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

[MadHatterMom2]

We are also doing Warnemunde on our own and keeping it very mellow. And, I agree that a Viking is definitely a type of pirate (in fact, one of the first pirates in history). To Grizzbuzz, I am so jealous that you actually live in Switzerland! We just got back last month and loved it there - it's my daughter's favorite country. And I love the fact that you're flying your American flag off the balcony. God bless our troops!

Can't wait to meet everyone - the next three weeks are going to seem like an eternity. Oh, and P.S., we booked tickets on National Express (a coach) from Heathrow to Dover. You can check out the website if you like, the price is very reasonable but you have to change buses at Victoria Station.

 

[ktkspider]

We are also doing Warnemunde on our own and keeping it very mellow. And, I agree that a Viking is definitely a type of pirate (in fact, one of the first pirates in history). To Grizzbuzz, I am so jealous that you actually live in Switzerland! We just got back last month and loved it there - it's my daughter's favorite country. And I love the fact that you're flying your American flag off the balcony. God bless our troops!

Can't wait to meet everyone - the next three weeks are going to seem like an eternity. Oh, and P.S., we booked tickets on National Express (a coach) from Heathrow to Dover. You can check out the website if you like, the price is very reasonable but you have to change buses at Victoria Station.

Any luck on getting your docs yet? room numbers?

originally posted by grizbuzz You lived six years in Germany? Where?

And you don't like France? I just love it and love traveling over there every couple of months to get a break from the beautiful and but oh so austere Switzerland. I don't speak French, but my DH does. We were just in Chamonix and Annecy last weekend and I went to Paris three times in the last year. Fabulous city, I think. But there's something with the French country air that makes my clothes shrink

We were military and lived near Ramstein (Kaiserslautern) and Spangdahlem (90 min. north of Ramstein. LOVED living there. Not that I don't like France... just not my favorite. I am hoping that a little more time and it will grow on me a bit. We only took in France a couple of times for quick in and out trips. We LOVED Belguim, Holland, and Luxemburg. We visited those places much more often.

 

[szdrojewski]

Hi, We signed up for this cruise last month and I just finished reading through the posts - A lot of great info! It sounds like going with a private tour company is the way to go in St. Petersburg so I will be checking into that. My husband our 14 year-old daughter and myself can't wait for the 24th, so keep up all of the great info!

 

[mehaul]

Well, I've been busy this week. I have switched a few excursions around. Cancelled our one excursion in Stockholm and booked a different one. I also cancelled our excursion in Germany. We decided to just get off the ship that day and walk and explore the town on our own.

I've been making packing lists which I am trying to whittle down. Just seems like so much stuff to have to pack. I know I'm going to end up bringing more than will probably need or use. I'm just not a good packer!

All the kids have had their eye appointments and are waiting for new contacts/glasses. Dogs have been to the vet and have their boarding ressies.

If you are not doing Berlin, what are everyone's plans for Germany? I'm hoping I made the right choice here.

Have a great weekend all!! And remember our troops, past and present!

We've decided to do all the ports on our own. We will also go for it in Germany - and do Berlin. The only Disney excursion we signed up for is the Ball in St. Petersburg, so we won't be out super late to appreciate the white night. Also next day is an early full day of sightseeing in St. Petersburg with the whole team.

As far as city cards go, I don't think the Copenhagen and Tallinn card are worth it. I did preorder the Stockholm cards since they will mail to them to you. Of course I just got a hold of a friend in Sweden and he and his wife are going to meet us, so now the cards are overkill.

Just packed our Pirate costumes - "when in the Baltics"

 

[Cali Tracy]

We have never been on a Disney cruise and I just found out about the Fish Extenders! Sounds like fun! Is it too late to join in? Glad I discovered this message board last night, loads of great information. Thanks for posting all your tricks & tips everybody!!!!

 

[ktkspider]

SandyZ
Hi, We signed up for this cruise last month and I just finished reading through the posts - A lot of great info! It sounds like going with a private tour company is the way to go in St. Petersburg so I will be checking into that. My husband our 14 year-old daughter and myself can't wait for the 24th, so keep up all of the great info!

We have never been on a Disney cruise and I just found out about the Fish Extenders! Sounds like fun! Is it too late to join in? Glad I discovered this message board last night, loads of great information. Thanks for posting all your tricks & tips everybody!!!!

Welcome Cali Tracy and Sandy Z to the disboards! and the June 24th Baltic Cruise.

There is so much wonderful info on these boards.. I don't know how I could have planned our trip with out them!

The fish extender exchange is officially closed, but if you would like to give me your info (who is sailing with you and cabin number) I will add you as an extra and if anyone has any goodies left, you may be surprised.. Just don't want to stress anyone out if they don't have enough. I hope you understand. :O)

Make sure and stop by our little mini dis-meet at the Promenade Lounge at 3:00 on embarking day. It will give us and the kids a chance to meet others before the trip starts.

see everyone in a couple of weeks...

 

[cindy18]

Welcome Cali Tracy and Sandy Z! Glad to have you. We're going to have extra FE gifts, I think, so if we have latecomers, that's ok with us.

So, I did our last on our own port this weekend -- Copenhagen. I think we're mostly going to follow the Rick Steves walking tour, with a side trip to Christianborg Palace and other things in that general area. Looks like it's all walkable, so far as I can tell. Figuring on a very casual lunch -- the polse hot dog or sandwiches or something, as we make our way through the sights. I think we're going to skip Tivoli, which I know is unheard of with kids, but I think if we go to Tivoli, we'll spend so much of our day there that we will miss getting a sense of the old part of Copenhagen apart from what's right around Tivoli.

So now all that planning is done. Passport info is in for our Russian visas, deposit is in for our Berlin tour, and ship reservations are made. I guess what's next is thinking about packing.

 

[dvcer97]

We are definitley doing a private tour in St. Petersburg to get more bang for our buck. We are a family of four, DD 17, DS 14 and would prefer either Red October Tour or SPB Tour. I was going to send in a request for a quote for the four of us but if I get more people it will cost everybody less money.

Or, if you have a small group and could take on four more people that would work also.

We are also considering the same for Germany.

Looking forward to all responses!

I am a Familyof 3 2 adults and 1 10yr old son.
please let me know how many people you have so far.

 

[dvcer97]

Anybody here on the SPB two-day St. Petersburg tour? I think a couple of you are... SPB says they are looking for six more people to sign on. Since I'm already doing an evening tour with them I am thinking about it but I want to know which itinerary it is. If it's the Baltic Pearl tour with the lunches and photography passes included I'd definitely be interested.

We would be a Family of 3 2 adult and 1 child. What is the Itinerary?
Jackie

 

[ldconley]

Welcome Cali Tracy and Sandy Z! Glad to have you. We're going to have extra FE gifts, I think, so if we have latecomers, that's ok with us.

I am making a few extra FE gifts too, so if someone gets added, I am ok with it too.

 

[buck4568]

I am a Familyof 3 2 adults and 1 10yr old son.
please let me know how many people you have so far.

We got thirteen people and they closed our group. The other post mentioned they were looking for some people so you should have no trouble joing a group. Good Luck! Just 21 days to go for us. We are getting to London a few days early to see the sights!

 

[lzj21428]

Once again I'm editing my shore plans. I'm seriously considering cancelling our excursion in Tallinn and just going out on our own. It looks pretty easy to do. What plans do others have for this port? Does anyone have any good sites I could look at that would show a good walking tour map?

Got our tour tickets via email today for St Petersburg. Just need to print them out and put them in my file.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

 

[Cali Tracy]

welcome cali tracy and sandy z to the disboards! And the june 24th baltic cruise.

There is so much wonderful info on these boards.. I don't know how i could have planned our trip with out them!

The fish extender exchange is officially closed, but if you would like to give me your info (who is sailing with you and cabin number) i will add you as an extra and if anyone has any goodies left, you may be surprised.. Just don't want to stress anyone out if they don't have enough. I hope you understand. )

make sure and stop by our little mini dis-meet at the promenade lounge at 3:00 on embarking day. It will give us and the kids a chance to meet others before the trip starts.

See everyone in a couple of weeks...

Thanks for the warm welcome everybody! And thank you for adding us as an extra to the fe exchange. Of course i understand that not everyone will be prepared with extras - totally fine! My goal is to add some surprise fun for my family. (We just found out that grandma & grandpa have cancelled and are not coming with us after all - kids are devastated.)

 

[ktkspider]

Once again I'm editing my shore plans. I'm seriously considering cancelling our excursion in Tallinn and just going out on our own. It looks pretty easy to do. What plans do others have for this port? Does anyone have any good sites I could look at that would show a good walking tour map?

Got our tour tickets via email today for St Petersburg. Just need to print them out and put them in my file.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Here is an awesome walking tour for Tallinn..

http://www.brentjes.com/tallinnwalk.html

I got this from someone on cruisecritic. Terriffic! We are doing the Tallin walking tour with DCL then hitting missed places or places we want to see more of, but this seems to hit it all. If we weren't doing the DCL tour we would be doing this... in fact we have been going back and forth between the two.... but we have a large OBC to use so decided this was a good one to use some of it on.. So many of the DCL tours don't hit everything we want to see and don't leave much extra time to take other stuff in...

Cali Tracy.. make sure and get me your info so I can put you on the FE list.

 

[TDC Nala]

Doing the Disney excursion Medieval Spirits of Estonia. Was sort of fascinated by the torture chamber and distillery.

But from what I have been reading, if you just want to see Tallinn's old town you would be fine doing that on your own.

I'm with the group of 13 in St. Petersburg, that group is at its limit and is closed. If you would like to find a tour to join, there are several reputable companies that may match you up with other groups. My group is with SpB but there are a number of others. You can find a lot about them on cruisecritic.com

 

[lzj21428]

ktk, thanks for the link. Printing it out now. I'm 99% certain that we will do this port on our own. We also have a sizeable obc, but I don't think we will have any trouble using it all!!

 

[cindy18]

Hi All:

A few things:

We are definitely doing Tallin on our own. We had the walking tour you posted, and also Rick Steves has a great walking tour in his book, so between those two we have mapped out a respectable route. We're confident that we can spent our sizable OBC just from stuff on the ship, so we're not worried about doing the ports on our own!

We've booked Masha for St. Petersburg, and we're very excited about spending time with her. It's just the 4 of us, so if people want to consider joining us, let me know.

 

[ktkspider]

Hi All:

A few things:

We are definitely doing Tallin on our own. We had the walking tour you posted, and also Rick Steves has a great walking tour in his book, so between those two we have mapped out a respectable route. We're confident that we can spent our sizable OBC just from stuff on the ship, so we're not worried about doing the ports on our own!

We've booked Masha for St. Petersburg, and we're very excited about spending time with her. It's just the 4 of us, so if people want to consider joining us, let me know.

My self, I know I am goiing to have no problems with that OBC but those I am traveling with are a bit stressed about it I have never been stressed on spending free $$ They don't think they will spend it on the ship
So I am going with the conscesses of our group on this one.. but would be a super easy one to do on your own.. Personally I would rather do it on our own .. this was a compromise. gotta pick your battles and keep the peace..

 

[cindy18]

Here's what I'm thinking: I have a few spa treatments lined up (including a couples massage with DH), there's plenty of wine to be drunk at dinner, perhaps some other cocktails as well, lots of water to buy so we're not thirsty while we're touring, some shopping for Baltic cruise memorabilia, photo packages, Palo....not that hard to spend the money. And I think we can apply the OBC towards tips if we charge them rather than pay them in cash. So I'm not AT ALL worried about using it up, and we have double the normal amount because of our 2 rooms.

 

[Cali Tracy]

Cali Tracy.. make sure and get me your info so I can put you on the FE list.

Can't send PM yet, too few posts.

Gregg, Tracy, DD (16), DD (8) No stateroom assigned. (been assigned 2 since booking in Nov., only to have them taken away - guess that's the luck of booking a GTY rate) Will let you know.

Getting excited! Trying to think of everything I should be asking all you experts!