July 6, 2010 - 7/6/2010 ~ Pounds to Rubles ~ Mickey invades the Baltic Sea

[slg]

Hi guys
checked out cullins yard last. It looks nice. I've been waking up the last two night at 2ish and not been able to get back to sleep. We migh
are going to go to dinner a little earlier as 7:30 is late for our kids. We checked at the restaurant and the said that was fine. We'll be there to meet everyone, but if we eat a little earlier the kids will be nicer. The room is booked for us so I don't think they will mind if anyone else wants to come earlier. Today we are hiking the cliffs!

 

[nzdisneymom]

We are in possession of our key to the world cards. Leaving at 11:30 tomorrow. See you all soon.

 

[denise]

We are in Dover! Got here last night after taking the train from Paris. We like our B & B. The owner is great.....
Our good friends from Birmingham met us and we had a nice dinner at a little Italian restaurant in town. Today we went to the Dover Castle and toured it and the tunnels. It was great! Ran into Beth and family there too.
See some of you tonight at Cullins...

 

[el_bandito]

At Crowne Plaza Buckingham Gate. Saw changing of guard today, watched Henry VIII at Shakespeare's Globe (hint: when taking a taxi always tell driver "Shakespeare's" globe.. and not just the globe theater) -- OUTSTANDING performance, though my but is sore from 3 hours on benches despite the cushion you buy for a pound (well worth it).

Dang.. it's already a blur.. after Guard we went to Harrad's... Had to do that for DW. 25 years since last time.

Unfortunately missed last tour off the Abbey but did go in and watch Parliment. At first I thought it was going to be lame. No tour, no pictures, could only wait (possibly 2 hours) to go in to observe them in debate. Well... highlight of trip so far or close second w/ Globe. First, you wait in the HUGE amazing hall where they used to debate... like centuries ago. then when you get it it's live politics in action. both the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minster were there. WHAT AMAZING skill they have at debate. So lacking in our country. was the best lesson for my DS ever (DD at 15 is 'getting it' i'm sure but won't admit it. DS is young enough to go -- wow... and ask questions).

tomorrow, pick up SAAB 9-5 wagon (hope it fits our stuff) and off to Dover. Can't wait for a day at sea.

Biggest problem now is i burned out our fan using the UK to US converter. We really need the white noise to sleep (i snore...) so bought UK fan. tonight fine but Magic will be US power.... HELP!!!

 

[DisneyDoc1895]

Hello everyone, hope you enjoy the trip! We are on the July 18th Cruise, and will be reading to see how everything is going. I am going to start going through this thread to see (forgot to look at it earlier!), but are there any websites or links to those of you who will be blogging?

Thanks!

Ken

 

[DisneyDoc1895]

Hope all you guys have a WONDERFUL and safe trip! We're on the July 18th cruise, and we're so excited. Is anyone blogging from your cruise? We are loving reading all the details from the previous cruisers.

Have fun!
Beth

Beth-

wow, similar thought at the similar time! Guess I should have read a few pages before I posted the same question!

Ken

 

[DisneyDoc1895]

We booked on our own, but according to everyone we spoke with at VA, the seat assignments are "requests only". They aren't actually assigned to you until you check in. So while we had "requested" rows 31-33, seats A-C, we did not actually have them till we checked in. We had no idea as those seats showed up on the website when we booked, checked the flight, etc. But since we couldn't check the baby in, someone checked in between 12 hours prior to the flight and when we got to JFK (almost 3 hours before the flight) and "took" our baby's seat. VA basically didn't care.

And the highlight was that the man there would NOT switch his seat for our bulkhead aisle seat!! So though he saw my infant, 3yo, and 6yo (who was crying to sit with "an adult from our family), he would NOT move. Luckily the guy sitting in one of the middle seats next to my husband switched and sat with the annoying guy. Otherwise my daughter would have been crying for awhile as she was terrified to sit with only her brother for some reason. And seating him alone was NOT happening as he flipped out when we tried sitting him next to annoying guy. Normally they are excellent flyers, but we just moved out of our house last weekend and have been in a hotel since then, and won't be in our new house (and new state, we're moving from DC to AZ) till the end of this month, so they are both a bit clingy at the moment.


So yes, definitely check in for your flight online!

You should have told him your children tend to barf on planes. Hand him a bag and say, good luck!

 

[Cmdbuddy]

I'm getting off the ship today so you wonderful people can get on.... you're in for the time of your life!

So there is a huge running joke this cruise with me and Trevor from the cruise staff team (he is also the bingo king). Trust me, you can't miss him.

If you want to get in on the joke and help me out, go up to him at some point on the cruise and ask him if he has any hemorrhoid cream you can use for your puffy eyes from long travels. Or if you don't want to say hemorrhoid cream, you can just ask him if he suggests any specific creams for it.

Thanks for helping me out and let me know how it goes!

 

[Kouris_Family]

Can anyone tell me where the drop off is for Berlin on your own?

 

[denise]

At the Hilton after a short bus ride from the train. It is HOT here...36

 

[nzdisneymom]

We are back at the Renaissance after a wonderful cruise. I will be posting a trip report and welcome any and all of you to jump in. It was so great to meet you all. Safe travels.

 

[sharper_fin]

Got back home at 6pm UK time. Thanks to all of you that I met for making a fantastic cruise even better.

 

[scottishwee35]

Got back home at 6pm UK time. Thanks to all of you that I met for making a fantastic cruise even better.

Hi Shane

Glad to hear that You both had a wonderful times

Oh sad it is over now...

Scottishwee35

 

[sharper_fin]

... and so sad you you weren't with us! Never mind, hope that you enjoy yours next week.

 

[babybear42]

Hi Everyone.

I hope you all arrived home safely and aren't too jet lagged? None of that for us this year of course, but still had an 8 hour coach trip (we could have gone to Florida in the same amount of time ). Thanks to all who took part in the FE gift exchange, it was fun to go back to our cabin and check what goodies had been left. Does anyone know who won the best decorated door prize that someone mentioned?

 

[Stimpy]

We're home as of 2 AM our time! Flight home was not fun but otherwise we had an amazing time!!

My DD came in our bedroom this morning crying hysterically. When I asked what was wrong she told us "I miss the Disney Cruise!!!"

Sorry we missed the meet! The DVC thing ran much later than we expected and by the time we got back to our stateroom and found the invite for Sessions, it was over already.

Thank you so much for the FE gifts! We were all so excited checking it! You all had such great ideas!! I realized we were probably the only ones who didn't label ours. I hope you all enjoyed them though.

We did notice some people removed their FEs so we tried to leave their gifts on the Fish itself or attached it to the door somehow. Sorry to see someone tried to ruin the fun for some of you!

I hope everyone had a magical time and can't wait to see what everyone thought!

 

[2littlestitches]

We are home, too! It was such a great cruise! I posted a sort of mini trip report earlier in the trip report section. We didn't participate in the FE, but it looked like you all had a lot of fun with that!

This was a great vacation! It's sad that it's over! I need to now turn my focus on our Alaskan cruise on the Wonder next July, just to keep from feeling down.

Anyone else notice the scale is way up???? Whoa, guess I made a few too many trips to Plutos Doghouse and Goofy's Galley in between meals! LOL. If it wasn't depressing enough to be back home, now none of my pants fit. Oh well, it was worth it!

 

[Crissup]

We arrived home around 7:30pm last night. Flight landed at O'Hare just before 6pm, grabbed our luggage and called the limo company to get us home. I'm certain Carol will post more later. Great Cruise!!

 

[sshaw10060]

Where home as well. It was about 10pm when we walked through the door. Today is unpacking/catching up on e-mail then back to work tomorrow.

We had such an amazing trip we're having a hard time getting use to life at home.

 

[Deb T.]

We arrived back home early last evening. Made a quick stop at the grocery for bread and milk before going home and were hit by a car as we walked out of the grocery! An SUV was illegally parked on the sidewalk by the door and evidently did not see us walking out as she put it into gear and stepped on the gas! Fortunately, she did finally see us and slammed on the brakes just as the front bumper hit my right arm! Can you imagine that ~ we made it all the way to the Baltics and back without incident, and then were hit by a car a half-mile from home! We're very thankful she stopped when she did, otherwise we would have both been knocked down and possibly would have had head injuries since our hands were full with grocery bags! It was very scary, to say the least!

Thanks for all the FE goodies! Lots of very clever ideas! We had a lot of fun delivering our gifts and loved checking our bag for surprises everyday. And, thanks Fabumouse, for our "First Runner Up Door Decoration" prize! LOVED the Berlin magnet!!!

Sure did hate to step off the ship yesterday morning! We had a noon flight out of Heathrow, so we were in that first group to debark. We met at Rockin' Bar D before 6am and were surprised with a last-minute good-bye hug from Cindy D. (nzdisneymom) ~ she was up early and stopped by Rockin' Bar D just to tell us good-bye. We were finally allowed off the ship at 6:45 and our private transportation was there waiting for us as pre-arranged. Thanks, Silverline Travel!!! We were at the airport in just an hour and a half, easily checked in at the terminal, were ushered to the "fast track" security line with our business class fare, and sitting in United's lounge by 9am! (I had naturally been concerned with our earlier-than-recommended departure time, but I guess I should have been more concerned about making a grocery stop at home! )

We hope everyone with post-cruise stays are having a wonderful time. Safe journey to all of you who are still making your way home.