Who has been on the 7 night N. European cruise?

[PHamrick]

We are going next summer (2018). I basically want to know everything! I've looked at all the personal navigators that are available, but the ones from 2016 aren't complete. Here are some of the questions I have (in no particular order), BUT any info or tips you have to share welcome!

1. Do they do the Royal Tea on the Magic?
2. What shows are on the Magic?
3. did you watch any movies? Did you feel like you had time to watch movies?
4. Did you (or your kids) go swimming? What about the Aqua Dunk?
5. Is it pretty sure they will have the Frozen Deck Party? If so, what day was it and how were the activities surrounding it? How was the Nordic dinner?
6. What was your favorite port and why?
7. What was your favorite excursion/activity on land and why?
8. We are going to Amsterdam first. Anyone done this? How easy/quick is it to get to Copenhagen and the port? We are going to fly in Thursday morning from Amsterdam, but wondering where the airport is and how long it will take us to get to the port?
9. Has anyone done the Finnish reindeer excursion? Very interested in this one and wondering how good it is/was.
10. Are there princesses on board (this PROBABLY should have been my first question since it is CRITICAL that my daughter be back amongst "her people")
11. Did you do any activities on board that really stood out?
12. Do they have the awesome dinner show at Animator's Palate?
13. How much time did you spend on deck? can you watch the cities go by?
14. Were there any adult activities that were particularly fun?

WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW????? WAY over excited for a trip that is more than a year away! Thank you so much! Any pictures you care to share are also welcome!

 

[okamy]

We did the Northern Europe cruise last summer (2016), and it was our favorite of our 6 Disney cruises. It was the perfect mix of Disney magic/service and amazing European ports. You will love it! I will try to answer your questions:

1. I do not believe they offered the Royal Tea on our cruise.

2. I think the shows were Twice Charmed, Tangled, and Disney Dreams.

3. I didn't watch any movies but my daughters (ages 12 and 10) and our friends' son (age 10) watched 2 movies while the adults went to tasting classes.

4. The kids went swimming a few times and did the AquaDunk.

5. The Frozen Deck Party was okay but not our favorite. It started raining really hard during the performance part, so they stopped the show. They moved it to later that evening and started again from the beginning. It was really cold on deck, and we were underwhelmed, so we left in the middle. It would probably be more fun for younger kids who are really into Frozen.

6. My favorite port was probably St. Petersburg simply because everything we saw was so spectacular. We did a private tour with SPB tours for the 7 of us and packed a lot of sights into about 10 hours. I hadn't been that excited about Russia before the trip, but it really blew me away. The kids, though, preferred Tallinn. I loved that port, too, and would have loved to have spent more time in Stockholm. Helsinki was the least impressive port, but it was still a charming city. The pacing of the trip was perfect because after a long day in St. Petersburg (especially for the kids), we arrived around noon in Helsinki and didn't have any "must-see" stuff. In fact, my husband took the kids back to the ship after an hour or so and took them to the pool. The rest of us just strolled around and did some shopping.

7. See my answer to #6. Our tour in St. Petersburg was my favorite. A close second, though, was our walking tour of Old Town Tallinn with Estonian Experience.

8. We flew into Copenhagen and spent 3 nights there before the cruise, so I can't answer this one.

9. Didn't do that excursion.

10. We saw Anna and Elsa (and Olaf), Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Belle. There may have been others I'm forgetting. There weren't that many little kids on this cruise. The character lines were very manageable and interaction was great.

11. We liked the Anna & Elsa chocolate/scavenger hunt. Also, it was really cool how they incorporated Tangled into other parts of the ship on that night. Be sure to check out the "Snuggly Duckling."

12. Yes

13. We didn't spend much time on deck because we were busy with other activities. The one exception was the sail out of Stockholm -- don't miss this. I understand the sail into Stockholm was equally impressive, but I was still asleep! I don't really recall being that close to land at any other time in the trip.

14. We thought the wine tasting and mixology classes on this cruise were the best we've done on any ship.

You will have a great time!

 

[sabrecmc]

We sailed in 2014, and your other questions were pretty much answered, but I would add that we loved Tallinn and Helsinki the most, I think because we did private tours there. We used Estonian Experience in Tallinn and got a great old town tour with archery and marizpan making. In Helsinki, we did a city tour and then went out to this indoor ice house place where we had igloos, sled dog pull, sledding down an ice hill, etc. for the kids and vodka in ice cups for the adults, lol. It was a LOT of fun. Cold, but fun. So, I would encourage private tours where you can. That made a world of difference.

Russia was amazing, but it was a really long, long day. Probably would've done a half day in retrospect with my daughter. They canceled the princess dance thing at the palace, which was really disappointing.

 

[GPaLarry]

We did it out of and back to Dover. Agree that St. Pete's was best port because of unique sites and excursions (Swan Lake was very cool) and Tallinn walking tour was a close second, even in the rain. Frozen day/night was fun. However, they were just practicing the deck party on our cruise and it was underwhelming. It is just a glorified sail away party to me, with Frozen characters...lots of dancing around to fast music, random characters until last few minutes and snow machines were weak. We also did the scavenger hunt around the ship which was great fun. There were few kids on this cruise, just a few more than on WBTA we did a year later. We flew into London two days early in order to see the city. These cruises seem to change departure ports each year.
Animator's Palate had the changing colors and video show one night and placemat drawing next time, but no Crush. This cruise, like the Mediterranean one we did last Sept., is heavy on history when it comes to excursions, but they do have a few that are kid-friendly. Tivoli was awesome and was the inspiration for Walt to create Disneyland. The DCL tour got us in there one hour before the official opening. We then stayed for three hours with the advantage of knowing which attractions to hit when the gates opened. We had a great time (no kids/grandkids) with plenty to do in or out of port. Have fun!!

 

[jrabbit]

I was on a 12 night northern cruise a few years ago - so we had more sea days between Dover and the Baltic....

2. What shows are on the Magic? Main shows probably will not change - so the list already provided should be a lock. There were two other shows that stood out to me A) a group called ABBA Fab - the name says it all. They were great and a lot of fun. One night in Fathoms they did a "non" ABBA show - also was fantastic. and B) there was a dance troupe call something like "Light Magic". They danced in "black light" costumes and they drew on clear screen - their pictures glowed for a while. Was Freaky Good and Amazingly different.

3. did you watch any movies? Did you feel like you had time to watch movies? I've been on board DCL cruise for 120+ nights and have seen about 3 movies other than those shown for the main entertainment for the night. IMO Just too many other things to do.

4. Did you (or your kids) go swimming? What about the Aqua Dunk? I did do the AquaDunk a few times - love it! - But NOT on this trip - on a different Magic Cruise. No time (really) for swimming - even with a few sea days - we found LOTS of other things to do.

5. Is it pretty sure they will have the Frozen Deck Party? If so, what day was it and how were the activities surrounding it? Yes Freezing the Night away. We had the Anna's Chocolate Challenge - clues and a scavenger hunt over 3 days to find all of Anna's "stuff". Won some Frosted Rice Krispie treats.

6. Favorite Port: Tallinn

... to be continued

 

[janiebubble]

We're on the Northern Europe 7 night from in a month. The Royal Tea was available I think (we don't have children but someone in our fb group is booked on it. Frozen night is scheduled for Stockholm night. There is no pirate night. We had the frozen menu on our Dover to Barcelona cruise last year. We didn't like or dislike it anymore than any other menu. That 7 night did have the Animators show so I would presume this would too. Can let you know more when we get back!!

 

[PHamrick]

We're on the Northern Europe 7 night from in a month. The Royal Tea was available I think (we don't have children but someone in our fb group is booked on it. Frozen night is scheduled for Stockholm night. There is no pirate night. We had the frozen menu on our Dover to Barcelona cruise last year. We didn't like or dislike it anymore than any other menu. That 7 night did have the Animators show so I would presume this would too. Can let you know more when we get back!!

I can't wait to hear all about it! We are very much looking forward to this trip!

 

[PurplePencil]

When returning into Copenhagen, there is a bridge you go under. (You also pass it going out). It is really fun to stand on deck watching it.
You also at one point are close by to Germany...so close that you get cell reception.

 

[jrabbit]

6. What was your favorite port and why? (Continued) ... Favorite to least Favorite: Tallinn, followed by St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Helsinki & Copenhagen (tied for 3rd), with Berlin bringing up the bottom of the list by a long way (in Berlin we did a city tour - not really our thing and "everything" was on the other side of the bus, and at times the skies opened up like summer time at WDW!! but not with the warmth).

7. What was your favorite excursion/activity on land and why?

• in St. Petersburg on day 1 we did an "all day" tour with several hours at the Hermitage, and several other stops, but did not get to go inside the "Church of the Spilled Blood" (the outside was way cool), but the Hermitage was the star of the day ('nuff said)
• in St. Petersburg on day 2 was Catherines Palace and Peterhoff - by far the best tour we had on this trip: Catherine's Palace and the Summer Palace (Peterhoff) are SPECTACULAR - and the fountains on the grounds of Peterhoff are way Cool!!
• in Tallinn - we did a walking tour - got to go into one of the towers in the walls. Very good tour, great guide, interesting history. It is interesting talking to the Estonians - they make it a point to say that they have been free for only (now) 26 years. I am afraid that the Russians will retake the Baltic states again in my lifetime
• in Copenhagen our tour went to Rosenburg Castle (crown jewels are here - I'm a "straight guy" - and I wouldn't mind wearing the emerald necklace - will pass on the earrings) and Christiansborg Slot (the more recent royal palace). And we had a mid morning Danish stop in Denmark
• Stockholm: toured the royal palace and had a guided boat tour of a small part of Stockholm. I wish that I realized how close (really) the Vasa museum and the ABBA museum were to downtown where the shuttle stopped (we took it back into town after our tour). I would have figured out how to get to those locations and back to the ship before leaving home.
• Helsinki - on our own: The Church of the Rock, The Lutheran and Russian Churches, the waterfront marketplace and Suomenlinna Island / Fortress (caught the ferry from the waterfront marketplace). The island and fortress is pretty cool - if you like that sort of thing. The local come out here for picnics and we were there on an absolutely beautiful day. We arrived in time for a guided tour in English which was very informative.
• Berlin - we should have picked a different tour that concentrated on a specific area, rather than a See It All In One Day tour (this did verify that we are NOT into those kinds of tours). And it was a very long day with a 3 hour train ride each direction. I think that 75% of the guests did a tour in Berlin.

10. Are there princesses on board - Well Duh It's Disney and where there's Disney and Little Girls - there ARE Princesses!! No worries here, and your daughter will be back with her people.
11. Did you do any activities on board that really stood out? We liked Anna's Chocolate Challenge - but it was pretty easy (supposed to be). With the additional sea days they did do some very difficult picture scavenger hunts (find the thing in the itty bitty picture that only shows a teeny tiny bit of the thing). There were a LOT of people wandering the ship looking for these.

12. Do they have the awesome dinner show at Animator's Palate? I don't know what you mean by the Awesome Dinner Show, but with Animators was SIGNIFICANTLY upgraded during dry dock several years ago. So yes, the pictures on the wall, start B&W and turn to color and eventually animate and the room changes colors as well. And we did have the "Drawn to Animation" show one night (with the very limited dinner menu)

13. How much time did you spend on deck? can you watch the cities go by? - It's light outside until 11pm (or later). Leaving Stockholm was particularly beautiful sailing through the archipelago!! Highly recommended.

14. Were there any adult activities that were particularly fun? We enjoy seeing the entertainers do their "adults only" shows in Fathoms.

Long Days, "Late" Nights, Tired, repeat. Best Cruise Ever!!

 

[KDG]

We are going next summer (2018). I basically want to know everything! I've looked at all the personal navigators that are available, but the ones from 2016 aren't complete. Here are some of the questions I have (in no particular order), BUT any info or tips you have to share welcome!

1. Do they do the Royal Tea on the Magic?

Not last summer

2. What shows are on the Magic?

Already answered by other posters.

3. did you watch any movies? Did you feel like you had time to watch movies?

Yes, we saw Finding Dory-was irritated that you had to pay for popcorn and drinks when every other snack on board is free. Don't sit in the back row of the theater-there is no room for your knees. Movie was great.

4. Did you (or your kids) go swimming? What about the Aqua Dunk?

Not much time for swimming but the adult hot tubs sure were nice!

5. Is it pretty sure they will have the Frozen Deck Party? If so, what day was it and how were the activities surrounding it? How was the Nordic dinner?

It was the night leaving Stockholm. Everyone gets light up snowflake necklaces to wear that evening. It was cold andI was glad I had packed a hat and gloves. But the chilly weather made it perfect for Frozen!

6. What was your favorite port and why?

St. Petersburg. Booked a tour with Anastasia Tours and it was fantastic.

7. What was your favorite excursion/activity on land and why?

See question 6


8. We are going to Amsterdam first. Anyone done this? How easy/quick is it to get to Copenhagen and the port? We are going to fly in Thursday morning from Amsterdam, but wondering where the airport is and how long it will take us to get to the port?

We flew in to Copenhagen from Disneyland Paris. We stayed the night at the Tivoli Hotel and took a short cab ride to the port.

9. Has anyone done the Finnish reindeer excursion? Very interested in this one and wondering how good it is/was.

Did not do this excursion.

10. Are there princesses on board (this PROBABLY should have been my first question since it is CRITICAL that my daughter be back amongst "her people")

lots of chances to meet the princesses. Get tickets upon boarding, I think.

11. Did you do any activities on board that really stood out?

Wine tasting class--take notes as they didn't have handouts to remember things by, cooking demonstration making apple streudel with wine and samples, rainforest room, character breakfast, Tangled and shopping. There was a special shop onboard selling crafts from the Baltic countries. All were authentic items and knit goods but pricey!

12. Do they have the awesome dinner show at Animator's Palate?

Both dinners at AP were memorable.

13. How much time did you spend on deck? can you watch the cities go by?

Had a veranda and spent a lot of time watching the docking and sail away. Loved the trip into Stockholm archipelago! Many tiny islands and we were close enough to wave to people and we followed another cruise ship in. Don't miss this by sleeping in! Also, when sailing back out, we had dinner at Palo and could see everything from our window seat table. Just beautiful and we saw a double rainbow after a rain shower.

14. Were there any adult activities that were particularly fun?

See #11

WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW????? WAY over excited for a trip that is more than a year away! Thank you so much! Any pictures you care to share are also welcome!

Take warmer clothes. It isn't like the Caribbean. I was glad I had taken a pair of jeans, a warm jacket, a hat and lightweight gloves in the evenings. And take a raincoat. I wore mine several times. We had a wonderful time on that cruise and had amazing crew members. We would probably never have visited these cities if it hadn't been for this cruise. You'll get a better value for your money buying souvenirs in Tallin. We didn't book an excursion in Tallin, just followed Rick Steves' northern cruise book suggestions and loved touring on our own. I recommend buying this book as it was so informative.

Have a great time!

 

[jrabbit]

I will second the Rick Steves bookS!! (linked to his guidebooks)

When we go to Europe, we use his County and / or City books to determine what we want to see and do. LOTS of great info. I actually have not used his cruising books yet.

 

[GPaLarry]

I have to second or third Rick Steves books for not only the Northern ports but the Mediterranean ports as well. He has maps, too.

 

[sls239]

We'll be leaving on this cruise in a couple of weeks. I see information on where the ship will be docked for the departure port (Copenhagen Oceankai), but not for the other ports, which except for Tallinn appear to have multiple port areas. Is this something that we can find out ahead of time, or if it's the same from year to year, where does the Magic typically dock? Thanks in advance!

 

[michellekcm]

We liked Tallin and Stockholm the best. We did the Skansen outdoor museum and Pippi Longstocking museum excursion through Disney (it's called something different but can't remember now), and all of us (kids aged 2 and 6) loved it.

In Tallin we just walked around Old Town ourselves, then my husband and I did the KGB Hotel tour - we just pre-booked online. That was fascinating.

We thought the Frozen deck party was brilliant - my kids absolutely loved it. I also loved the menu - Elsa's Coronation Scallops are my favourite DCL dish.

 

[aggiedog]

We did the Baltic Cruise 2 years ago. We had a great time. We did the reindeer excursion. It was our first cruise (so last to sign up for excursions), I got online at midnight, and we got the last 3 spots. Sign up early. It was fun, and we really enjoyed seeing the reindeer. We loaded a big tour bus at the port, rode an hour out of town with a local guide who somewhat droned the whole time (though the info she had was really interesting.) We got to a nature reserve, hiked maybe a mile thru the woods, then got to an area where you can feed the reindeer from a platform. They eat balls of local moss. There was also a small souvenir shop and a large Tipi type thing that you could drink coffee and eat pastries in (complimentary.) We then had maybe 45 minutes for a short walk and tour of a typical Finnish vacation cabin, where dd found a swing out back, so she was happy with that.

It was not the most exciting of tours, but I got to check "feed reindeer" off my bucket list, so I was happy.

Tallinn was our favorite port. We did a food walking tour we arranged ourselves. Stockholm tied for first place - we did a DCL tour of the old town and food market, then went back into town ourselves. It's beautiful and I think the locals are the nicest people on the planet. We loved Copenhagen, and spent 2 days there prior to the cruise. I actually liked SPB the least, I think because its grandeur is somewhat decrepit. Lots of beautiful, old, falling apart, dirty buildings. Our tour, arranged thru TJ Tours, was exceptional, easy to arrange, and went seamlessly, including dinner out that night (probably my favorite part of the tour.) We really didn't see Helsinki, but it looked very clean and modern. We did not have time to return to town after the reindeer.

I would highly recommend doing your own tours, finding companies thru Tripadvisor, etc. Our group of 8 decided the DCL tours were much less enjoyable. They were much, much larger groups, did not use the port time effeciently, and cost significantly more. For instance the reindeer and Stockholm excursions left 60-90 minutes after we arrived in port, arriving back at the ship 1-2 hours before leaving port. Even if we got back to the ship an hour before departure, that's still upwards of 2 1/2 hours of wasted port time we could have enjoyed off the ship on our own tours.

The menu had salmon almost every night - loved it! Even the pool deck pizza place had a salmon pizza. And local Icelandic beer available.

We went the first week in June. It was COLD on deck. The lifeguards were dressed like North Sea fishermen. My kids swam, but very little. Even the inside of the ship was cool. Bring a sweater. We also were glad to have our light down jackets, hats, and scarves on some of our excursions. A few days were very blustery and cold, others just cool. We had 2 days of "warm" weather, that meant I was comfortable without my coat on.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

We are on the 11-night Northern Europe cruise next summer and I am also already thinking ahead and hoping the next year flies by

We just did a Caribbean cruise on the Magic and they offered the princess tea, so I'm certain it will also be offered next summer. We have done two other European DCL cruises and there are always plenty of princesses, so no worries there!

We went to Amsterdam last December and because I am a travel agent and am always checking flights, I can guarantee you will find a good price on flights out of Amsterdam to Copenhagen. I have seen them for less than $30 before. Also, the Amsterdam airport is really nice!

I wish there were more trip reports from the Baltic cruises on here. I hope those of you going this year will write some when you get back for those of us dying to be planning!

 

[JulieMc 3]

9. Has anyone done the Finnish reindeer excursion? Very interested in this one and wondering how good it is/was.

We did this excursion 2 years ago. We LOVED it! It was a lovely walk through a beautiful forest which led to the reindeer. It wasn't too difficult a hike, my mother was with us and she was 68. the reindeer come right up to the fence - we got some great family photos with the reindeer and ended up using one for our Christmas card. When we left, the bus would drop you at either the center of Helsinki or back to the boat. We walked around the city for about an hour then took the free Disney shuttle back to the boat.

 

[katellynne]

• Helsinki - on our own: The Church of the Rock, The Lutheran and Russian Churches, the waterfront marketplace and Suomenlinna Island / Fortress (caught the ferry from the waterfront marketplace). The island and fortress is pretty cool - if you like that sort of thing. The local come out here for picnics and we were there on an absolutely beautiful day. We arrived in time for a guided tour in English which was very informative.

How far from where the Magic docks is the ferry to Suomenlinna? Or did you y'all tour the Churches first? We are wanting to use the Helsinki Card but don't have to time to have it shipped to us and I am worried about where I can pick it up once we disembark. We don't have long in Helsinki, we are only there 6 hours!!

 

[janiebubble]

We are on the 11-night Northern Europe cruise next summer and I am also already thinking ahead and hoping the next year flies by

We just did a Caribbean cruise on the Magic and they offered the princess tea, so I'm certain it will also be offered next summer. We have done two other European DCL cruises and there are always plenty of princesses, so no worries there!

We went to Amsterdam last December and because I am a travel agent and am always checking flights, I can guarantee you will find a good price on flights out of Amsterdam to Copenhagen. I have seen them for less than $30 before. Also, the Amsterdam airport is really nice!

I wish there were more trip reports from the Baltic cruises on here. I hope those of you going this year will write some when you get back for those of us dying to be planning!

Your Mediterranean report was one of my inspirations to book our first cruise (we sailed in 2011) so hopefully this time I may be able to repay you! I know I've been frustrated with the lack of trip reports from previous years, especially as someone who likes to DIY the ports rather than book excursions or private tours.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

Your Mediterranean report was one of my inspirations to book our first cruise (we sailed in 2011) so hopefully this time I may be able to repay you! I know I've been frustrated with the lack of trip reports from previous years, especially as someone who likes to DIY the ports rather than book excursions or private tours.

What a nice thing to say! I love reading people's trip reports, which is what inspired me to start writing them! Please do write one when you get back. We will once again do everything on our own except Saint Petersburg, but that's a unique port given the visa situation. I look forward to reading about your trip!