Questions.........

[DLoveScotland]

Hello,

 

I am new to this, I have booked a 12-Night Northern Europe Cruise on Disney Magic - Itinerary A cruise on 10th July 2015, this is my first Disney cruise, it starts in Dover. I have a lot of questions re this cruise.

 

We are a family of three with a 5 year old.

 

I came upon this site and I have some questions .

 

What dock does the ship dock at in Dover? I have googled it and there are two places.

 

If I drove down, Can you park your car there? Any official parking, or any offsite parking? Is it safe?

 

If we went by train, from London what terminal do we go from? And where do we get off? Is it connected to the port? How long does it take?

 

I paid in GBP, through Virgin Cruises, I read you can pre pay tips they said I can't, are they telling me the truth?

 

What time should we get there? Cruise documents say embarkation is 1pm at Dover?

 

I can't see that they have done this trip before, are there any copies of the daily information sheet online? Any recent for a twelve night cruise in Europe on the Disney Magic? If not this cruise any recent ones so I can understand activities on the sea days.

 

If we stay in London before the cruise, do Disney book any hotels for you and arrange transfers where are the hotels? Where would you recommend we stay?

 

What are the opening and closing times in the restaurant? Mine is listed as Late what does it mean?

 

How do I go about getting a visa for Russia? We are there for two days, I want to be able to get off the ship.

 

Warnemunde, Germany how close is it to Berlin, I read you can go by train, how long is that and what station do you go from in Warnemunde, Do they transfer you to the station? How long do you get in the city?

 

What Trip insurance do you recommend?

 

If I fly down with the family, what airport do we fly down to? Heathrow?

 

Daley.

 

 

Sorry for the questions it's my first cruise. Thank you in advance.

[ummgood]

I haven't been on a European cruise so I can't answer that question. You might want to ask your port questions (train, hotel, passport...) on the ports of call board. As far as late dinner that is scheduled usually around 8:15p. If you want to eat in your scheduled dining room you should arrive precisely at that time. If you want to skip that time you can eat in the buffet, on the pool deck, room service (all free), or Palo (not free and has a surcharge).

 

You will love DCL!

 

 

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[moki'smommy]

We have cruised on DCL out of Dover (2010, I think). Granted, we went to Barcelona, but same ports. SO, I can help with some of the questions.

 

If you have Disney arrange your hotel in London, they use only the very expensive hotels ($500+ per night). We did London for several days pre-cruise, but did the hotel on our own. However, Disney will be happy to arrange your hotel and transportation to the terminal.

 

DCL transfers from London to the cruise terminal in Dover were $70 (US) per person. We took the bus (coach) from Victoria Station to Dover for 4 pounds each. We went a day ahead and spent the night in Dover--had time for a little sight seeing there. Dover is a nice place for a day or two, not a long visit. The hotel in Dover was clean and "just OK" but was fine for an overnight. The bus let us off about a block from the hotel because it couldn't turn around at the hotel. There was also a stop at the waterfront. In the morning, we took a cab to the terminal. The reason we were at the hotel was that all the B&Bs were full. There was only one dock used by the cruise ships; the other dock was commercial shipping of goods. We just told the cab driver to take us to the Disney ship. It cost 5 pounds for the cab (not for each person).

 

Late dinner means you show up at the dining room at the scheduled time--usually 8:15, but on some European cruises it moves to 8:30. If you don;t like your scheduled time, you eat elsewhere. THERE IS NO BUFFET in the evening. There is a sit down dinner in Cabanas where no reservations are required, no fee. It is a buffet at breakfast and lunch, but sit down at dinner. Other options are the fast food outlets or room service.

 

The "visa" for Russia is a day visa that can e purchased at the port.

 

DCL did Baltic cruises a several years ago. There might still be some Navigators on line--google Baltic Navigator. However, activities on sea days tend to be the same on all European cruises. You can look at any of them.

 

There is no benefit to pre-paying tips. They just take your money sooner! I don't know if you can do it where you are located. In the US, it takes only a phone call to accomplish this.

 

They always say embarkation starts at 1 pm. Really, it starts about 11:30. You will be assigned a time to arrive at the port. If you arrive earlier, you may have to wait. This assignment you will make on line about 75 days before the cruise (if this is your first time on Disney)

 

Which airport you want to use depends on where you want to go and what you want to do after you fly in. If spending time in London, any of the London airports will work just fine.

 

I'll try to answer more later.

[nana541]

Moki'smommy are you from the UK or US??? Your profile does not say....

 

I am darn near certain that US citizens CANNOT get Russia Visas online..... So I'm worried about CC members taking your stmt as fact.

 

Please check the requirements as they are different depending on your country of citizenship.

 

Just concerned, as a US citizen getting my Russian visa was long and spendy!

 

 

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[Shmoo here]

Moki'smommy are you from the UK or US??? Your profile does not say....

 

I am darn near certain that US citizens CANNOT get Russia Visas online..... So I'm worried about CC members taking your stmt as fact.

 

Please check the requirements as they are different depending on your country of citizenship.

 

Just concerned, as a US citizen getting my Russian visa was long and spendy!

 

 

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She didn't say you can get them online, she said:

 

The "visa" for Russia is a day visa that can e purchased at the port.

[nana541]

E purchased at the port.... Yiks! Fairly certain this would not be for US citizens???? Very concerned other cruisers may think getting a Russian Visa is cheap & easy.

 

Once again was this your experience and are you a US citizen or??? Your profile gives no reference point as to the info you have provided?

 

Shmoo I know you are from US it's the poster I'm concerned about...

 

Question: e Purchased says online to me ? But I'm not very techie ;)

 

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Edited August 26, 2014 by nana541

[Cedricandsophie]

We were on the Baltic cruise out of Dover a couple of years ago. Just a couple of things

 

Our travel agent arranged a transfer from Heathrow for 7 of us and a hotel in Dover. Can't remember any details but it was reasonable price

 

We took excursion bus into Berlin and then did our own tour on the Hop On Hop Off bus. Worked great. You could try the train on your own but our agent recommended we do it this way because the bus from ship was reasonably priced and easy. No fear of missing our return trip to the ship the Hop On Hop Off bus was right across street from where bus dropped us off. Only about 15 a person and we went around twice and got off a couple of times

 

We did same thing in Copenhagen...if you go there. You catch hop on hop off bus right next to port. Ride all over city. Got off st tivoli gardens and got our tickets. The Disney excursion was quite pricey. We did the same thing on our own for less than a quarter of price.

 

 

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[moki'smommy]

Nana, did you get a day visa or something longer? My experience with the visa process was several years ago, but you literally walked up to a building at the port, paid your money, and got your DAY visa stamp. This gave you access to the country for that day only. Obviously, the process may have changed. However, I'm booked on a DCL Baltic next summer....and maybe I'm naive, but if it were a big issue, I know my TA would have alerted me (he did a Baltic within the last 3 years).

 

I am in the US and a US citizen.

 

Want to talk about spendy? My daughter's student visa for the UK cost me nearly $4000. Granted, this is a 3 year visa with multiple admissions (so she can travel wherever desired and return to the UK). However, that's another issue, and I'll post the details only if people ask.

[moki'smommy]

OK, I see the problem--it is a TYPO. The post should have read "BE purchased at the port." I somehow dropped the "b" from the word "be" and created the confusion. Sorry....I type in odd positions sometimes.

[Shmoo here]

OK' date=' I see the problem--it is a TYPO. The post should have read "BE purchased at the port." I somehow dropped the "b" from the word "be" and created the confusion. Sorry....I type in odd positions sometimes.[/quote']

 

Funny, I didn't notice that, I read it as "be". :D

[elainemasey]

It's been 4 years but I don't think US citizens can get a visa at the port for SPB. If you wanted to go on your own you needed to apply for a visa several months ahead of time and I think it was around $300 or $400. We did a private tour with Alla. They took care of the visa and put together a tour just for us.

 

 

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[moki'smommy]

Funny, I didn't notice that, I read it as "be". :D

 

I couldn't figure out where the discussion of "on line" was coming from....

[nana541]

Nana' date=' did you get a day visa or something longer? My experience with the visa process was several years ago, but you literally walked up to a building at the port, paid your money, and got your DAY visa stamp. This gave you access to the country for that day only. Obviously, the process may have changed. However, I'm booked on a DCL Baltic next summer....and maybe I'm naive, but if it were a big issue, I know my TA would have alerted me (he did a Baltic within the last 3 years).

 

 

 

I am in the US and a US citizen.

 

 

 

.[/quote']

 

 

The Russian visa process must be done months before sailing. (3 or 4)If you are only planning on doing Cruiseline excursions then "at this time" you don't need a Russian Visa at all.

 

BUT you can not at any time leave the ship without a ship excursion. No wandering around on your own.

You can arrange private tours but must be with a Government approved tour agency too. Once again no touring on your own.

 

And no there are no longer visas available on arrival. All Russian Visas must be arranged thru the Russian Embassy or a Company who arranged Visas for tourists.

 

Please go online to the Russian Consulate, so you will know what your choices for touring in SPB.

 

Hope this helps but please check out the latest rules. The Russian Govt is not very welcoming to Americans right now, but the Russian people are a delight!

 

 

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[moki'smommy]

Good grief, that's almost enough to make me rethink the Baltic cruise in 2015. VERY different from what we encountered years ago., and different from any other country we've ever visited.

 

Just to be clear to OP, my Dover /London experience was on DCL in 2010 (which I believe was the last time the Magic sailed out of Dover.) Obviously things can change there too, but we've done many DCL European cruises since then and things are much the same as in 2010.

[nana541]

Just use a Visa Service, you fill out info online, send them a picture and your passport. They obtain the Visa on your behalf.

 

Or as long as you take a ship excursion or a private excursion from a "State recognized" tour company you don't need any Visa at all (at this time anyway).

 

We did have some very unhappy passengers who could not get off the ship as they had no Visa and had not signed up or arranged for tours. They had thought they could tour on their own but did not apply for Visa's in advance.

 

http://moscow.usembassy.gov/mobile//russian-visas.html

 

Hope this link works changed as of Sept 2012 for US Citizens visiting Russia as tourists.

 

 

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