You Are Not The First To Pass This Way: 2nd Magic Baltic Cruise, 6/24/2010

[cindy18]

We planned on the following:

City highlights
Catherines Palace
Hermitage
Peterhov

Spilled blood
St Issacs
Peter fortress

just 30 min stops at church nothing crazy.....eatig on the go...sandwiches or something.....some of the tour guides even offer metro ride and some shopping....so a little confused.

That's what you want to do over the full two days? You can definitely do that. Red October doesn't sound like it's flexible enough. For example, you could do a city tour, Peterhof and Peter and Paul Fortress on the first day (take the hydrofoil to Peterhof to save time) and then start the 2nd day with Spilled Blood and St. Isaacs, do Hermitage around lunch and then go to Catherine's. That's more or less what we're doing. Don't worry, just use a different tour company!

 

[lzj21428]

I agree with Cindy, just contact the other tour companies. When you do, lay out your desires/timeline. I'm sure you will find a tour company that will work with you. SPB seemed very flexible and willing to work out the perfect itinerary for me. I can even make changes to my plan up to a month before the cruise.

I don't think that you can go wrong with whomever you chose. All the tour companies get really good reviews.

Good luck and let us know what you find out.

Nina

 

[lzj21428]

http://denrus-us.com/ccs4/calendar.php?off_ships_pc_detail_portcDate=2010-06

Here's a link that was posted on the Baltic thread that shows what other ships are in port the same time as the Magic.

 

[mardonna]

I also noticed this morning that with Disney excursions they all leave before nursery opens so that will put a kink in peoples schedules as well.....

 

[mardonna]

We will be traveling with 4 kids under 9 and 3 adults......the Disney Shorex they are offering always seem to leave something out.....what are the must sees? They have a great excursions to Peinsula....with all that stuff.....and then I could also fir one in of the city highlights but then would miss Nobel.....so perpelxed...thought about doing on our own with buses or hoho but feel like we should really be "guided " per se with kids and such......

HELP!!!!

You will be hearing from me on other ports as they days progress....

 

[TDC Nala]

With the time you have on a cruise, it's not possible to see everything in port. You need to choose what's most important to you.

 

[cindy18]

We will be traveling with 4 kids under 9 and 3 adults......the Disney Shorex they are offering always seem to leave something out.....what are the must sees? They have a great excursions to Peinsula....with all that stuff.....and then I could also fir one in of the city highlights but then would miss Nobel.....so perpelxed...thought about doing on our own with buses or hoho but feel like we should really be "guided " per se with kids and such......

HELP!!!!

You will be hearing from me on other ports as they days progress....

Not sure what to recommend, as our kids are older and we only have 2 of them. We did take them to Europe when they were young, and generally we just did the cities on our own with them. Sometimes we got a guide for a specific location where we felt it was important to have someone explain things the right way (for example, at the Coliseum in Rome), but otherwise we used public transportation or taxis, figured out from guidebooks and internet stuff (like Frommers) where we wanted to go and just went. It worked very well. Apart from St. Pete and Berlin, the cities all seem incredibly user friendly (for example we recently watched a Samantha Brown episode on Copenhagen, and she emphasized over and over how close to the city center everything was and how easy it was to get around), and we're going to try to figure out what sites are most important to us and which ones we think the kids will like the most and then just go do them. So long as taxis are easy enough to find to take us back to the boat if we really mess up, I think we'll be ok. Hope that helps.

 

[parkaroo]

We are going on this cruise also just starting to research ports and excursions. We are going to do an European vacation before and after the cruise. Planning to arrive to Dover by ferry boat from Calais. Does anyone have any experience with the ferry?

 

[grizbuzz]

Just cking out all the other Baltic cruiser threads and thought we should start some kind of cruiser list. It can include who's cruising, what cabin/ship location, any celebrations while cruising. I'll start.

Cruising with, Me (Nina), DH (Sam), DD (Laura, 22), DS (Zach, 17), DD (Julie, 14) We have two connecting Cat. 5 rooms, Deck 7. We will be celebrating my ?? birthday on 7/2. This is our 5th Disney Cruise.

Ok, who's next?

Looks like thread is starting to get a little more active!

TDC Nala: is there anyway to get a roster going on one of the first pages for who is going on the cruise?

Here's our group: Me (Jen), DH (John), DS (Max, 7), DS (Nico, 5), MIL, SIL and her 2 DSs (5,7) and baby.

This is my immediate family's 4th Disney cruise. It will be first Disney cruise for MIL and SIL and family.

I'll be coming in from Switzerland where we are living for a couple of years. We may be doing the Calais ferry. I'm not sure how we are going to travel over to Dover.

Right now only planning on doing excursions in St Pete with private tour group. I am interested in the Catherine's Ball through Disney, but my DH and DSs are not yet into it. I'm not sure if it's worth doing if I'm the only one interested, but the family pictures could be priceless.

Happy planning everyone!

 

[mardonna]

Looks like thread is starting to get a little more active!

TDC Nala: is there anyway to get a roster going on one of the first pages for who is going on the cruise?

Here's our group: Me (Jen), DH (John), DS (Max, 7), DS (Nico, 5), MIL, SIL and her 2 DSs (5,7) and baby.

This is my immediate family's 4th Disney cruise. It will be first Disney cruise for MIL and SIL and family.

I'll be coming in from Switzerland where we are living for a couple of years. We may be doing the Calais ferry. I'm not sure how we are going to travel over to Dover.

Right now only planning on doing excursions in St Pete with private tour group. I am interested in the Catherine's Ball through Disney, but my DH and DSs are not yet into it. I'm not sure if it's worth doing if I'm the only one interested, but the family pictures could be priceless.

Happy planning everyone!

I just don't think Disney has given enough information about the Disney Princess at catherine's palace to want me shell out $400 a person....we are a family of 6....

 

[TDC Nala]

I know I started the thread but I don't know if I'll have time to compile everyone who's on board. I'm at work on weekdays. I'll see what I can do today.

 

[mehaul]

Here's a quick and dirty overview of our cruise. If there are any mistakes please correct them or fill in missing info.

thanks
the management


TDC Nala (1)

Cindy18 (4)
Cindy –DW Matt – DH
DD 14-Samantha DD 12-Charlotte

Grizbuzz (9)
Jen –DW John – DH MIL SIL
DS 7 – Max DS 5 – Nico DS 7 DS 5 baby

IrishCowboy ?

KarenGillFL
DS-16 DD -11 DS 8

KtKSpider (7)
Kellie –DW Tom – DH DGP DGM DGMIL DGFIL
DD 12

ldConley ?

LynCallne (3)
Lynn-DW DH
DS 8

LZj21428 (5)
Nina - DW Sam – DH
DD 22 – Laura DS – Zach DD 14- Julie

Macassi (7)
Marci – DW DH MIL FIL
DS 12 DS 9 DD 6

Mehaul (4)
Lisa – DW Michael – DH
DD 9 – Emma DD 6 – Mia

Parkaroo ?

Yensidfan (10)

Newgeneb ?

bridgemanv ?

dcladdict-Ohio (3)
DW DH
DD 17

 

[grizbuzz]

Here's a quick and dirty overview of our cruise. If there are any mistakes please correct them or fill in missing info.

thanks
the management


TDC Nala (1)

Cindy18 (4)
Cindy –DW Matt – DH
DD 14-Samantha DD 12-Charlotte

Grizbuzz (9)
Jen –DW John – DH MIL SIL
DS 7 – Max DS 5 – Nico DS 7 DS 5 baby

IrishCowboy ?

KarenGillFL
DS-16 DD -11 DS 8

KtKSpider (7)
Kellie –DW Tom – DH DGP DGM DGMIL DGFIL
DD 12

ldConley ?

LynCallne (3)
Lynn-DW DH
DS 8

LZj21428 (5)
Nina - DW Sam – DH
DD 22 – Laura DS – Zach DD 14- Julie

Macassi (7)
Marci – DW DH MIL FIL
DS 12 DS 9 DD 6

Mehaul (4)
Lisa – DW Michael – DH
DD 9 – Emma DD 6 – Mia

Parkaroo ?

Yensidfan (10)

Newgeneb ?

bridgemanv ?

dcladdict-Ohio (3)
DW DH
DD 17

Thanks for compiling!

A correction on grizbuzz;

Grizbuzz (9)
Jen –DW, John – DH, MIL, SIL
DS 7 – Max, DS 5 – Nico
SIL's DS 7, DS 5, baby

I just have two kids.

Interesting to see who all is coming!

 

[mehaul]

Updated list 1/31/10 3:53 EST

TDC Nala (1)

Cindy18 (4)
Cindy –DW Matt – DH
DD 14-Samantha DD 12-Charlotte

Grizbuzz (9)
Jen –DW John – DH MIL SIL
DS 7 – Max DS 5 – Nico
SIL's DS 7 DS 5 baby

IrishCowboy ?

KarenGillFL
DS-16 DD -11 DS 8

KtKSpider (7)
Kellie –DW Tom – DH DGP DGM DGMIL DGFIL
DD 12

ldConley ?

LynCallne (3)
Lynn-DW DH
DS 8

LZj21428 (5)
Nina - DW Sam – DH
DD 22 – Laura DS – Zach DD 14- Julie

Macassi (7)
Marci – DW DH MIL FIL
DS 12 DS 9 DD 6

Mehaul (4)
Lisa – DW Michael – DH
DD 9 – Emma DD 6 – Mia

Parkaroo ?

Yensidfan (10)

Newgeneb ?

bridgemanv ?

dcladdict-Ohio (3)
DW DH
DD 17

 

[dwrobel]

Hello fellow cruisers. My parents (Pam & Henry) and I (Danielle-35) are getting very excited about this cruise. This is our 2nd cruise w/DCL. Doing it on DVC points. We are planning to do most of the ports on our own. Berlin w/Disney, we have two picked out. St. Petersburg is w/a private tour company, Russian Tour Guide, an itinerary with everything we like to see, plus a diner in a Russian home (a truly unique adventure). Counting the days down.

 

[Yensidfan]

Updated list 1/31/10 3:53 EST

TDC Nala (1)

Cindy18 (4)
Cindy –DW Matt – DH
DD 14-Samantha DD 12-Charlotte

Grizbuzz (9)
Jen –DW John – DH MIL SIL
DS 7 – Max DS 5 – Nico
SIL's DS 7 DS 5 baby

IrishCowboy ?

KarenGillFL
DS-16 DD -11 DS 8

KtKSpider (7)
Kellie –DW Tom – DH DGP DGM DGMIL DGFIL
DD 12

ldConley ?

LynCallne (3)
Lynn-DW DH
DS 8

LZj21428 (5)
Nina - DW Sam – DH
DD 22 – Laura DS – Zach DD 14- Julie

Macassi (7)
Marci – DW DH MIL FIL
DS 12 DS 9 DD 6

Mehaul (4)
Lisa – DW Michael – DH
DD 9 – Emma DD 6 – Mia

Parkaroo ?

Yensidfan (10)

Newgeneb ?

bridgemanv ?

dcladdict-Ohio (3)
DW DH
DD 17

Hi ... we aren't on this cruise. We are on the 1st baltic cruise. So we will get all the kinks worked out for you guys.

 

[cindy18]

Hello fellow cruisers. My parents (Pam & Henry) and I (Danielle-35) are getting very excited about this cruise. This is our 2nd cruise w/DCL. Doing it on DVC points. We are planning to do most of the ports on our own. Berlin w/Disney, we have two picked out. St. Petersburg is w/a private tour company, Russian Tour Guide, an itinerary with everything we like to see, plus a diner in a Russian home (a truly unique adventure). Counting the days down.

Welcome! We've been getting a lot more active on this thread lately, I think mostly since the excursions were listed on the DCL website. There's been a lot of talk about what to do in which port. I think a lot of people are thinking about doing Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Tallinn on their own, or at least leaving open that possibility, while saving the $$ for proper guided tours in Berlin and St. Pete. Are you spending any time in England prior to the start of the cruise?

 

[grizbuzz]

Anyone have creative ideas for good activities for young kids (boys ages 5 and 7) for St Pete?

Also is everyone planning on going to Berlin? Seems a lot of travel time with young ones. Anyone planning to stay at the port?

 

[cindy18]

Have no clue on kids' activities in St. Pete, with apologies, but on Berlin, we've been back and forth about it. Initially, we were not going to go. DH has been before (although he was fascinated by the city) and I thought it was a tremendous amount of travel for not enough time in the city. We had planned to do the Molli Train excursion through Disney and see that part of the German countryside. But my belated discovery of the availability of private tours in Berlin at a cost that is more reasonable than almost all the Disney tours and that lets us put together a visit to Berlin that is tailor-made for our family's interests has made me reconsider. Our DDs have agreed that it makes sense to go (the older one more enthusiastically than the younger), and given the day at sea afterwards, we decided it was worth the exhausting day.

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm going to Berlin with a ship's excursion. Don't have any kids so the long travel time won't bother me. Did pretty much the same thing with a tour of Florence in '07. That was on a bus, but memorable because we got to see what an Italian highway rest stop is like. Their convenience stores are awesome.