlin, I guess). That's a drag. It sounds like those of us doing a white nights type water tour will need to be very careful. Have to believe that Disney/private tour guides help with this or come well prepared for a big bug problem. Anyone been there before and have a view about whether the bugs really detract from the experience, especially at night?

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Thanks for the information on mosquitoes in St. Pete. Frankly, I hadn't given any thought at all to a summer bug issue, given how cool the weather is supposed to be (except in Berlin, I guess). That's a drag. It sounds like those of us doing a white nights type water tour will need to be very careful. Have to believe that Disney/private tour guides help with this or come well prepared for a big bug problem. Anyone been there before and have a view about whether the bugs really detract from the experience, especially at night?

From the reviews I have read there is a consistent message of Bugs being an issue near waterways and at night. Now insect repellent is always on sale in the Ship shops. People have posted St Petes was built on a swamp.

Now if its an issue, I am sure DCL will highlight it, I have stayed at the Polynesian Resort at WDW, when there was an issue on Bay Lake, and we had a warning straight away. Repellent is cheap, so buy as a contingency, a lot is dependent on the prevailing weather conditions at that time and if bugs like it or not.

 

[cindy18]

Repellent is cheap, so buy as a contingency, a lot is dependent on the prevailing weather conditions at that time and if bugs like it or not.

Well put Andrew!

 

[MrsG]

From the reviews I have read there is a consistent message of Bugs being an issue near waterways and at night. Now insect repellent is always on sale in the Ship shops. People have posted St Petes was built on a swamp.

Now if its an issue, I am sure DCL will highlight it, I have stayed at the Polynesian Resort at WDW, when there was an issue on Bay Lake, and we had a warning straight away. Repellent is cheap, so buy as a contingency, a lot is dependent on the prevailing weather conditions at that time and if bugs like it or not.

I agree with Andrew. We were on an ABD in Wyoming and bug spray was cited in things to bring. Our guides had plenty for us to use as well. I am definately going to bring it, though.

 

[sbell111]

So the question is are you going to get a Typhoid shot?

Nope.

 

[MickeyWatch]

Nope.

No for our family too; We also aren't getting H1NI unless we hear of a new outbreak in Europe closer to our sailing date.

 

[sbell111]

No for our family too; We also aren't getting H1NI unless we hear of a new outbreak in Europe closer to our sailing date.

We're covered for that. I've had H1N1, Cathy's had the vaccine (and possibly the flu), and Sarah got the immunity from Cathy, presumably.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Can you let me know what DCL says about this tour OURDOGCISCO? It is listed as a signature tour, so my guess is the early entry and guided tour makes it special.

So this is my guess: meet at studio sea at 8:45, collect everyone, get some talk about what we are doing, get to the pier for a 9:30 bus pick up. 15 minutes to drive to Tivoli and then 15 minutes to get to the gate and collect tickets for a 10 am guided tour for one hour. Then at 11 we are free for 5 hours, of which we will have to eat lunch during that time (which will probably take about 1.5-2 hours if its table service...including waiting for a table). Which is only about 3 hours for rides and shows.

Okay... I think your start time is off. You wouldn't meet at 8:45 am at least that isn't how it worked for the Med cruise. They had you meet way before the departure time to check-in. It will be on the Navigator each day and it was always earlier than our departure time. We always showed up early so, you got on the 1st bus. You would be the first to leave. Our friends were always late and were the last to leave. Once on the bus we did not wait for others. You just went on the tour. As expensive as this tour is I'm wondering if it will be limited to a smaller group of people. Anyways... I did e-mail Disney and they confirmed what I understood. They said that you would meet at an earlier time to check-in and you are scheduled to leave to be on the bus by 8:45 am. I did asked what time would we be at Tivoli and how long the tour would be. And, they don't know the answer but they are researching it.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Okay... here's the timeline for the Tivoli Tour:

See below for the response..
Meeting time onboard for this tour is 8:30am.
Will leave the Pier approximately 8:45am.
The ride each way to the park is approximately 15 mins.

Arrive Park approximately 9:00-9:15am
Guided tour approximately 1 – 1.5 hours
Approximately 1 hour for lunch
Up to 5 hours of free time.


So it works out to:

8:30 Meet
8:45 Leave to go to pier
9:00-9:15 Arrive at park
9:00-10:30 Tour
10:30-11:30 Lunch
11:30 - 4:00 Park time.

So, it does not appear to be exactly 5 hours of park time. I was going to e-mail back and ask about the early entry. From this response it seems like the early entry will be all tour.

Tina

 

[goingsouth]

Based on that schedule, if rides are the objective, there does not appear to be any advantage to taking the DCL tour for early, exclusive entry. Am I misunderstanding?


Joanne

 

[MickeyWatch]

Tina,
Can you also asked them if we are required to stay with the tour group for 1 1/2 hours? Or can we explore the park on our own? Also, will the tour include getting on some rides that are open early for DCL?

Thank you,
Patti

 

[Rogillio]

So what plans have you for Helsinki? Looking at the excursions I'm amazed that a 2 hr walking tour costs $59?! For a family of 4, $236. Are you kidding me?! For a walking tour?! Oh, well, presumably that price includes a cup of coffee and a pastry.

Looks like yet another DIY port! I'm feeling a little guilty....we are doing every port except SPR on our own. OK, not really feeling guilty....but I am kind of disappointed that the shore excursion are so high. Maybe DCL figures people who spent $14k for a Cat 4 or 5 won't mind paying a few grand more for excursions.

Oh well, it will be interesting to compare trip reports later this summer and see how people liked the excursions and how people who DIY'd the ports ended up.

~Mike